1/28/2024 0 Comments Brick rigs repair vehicle![]() ![]() I offered to fix it for him, but he didn't have any confidence left in the vehicle or my ability to fix it, he was understandably fatigued by the whole thing. He was car-less at the time because of this situation. I hadn't been in contact with this friend for years when I heard about this "cursed" low-mileage car sitting in his garage, full of new parts with invoices totaling well over $1k. This is what most "mechanics" do nowadays a poorly informed process of elimination via new parts, on your dime. They replaced the alternator, the wiring harness, the battery, the starter, they just kept throwing parts at the car. Not being a mechanic or even a hobbyist gearhead himself, he kept bringing it to shops. On the subject of mechanics failing to diagnose electrical issues, I have my own story too:ĭecades ago, back in IL, a friend inherited a low-mileage minimalist Ford Escort hatchback, manual trans, crank windows, it was a great little econobox to inherit, on paper. ![]() My impression is it's rare for someone with such abilities to stay a mechanic, they can earn far more money in tech, with less exposure to hazards. Having worked as a mechanic in my youth, and worked as a software engineer in SV, the kinds of troubleshooting skills and detail-oriented attention span involved in diagnosing these issues are far more common in the latter than the former industries. but these days that encompasses more and more of what can go wrong. > It seems like mechanics really don't like digging into the electrical part of the car. It does make me tempted to learn the electronics part and open a garage that focuses specifically on fixing electronic issues in modern cars. Pretty much every car made after 2010 has coded parts and are more computer than mechanical. I don't know what I'm going to do for my next car. So, I keep a battery jumper in the glove box and hook the battery up to a tender when I can (outdoor parking). Even the Audi dealership won't touch it because they're backed up too. None of the other mechanics in my area have the equipment. My mechanic won't do it because he won't confirm that's the cause. I can't replace it myself because it's a coded part. I got out my fluke and narrowed the cause to what I believe is the comfort control unit. My mechanic didn't want to take the time to address it because that sort of thing takes a serious amount of time and he's always backed up. My audi a4 has had a parasitic draw for the past 10 years. TLDR: if you car door doesn't close, open the window :) But electric sliding doors also solve this problem, by moving slowly and letting the air escape. Some cargo vans even have vents that allow air to escape, but people tend to cover them because they don't know what it's for. ![]() I thought I was going crazy when my door was closing easily. If the windows are down or an other door is open, the sliding doors latches very easily. To properly latch the door, you have to really slam it hard. The air in the vehicle has nowhere to go, so it acts as an air-spring, slowing down the door. ![]() When the door takes that 90 degree turn and moves very fast towards the vehicle, it is pushing a lot of air into the vehicle. The surface area of sliding doors are large. There is also a third, dumber reason, at least for cargo van slide-doors. I surmise the reason we see it moreso on minivans is because 1) it is particularly difficult to work up enough energy to properly latch a sliding door, due to losses from the 90-degree change in direction at the end, and 2) violently slamming the sliding doors on a minivan is very dangerous to children's fingers. ![]()
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