dealership failure

[blaze]

I am not going to name the dealer (so dont ask), one reason is that I am in tassie and the problem has been rectified, well sort of.
As most would be aware I purchased a 18 tohatsu some months back and must say that I am totally happy with the performance of the motor.
Took it in to a dealer (about 150km away) to have the first 10 hr service done, commented at the time that I was happy with the service and cost. Put the motor back on my tinnie when I got home and promply forgot about it all packed away in the corner of the shed. Happened to be looking around there yesterday and the folling pic is what I found. the engine has been tilted for the sake of the photo and thankful it has not been started since the service.
I suppose the purpose for this post is to not be to trusting (I know we should be able to) but after any work just run your eye and maybe a spanner over you treasure outboard/boat.
cheers
blaze

[SeaHunt]

What am I looking at? Something with a hole in it?

[blaze]

enlarge the pic and look at the nice fresh oil comming out of a drain/filler plug that is in about 1 1/2 turns, very close to total gearcase failure.
cheers
blaze

[SgBFish]

Blaze.
Is that the oil drain bolt missing?
Scott

[wags on the water]

My thoughts are people just don't care anymore..If a mistake is made it's just oh well......she'll be right sort of attitude. It's not good enough.

My 2cents

Wags

[SeaHunt]

Yep I see.
I find it really hard to trust them, I had a similar experience with my 60 4st. Merc.
I had it serviced and for the next few months it seemd to leak oil onto the garage floor after using it and washing it down, I could see no obvious place it was coming from. Anyway next service I decided to do myself, I went to unscrew the oil filter and it nearly fell off in my hand.
Dodgey stuff considering you could get stuck out in the middle of the ocean.

[Wahoo]

My thoughts are people just don't care anymore..If a mistake is made it's just oh well......she'll be right sort of attitude. It's not good enough.

My 2cents

Wags

thats right Wags
same thing happened to my mates Ducati >:(


Blaze, did you give them a call and let them no, bit of feedback dont hurt
i know it can happen and it does, but for some reason the last so many years its becoming more and more of a problem

[blaze]

thats right Wags
same thing happened to my mates Ducati >:(


Blaze, did you give them a call and let them no, bit of feedback dont hurt
i know it can happen and it does, but for some reason the last so many years its becoming more and more of a problem
Had a very, very lenthy discussion with the dealership in question, no screaming matches or any thing like that. A positive outcome has been achieved
cheers
blaze

[Wahoo]

[/color]
Had a very, very lenthy discussion with the dealership in question, no screaming matches or any thing like that. A positive outcome has been achieved
cheers
blaze

good to hear Blaze, at least they no now

[disorderly]

Blaze,

Finding a good servicing dealer for both car and boat can be a problem.(and can change as old employee's move on and new ones are hired.)
A few workshops I have been in lately for car ,boat, mower I have spent a little time lurking around as I live out of town and its not worth going home and back.
My main concern is with the responsibility given to young guys/apprentices or workers who seem not to care to much about your pride and joy.
I'm sure many are good but in many instances they are training themselves on our expensive motors.
I was horrified when I looked across the workshop recently at a young guy trying to put the leg back on an out board.He didn't really seem to concerned about lining it up before pushing it on,just kept slamming it up until he drove it home.Glad it wasnt my motor.
The auto mechanic I use now is great because he or a single offsider are the ones that do the work on the vehicle,and so can also advise that other things need doing or might need looking at soon.
Trouble is there is always about 10-15 vehicles around the workshop and you have to book well in advance.
I think when my E-tec needs its first service I will make an excuse to be present.

Scott

[nedoleboy]

had exactly the same problem with my yam 40 4str when i got it home from $300 service.dont know about your tohatsu but the 2 gearbox oil screws have gasket material washers on them and once tightened they compress and are virtually useless when used again.he tightened up the screw and the washer broke into pieces ,after a week i noticed a drip on the floor.went to yam dealer and bought a dozen for $2.50.@.do my oil changes now.ned.

[joeT]

Had a similar problem when having my car serviced. They left the radiator cap just sitting on (not tightened). Lost all coolant and engine overheated...

