My car wouldn't start in the cold and they banged on something and it started

[Clare Snyder]

When I ran the service department at the dealership I did a LOT of diagnosis - and a lot of teaching my guys how. - the latter with somewhat limitted success.

[Xeno]

FFS, if you have a customer with an issue, diagnosis is the *first step* in the process of effecting a repair. That's no different if the car is under warranty or out of warranty.

Obviously different from this end of the world - and from when I worked in dealerships. I can take you to any dealership here and there will be a *factory trained technician* on staff, usually someone quite experienced with the marque and, usually, more senior. I have even attended advanced dealer technician training courses run by the factory/importer.

FWIW, any trained mechanic, one who understands how the various systems work, and has experience with said systems, should be able to diagnose faults.

FWIW2, I dispute that Ford/GM/Whomever is happy to pay to replace the short block several times. The dealer is paid to fix the problem and, hopefully, not by shotgunning. Shotgunning seems to be the methodology utilised in your neck of the woods. I'm glad I don't live there.

Some of the dealer training courses I've attended were in response to

*feedback* from the mechanics on the shop floor. In fact, many of the TSBs issued by the factory/importer were as a direct result of faults diagnosed at the dealer, *fixes* established by the mechanics at said dealers, and the information relayed back up the chain to the factory/importer to be relayed throughout the dealer network.

As I said, I'm glad I don't live in your neck of the woods.

[The Real Bev]

A friend's kid is that guy. He started out as a traveling bicycle repairman, was plucked out of that really good auto repair school in Riverside (I think) by BMW to go to THEIR school. Eventually he became the top BMW in the US (and the trophy to prove it) and was sent to represent the US in the world contest in Germany. The Germans always win, but the test is to put a new (not yet released, not just unused) disassembled engine together while explaining what you are doing to a proctor. Not sure how 'win' is judged -- probably by time since I can't imagine any of the contestants being unable to do that task. Became chief mech for the dealership and then service manager, which he found boring. Now they send him to diagnose difficult problems all over the country. I think he's 55 now. Not too shabby. His dad still would only drive a BMW because of the discount and the free repairs.

Is it snarky to say that I don't think this situation could have happened if he'd been hired by Toyota? :-)

[Xeno]

It does happen like that at this end of the world.