Looking for Some Guy Gonzo 2010
Have ya ever noticed that a lot of work shows up at the shop with some sort of story attached and the customer almost always knows who sent them to you or what the last tech has done to their car? It’s pretty common at my shop. This other mechanic seems to always be busy, sometimes too busy to finish the customer’s job completely. I don’t know who this dude is but, he gets all the work in town. I’ve never met this wrench jockey; I don’t even know where his shop is… in fact I don’t even know what he charges or what his expertise is. But, I do know his name… oh yea, I know his name, his reputation is well known, and his never ending automotive repair skills are known far and wide. Who is this genius of the auto repair world? You know him, he’s that “regular mechanic” you always hear about. I don’t know whether he is some super tech out there or just the best salesman in the business. What’s his name you ask, well; it’s none other than… “Sum Guy”. that’s the dude, that’s him… his name comes up in conversations all the time… something like this; “I had my car to Sum Guy the other day… he said my problem was this, and said you would know how to fix it.” Or when you ask, “Where did you have your car at ma’am?” and the usual answer ... “Oh, I had it at Sum Guy for a while till he gave up and said he couldn’t take care of it, I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.” And, of course my all time favorite… “Sum Guy already looked at it so I already know what’s wrong.”
Now I don’t know about you but Sum Guy seems to get around a lot. One of these days I’d like to meet him. I’ve got a few words for him for sure. He either works the customer into an all out frenzy or they come into the shop with a chip on their shoulder as if they just cured cancer. Ya never know which way it’s going to go with Sum Guy around. He can be your friend or he can be your enemy it’s all a gamble at this point.
Listening in on conversations at the front counter and sooner or later good ol’ Sum Guy will get his name mentioned. “I had Sum Guy change my brakes last week but he didn’t want to mess with the ABS system.” “The other day my wife and I were out in town when we ran across Sum Guy, he said he knew you.” Man, this dude gets around, how do ya keep up with him? He’s everywhere!
I’m going to put an ad in the paper one of these days… it should say something like; “Looking for Sum Guy who can fix cars and impress customers more than I can. Sum Guy who has all the correct tools and diagnostic equipment that I don’t have. Sum Guy with the smarts of a rocket scientist and the strength of a gorilla. Sum Guy who can be in two places at once and never-ever makes a mistake. Sum Guy that can keep a customer happy even in the worst of conditions and knows just what to say to calm them down. And, most of all Sum Guy who can do all of this and still show up to work on time.
I doubt he’ll answer the ad, I think he doesn’t want the rest of the automotive industry to know about him. I think he likes to stay in the shadows away from the lime light and keep in close touch with all his customers. He’s a credit to himself… that guy… he’s Some Guy…
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Handheld Diagnostic Tools with Jay Leno & "The Motorman"
Mechanic to the Stars and host of a Sunday morning call-in radio show on KABC, Leon "The Motorman" Kaplan stops by Jay Leno's Garage to introduce a slew of electronic diagnostic tools. CarMD is a diagnostic tool that tells You What's Wrong With Your Car And Predicts Repair Costs.
The "Motorman" has perhaps the longest running car call-in talk show heard every Sunday morning from 8:00am to 11:00am on KABC in Los Angeles California for over 30 years!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Clop, Clop, Clop Whoosh
Clop, Clop, Clop, Whoosh
Many years ago I started wearing slip-on boots to work, these days it’s usually shorts and sneakers when the weather is right. It was a habit to wear the boots just, well, because I was too lazy to tie shoes I guess. This leads to a little story about yours truly. This was a few years after I was married to my dear wife and she was running the front office at the time.
We had a call that a 300z was going to be hauled in on a wrecker. Something about a fire under the hood, but not a major fire, with a slight bit of paint damage. The owner wasn’t concerned with the paint, just get it running. When the car showed up it did have just that, a small centralized fire on the back row of injectors. I doubt it even had more than 2 or 3 actual wires burnt, the rest were just scorched a bit. I easily pulled the burnt wires apart and began checking into it further to see if I could tell how it all started. An obvious clue, the harness was lying on the exhaust manifold. Not a big deal, a simple rerouting of the harness took care of that. By the way it looked; I didn’t think it was all the bad. I thought it could start and drive into the shop. Well, why not try it. I turned the key and it fired right up, ran perfectly I might add. Then…. Whoosh… a flame shot out from under the hood. I shut the car down but the flame was still there. As quick as I could I ran for the fire extinguisher. This whole time my wife is in the office oblivious to the whole frantic situation going on just outside her door. She could hear me running back into the shop and then stop, then run back out of the door. With some quick thinking she deduced that I must have ran into the shop for only one thing and one thing only… the fire extinguisher. I wasn’t concerned with her; I wanted to put the fire out. One quick little shot from the extinguisher and the fire was out. No damage done, just a lot more clean to be done. Turns out one of the injector lines had a slight tear in it and gas was leaking out of it. I figured I better fix that while I’m at it. That’s when the real fun started.
