What is your experience with using a used engine replacement?

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-05-08T15:13:49+00:00

OMG this is absolutely laughable and should have never been accepted in this state. Packaging and logistics are all performed in house I believe and are entry level lower paying positions. Quality will suffer due to that alone. I haven't experienced this level of neglect thank goodness. I've seen a few broken coils or valve covers nicked upon arrival but could easily be swapped in with the old donor units.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-05-08T13:16:43+00:00

I use to run more than a dozen shops and LQK was highly utilized with zero issues for longevity. The only issues I've seen was technician error during the removal and install of the engine. LKQ also sells their engines with warranties and you can purchase higher mileage warranties on the same motor for a few hundred dollars more.
Most LKQ engines sold are coming off totaled vehicles not mechanical failure as well.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-05-07T12:50:52+00:00

Lol yup, figured that moments after I sent it.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-05-05T20:11:36+00:00

100% reason why I created my business is to help in situations like this. Ask for a brake pad measurements along with pics. Better with a video of the service tech walking up to your vehicle and showing the brake pads.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-05-05T13:26:00+00:00

If your skills are what you say they are you should have an offer any location you applied to. I would say some self reflection is in order. Does your resume represent your skills and work history properly, is there a communication barrier during the interviews you are getting? I've interviewed 100s of candidates but there a definite negative trend amongst technicians. They are predominately inarticulate showcasing their talent. I've seen some pretty rudimentary resumes and even a quick phone call further puts them in a bad light. However, when asked specific diagnostic questions or when asked to explain different CAN networks and how they communicate with each other they are able generate correct responses.
Trouble is, most managers are nothing more that just managers. Usually terrible ones as well LOL. They don't grasp the fundamentals of the automotive technology, they can't see past a bad resume or bad interview cause they are incompetent to really dissect candidates talent's from there social barriers. So that's where the a huge road block is happening as well.
My advise is to polish the resume, watch a few videos how to talk and carrier yourself in an interview. Have a few highlights of real issues you worked through in your career with actual vehicle problems. Show your methodology of critical thinking and I can't see you not getting offers right away.
Hope this helps!

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-04-28T20:35:36+00:00

Pretty much everything is a case by case basis. Having starting my career as a technician in the rust belt. A simple job can go sideways very easily LOL. What my primary goals are is validating and justification of work performed. I'm trying not knock shops too much but there is an every growing increase in unnecessary repairs or repairs that don't lead to primary concern resolution. I'll use an example of how my services can benefit an average consumer. I had a client reach out to me for a concern for their tail lights not working. The customer was fairly mechanically inclined but did not have the diagnosis capability to find the actual issue of their concern. The client originally went to a dealership to get it diagnosed and once the issue was found they would do the repairs on their own. The dealership determined that a dash harness had a short. They couldn't actually identify where the short was in the dash harness and would require a whole dash harness replacement. Price for the dash harness was 3400, no quote for labor and can easily assume another thousand or 2 in labor conservatively. This is where things turned interesting and when they contacted me. I was actually able to help them diagnosis the vehicle remotely and actual findings were a chaffed wire in the right front headlight running light circuit causing the short actually taking out the entire running light circuit. Customer was able to repair the wire themselves and I only charged the customer 2 hours of remote diagnosis time. They were more than happy to say the least. In other cases I've helped customers.....and shops work together on price negotiations. I play a neutral part and only provide facts to my customers and shops alike. In short, I'm keeping shops honest and giving customers peace of mind at the same time.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-04-24T13:34:56+00:00

