There are few things that
are likely to occur in your world – or, mine – that could be easily classified
as “simple.” It just doesn’t seem to work out that way anymore. Even the
“simple” question of how far you go with regard to inspection and testing in my
world, the incredible world of broken cars… Or, more appropriately, when you
should stop when the process is complicated by the increasingly sophisticated
electronic content of the vehicle.
It’s hard enough when
dealing with issues involving highly evolved systems, but even purely
mechanical problems have become increasingly difficult to isolate because of
the way vehicles are designed and built today.
You can call it “going
for the low hanging fruit:” the easiest sale, the most obvious cause or the most
simplistic fix, but in all fairness, there is no “This is it!” popup that
appears when you’ve finally isolated the problem. When was the last time you
kept looking for your keys or that elusive scrap of paper with the phone number
you so desperately needed on it after you had it in your hand?
Is the failure you’ve
found the cause of the problem you are trying to solve or is it the result of
something inherently larger? Did something occur to facilitate the problem you’ve
uncovered or is the problem you’ve found really ‘the problem?’
When it comes to
inspection, testing, analysis and evaluation, you will never know if you went
far enough unless you take that extra step.
This became increasingly clear
last week when we were tasked with isolating an NVH (Noise, Vibration,
Harshness) problem on a vehicle that suddenly started “vibrating” in gear.
If described carefully
enough by the motorist, interpreted properly by the service advisor and
recognized by the technician, you’ve got a ‘shot’ at hitting your target. But,
‘harshness’ is a subjective evaluation that requires time, discipline and a
high level of cooperation between the person who wants the problem solved and
the professional tasked with solving it. Unfortunately, that kind of clarity
rarely transcends the physical realities of thousands of miles of wear and the
emotion of an unscheduled, unbudgeted visit to the repair shop.
In this particular case,
a fairly important piece of the puzzle: an
illuminated Malfunction Indicator Lamp (Check Engine Lamp); never made it to
the service counter. The Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) driving the lamp was
triggered by a Knock Sensor failure: the sensor’s wiring harness had served as
a late night snack for some out-of-town guests – a family of field mice who had
taken up residency under the engine’s intake manifold.
The vehicle had over a
100,000 miles on it, hadn’t had it’s 90,000 mile service and the intake
manifold gaskets were leaking coolant at the corners. Any one of these
conditions could have caused the kind of ‘vibration’ or ‘harshness’ the
customer was trying so hard to describe.
And, yet, after the
Intake Manifold had been removed, the Knock Sensor and its harness had been switched and the Intake Manifold Gaskets replaced, our technician wasn’t satisfied he had isolated the root cause of the customer’s concern.
We could have made a
strong case for cleaning the Throttle Body and performing an Intake
De-carbonization Service: both were layered with coke and carbon and long
overdue for service.
We could have suggested
replacing the Spark Plugs. They should have been done long ago. But, instead,
our tech drove the vehicle again and again to duplicate the sensation our
client was concerned about.
He wasn’t satisfied with
the ‘easy’ answer and as a result saved our client a certain breakdown and a
very costly repair. The Harmonic Balancer – the Crankshaft hub – located at the
front of the crankshaft and the bottom of the engine: impossible to see even if
you know what you’re looking for or what you’re looking at – was
literally coming apart.
Continuing to critically look
at the customer’s concern for a solution beyond the ‘low hanging fruit’ of some
not-so-obvious problems takes discipline, determination and more than a little
curiosity – elements that separate great technicians from good technicians and
ultimately assures the motorist of a complete solution, a quality repair, an
uneventful journey and a safe return home.
It’s what happens when
you go far enough and far enough gets you to where you both want and need to be.
