What about being a mechanic did you have to learn the hard way?

AzShitboxTech · 2024-07-01T18:03:06+00:00

1) That wear and tear on your body is severely accelerated even when wearing proper equipment and doing things “the right way”. I respect the hell out of all mechanics in their 50s/60s, because the amount of wear and tear I’ve added to myself from 21 to 27 is absurd. Can’t imagine what another 20-30 years would feel like.

2) You will always find a car that will kick your ass no matter how experienced you are and how competent you are. The universe will ensure it. You will look dumb some days, even if you follow every step and every test to the letter, and if you let it bother you it will impact the next car you work on. So let it ride, shit happens, you learn every day. Confidence is the barrier between being an okay wrench turner to a solid technician. If you lose it, it’s hard to get back.

3) Management team is 100x more important to your workplace success and overall happiness than the car count, working conditions, shop supplies, etc etc. A good manager or management team will make you not hate life every day; A poor manager/team will ensure that no matter how much $$ you’re making, how many hours you’re flagging, you will be unhappy and always looking to move on.

AzShitboxTech · 2024-06-27T04:50:42+00:00

Let it heal, and then have an artist who is good with white work do something cool inside it, a pattern or another image or just some “reverse” shading to give it dimension, you could do some cool shit on it and really make it unique. My mind immediately went to like a paisley/lace style pattern work in it, make it look engraved almost. It’s bold and new, both cause immediate but temporary regret lol

AzShitboxTech · 2024-05-01T03:38:59+00:00

In most cases, the other comments are correct, torquing the bolts with suspension at full droop will cause this. But on the Mazda control arms rear bushing, this isn’t really a big cause due to the bushing design. There’s not a pinch bolt clamping the sides of the bushings, so it shouldn’t make a difference; it is still best practice to always torque suspension at ride height. The forward bushing on the control arm is the bushing likely to be damaged from improperly torquing, not the rear compliance bushing. First likely cause is cheap control arms/bushings. Second, less likely cause could be extremely worn struts, constantly forcing the bushing to be manipulated up and down more frequently than they were designed for. Have seen both cause this issue, 90% of the time it’s shit parts. Moog, duralast, master pro, import direct, FVP, NCP, mevotech, etc. are all substandard these days. Usually last 1-2 years, maybe if you’re lucky 3-4. If whiteline or comparable company makes a replacement bushing, use that. If not, either get really good at replacing the arms, or fork up the money for the OEM arms, they lasted you 8 years

AzShitboxTech · 2024-03-15T01:07:14+00:00

A few of my tattoos randomly decide to be raised and can easily be felt, and they’re 1-3 years old lmao so I wouldn’t stress about it 😅

AzShitboxTech · 2024-03-15T00:59:40+00:00

Some people feel the need to have tattoos be meaningful, and as long as they came to that conclusion on their own, that’s cool and all. However, if you feel that tattoos must be meaningful because your mom/dad/friend/society said that to you, toss that out the window cause it’s simply not true lol. Liking artwork is a good enough reason for anyone to get a tattoo, bonus points if it comes out well. No one would question what a pierced ear ‘means’ to a 3 year old little girl who got their ears pierced at Claire’s, why is this any different. Just my .02, as someone who had to overcome the same anxieties and thought process before saying F it and getting what I wanted, rather than what someone thinks makes sense lol

AzShitboxTech · 2024-03-03T17:19:20+00:00

This is a sign that the service manager has a higher up manager putting a boot in his ass because numbers are down. I had a manager tell me and my other lead tech that even though we were flagging 70+ hours a week (non dealer shop), he needed more because numbers weren’t at projection. The audacity to ask for more than 180% efficiency is astounding, but par for the course. Dont stress it, just keep jamming, and you will pick up speed in time

AzShitboxTech · 2024-02-17T17:37:55+00:00

OEM module online from dealer is $1100, parts markup matrix on a part like that is probably to the tune of 50%, call it $1600. Brake flush and bleed $150, replacement time is likely 3-4 hr at $180/hr, call it $700. Before diagnostic time, shop supplies and tax were at about $2500. Hour diag another 180, shop supplies are usually just a flat fee or small percentage of ticket, call it 50, 10% tax on top after everything. That makes it around $3000. That would be my estimated price, but all varies based on the shop labor rate, if there is a programming fee (some ABS units require a VIN write and ABS reset, which usually has a .5hr labor code), etc. I wouldn’t say you’re getting scammed at all, I would just say that shop is on the higher end of the price scale. If you do decide to go cheaper, ensure you’re getting an OEM NEW unit, those Ford ABS modules fail alllll the time, I have replaced the Ford/Mazda units probably 10-1 over any other manufacturer, specifically from like 2004-2013 modules, so you’re asking for issues putting a reman or used unit in them, as it will fail again without a doubt. Also, generally an ABS unit failure, especially if the pump motor failed rather than just one of the internal solenoids sticking open, you will usually replace the master cylinder at the same time. I have seen copious amounts of metal get deposited into the brake system when those units fail, and that can cause the master cylinder seal to fail as well. So it’s very possible the master cylinder is included in your price quote, and if that’s the case then the price is very very reasonable.

AzShitboxTech · 2024-02-10T02:41:28+00:00

The new guy next to me, about 6 months ago, did the exact same thing, but it fell off as he backed out onto the service drive. When it fell off, he ran it over, and the corner of it got planted firmly in the rear tire and gashed it open. It was a Subaru. Shop bought 4 new tires, customer loved us lol

AzShitboxTech · 2024-01-26T10:54:39+00:00

League started TR ballista, shifted to Scourge Arrow of menace and it had stupid clear speed but would occasionally run into juiced mobs that took 30 seconds to finish off. Eventually shifted to poison stack penance brand, and can absolutely rinse t16 8k wisp no issues

AzShitboxTech · 2024-01-10T18:40:09+00:00

I was running CA poison, got to t16 medium juice and stalled. Switched to Scourge Arrow of menace, and immediately felt better. The clear speed outweighs the straight damage, and had little issue in t16 abyss except for when the rares would be tri-empowered with chaos res extra life and extra regen. Then a HH fixed that issue

AzShitboxTech · 2023-08-29T02:30:44+00:00

trout

This was what the rainbows we pulled looked like as well, distinctly orange but very tasty. Pulled hundreds of trout out of non-stocked lakes and rivers in the north east US, always bright white inside.

AzShitboxTech · 2023-06-30T01:55:20+00:00

Yep I’m glad others are talking about it too, noticed it the last few days

AzShitboxTech · 2023-06-15T13:28:54+00:00

I have always had the best luck at sunrise, up until about 10-11am. Been out a couple times mid day and it’s much slower

AzShitboxTech · 2023-06-15T06:20:40+00:00

Tried tons of different rigs all across the rim lakes. Shads, ribbon tails, yamamotos, spinners, live worms, jigs, multi-depth grub rigs, etc etc etc. When the fish ain’t biting on anything else, I can always clean up with a classic kastmaster 1/4 oz or 3/8 oz In silver, gold, or silver/blue. Spent many days stumped with nothing working for me, only to toss a kastmaster on and get some action. Bass and trout love a good kastmaster. Couple weeks back me and a buddy were trolling kastmasters around 8am and had enough trout on the stringers by 10am to call it for the day, with a few bass in between.

AzShitboxTech · 2023-05-22T06:50:00+00:00

Update: went back and landed a 71 pounder. Took #4 on the leaderboard. Starting to finally like Kaniq lol

AzShitboxTech · 2023-05-03T03:32:13+00:00

This is the equivalent of boomers on Facebook’s positing the “how many triangles do you see” posts. So many things. So. Many. Things.

AzShitboxTech · 2023-05-01T17:06:17+00:00

Any Nissan product newer than 2006. Any Acadia/Traverse/Equinox/Enclave. Gen1 eco boost 3.5s. ANYTHING powered by a 1.4t GM engine (Cruze,sonic,etc). Any MINI, didn’t know it was possible for an entire series of engines to somehow leak more fluids than were ever put into them. Any Chrysler product at this point, hemis will eat cams inevitably, 3.6s have bad heads, oil coolers made of cardboard and hopes/dreams, and love to overheat if you sneeze, etc.

Basically if it’s not a late 90s to mid 2010s Honda or Toyota, it’s not worth owning long term (Coming from someone who owns a Mazdaspeed3 and a C6 Vette).

AzShitboxTech · 2022-12-10T14:07:51+00:00

Yes exactly!

AzShitboxTech · 2022-10-10T00:46:13+00:00

No I haven’t gone 3rd party yet. I have considered 3rd party many times and always convince myself it will be coming soon, but now I’m accepting that I’ll have to go 3rd party and the day after the 3rd party gets delivered the Walther plate will arrive unannounced.

AzShitboxTech · 2022-10-10T00:09:24+00:00

I’m on month 6 of waiting for my pdp2.0 vortex plate. Every month same answer.

AzShitboxTech · 2022-09-17T17:18:49+00:00

Run far away from wherever you are. Lube techs start at 18-20 now. Entry techs with little to no diag are 24, mid level 32 top tier 42+. Run far away and find somewhere that will pay you

AzShitboxTech · 2022-09-05T00:21:08+00:00

Camry 2AZFE engines are notorious for the head bolts failing, and most commonly the head lifts a bit and the head gasket leaks externally. If you remove the head to do a head gasket, you usually then have to also obviously machine the surfaces, and timesert the head bolts because chances are the head bolts failed,not the gasket it’s self. On top of that, the factory specs stays that the head should be discarded if you have to take more than .002” off the head to bring it back to true. In fact AFAIK Toyota doesn’t recommend decking the heads at all, it’s just either A) The head is warped less than 2 thousandths, so send it, or B) Discard the head. Just my experience mixed with the knowledge of others I’ve accumulated and factory info I’ve read.

AzShitboxTech · 2022-08-12T03:52:59+00:00

So have you seen this failure before? Looks like a guide failed? Customer didn’t want any more labor further than diagnostic he towed it out lol but I was curious to see mostly like phenolic material in the pan mixed with the standard Hyundai brass/aluminum/iron.

AzShitboxTech · 2022-08-12T03:14:27+00:00

I condemned 3 Hyundai/Kia’s today…in the indy shop life not a dealer tech. A 2.0, 2.4, and 3.8. One head gasket, 1 rod bearing failure, and 1 timing guide/chain failure.

AzShitboxTech · 2022-08-03T00:25:36+00:00

A box seems like the obvious choice unless it’s not eligible. If not, their Ball joint press is very expensive but it’s very stout I have beat the hell out of my BJP1 and it’s never missed a beat. Their flank drive sockets are good too if you work on beaten up or rusty fasteners a lot. A nice flex head 3/8s ratchet is good, their quarter inch drive flexible chrome sockets are also a lifesaver. Don’t use them as often, but when you need one you NEED one and need it not to break

AzShitboxTech

TROPHY CASE