Micro Mechanic

[J.A.F.E.]

Saw an ad on TV about something called a Micro Mechanic. It plugs into ODBII port and through a Bluetooth link to a smart phone supposedly decodes CEL faults, "diagnoses" the fault then gives a range of what the parts and labor should be.

It also "advises" if it's safe to drive with the current fault condition. All for only $19.95. Plus postage and a small handling fee.

Gee that should all end well. I'm sure mechanics will be tripping over themselves for this business and be delighted with customers self diagnosing their cars and knowing how much they should be charged. Will they be called scanner customers?

[GNAP]

I saw one at the Verizon store, and a few other places, they do diagnostics, speed and driving patterns (for parent to monitor kid drivers) and whatever any additional info they can mine (and probably sell).

[john k]

I think its OKay to be able to scan your ride,  O'Rilleys does it for free.   Always found the OBD II scanners to only point to an area,  a person can replace a lot of parts without further knowledge.   Sure would like to see Joe-car owner  get under his  2010, and try to replace an upstream O-2 sensor.   

[J.A.F.E.]

It's not the scanning but a cheap device doesn't replace experience, knowledge and good troubleshooting. The codes don't diagnose the failure they alert you to a failure. A code for a bad O2 sensor could be a bad sensor. Could be a bad cat, could be a lot of things including a bad connection. So someone who doesn't know any better gets a code for a bad O2 sensor and a price for the sensor and labor to install it. Off to a mechanic and armed with all this knowledge from a 20 device they bought off a TV ad they're prepared to handle the mechanic. What does a good mechanic do now? Just throw a part at it or diagnose it? What if prevailing rates are different than the data base decides is fair? What if the problem is something else? I just see this as leading down a bad path with a lot of unhappy customers and a lot of bitter mechanics.

I am of the belief most people want to do a good job and most people are honest. But I see something like this pitting a lot of people against each other for no good reason. Over at channel 3 there is never a shortage of threads about dishonest mechanics and problem customers how is something like this going to improve things?

[strik9]

Informed clients and misguided are really just a few tidbits of information apart.

    I could retell stories of how a code was triggered by three different causes in three different cars.  It took timr and a bit of effort to find the real cause.

   And to be honest owner mods before we ever seen the car especially in cooling system problems are as common as bad temp sensors.

    Crooked dealer or cheapo youtube trained owner it matters not.  We will try to make  it factory again if you pay the parts.  If not you paid us to make it even harder to fix later. 
    Blame the crooked mechanic?

   A neighbor bought a used car dealer creampuff Damlier Antichrysler era van that suffers every typical problem and temp patch that involved zero parts going into it.  It looks great but it cannot go an hour of driving without overheating or leave town.  We narrowed it down to the special solenoid that controls the fan but the owner balked on price....  he just bridges the fan circuit for now. 

   Not my problem.  We did our part.  Still the ABS code and some other details before it remotely can pass smog to get plates.   But it looks great!

   If you own any car daving money is never an option, just spending less if you get the diy stuff spot on every fix. 
    The fact parts costs are nearly always greater than labor now.  There is a car in the shop that needs a 15,000 peso compu I can change in ten minutes.  Then it needs a flash at the dealer to get it perfectly fit for 1,500 more.  But he drove it in and probably will drive it out un-fixed.

  Poor folks cannot afford cheap cars anymore.

[bonneyman]

Car parts prices are outrageous anymore!
Just had the heater by-pass water valve on the van replaced. It was cracked and leaking - could've blown the engine the mechanic said. Stupid plastic little thing - $135 for the part. And the new one is also plastic! I asked the mechanic to get a metal one even if it costed more - he said no can do, plastic is the only option. And it was nowhere in town - had to wait 3 days for one to come from LA! He said I'm lucky it's still available. Nowadays most car parts are only made for 7 years. Being the Astro is so popular someone is still making that valve. Used to be parts were made for 20 years - now only 7. Figures - with modern loan durations you're just getting the car paid off and the parts become NLA. Time for a new car! 

Geez. It was in a place I couldn't get to, so, I had to have it done.

[strik9]

Two cheapo routes on that silly valve.  Put a T fitting in its place and have half heater and half bypass or plug off one or the other and put a hose direct to heater or bypass.   My old Celeb had cooling issues and running the core full time gave me city driving back and great winter heat.  In the one season tropics the core is nulled.
   Its not right but on some models going direct knocks off a good yard of swollen  old hoses and opens up for future services.

[J.A.F.E.]

What gets me about car parts is the quality. In my wifes Buick (we no longer have) there was a plastic elbow for coolant between the intake manifold and water pump. They split on a fairly regular basis and of course the first sign was when it overheated. Dorman finally started making a metal replacement but by then the car was on it's last one.

The negative battery cable for my Explorer needed replaced a couple years after the new generation was introduced and the cable was NLA and it was only six years old at that point. I had to make my own - easy enough but the factory one would have been better. Funny that was in 2006 and the cable I made is now in the car 12 years double what the original lasted. (The battery cables are sort of mini harnesses and in the case of the ground to the battery there are several smaller grounds that tie into it.)

[fatfillup]

My biggest beef on parts is quality.  TOo much Chicrap with no alternatives.

[AnsonJ]

I bought a bluetooth reader made by BAFX off amazon and use Torque pro as the app.  About 20 for the dongle and 5 for the app.  Money well spent.  I agree with parts being a huge expense, Rockauto and Partsgeek are pretty decent for new parts.  I have even done well a few times on Amazon.

If i dont need new, we have two pull your own parts yards here in indy.  Prices are great.

AJ

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[strik9]

In the case of GM and some Asain brands China is where all OEM parts were made.  Ford and Case or Caterpillar tend to be from any and every nook and cranny. 

    A lot of older VW is Chinese also.  It fits and makes it right we go with it.

  In a global economy so many possibilities open up that when goods make it to the consumer anything is possible.
   Even good usable parts.

 I try to keep an open mind as I cannot change parts based on anything except it does not fit or function.