Welcome to Stories of the Mechanically Declined! Every month, we ask for stories from our technician pals which highlight the need for drivers to understand their vehicle, how to maintain it, how not to maintain it, and how it works.
This month’s story comes to us from John Kennard, an automotive technician in Mississauga, Ontario, who recently worked on a Mazda Protégé dropped off after hours by a customer who had attempted, and failed, at a DIY repair.
“RAGEQUIT” is a common term amongst gamers. It’s defined by Wikitionary, in part, as the result of a puzzle that gets too hard, and frustrates the player, causing him to quit in a rage. That’s just what happened to subject of today’s story.
The moral of this month’s story? It’s okay to DIY – as long as you can finish the job, and you know what you’re doing. Attempt your own DIY repair and leave your car in a half-dismantled mess for your mechanic to sort out, and you’re opening up potentially pricey can of worms.
This story also illustrates another point of frustration for many a mechanic, where shoppers drop their rides off after hours with minimal, if any, instruction.
The gist? The customer in question had attempted their own alternator repair, damaged and dismantled numerous other parts and systems in the process, given up, and dropped it off at Kennard’s shop to have the repair completed properly.
The Complaint
Photo of a Mazda B6T engine
“This one was a mess,” Kennard says. “We had this older, low-mileage Mazda Protégé dropped off for a no-charging issue. Seemed simple enough. But upon closer inspection, the customer seems to have tried to change his own alternator, screwed up a bunch of other stuff in the process, got angry and broken some things, and dumped it off for me to fix.”
Sometimes, a customer bites off more than they can chew, and mechanics like Kennard are a backup plan.
“No, it doesn’t hurt my feelings,” he laughs. “Everyone wants to save a buck. And some car repairs, for the right person with some knowledge and the right tools, are fairly simple. Thing is, this customer didn’t have the know-how, or the right tools. Apparently, he didn’t have great communication skills, or patience, either. Plus, I can almost guarantee that if I have to repair something that someone else tried and failed to repair first, it’s going to be more expensive.”
Kennard says that the car was dropped off after hours on a tow truck, with the keys left in the drop box in front of his shop. There’s a little envelope box, with a pencil inside, so customers can leave a note indicating which vehicle the keys are for, and what work needs to be done, as well as leaving contact info.
“But this note just had a few words scribbled on it. I couldn’t read the whole thing, but what I could make out was that something was wrong with the alternator, and it wouldn’t charge.”
Kennard began working on the Protégé once it arrived in his bay, and quickly realized he was opening a can of worms. The customer had been midway through trying to replace the alternator himself, before throwing in the towel, ragequitting, and having the vehicle towed in.
“But he made a hell of a mess in the process. The power steering pump was halfway off, one of the lines was broken and leaking, and one of the bolts that holds it in place was totally stripped. The alternator adjustment bolt was broken too, and some of the wiring to the alternator was damaged.”
Kennard speculates that the customer had become angry with the vehicle, and treated it roughly when he was unable to complete the repair it himself.
“This fella had yanked on a lot of the wrong stuff, really hard. There was even a broken oil pressure wire, since he had been pulling and forcing the wiring, probably because of clearance. With the right tools, this isn’t a hard job, but this customer was trying to work without proper equipment, got really angry, and accidentally broke a few things. The stripped and broken bolts on the alternator and power steering pump brackets, and the power steering hose damage, are telltale signs of a novice repair attempt by someone who got really hot-headed.”
The Outcome
Eventually, Kennard replaced the damaged bolts, repaired the damaged wiring, replaced the damaged power steering hose, and properly reinstalled the alternator and power steering pump.
But there was still a problem.
“The alternator that was partially installed to the vehicle looked like a new unit,” Kennard says. “But turns out, it was the original. The customer never specified that the alternator needed to be replaced, he simply said it hadn’t been charging the battery. So, we assumed, given the look of the alternator on this lower-mileage vehicle, that it was a newer, slightly used replacement unit. That wasn’t the case.”
After patching the customer’s car up and repairing the damage caused by his botched repair attempt, Kennard then had to order a new alternator and replace it.
“The clock is ticking the whole time. This was the customer’s fault. If you’re leaving your car after hours, you’re best to leave a detailed note for me, or to call the shop in the morning and talk to me on the phone before I get started. When you leave a note with instructions, but leave important details out, we get problems like this.”
Ultimately, the customer came back for his ride, and had to foot the bill for the parts and labour to repair several damaged items (bolts, power steering line, wiring), the installation of the bad alternator, its subsequent removal, and the purchase and re-installation of a new unit.
“I felt bad for this fella,” Kennard says. “Young guy, trying to save a few bucks. He had no heated workspace, and minimal tools. He tells me he figured he could tackle the repair in his driveway on a warmer winter day, but it ended up getting dark and cold, and he got frustrated and nearly frost-bitten, and winds up trying to force things you shouldn’t force, to speed things up.”
All this vehicle needed was a new alternator installed, which would have cost about $220, using a second-hand alternator from a parts recycler. But the customer’s bill wound up being a little over double that amount with all of the unnecessary labor and replacement parts, not to mention the tow-truck bill.
“If he’d have taken it to us in the first place, he’d have had a lot less stress, and a few hundred extra dollars in his pocket,” Kennard adds.
Lesson Learned
There are two important lessons to be taken from Kennard’s story. First, if you drop your vehicle off after hours, call your mechanic in the morning, or leave a very detailed note explaining what the ride needs.
“Every week, people drop cars off after hours with little if any instructions, no contact info, and an empty gas tank, which means I can’t road test the vehicle, which I need to do after certain repairs,” Kennard says. “If it’s cold outside and you’re ticked off because you messed up fixing your ride and you don’t want to leave a note, that’s fine – just pick up the phone and call me in the morning. It can save you money, in a case like this.”
The second lesson? Don’t tackle repairs you’re not qualified to tackle – especially if it’s cold outside, and you don’t have a garage, or proper tools. “Changing an alternator on a car like this isn’t hard. But it is a lot more difficult if you’re trying to do it with your bare hands at 12 degrees below zero, without any shelter or heat, and without proper tools. If you’re going to repair your own car, you’re best to get a repair manual and handbook and give it a good read, to make sure you have the skills and tools to do it properly – otherwise, like this fella, you’re probably going to wind up paying for it.”