[Big G]

You guys have definatly hit the problem on the head...... it's not the dealership that is at fault it 's the slack Ausie worker who does not give a rats about his responsibility as a worker. Australia is full of slack lazy drug induced "workers" that are being paid good money by the dealer principal to do a good job on your pride and joy......... you don't have to be a fully qualified tradie to perform a perfect service. Any junior who works in and around engines can do the job correctly, The majority just don't care. You can gurantee that the slack rock ape who left the oil drain bung loose has been trained correctly but he just could not give a rats about quality.
Until we as parents produce better quality children and we teach children respect at school, the workforce will be filled with second rate workers....35 years of teaching apprentices has taught me that there is not enough good quality respectful youngsters for the technical trades to keep producing quality tradesman.
Even the majority of the new generation tradesman who now have to start training our new apprentices are of poor quality, drink too much, don't respect machinery, don't have pride in their tools, don't ever give any extra to the boss, always have their hand out for a freebie, often late, have no dress code, work in a dirty manner and don't realy care about work...... what chance do our kids have of reaching the expectations of genuine customers.

Why do we employee them you say.......cause that's the best our Australian culture has produced ... there is no one else.

The few good tradesman that are still evolving out of this mess need to be congratulated by all. Most tradesman are not worth the standard award rate they suck out of the boss every week, while on the other side of the coin a good reliable, dedicated tradesman should be paid twice as much.

What can we do about it?

Big G.

[blaze]

Hi Big G
I am one of those slack aussie tradesman you talk about but I do take pride in what I do & I do it well. I have been employed by a small to large business in the past to self employment (where you earn what you are worth). I have been instructed in the past by those dealers do do things to customers gear that would make you hair curl. So dont be so quick to have a go at the guy on the spanner.
The problem arose in my case because of an emergency, And as I explained to the dealer that does not excuse the sloppy work. But we have sorted out the drama. As I pointed out in my first post, I put it up to make people aware that just because they have had work done it doesnt hurt to keep ya eyes open
cheers
blaze

[Big G]

Blaze,
I'm sure you take pride in your work and you would be worth twice what you are being paid....congratulations.
I never have a bad word to say about good quality tradies as they are priceless.
I associate with several on a daily basis...... I'm on the spanners every day myself ...I am a duel trade qualified worker...Qualified A grade mechanic and also Qualified engine reconditioner.

The comments about the average Ausi worker in the Automotive trade still stand. I'm very passionate about it.

Big G.

[Wahoo]

Big G
you are 100% correct, i have had a GUT full of trying to employ aussi workers ( bricklayer)
the thing is they are getting paid top $$$$$ and only work when they want to work, pay them on a Friday and you wont see them till tuesday or wednesday, they dont give a rats ass on the contract, if i dont finish on a certain date im the one that cops a fine


a good mate of mine has just started employing Asian workers, he has 3 ATM and getting another 8 more, and i for one am going to do the same thing i dont care what PPL say on this matter the only ones that will have a dig is the ones that have never had to run / own a bussiness and have no idea on how to run one

Daz

[blaze]

work ethics must be different in the big smoke compared to tassie, I know we havee some really good tradies coming up through the ranks
cheers
blaze

[nigelr]

Interesting point, Big G.
Is it true that motor mechanics' award pay rates are very low?
Is it a case of paying peanuts and attracting monkeys?
When I was a wage earner many years ago, my boss would pay above award to dedicated workers. Basically, he paid more, he expected more, and he got more!
As a self-employed contractor, I find some people prefer a low cost job, others prefer to pay for quality, if I want their money I must be able to satisfy both types of clients.
Totally agree with comments re cars and boats, when putting them in for work, its' a lottery! A good mechanic is (almost) as priceless as a good doctor, but thats another can of worms!
Wahoo, as a small business operator, I can understand your comment entirely.
There is no way on earth I would ever bother taking on another employee, I have learnt to appreciate the idea of total responsibilty/control over my business. When I reach the point of having more work than the business can handle, I turn the excess away.
You have my sympathy mate for what thats worth, it's a sad commentary of todays' Australia.
Cheers.

[Big G]

Blaze,
I'm sure your are right, I've been to Tassie and it reminded me of the mainland about 20 years ago, people are very polite and helpful and that could only reflect back through your children......then the apprentice.... then the tradesman.

I'm afraid I don't agree with employing people from overseas unless they walk through the door and demonstrate the high skill level I expect.....
I have been approached to sponsor them but have refused.
Yes the award wage is quite low for mechanics and reconditioners... a reflection as to what the public are willing to pay for repairs and reconditioning.
Some good mechanics I work with are paid up to 50 to 80% more than the award and worth every penny of it.
To manage a business in Australia a manager has to have a lot of extra checks and balances in place as I have. The problem with leaving engines or transmissions over full/ under full and leaking from drain bungs can only be addressed by having one of your super tradesman recheck all the services.... this costs time and money and has to be borne by the business.(rightly so as customers should not be penalised because some workers are slack)
After forty years in the same trade you have seen just about all the pitfalls so good management attempts to cover all bases with checks and cross checks.( it's called QA)
A good manager is not in the office 100% of the time. He should be in the workshop with spanners doing checks and developing better work practices to eliminate any failures. The manager has to also be able to teach by example, both theory and practice.
Well that"s how I have come to eliminate the drama of working with Australian "she will be right mate" attitudes. With a few good people like Blaze we get the job done right the first time.