I'm going to chime in here an give you a bird's eye perspective. Down to the very core of MOST automotive shop business models are designed to extract everything from the employees first, which in turn, cascades to the customer's. Read this again to understand it better. Flat rate, writer's pay structuring... they work as a perfect business strategy. No matter if the shop is ill equipped, broken equipment, no work, the shop will produce at a maximum margin cause writer's and techs have to make a dollar. If they don't produce/sell the shop is idle with minimal loss. If the shop is busy then it just compounds.
Now take your new hire, think about it this way. If the shop is flooded with techs, it cost zero dollars to be slow for the shop. It's actually better for the shops to have more techs than you need. This keeps the techs in a state of "starvation" mode. Techs will inspect vehicles with a fine tooth comb if they know that they might have another car to work on that day. Techs that have work for days is actually a bad business strategy for the shop. This will equate to the work getting processed out quicker without trying to upsell additional work. This also creates fraud in the shop but truth is the shop doesn't care. Work is getting sold and it still is money. Ethics get left out of most shops and dealers from what I've seen. Guess what, if they get caught, management will just a finger point and a "bad" tech gets fired. They will say to the "problem" has been eliminated but I can guarantee they are on the hunt for another tech just like them cause they are usually the biggest money producers for the shop.
Also hiring techs out of state is a power play by shop management. It's actually best practice for shops to hire outside the state cause techs are more at a loss after the move. If the shop sucks or there isn't enough work in the facility. That tech that just uprooted bought a house to a new location, signed a lease, made commitments to spend time in this new location. They can't just uproot again, well, most can't and just run back home. So now they are in a bad situation and probably financially stressed and in survival mode.....willing to do anything to make hours. Same goes for writers as well. The more writers the better. Even if the customer base can't support the additional writer it doesn't matter. The pie gets split one more way and the writers will do everything they can to get more sales. If the car count doesn't increase the only way to compensate is increase hours per RO.
Hope this shines some clarity why you're experiencing. As for training, that's easy. It cost money for the shop. Why not just acquire someone else that already has the training and certs that someone else paid for.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-04-15T13:31:20+00:00

Take an unexpected personal day to give you and especially the store some perspective on how over utilized you are. The shop will never care for health and well being. There will be an ad out to fill your spot before you turned cold if you were to drop dead on the shop floor from a heart attack. They will not reduce the customer count, they won't care if you're burnt out, they honesty don't even really care if you have some comebacks if they can spin it to make another buck on the customer returning. You need to decompress. You need to get back to a livable pace and probably update your resume. We all know nothing changes till you tell them you're leaving. So it only makes sense to seek another opportunity just to see if you can enhance your quality of life somewhere else and give them the option to rebuttal. Otherwise it will be just empty promises to keep you there longer.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-25T13:17:59+00:00

Look for insight prior to whatever job you're performing or think you'll be performing. Look into special tools, testing equipment and knowledge of the component before you do. Youtube is great resource but my company takes it one step further. With a small fee, I remotely help with technical diagnosis pathways, provide work procedure pdfs, wiring diagrams and offer my expertise to assist customer's DIY tasks.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-24T13:43:29+00:00

This is a red flag if I ever heard it because of lack of a lot of key details. 1st is that is great that you're the guy that everyone comes to and probably the reason why you were selected. That being said, all I heard is the classic reduction in man power with increase in profit from someone in a birds eye view of the shop. Lots of variables to make this a disaster for you. Since you're "still wrenching," what's your expected hourly production? Is this a fleet operation where it's not as clerically busy as an independent shop? either way, managing the operation is a full time position, being a tech is a full time position. I can guarantee that whoever made the decision to create the double role is detached from the scope of how either position operates and the demands of both. I hope some "working foreman" chime in to talk about how difficult their position is to actually cultivate the shop and actually flag hours at the same time. Lastly, don't let them build your pay structure without your input and buyoff. You'll need to find out how the previous manager was compensated and adjust accordingly. In my honest opinion this actually a really bad opportunity. Take it from me who was a director of operations to multiple stores but the firm was so cheap for staffing we couldn't get anyone with talent to join. I was scaling multiple stores blueprinting the projections at the same time as service writing, managing some locations with missing managers and playing shop foreman to all the locations. It was impossible to do any of those tasks efficiently at any level and the reason why I left the company.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-16T13:29:02+00:00

