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Following other mechanics...........

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
How do you guys handle following someone in a repair gone wrong? To make a long story short, a customer of mine elected to have their mechanic and trainee install a turbo and injectors on a late model Komatsu dozer. Now its even worse than before they started this project. I know I will probably be getting a call from the owner today about this.
Being self employed, these situations I normally stay away from. What has looked like a simple redo going behind someone that didnt know what they were doing......has bit me in the ass too many times. I never got enough accurate information on what had already been done, nor have knowledge of what other damage may have been caused by what they have done to this point.
My policy is to decline these projects, but this is one of my best customers and I have pulled rabbits out of hats for them many times and they know this.
I already know what Im going to do, and I hate to do it, but I see..through past experience....a basket case job I may very well lose money on. I am having the dealer do up a quote on this and I am going to recommend this be THEIR problem.

What say you in these situations?
 

thepumpguysc

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
7,445
Location
Sunny South Carolina
Occupation
Master Inj.Pump rebuilder
Just TELL THEM going in.. 1st off I'm going to have to FIGURE OUT what they did.. & what they did wrong.. THEN I gotta fix THAT & redo everything correctly..
I'm going to have to bill this hourly & your probably lookin at a new turbo..{put in dry & burnt the brgs as soon as they started the engine..}
The injectors were probably put in w/ no nozzle washers or double washers.. so they have to come back out.. OR they were put in backwards..{if possible}
Doesnt "seem like" a real problem from here..lol
U GOTTA talk w/ the owner to find out WHY these items were changed in the 1st place.!!
probably a smoking condition that neither 1 of those parts would fix..?? {rings}
In which case I would tellm.. "I'll go thru what YOUR GUYS did & get u back to square 1.. THEN your on your own for an overhaul, if it boils down to THAT"..
& then again.. it depends on how busy u r.. IF u have some "money makers" on your schedule right now..??
push this guy off to the side.. maybe he'll learn his lesson..??
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,556
Location
WWW.
I quit doing outside work in our shop for that very reason. I went to the stance of {I do the whole job or I don't do any of it}. We dropped our insurance for doing out side repair so these
days it's easy for me to stay away from outside repairs. Personally I would send it down the road.
 

Tags

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
1,610
Location
Connecticut
Soooo, I’m not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I do own my own business and have been put in similar situations with excavation jobs. My feeling is this, he’s your best customer, he tried to get off “cheap” by having his “in house mechanic and trainee” “fix it”. Clearly the mechanic and trainee had about as much business as I would have had working on it, while they probably should have been attending to several other simple repairs or services that typically need to be done on a daily basis at an excavation company, the boss rolled the dice on this one and lost, if you lay out all the issues and details it may take to get it figured out and repaired correctly the owner should be more than understanding, if he’s not, send him to the dealer and see how that goes....
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,305
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
I would not turn down a job unless I figure it would be "more economical to replace" or something like that. But I have done this in the past where I laid it out to the customer. We don't know what they messed up and billing will be by the hour full tilt no warranty. Then they can decide what they want to do about it.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,260
Location
Canada
Yeah, tell them you can take a look at it but it will likely cost double of what you would have charged if they called you first and no warranty (depending on what you find, ie/ if the turbo is shot but the engine is fine you could warranty a new turbo install). Then tell them the other option is to take it to the dealer. If it's real bad tell them you're not comfortable trying to fix someone else's mess and can't stand behind your work. A good customer should respect that and learn a good lesson at the same time. Customers complain what the professionals charge but don't consider the reasons they are the professionals.
 

MarshallPowerGen

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2017
Messages
442
Location
Northwestern USA
Occupation
Generator Technician & Equipment Mechanic
All I can say on this subject is what you already know, and parrot every other post on letting them know you'll be billing by the hour or not interested.

I worked out of a family shop where the owner would take on any basket case problem machine that every other shop had already fought with or refused to work on, and then complain about "losing his ass on it" every time. Eventually I started to dread stopping at the shop for paperwork/parts and seeing what had turned up.
 

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
As others have stated - "I'll fix your f**k up on an hourly-paid basis. It takes as long as it takes and the parts that will go into it are what I say it needs, not what you or anyone else thinks........"