Many thanks Blaze,
Big G.

[Mad-One]

All comes back to the so called do gooders who say you can't smack your kids and the teachers can't cane you and so on. Bring back the bif and teach the young ones some respect. Good hiding never hurt anyone

Mad

[wessel]

I work in an industry where a small mistake can end you up on CNN where the picture will basically be of a big smoking hole in the ground.

This week again we had to conduct a full investigation into a near miss event.

Basically, we are in the process of starting up a really big piece of machinery. (5 story high compressor turbine - the world largest at the moment until the competition bring theirs online in 2 years time.) During startup they noticed a very slow rise in pressure in the one return line. Something is not tight in that line and we have to check to find the leak before we can continue. Now to get to the control valves in that line involves a scaffold company erecting an access tower for you, a confined space procedure, lots of educated and experienced manpower bla bla bla bla. This is big money, and we are loosing money because the machine is standing still. You get the idea I hope.

Now to get a better idea of the type of trades people that are employed in this and other similar organisations. You are not even looked at if you do not at least have a mechanical engineering degree as a minimum. The department managers hold at least engineering degrees and an MBA as a minimum. Well educated, very experienced.

With all that, we lost pressure in the line becase when the control valve was re-instated originally - the person who installed the valve did not bother to tighten the hard to reach bolts at the back of the valve. On investigation, it was possible to undo by hand 4 of the 12 bolts :o Mechanical engineering qualified, well educated, very experienced gitt could have blown us up because he was just too lazy to tighten 4 bolts that were hard to reach.

He should have been locked up in jail in my opinion, but no physical harm was done and he only got a warning letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now if that can happen in a highly regulated industry with educated people making those kinds of mistakes, then yes I can believe that the mehcanical industry is in trouble and we as the end users will just have to cough up for the mistakes of others.

Wessel

[Bob H]

big g you aren,t a pommy by any chance are you,just curious. bob h

[Big G]

tru blue mate... born on a farm at 8 mile plains 1951..guess u r 1 of the "workers" who get paid to tighten up bungs but leave them loose..... I guess it's hard to concentrate cause you have one think to think about......the rule is leave it out, or if you screw it in it must be tightened.
now that's not hard to remember.

Big G.

[Bob H]

no i am not one of those workers ,who dont tighten up the bungs,nor do i only have one think to think about, or could it be one thing to think about, brings me back to the days of when i was an apprentice, spent the first 6 months sweeping the floor, and being constantly told by the tradies, who were mostly pommies how lazy the australians were, thats why i asked if you were one,because you remind me of them,no wonder the kids of today have no self esteem, getting shitbagged by the likes of people like yourself,called druggies( cant go back to find actual words or will loose it again) and for a one finger typer thats a bitch,most of the time the kids are just cheap labour,treated like shit,what would expect. give them a fair go and they might surprise you . bob h

[Bob H]

no i am not one of those workers,i retired 5 days ago after 45 years of hard work.
bob h

[Big G]

Bob I'm living in the real world.... I love teaching kids, most of my apprentices have ended up good tradesman and are leading successful and rewarding lives. ..... but to day I'm struggling to get kids that have a licence as 50% get caught for dd or road rage offences and are disqualified from driving. Drug use is a fact and you don't have to be an expert typist to know that most young boys drink under age and smoke dope. Almost every young man we employ we have to teach him personal hygine and good manners..... knocking on a closed door even has to be addressed and explained in detail... fair go, you have your head in the sand if you think I'm wrong.

Had 4 boys of my own, two that I trained as engine reconditioners and one that is close to completing a chef apprenticeship....sadly my other boy was killed at 13years old. The first two worked with me for over 15years each.

I train and support kids who are said to be adhd and the like. I know that selfworth is the most important aspect of a young persons growth. I'm excited about teaching young people the trade for good parents who bring up children with good personal habbits, respect for the law, respect for rules, respect for others.

I'm sorry if the facts as I experience them make you loose it, but that does not change anything. I appreciate your point of view. Just for your information a 17 year old working as "cheap labour" as you describe it costs a business over $500 a week for the privilage of teaching them. These kids and parents have to start taking their role in society seriously and we would all be better off.
....... especially the customer who pays good money for the drain plug to be
re- washered and tightened correctly. ( unless you want to just teach them how to sweep.)

over and out,
thanks,

Big G.