Rushing out of the office with that look of desperation on her face was my wife. There I was standing there in full glory holding onto a fire extinguisher and the smoke still coming from under the hood.
“What just happened,” she frantically asked, “I knew what you came in for and I figured out what you were going for. You started the car on fire didn’t you?” The whole time she was standing there with the portable phone in her hand.
“Because I’ve already have the “9” dialed and I was ready to finish the call if you didn’t get things taken care of.
“Oh, it was nothing honey,” I answered while trying to sound calm and collective, “what do you mean you knew what I was going for?”
“Ya big dope,” she said, arms folded and giving me that patronizing stare that only a wife can do, “Those boots you wear gave you away, why any fool could hear the clop, clop, clop of those things. You’re not very stealthy you know. I could tell you only ran into the shop far enough to get the closest extinguisher and run back outside. You’re lucky I was here.”
“How’s that?” I asked, bewildered at her sudden concern for my dilemma.
“Because now I can tell everyone that the “great” Gonzo tried to set a car on fire,” she said with a laugh. You know, when something is funny, it’s funny, add the fact that it’s involving me and my wife has a chance to tell her story… it’s only funnier. I’ll have to give it to my wonderful wife for this one, you’re right; it must have looked and sounded pretty funny, nothing like being on the other end of the joke around here.
I’m never going to live this down. One thing my wife loves to do is find something I do wrong and tell everyone she knows. It’s like a badge of honor with her. I’m sure a lot of husbands go through this. So I don’t feel so alone in my situation. The way I see it, I figure if you’re going to screw up, do it in front of your wife. She loves the attention, and even more if it ends up where the husband looks like the fool. Yea, you know what I mean, big tough guy screws up… classic wife material for the family reunion.
Ok, ok it was a little fire, no big deal. Come on, I ain’t perfect. I called the customer and gave them the news; surprisingly enough, there was no shock or concern from them. Seems the same thing happened to them just prior to bringing it into the shop. It was, as they called it, “the old beater” and just wanted to get it running again and weren’t concerned about looks. Well, thank God for that.
I’ve gave up on the boot thing a long time ago. I’m a little more comfortable in an old pair of sneakers. I try not to do as much running these days, and of course the sneakers are not near as loud as those old boots were. One thing for sure… the wife can’t hear me running thru the shop anymore… Just have to be certain to keep the fire extinguishers in working order and close by… and my wife’s curiosity at bay till all the smoke clears…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Keep watching for new stories ... I'll try to post a new story each week.
Don't forget... www.gonzostoolbox.com Sunday evening chat 7:00 CST
Many years ago I started wearing slip-on boots to work, these days it’s usually shorts and sneakers when the weather is right. It was a habit to wear the boots just, well, because I was too lazy to tie shoes I guess. This leads to a little story about yours truly. This was a few years after I was married to my dear wife and she was running the front office at the time.
We had a call that a 300z was going to be hauled in on a wrecker. Something about a fire under the hood, but not a major fire, with a slight bit of paint damage. The owner wasn’t concerned with the paint, just get it running. When the car showed up it did have just that, a small centralized fire on the back row of injectors. I doubt it even had more than 2 or 3 actual wires burnt, the rest were just scorched a bit. I easily pulled the burnt wires apart and began checking into it further to see if I could tell how it all started. An obvious clue, the harness was lying on the exhaust manifold. Not a big deal, a simple rerouting of the harness took care of that. By the way it looked; I didn’t think it was all the bad. I thought it could start and drive into the shop. Well, why not try it. I turned the key and it fired right up, ran perfectly I might add. Then…. Whoosh… a flame shot out from under the hood. I shut the car down but the flame was still there. As quick as I could I ran for the fire extinguisher. This whole time my wife is in the office oblivious to the whole frantic situation going on just outside her door. She could hear me running back into the shop and then stop, then run back out of the door. With some quick thinking she deduced that I must have ran into the shop for only one thing and one thing only… the fire extinguisher. I wasn’t concerned with her; I wanted to put the fire out. One quick little shot from the extinguisher and the fire was out. No damage done, just a lot more clean to be done. Turns out one of the injector lines had a slight tear in it and gas was leaking out of it. I figured I better fix that while I’m at it. That’s when the real fun started.
