2004 Mercury Grand Marquis, 76,000 miles. The original pinion seal was beginning to leak. I took it to a reputable shop owned by a national auto club to have the seal replaced as they wanted $250 vs $450 at the Ford dealer. The new seal leaked immediately and more than the original leaving a puddle on the garage floor. I take the car back, a different mechanic replaced it under warranty. Drove it for two weeks and it began to leak again, just slower than before. So I took it to a better shop recommended to me and they said the seal was gouged during installation and new mechanics don't really know how to handle these well. This third seal has been perfect, no leaks. The Ford 8.8" rear, solid axle has been in continuous use since 1983 so I thought this would be an easy job. I would think this work would have been covered in Mechanic's Class 101 or do they not train on this anymore?
It depends how the shop is run. Maybe the boss is out playing golf all day instead of keeping an eye on the level of workmanship that's going out the door.
We're a dealership, one of our new job applicants didn't know how to change direction on a ratchet, and when told to get the oil filter wrench, he asked "What's that, what does it look like ?"
Later, we found out he was hired at Mazda.
@oldrangernut
what position did he apply for?
Mechanic. We needed 1 to replace one of our best driveline men who retired. 1 newspaper ad for 3 days, 56 respondents. We expected maybe 10. Because we had so many highly experienced applicants, we ended-up hiring 2, one for us and another for our Honda store. We learned about the kid getting on at Mazda through a newspaper story, about the same kid, "a young mechanic being injured and hospitalized when a car he was working on fell off the lift". Kid had no idea what he was doing, but the Mazda staff director hired him off the faked resume. We're a volume house, proud of our service, pay our people well, but we want and get the best by making sure applicants are as qualified as a resume says. I've been with them 19 years, and I'm considered a "new guy".
@oldrangernut
{black}:scared:
My dealership sells and services performance cars. You have never had a headache until you try to find knowledgeable mechanics who can work on Ferrari, Porsche, etc. but who can also work on Ford GT's, Corvettes, etc. And that's before we talk about custom builds, tuning, and things of that nature.
Good help really is hard to find.
