Expectations. Was re: Denver free inspection

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek-eng.com>]

On Tue, 7 Oct 1997 07:06:48 -0600 (MDT), Ralph Poplawsky wrote:

>For those of you in the Denver area who plan to take advantage of Prestige
>Audi's 'free factory inspection', here is some info. I took my '91 200TQ
>yesterday with the assumption that I was going to go over the car with a
>technician who really knows this vehicle.  About 15 minutes into the deal,
>after he looked at the oil and checked the lights, etc. and was surprised
>when I told him it was a 20V Turbo, I could see that I knew much more about
>this car than the technician.  This was when he offered that he really
>doesn't know much about these cars because he usually works on Porsches.
>So, AOA service comes through once more.  The only benefit was that I got to
>walk around and look at the car while it was on a lift.
>
>Ralph Poplawsky
>'91 200TQ (will I ever learn???)  

Not directly to your point concerning the fine line between hope and 
gullibility - and I would also like to leave the issue of dealership service
alone for now - but in terms of automotive trouble shooting, there is a
limit beyond which even a good technician cannot go, even if you make
it clear that money is no object.  Most cannot quite bring themselves
to get past trial and error component replacement based on experience
and/or basic tests. Of course the better technicians have extensive
experience to draw upon. This works in many, perhaps most cases.

However, the habit of addressing problems quickly and moving on
is a strong psychological deterent to following the detailed factory
procedures or to do the detective grunt work necessary to find a subtle
problem.  For example, take an Audi with a CIS equiped engine and a
small vacuum leak somewhere in the intake plumbing into your favorite
shop. At the end of the day you will pick up a car with the CO adjusted
to compensate for the leak and a poorer starting engine. You may also
get a few random new parts. And we've all heard the refrain
"Could not duplicate the problem." which often means "Could not
find the problem within 20 minutes." For even more fun and potential
expense, try dropping off one of these cars with a complaint of
"poor starting." Again, IMHO, this is simply the nature of the repair
business, automotive or otherwise.

The best plan, as always, is to poke around under the hood
yourself enough to know what is going on. You're not
up against the clock like the technician and can take the time
to identify the root cause(s). More easily said than done.
GTTS  (credit to Phil).

DeWitt Harrison    de@aztek-eng.com
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq