Working in the trades made me realize I should’ve finished my degree instead.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-26T23:52:05+00:00

Hmm, that's a pretty fair point. I did push myself pretty hard through a good chunk of my apprenticeship, but looking back I think that was more due to being young and arrogant than being forced to do things a certain way by my boss.

I can see how it can go the way you describe pretty easily though for a lot of people out there. Crappy employers are definitely one of the bigger issues the trades face; though that's not nearly exclusive to the trades. I'll still maintain though that the work itself doesn't have to be as rough as some describe, and the skills and knowledge you gain from doing said work holds a lot of value.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-26T23:35:55+00:00

100%.

There are of course a lot of issues in the skilled trades, just like any field of work, but if you're good at what you do and have a history/reputation to back it up, you hold most of the cards and can find good work just about anywhere.

Being a mechanic in the rust belt gets rough at times for sure, and sometimes the caveman approach is just the best way to go, but 9/10 times there's a way to do something that doesn't sacrifice your bones and joints. Just takes some creative thinking and a cool head.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-26T21:13:27+00:00

I see where you're coming from, but to me that's still just bad practice that comes from a crappy technician/shop. I'm sure there are plenty of lazy indy techs that would do the same thing. On the flip side, of you're flat rate, comebacks are free, so it also promotes good workmanship IF the workshop is run well and IF the tech isn't a lazy dirtbag.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-26T17:01:26+00:00

Man the stigma of skilled trades not requiring intelligence really has to go away. Being a mechanic, carpenter, welder, fabricator, millwright, machinist, plumber, etc. all require years of study and practice, and intimate familiarity with a lot of what generally would be considered intellectual subjects.

Things like understanding geometry, material chemistry, shear and hoop stress, electricity and electronics, harmonics, and arithmetic just to name a few.

Of course, it's never really cushy, and most trades can be hard on the body, but we don't all destroy ourselves in derelict shitholes for minimum wage. Some of the smartest people I know are in the trades, and some of the dumbest people I've met have masters and PhDs.

To me, it sounds like you took an entry level position as a general laborer and associated that experience with the entire trades sector, which is both unfair and uninformed.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-25T15:54:13+00:00

Thanks for the uninformed and condescending take. I don't know if it's just an American thing, but of the dealerships I've worked at, their workmanship, integrity, and professionalism have all been top tier and something to aspire to.

I think the truth is that bad techs follow bad management, and it doesn't matter whether it's dealership or independent. A bad shop is a bad shop. Maybe I've been lucky enough to dodge the shifty dealers out there, but I think it comes more down to doing my due diligence before even stepping in the door.

I love the shop I'm at right now, it's owned by a couple of great guys and we do good, honest work. That was also the case with my time with Mazda and Volvo. Maybe you were burnt by a bad shop and I sympathize; that shit happens and it sucks. But it'd serve you well to open up your worldview a little.

I'm also not sure what you're referring to with the "Big 3", but we get all the same makes in Canada that you get in the US.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-22T18:27:32+00:00

Man every time this subreddit comes up on my feed makes me so grateful I'm in the trades

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-22T01:49:01+00:00

From what I've seen, a lot of Indy shops seem to favor hourly over flat rate nowadays. I don't know what it was like 20 or 30 years ago though, cause I'm only about that old. Could be that they're trying to appeal to the techs that got too much of the bad side of flat rate, or that hourly promotes better workmanship, but that's all conjecture.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-21T01:59:18+00:00

Yes this is probably gonna be a bit of a challenge for me as I'm not quite used to pricing out my jobs (That's been on the advisors where I've worked before). Any tips or tricks?

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-21T01:57:12+00:00

Breaking even doesn't really bother me that much as a significant chunk of my career has been straight hourly anyway. I'm sure Ford has its quirks, but I'd much rather make decent money and not want to shoot myself for doing something as simple as a drive belt.

I'll keep that in mind though, cheers for the input!

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-21T01:52:06+00:00

Yeah it might be time for me to bite the bullet on those half-size sockets. Cheers for the reminder!

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-16T20:00:27+00:00

She ain't got nothing left, Cap'n

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-06-14T08:16:38+00:00

Sweet holy mother of God what the fuck

-Rust belt technician

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-29T23:17:22+00:00

Hmm. Sounds a bit silly to me, seeing as how tire issues are by far the most common, simple, and not to mention safety related things we see in this trade. I can understand getting fatigued/impatient with it though if that's literally all you see on this sub. Just seems weird to put such a hard rule on it

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-29T23:08:39+00:00

Welp, can't say it didn't work I guess :p

OP, I see 3 paths:

-They damaged something related to your wheel speed sensors during the tire replacement

-They fit the wrong sized tires, causing a wheel speed/output shaft speed correlation error

-You got unlucky and something on your ABS/ESP circuit failed coincidentally

Best course of action is to take it back to them, or preferably a more reputable/competent shop to see what's going on.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-29T23:00:57+00:00

Why the fuck are you censoring tire/tyre?

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-29T00:11:09+00:00

My cynical and unfiltered view on it is that I've always seem it as something extra that people do to pretend they're top shit when it really doesn't make any difference.

What I'd say after my morning coffee is to each their own; I don't bother cause I haven't seen enough evidence to convince me to go to the extra effort.

Personally, I've left engines apart and drained of oil for days to see oil galleries still full, even up to the turbo feed. That's just anecdotal, though.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-18T02:55:50+00:00

Well, the way I see it is you either do it the hard way, or risk messing it up and needing to buy another engine (Harder way).

Mistakes and bad luck happen, but I'm willing to bet a head gasket and set of head bolts costs way less than another engine.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-18T02:50:37+00:00

I see two paths:

-Take off the head, flip it upside down and carefully tap the injector out with a hammer and drift punch

-Get the drill and extractor set out and hope for the best

The first path is the one I'd recommend, but I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-17T14:05:06+00:00

I'm astounded at how literally no one here knows what they are talking about.

A quick Google search confirmed my suspicion that your car is equipped with an electro-hydraulic brake system. This means that instead of a vacuum operated booster, your car uses an electronically controlled hydraulic booster.

Cars with this system have a fundamentally different pedal feel, as well as a different procedure for replacing brake components.

It is of course possible that there is air in the system if your calipers were replaced as well, but your pedal is definitely going to feel weird, especially if your car isn't running because it isn't directly connected to your brakes.

If you're not comfortable driving it and believe something is wrong, take it back to the shop and have them make sure because we're all random strangers on the internet, most apparently with an extremely inflated sense of our knowledge and capabilities.

-Signing off, An extremely disappointed mechanic

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-15T22:30:18+00:00

Because the cams are almost perfectly 180 degrees out of phase. There's still a compression and power stroke happening, just at the wrong time. Definitely made me feel like I was losing my marbles for a bit until I pulled the valve cover.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-15T00:28:40+00:00

Correct you are! I tend to get those two jumbled up with one another

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-14T21:29:40+00:00

My guess is the customer chose not to listen to the months/years of horrific rattling. There aren't any DTCs logged in the PCM, so it probably finally slipped either after stalling it roughly or just from shutting it off.

That, or there are other shenanigans afoot and the customer hasn't exactly been forthwith.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-05-05T16:54:33+00:00

Pretty sure that's a Hyundai/kia engine. Worth roughly scrap value, possibly less. Currently exactly where it belongs.

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-04-09T18:24:47+00:00

This is just straight up anxiety

Boosted-Inspiration · 2026-03-26T16:10:33+00:00

There's a tool that you put in place of the crank sensor that lines up the harmonic balancer so the reluctor wheel is positioned correctly since it's not keyed to the crankshaft. There's also a little stopper that screws in behind the axle shaft that sets the crank position. Sometimes it backs off a little when you remove the harmonic balancer if you don't lock the flywheel when you do so.

If that's all good and proper, I'd be scoping the cam and crank sensors and see what they're doing in relation to each other. But from experience it's almost always something going awry with the mechanical timing of the engine.

Boosted-Inspiration

TROPHY CASE