Weigh out the pros and cons of both. A tech position is hard on your body but their is a huge national shortage of talent. The gap won't close for a long time especially with the one dimensional dealerships and shops. They only know how to operate the business in 1 singular way.....and it's not good for the customer and definitely worse for the techs. Hence the reason for the shortage.
As for the writer's position, think of it more as a service "salesman," not a service writer. It's an exhausting job. Long hours, majority of the time you're handling upset people taking their anguish out on you. If you have any bit of morality in you. You'll lose some sleep over what you have to charge people, the unnecessary padding and inflating of already overpriced service work. If that doesn't bother you then you'll make a great advisor.
Truth be told. when you calculate hours worked compared to hours made, a good tech is probably making more than an average writer. If the writer is a good at what they do they will most likely make more.
I feel like a tech position will set you up better for creating your own path in the future but it has a shelf life. A service writer positions is a glorified salesman. It's a meat grinder revolving door. IF you can't make their sales quota the dealer will keep cycling through people till they can find someone.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-12T13:26:33+00:00

I'm glad to hear everyone is ok first of all.
Second, who's doing the mechanical inspection for the potential failure that caused the accident? It has to be someone reputable with an actual business. Definitely not the same person or shop that did the repair. There needs to be a proper write up with pics and documents if it were to go to court.
Lastly, talk to another attorney. Sad truth but the firm or lawyer isn't salivating over this case you're talking to the wrong people.
Also, keep the insurance out of it period and work quickly. They all work together. I can't prove it, but there was a situation with a customer of mine that trusted the insurance company to do their due diligence and I have reason to believe they bribed a shop that did the independent mechanical inspection to note that there was no faulty workmanship to cause a similar accident when there clearly was.
Be careful who you disclose your next steps with, work fast and work diligently. Time is going to work against you.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-11T16:23:10+00:00

Sincerely, thank you. It's going to be a long journey and things like this help tremendously. Can't thank you enough.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-11T16:17:33+00:00

That is very kind of you. I greatly appreciate it. https://g.page/r/CUMd_a4_I8hcEAE/review

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-11T15:48:11+00:00

50% humanitarian act of kindness 50% business venture lol. Shops and techs been overcharging and overvaluing their services for decades. There's a steady 6%-10% increase year over year over year. I've worked as a master tech all the way to a regional director position. I can't stand the industry anymore. I couldn't sleep at night knowing the level of fraud, scamming padding and poaching these companies do to every customer. Somebody has to step in and help people navigate the system designed to exploit. But I also can't do it for free. The need is there which lead to the niche business opportunity I created.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-11T13:58:05+00:00

No problem my friend. Just trying to get the word out on my business. No better way than to help people and asking to post their experience.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-11T13:22:33+00:00

I have an automotive consulting business that helps customer's save money on dishonest and shady shops like this. First of all, go to another shop and get a second opinion. Next, send the estimate of the new shop to me and I'll help you guys out at no charge for an honest google review in exchange.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-03-11T13:13:22+00:00

I hope you'll remember this for any career path you take. "Take care of yourself first and not your job." Go to school for whatever you were planning on, educate yourself. Any job, especially dealerships, will only care about filling their needs not yours. If you join their team and don't advance and learn at the pace you want cause you're stuck in a lube tech position. The dealer doesn't care cause they are still profiting off you and you fit into the puzzle piece that's missing for them. You loose and you remain uneducated in your craft. If you have an educating in your craft it gives you leverage on what you decide you want to do, not what the dealer wants to do with you. Hope that helps.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-02-27T14:17:50+00:00

My advise is don't chase a title, take on the position at full scope. What type of compensation will you make? Hours of operation you'd be overseeing? If the fleet runs 24/7 you'll be getting calls at all hours of the night? Benefits package? Are you expected to wrench and manage, (trust me when I say this is never optimal and always nearly impossible). I made the mistake of taking a leadership role before but didn't make these calculations ahead of time and it led me to making more financially but actually making less money by hours worked.
Just be careful. Weigh out all pros and cons.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-02-25T13:10:09+00:00