Do you have any info as to what caused both the turbo and the injectors to be changed at the same time..?
The turbo was changed 2 months ago from what I understand after conversing with the mechanic today. A previous mechanic had changed the turbo and the old one is no longer there so I dont have it to inspect. I was told it was changed in an attempt to solve an engine power problem, which didnt improve. I have to assume there was nothing wrong with the turbo in the first place.

The mechanic called me over a month ago asking questions about this machine. He asked what would cause black smoke and low power. I told him that faulty injectors or low turbo boost would be the first things I would look at if it were me. I believe he took it upon himself to change the fuel injectors since the turbo had already been replaced. Its obvious they are just changing expensive parts trying to correct the problem. I talked to the fuel shop that supplied the reman injectors today. He told me that he rebuilt the fuel rail assembly and that it was metal contaminated pretty heavily. He recommended total teardown of the fuel system and a clean and inspect, even wrote it on the paperwork. That info was not related to me when I looked at the machine yesterday.

I received a repair quote from the Komatsu dealer today for $6500.00. Im sending it to them at that price as it isnt worth the headache to me with all things considered.

By the way, I was also told by the diesel shop that the lead mechanic on this told him he had never been inside a diesel engine before :eek::rolleyes:o_O. All the more reason to believe there is more to this repair than meets the eye.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
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Dec 7, 2015
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WWW.
Good for you, that job had the stench of a really bad f@rt. The DD13, 15 and 16 can and have trouble with the high psi pump grinding it self to pieces also. When fuel filters/screw housings are
removed it's very wise to inspect the inside of filter housing and cover for fine metallic substance.
 

John C.

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Jun 11, 2007
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Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Back when I turned wrenches for a lot of people, it was my specialty to bail out the unfortunates. I only worked on what I knew and I always would answer the phone and try to talk people through doing the easy stuff before I came out. Nothing worse than going to a machine and throwing a toggle switch and that fixes the problem, then turning around and charging $500 bucks for the trouble. Once their people finally ran out of ideas and the owners got tired of trouble shooting by $500 dollar bills, I'd get the call. That's how I ended up in Hawaii about a year and a half ago on a big Komatsu excavator.
Anyway in my mind it is how comfortable you are with the subject iron and the customer paying the bill. I happen to like challenges and there isn't a better high than seeing something running that no one else was able to fix.
 

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
Back when I turned wrenches for a lot of people, it was my specialty to bail out the unfortunates. I only worked on what I knew and I always would answer the phone and try to talk people through doing the easy stuff before I came out. Nothing worse than going to a machine and throwing a toggle switch and that fixes the problem, then turning around and charging $500 bucks for the trouble. Once their people finally ran out of ideas and the owners got tired of trouble shooting by $500 dollar bills, I'd get the call. That's how I ended up in Hawaii about a year and a half ago on a big Komatsu excavator.
Anyway in my mind it is how comfortable you are with the subject iron and the customer paying the bill. I happen to like challenges and there isn't a better high than seeing something running that no one else was able to fix.
Im the same way John. I just saved this customer $$$$'s on a Bomag milling machine just last week that no one else was able to fix. When I was younger this is something I would more than likely take on, but now that I have more experience and age (lol) this is something I am not willing to gamble on. I looked over the dealer quote just now.........its basic r&r injectors. I would expect their tech hooking this up to ET would have indicated other issues (low HP Pump output, etc.....) which is not stated on the quote. I on the other hand would be doing this as a complete job, top to bottom would be quite a bit higher if not double+. If the dealer is willing to r&r the injectors and feels comfortable enough to take that risk then I see no reason to not let them for $6500.00. My brain is saying they are crazyyyyyyyy.o_O
 

thepumpguysc

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
7,445
Location
Sunny South Carolina
Occupation
Master Inj.Pump rebuilder
Good Think'n..
Yeah, with the rest of the story being told, I wouldnt take it on either..
The Gov. just announced a 2 week MANDATORY SHUT-DOWN effective at 5:00pm Tuesday..
Things are gonna get S L O W for a while..
 

John C.

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Yeh, the dealer probably has some information that we aren't privy to. The other nifty little trick that dealers do is bait and switch. Give a low ball "estimate" then come back with a huge quote or in a lot of cases a bill with no explanation. That's why I put in the part about knowing the machine before considering the job. From my perch, it looks like you are making the right decision.
 

joe--h

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Messages
1,259
Location
Utah
I know nothing about Komatsu anything, but $6,500 to change injectors?
Joe H
 
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