Rushing out of the office with that look of desperation on her face was my wife. There I was standing there in full glory holding onto a fire extinguisher and the smoke still coming from under the hood.
“What just happened,” she frantically asked, “I knew what you came in for and I figured out what you were going for. You started the car on fire didn’t you?” The whole time she was standing there with the portable phone in her hand.
“Because I’ve already have the “9” dialed and I was ready to finish the call if you didn’t get things taken care of.
“Oh, it was nothing honey,” I answered while trying to sound calm and collective, “what do you mean you knew what I was going for?”
“Ya big dope,” she said, arms folded and giving me that patronizing stare that only a wife can do, “Those boots you wear gave you away, why any fool could hear the clop, clop, clop of those things. You’re not very stealthy you know. I could tell you only ran into the shop far enough to get the closest extinguisher and run back outside. You’re lucky I was here.”
“How’s that?” I asked, bewildered at her sudden concern for my dilemma.
“Because now I can tell everyone that the “great” Gonzo tried to set a car on fire,” she said with a laugh. You know, when something is funny, it’s funny, add the fact that it’s involving me and my wife has a chance to tell her story… it’s only funnier. I’ll have to give it to my wonderful wife for this one, you’re right; it must have looked and sounded pretty funny, nothing like being on the other end of the joke around here.
I’m never going to live this down. One thing my wife loves to do is find something I do wrong and tell everyone she knows. It’s like a badge of honor with her. I’m sure a lot of husbands go through this. So I don’t feel so alone in my situation. The way I see it, I figure if you’re going to screw up, do it in front of your wife. She loves the attention, and even more if it ends up where the husband looks like the fool. Yea, you know what I mean, big tough guy screws up… classic wife material for the family reunion.
Ok, ok it was a little fire, no big deal. Come on, I ain’t perfect. I called the customer and gave them the news; surprisingly enough, there was no shock or concern from them. Seems the same thing happened to them just prior to bringing it into the shop. It was, as they called it, “the old beater” and just wanted to get it running again and weren’t concerned about looks. Well, thank God for that.
I’ve gave up on the boot thing a long time ago. I’m a little more comfortable in an old pair of sneakers. I try not to do as much running these days, and of course the sneakers are not near as loud as those old boots were. One thing for sure… the wife can’t hear me running thru the shop anymore… Just have to be certain to keep the fire extinguishers in working order and close by… and my wife’s curiosity at bay till all the smoke clears…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Keep watching for new stories ... I'll try to post a new story each week.
Don't forget... www.gonzostoolbox.com Sunday evening chat 7:00 CST
Friday, September 17, 2010
New Ford Explorer with EcoBoost
John Davis and Pat Goss talk about Ford's new Explorer for 2011 with EcoBoost. Listen by clicking on the link below.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Dave Rock's Redneck Rollercoaster
Those of you that follow this blog have seen Dave Rock explaining how things work and practical fixes that you just might not find in a book! Well here is another one, perhaps Dave's most famous video's as he describes how he made the Redneck Roller coaster several years ago. Being a machinist sure helps with these projects.
When your done seeing the "how to video", then view the video at the bottom, which really shows why it is named "roller coaster! Yes , it is driven from way up top!
When your done seeing the "how to video", then view the video at the bottom, which really shows why it is named "roller coaster! Yes , it is driven from way up top!
Friday, September 03, 2010
Replace piston rings in a kawasaki commercial mower
Have you ever wondered what would it be like to replace the piston rings in your lawn mower or small gasoline engine? Well, this week Dave Rock shows us the procedure in this lengthly video.
Goss & Gonzo on the Radio show
Pat Goss had Scott "Gonzo" Weaver on the show recently and they talk about gonzo's book, and other auto related matters " The Title of the book is
"Hey Look! I Found the Loose Nut!" which can be bought at
http://www.gonzostoolbox.com/Buy-iit.html
"Hey Look! I Found the Loose Nut!" which can be bought at
http://www.gonzostoolbox.com/Buy-iit.html
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