18 year tech here (39yo w/m) in NW PA, aka the rust belt. I own all my own tools. I started at a shop on January 21st 2022 at $18/hr plus insurance (no cost to me besides co-pays and all the other BS). I recently had to add my daughter to the plan, which is almost $300 a month. I do managerial tasks at work besides the head tech. What amount should I ask for as a raise? My plan is $3/hr more and a tool allowance, poasibly a clothing/boot allowance too. How much should I be asking for, before I talk to the boss?

Hello all, have an hunter rx9 scissor lift alignment rack in my shop. Looking for directions on how to perform a calibration on it.

Thank you!

Hi all, I've been out of the car game for a while. A friend is looking at the 2023 and 2024 Buick Encore AWD. I think it's a 1.3T and 9 speed auto.

I don't have any experience with them, can anyone chime in an speak to their reliability?

I've been an automotive technician for about 18 years now and I'm done. I'm very much beggining to loath the job. It's not agreeing with sports I juries either.

So I'm at a loss where to go. I was thinking of moving over to service writer for a dealership(gets paid more then I do as a tech). I don't have sales experience but I have a ton of experience in dealing with customers. As well as mass amounts of computer knowledge(could be an it person if I wanted).

Anyone done this? Is it hard to switch from one to the other? What are the things I should know about before hand?

Hey, So, we all know that there are the occasional sticky-fingered shop mates who either forget to return a borrowed tool, or just help themselves to a tool on a permanent basis...

I'm curious what you all do to mark your tools?

I've seen spray paint, but that comes off with solvents regularly found in shops.

I've seen people etch their tools, but that's time consuming, and doesn't work on all tools.

I was considering getting a custom run of those tamper-evident stickers made that, rather than saying "VOID" when peeled off, they say something like "NICE TRY, FUCKER" but that would cost a LOT of money.

Personally, whether it's in a mount or holster or not, it seems a but irresponsible to me. I get a bit annoyed when I see it. What do you guys think about it?

I go to a parts store to get an air filter. (Starts with "A") I go back to the filter aisle to find the filter in the book, same as I've done for the last 30 years, only to find they took the books away.

Go to the front desk and ask, the guy starts doing that year/make/model bs. Other shenanigans happen, I end up leaving with wiper fluid because they couldn't come up with a relatively common air filter.

I go to a second auto parts store, different one, but also begins with "A". I'm excited, I'm telling myself that this store won't screw this up like those other clowns. I get inside, lo and behold, they also took away the books! I ended up finding the part I needed with the Amazon app and finding myself.

Why are they adding friction to the sales process? The books worked for decades, why are they f*cling with it?

But my boss was on vacation and doesn't know about it yet lmao. I had to go over him to his boss (technically his boss's boss), who gave the raise without hesitation. Most of the people I know in the industry locally know my boss and I don't want the possibility of ruining his vacation.

If I manage the same number of hours over the next year, it will be almost a $20k raise.

Everyone party w/ me pls. 🎉🥳

I’m a team leader at my dealership. I have 14 guys on my team. This summer has been insanely busy and I’d like to do something for my guys to show I appreciate all of their hard work. In the past, I bought them lunch, brought in cookies that my wife made, and got them pint glasses. What can I do to show them that I notice all their extra effort?

What do you call the red caps that auto wreckers use in their used engines or other parts to stop fluids from leaking out?

I want to order some for when I have hoses off, and I cant find them online.

Thanks!

Posting for a friend that owns a euro specialty service shop.

Last week he was hit with a $5000+ chargeback through his credit card processor (paypal). The advice I gave was to find any documentation on the transaction he has, and proceed through the avenues paypal makes available for dispute resolution. (kind of obvious and not super helpful)

Transaction backstory: About 2 months ago a younger woman brought her Audi in with engine trouble. The resolution was a salvage yard engine and assorted new parts to make a reliable repair. Before work started he got a portion up front for the parts costs which was paid for by the car owners stepfather. Shop owner called and spoke directly with the stepfather following paypals rules (as he understood them) for processing a transaction over the phone. He finished the repair and got final payment through the same method at the end.

Fast forward a few weeks and the 2 transactions are charged back. Shop owner contacts the customer where she claims the stepfather's card was stolen and many transactions were cancelled. Stepfather of customer also responds to calls to give new CC info. Shop owner processes new transaction for full amount of job (on new card) and go's about his life.

Another month go's by and the single large transaction is charged back. This time instead of being marked fraud its marked as item not as described. Shop owner can no longer reach the customer or the stepfather that paid. Paypal has been very little help (no surprise)

To me the entire process seems like someone trying to get out of paying. Does anyone have wisdom to impart on resolving this situation or avoiding problems like this in the future?

I just stumbled upon r/justrolledintotheshop and I find it kinda interesting.

I really like watching the Videos by HVACR Videos. I just like comprtent guys explaining stuff they do a bit while telling stories of weird cases they encountered on the Job.

So my question is: Are there similair Youtube channels more related to automotive mechanics and stuff?

I enjoyed watching a YTber I followed randomly playing something like car mechanic Simulator and revealing He actually had a (German) Meisterbrief.