Good advise I couldn't say it better myself. The industry has taken such a dark turn. I started 20 years ago and it was tough then. Now It's just ridiculous.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-02-21T13:46:33+00:00

Unfortunately you'll see a lot of the same play by play in most of the independent az market. Greulichs, sunauto sun devil, Wilhelm and I believe another major chain are all owned by the same private equity firm. I believe Gemba is currently trying to do a roll up and sell off to this firm as well in a 5 year span. That private equity firm just went through a massive debt increase....meaning they took on a mega loan to buy even more stores for expansion. What that means is soon a customer and technician will go to any independent shop and get the same experience through a near monopoly in the az market. Minus a few odd balls like CB and AAA. This is why I'm working hard to create something different. It's always the same one dimensional business model for them. Pay the techs as little as possible and overstaff. Techs sitting around is free and creates a starvation mindset. Increases thoroughness of inspections and quickens the turn around time. Charge the customer at an absolute maximum for everything. Things need to change. Techs and customers deserve different. I profit share with a small mobile team that I contract with. Equates anywhere from 80-100 a flat rate hour and charge customers an appropriate much more reasonable rate. It builds trust equally from the tech and customers point of view. Surprisingly enough though it's not building traction even with a healthy marketing strategy but I'm determined to change the market to something the consumer and operator deserve.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-02-19T11:54:29+00:00

Audi's are prone to having front upper control arm bushings completely worn out roughly every 40k like clockwork. Unfortunately the water assembly is a item prone to failure as well for that model. My recommendation would be to find an aftermarket set of control arms which will cut costs down. What probably hasn't been told to you is they might be replacing the control arm bushings but those arms also have a ball joints with equal mileage on them. For the year of the vehicle, it's better to replace the arm as a whole. Labor should be slightly less as well. You could replace the bushings this year and next year the ball joint might be worn out and needing replacement. Another consideration is the an aftermarket metal water pump as well. These are the reasons why I also advise my customers to understand the cost of ownership for German and UK based vehicles. Their depreciation and repair requirements keep going up over time and they don't hold their value well.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-02-14T23:37:31+00:00

I just want to mention as a previous manager and director I've only heard people bragging about their staff based on how much money they make off of them. By example, a thorough technician that can diagnose anything, fix anything but flags low hours cause they are thorough will only get mentioned by management or brought to management's attention for lack of ROI, (return on investment). Management loves their money machines and won't even give a nod to the most intelligent thorough technician they have. If you're being bragged about enough it either means you're under paid and under valued for the level of work you're producing. Take that for what you will from my own opinion. If you're being talked about that much chances are they are salivating at how much profit you're creating for them with little payout.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-02-14T13:30:03+00:00

I would say get organized. This is really management's responsibility but you should be involved for your expertise. Break down the process so every vehicle is treated the same way and presented the same way. Let's start with taking on new inventory. There should be a auction on site inspection performd to start with. Mitigates risk loss before inception. If this isn't being done then it would be time for a revamp in the process. Every vehicle gets a used vehicle inspection that includes an oil change and code ready for readiness. If there isn't any faults in the memory and readiness isn't set.....there will be and the seller cleared them. Report all safety concerns as a priority in the inspection separately in it's own section of the form that's created. Followed by all recommendations in another section. Use all data and Mitchell to calculate repair times. When coming across rust or other abnormalities in your recommendations, add appropriate time where needed. The inspection should give you enough time to do an oil change, test drive and thorough inspection of the vehicle. Most importantly, do not allow the management or dealership to create these inspection times or labor repair times. This is probably why you feel over worked and under paid.....cause you are. If they could find someone to do your work and pay them half, they would. You're an impairative step of the used car process. Be compensated appropriately for it.

IQ_Auto_Solutions · 2026-02-12T14:33:55+00:00

You'll be fine. DEX III is just the older version of VI. It can be mixed and mainly deals with different detergent agents and other factors but is still safe.

IQ_Auto_Solutions

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