Posted by NCWayne on September 09, 2012 at 21:55:59 from (69.40.232.132):
Spent several days last week working for a customer out of town. Here's a couple of reasons guys like me stay in business.
Customer took his loader to the dealership for some work last year and asked them about the A/C system. He was told that it needed "major repairs", without them even really looking at it. He didn't have time to get anything done right then so FF to this year when it went in for some undercarriage work so asked them to check out the A/C system while it was there. That turned into an addional 3 weeks after the undercarriage work was done. Then $3000 (new expansion valve, lines, trinary switch, etc, etc, etc) later they tell him the compressor just went bad too. He needed the machine back on the job so asked them to button things up so he could get it back to work. So, when he finds out I will work on any brand equipment, not just his CAT stuff, and also do mobile A/C work, I get asked to check it out. First thing I find was I couldn't pull a vacuum on the system, so I assume, based on the write up, that they blew the compressor seal. He had already had me buy a new compressor so I went ahead and put it on. Having to evacuate and charge the system several times would have cost as much as simply replacing the compressor so we were time and money ahead just going with the new part regardless. Got it on and tried again and still couldn't draw a vacuum, so started checking further. Found the dealerships guys hadn't bolted down the housing holding the evaporator and heating coil and as a result the evaporator coil tubes had gotten broken. A call and a bit of b!tching and they offered to replace the coil at their cost. Got it in,everything bolted up properly, the system evacuated, and charged, but couldn't get the low side out of a vacuum, and the high side was reading relatively low also. Suspected the "new" expansion valve was bad or given everything else I was that it hadn't actually been changed. So, a known, new expansion valve was installed. System recharged and I was still showing a vacuum on the low side, and the high side not quite right either. Finally started checking lines for blockages, etc and found that when they installed the new compressor suction line it was about a 15 foot line that didn't run but maybe 6 feet. The high side line coming off the compressor didn't need to run but maybe 4 feet but it was also about 15 feet long. The suction line I understood being long to allow tilting the cab for service, but not the other one. Anyway, instead of the extra on each line being neatly coiled up and 'stowed' both had been shoved back into the open space available and zip tied like crazy. Turns out they had kinked the suction line, and then zip tied the kink in it. On purpose, or just plain stupidity I don't know but either way nit paying attention to what your doing when it comes to something like that is just plain stupid. So, got that problem solved, and got the system charged and cooling and then discovered that for soem reason voltage to the A/C compressor coul drops off and causes the clutch to start slipping (probably the 'compressor failure' my custmer was told had happened. He needed the machine operational A/C or not the next day so troubleshooting the new problem will be another day.
In the end nothing in the dealerships write up on their 'repair' that makes even the slightest sense. Changing the lines with holes in them (at ground level right inside an access door) was the second thing they said they did. Why didn't they find that leak when the charged the system the first time and said they found a leak around the trianary switch on top of the cab? How you put a system under a vacuum and not find a major leak, but can charge it twice to find it. How do you charge and get pressure readings on a system when one of the lines you changed is kinked.....and on, and on, and on......Now I've got to write up a detailed recount of what I found and had to do to fix their screwups, and how what they say they did was pure BS based on what all I found (said they cleaned the evaporator core,but it looked like it had been dipped in a mud puddle and let dry)so he had some ammo to go back against the dealership to get his $3000 plus back. Oh, they 'cut him a deal' on the labor because it had been much more........ Guess that will eventually find it's way to court......
Now another case of WTF are they thinking from a second dealership. Same customer bought a bearing for another of his machines, from the dealership, and asked me to install it. Got the machine torn down, and attempted to install the bearing. It would fit the housing and shaft but it was too thick to install the snap ring. Called the dealership and was told that that was the ONLY bearing used on those machines and it had to fit. Told them it didn't so they said being it to us, we'll show you how to do it. Took it over to them and the first thing that happened was a shop guy took out the snap ring I had put into the housing to show it didn't fit. He let it go just as it cleared the housing and just missed my customers head before heading out the door and hitting the side of his truck. They proceeded to make sure it was seated in the housing (BTDT twice myself). Saw that it was so they tried to install the snap ring (I just had it in and it was obvious it would not fit into the groove). So, remove the ring again, and the brearing too this time, and break out the calipers to verify that everything was in fact about 3/32 too thick for the snap ring to go into it's groove (eyes alone just verified that fact)... So, take the bearing out again and take some pics to send to the OEM. While waiting to hear back from them, put the bearing back in, beat on the snap ring trying to get it in until it lockes the bearing down...then comment that "at least it's part way in"..... fast forward as we spent over 2 hours waiting on them to figure something out since "The bearing had to go there since, 'it was the ONLY one ever used.' The final verdict given to us was to take a grinder and reach down in the housing and grind out enough to make the bearing fit. No matter that the bearing has to seat exactly flat, since it supports a hanging shaft that will side load and break the shaft on the drive motor if it's not held flat and square to the shaft on the motor.
What's scary is what would they have actually done if they had been doing the machine in their shop and been faced with the sitiation themselves. In this case I made a few calls and found the a variation on the bearing they supplied that had identical load ratings, etc, etc and fit the application like it was supposed to fit. I later found part of the inner race from the old bearing, which had literally gone to pieces, and was able to verify that the one we found to go in it was actually the right one.
In both cases I can't believe the ineptitude of the dealerships mechanics. Both are very reputable brand names, one for tractors, machinery, etc, etc, and the other for various types of machinery like chippers, etc. In one case there is no way they did all of the things they said they did and to anyone that knows anything about mobile A/C systems it's extreemly obvious they did nothing but screw over a customer. On the other to make a suggestion that you 'grind' a housing so a bearing can fit is outright stupid, to say the least. In both cases I tried to give the benefit of the doubt on the problems until I found what had happened or was told to do something absolutely stupid to solve a problem. I'm to the point now that I'm glad I don't own any equipment that needs to go to a dealership because there is no way in he!! I'd trust any of them to do what needed to be done, and to do it RIGHT. My customer is the same way and as it stands right now none of his machines will ever see a dealership again unless I tell him that's the only place to take them due to the need for specialized computer programing, etc, etc. Oh well, given that most of his machines are pre-computer control, I just don't see that happening that often....AHHHHH Job security.....
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