What are you working on today?

A little more progress rebuilding the top end on the XR400.
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Monday
1989 Ford F-150
Started a front and rear brake job. Not really feeling it today but I made progress regardless. Repacked front wheel bearings, turned rotors, replaced the pads, turned rear drums replaced wheel cylinders and brake shoes. I'm waiting for a hardware kit for the left rear as a few springs we're broke and so was the self adjuster cable. Tomorrow I'll finish that up and change the oil. I've also got a bone stock 1966 Chevrolet Malibu 4 door to do intake gaskets on.
 
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Kept wondering why the mower tire was going flat. Must of hit something as it’s got a small hairline gash in the sidewall. Was also going to remove the brake lines from dads truck but he said we will just wait in case we do need the line wrench we ordered. I said I’m fine with that lol.

At work I don’t do much these days since I’m a leader lol. I help when needed and keep things in line but I have a really good crew that usually you don’t have to get on to except when you know the big man is coming and they are all on their phones lol. Though my legs and back are still killing me though cause I do help and stand which sucks. These people down at the franchise I’m at now are so express oriented lol. One guy was lifting tires over his head while the other guy was changing oil. I was like if that’s the way you want to do it I guess do it but it’s better to have it at chest height at least that’s what I do. I will be glad to go back to being a Subaru tech soon though I’m just down here helping the big boss out he asked me to get the program started so I did. They are expanding my current shop so they had to do something with a few of us but I’m first in line to go back. He knows I don’t want to be a manager yet I want to be a tech for a few more years before I manage anyone though it is fun to sit down and do nothing lol and since we have to have our phones available at all times we get to stay clocked in during lunch in case someone calls lol. The only tool my techs need to get is a dead blow hammer cause Toyota and their wheels lol. Today I thought we were going to have to heat one up to get it off. Finally after about 30 minutes and some penetrating oil and a big dead blow hammer it came off. It was a northern car so wasn’t really surprised.
 
Tuesday
1989 Ford F-150
Finished up the rear brakes, changed the oil and replaced the air filter

1966 Chevrolet Malibu
Got the intake off, started cleaning it up

2008 Nissan Titan
Diagnosed with bad front wheel hubs and a steering rack clamp is damaged, allowing the right side of the rack to move up and down, honestly don't see how it hasn't bound the steering up. I've got parts coming for it tomorrow, haven't decided what I'm going to do to fix the rack clamp.
 
Today was diesel day for me. Doesn't happen often, but when it does it's always an unwelcome occurrence. My shop sees very few diesel's, and the ones we do see mainly consist of TDI VW's with a sprinkling of E-vans we service for the VA hospital.

The saving grace today was patient #1: a '91 Land Cruiser import. RHD. Great customer of mine. Before us, he looked all over town for a shop willing to work on the thing without any luck. When he first came in, we told him that we'd be happy to work on it as long as he 1: sourced his own parts and 2: agreed that regardless of the repair, there would be no warranty on our end.

After replacing the starter on the Cruiser, I finished the day replacing the fuel filter on an '07 Duramax 2500. Again, easy work. Getting the filter primed gave me just a hint of trouble, otherwise things went easy peasy. Bonus repair: on my test drive, I noticed a wicked driveline vibration while under load. Come to find the rear u-joint is on it's last legs. Quick call, and I got approval to pull the shaft and send it out to be rebuilt.

I quit doing u-joints several years ago. With the amount of business we do, it's just easier to have the driveline shop pick up, rebuild, balance, and deliver within a day or two.

Aside from those gems, my pop stopped by so I could throw new rotors on the front of his '18 Accent. He lives in a very hilly town, and he's not the most astute driver in the world. You can fill in the rest. Pads looked great, so a rotor slap and away he went.

Finished up a vacuum modulator, RR axle seal, and diff service on a '90 Ranger 2wd 2.9. I hadn't seen a transmission with a vacuum modulator in forever!

All in all, it was a steady but calm Tuesday.
 
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Wednesday
2008 Nissan Titan
Got the wheel hubs, rotors and pads replaced. I was able to remove the steering rack bracket and bend it back into shape with a vise, pipe wrench and hammer... well kind of. Got it put back on the rack but had to call a neighbor over to help me get it completely installed. Today I'm going to work on the Malibu.
 
Thursday
1966 Chevrolet Malibu
Finished the intake gasket replacement job, flushed the block, radiator and heater core and changed the oil. Customer picks it up this morning.
 
My boss and I took a load of rotors, drums, brake pads and shoes etc to local scrap yard. Our scrap man was so lazy, and ignorant he started bringing junk into our work and leaving it there. My boss called and woke him up and told him we don’t want him taking our scrap if he’s going to do his 💩💩

Thank God is all I say as the guy was totally worthless
 
Today was fix screw ups day. One of my techs that I manage had a comeback that’s almost as bad as leaving oil out of an engine. He apparently forgot to drain the oil as the plug hadn’t been touched and you could tell. He did change the filter though. The bad part is he filled the engine with the same amount of oil that was supposed to come out. This was a 5.7 liter Tundra so it takes 8.5 quarts. So the engine had 17 quarts in it. The oil change was done yesterday tech wasn’t here today since it was a planned day off so I had to end up fixing it. It makes me look bad as a manager when something like this happens. It pulled in and sounded very bogged down customer got out and asked me to look at the dipstick. I pulled it out and couldn’t believe it. And the oil was pitch black too because it was mixed. Let’s just say me, this tech and big boss man are all having a talk on Monday. This is the tech I was telling you about yesterday who hasn’t paid his Matco bill in 3 weeks. Good kid but not a good technician. I done a fresh oil change on it. I’m going to have a tech look at it on Monday to make sure oil didn’t get anywhere like the air box or anything. This is not this persons first offense either. I think a phone plays a big factor here as every time I see this tech he is face deep in his phone including while he is under the car. Yes I say something but you can’t be there every second. I’m just glad that it’s over and going to be fixed. Put the customer in a rental for the weekend. I want to leave this position so bad and go back to Subaru where I know and love and don’t have to manage idiots lol. Just waiting on them to build the new Subaru franchise and I will be going back my boss promised me.
 
AutoMechanic said:
He filled the engine with the same amount of oil that was supposed to come out. This was a 5.7 liter Tundra so it takes 8.5 quarts. So the engine had 17 quarts in it.
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Before I was an apprentice, I volunteered in a shop for 4 or 5 months to gain some experience. During that period, I did an oil change on a Chrysler and then raised the car again on the hoist so that the master tech could complete a brake job. Before he took it for a test drive, he filled the engine assuming I had forgotten, WRONG! He noticed the oil light flicker while pulling out of the bay and then realized he overfilled it condsiderably. He never said a word to me realizing his mistake.
 
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