Thanks in advance. Sorry for Any weird formulations, not my native language ^^'

I work as a tech at a German car dealership in and works been spotty lately. We got called into our service managers office to be told we are losing our bonus because the dealership hasn’t been making money and this is their way of avoiding layoffs.

He told us “flat rate is your bonus”

I flag 50 hrs or more a week and I was always hitting my bonus so this feels like a pay cut.

I’m making $34/hr as a tech living in a high cost of living area. My rent per month is half what I make. I haven’t gotten a raise in two years, some of us more.

Is this really just the way it is right now? Can anyone give me some advice? Should I stick it out to see if things improve or look elsewhere?

When I connect to acdelcotds website, it can't read VIN. New PCM needs to be programmed but I can't continue because software cannot read VIN off of new PCM. Any advice?

Can I get some people to weigh in their thoughts on this subject?

Hey everybody!

I used to be a tech and all my power tools were pneumatic. I'm shopping around and already got a massive Impact wrench for very stubborn bolts as well as 2 small impact hex driver (with 1/4,3/8 and 1/2 square drive adapter.

This leaves the usual 3/8 tool that I would loossen and fasten things like 1/2in to 3/4 bolts without me wrenching all the time.

There seems to be new electric tools that are electric angle impact drivers

Since I already have Makita LX batteries, I would like to know which of these 3/8 tools is better suited as you go to tool

Option 1: 3/8 impact wrench Option2: angle impact wrench Option 3: 3/8 cordless ratchet

I understand the Impact wrench has a lot more torque thus would be used with extensions so I don't have to carry the 1/2in impact wrench to use at it's lowest power however it takes space that a ratchet doesn't in some places.

The ratchet runs on 12 volts so not sure if it needs an other charger. Also it's rather weak(35lb/ft... IIRC air ratchets have 80 max torque)

Angle impact has complaints about non blocking square drive so I can't use it as a ratchet if I'm dealing with bolts that should be easy to loosen.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

I used to work at a tire shop and now have some garage space of my own. I'm looking to get my own tire machine and have found some ads on CraigsList and Facebook marketplace for some of the tire machines that I was originally used to.

Anyone know any difference between the Hunter Engineering TC325, TC350, TC3250, and TC3500 models?

They all appear to be the same.

Hey y'all, this is my first post in this sub and I had a couple questions I was hoping to have answered. As the title says, I'm looking to do a little professional development. I'm in the automotive side of things with zero certifications and I'm not quite making what id like to make. I work for a smallish shop in southeast Virginia and we see mostly 5 to 20 year old cars that primarily fail state inspection with a healthy helping of "my car is doing [insert problem or bad rendition of bad sound)", and occasionally we get something older and cooler. Our service advisor is a previous tech, the "lead tech" has only been in the automotive side for a decade and previously was in heavy diesel, the FNG who actually has quite a bit of mechanical knowledge but next to zero diagnostic capability, the owner who practically has one foot in the grave, and myself, who is a decent all rounder with a slight weakness in diagnostics.

Again, I want to make more money than I currently am, and feel like my skills and knowledge are stagnating.

What are some free/inexpensive resources online I can use to promote self betterment that I can use either at this job or a different one?

Where can I find dealer level (or any legit) training on hybrids? We currently don't take in hybrids and I feel like that will cause our shop to stagnate in the market and I want to try to at least get ahead of the curve on that.

Where can I learn more about light duty diesel diagnostics and repair? I worked at a previous shop where half the shops customers were ford 6.0 diesel owners and I know quite a bit about them, but dont know jack about a 6.4, a dirtymax, a 7.3, or a Cummins. Every time I see a 6.0 in our shop I ALWAYS pop the hood to check if anything seems out of place or is leaking, because I KNOW some things about them.

I know youtube is a wealth of knowledge, but I dislike wading through bullshit videos where the person yammers for 10 minutes at the beginning about their self promotion bullshit just to end up not having anything of substance in the whole 30 minute video.

Prior to covid, we were slotted to have classes to start this year, but covid hit kinda hard in March and classes were cancelled indefinitely. I understand that classes may be few and far between, but I would love to get mkre classroom type training. "Ok, today we're talking about the [insert vehicle subsystem]. Ford and Chevrolet do it this way, land rover has this weird ass shit, and toyota does this other shit. Here's the similarities, heres the differences. Here are the common failure points, and heres how to test them." Sweet, simple, meat and potatoes type shit.

Please, does anyone have any recommendations for anything that can help me get better at what we fucking do? I feel like ive found all the [engine, transmission, electrical, whatever] theory videos, and I've found all the "how does "X" work" videos, I feel like I need more year make model specific stuff so that I get stumped less and so that I can become the guy who everyone comes to with questions sooner rather than later. I see the news in our industry, the older experienced guys leaving and fewer new guys coming in, and I want to get that competitive edge so that if an interview comes down to me or some other guy, I get the job.

TL:DR; I'm almost broke and I got the yearning for some learning, found all the basic stuff, craving more substance. Need resources please.

I found a company that has rates for shipping toolboxes/furniture. Do any you have tool insurance? If so, who? Anyone have recommendations for shipping my box and belongings?

Its just the harbor freight 44" box, but I definitely have at least $8k of tools in it.