Also, it appears the first thread is damaged, so it was either cross threaded or dropped and damaged, causing it to stick, causing you to apply more pressure. Brass is soft, so be gentle.
Always use tape or sealant on the threads, and put it in with your fingers. Then snug it up with a wrench, not a socket. Reason is, as you've discovered, the ratchet can cause an angled load and then snap it off.
Book times are the average time it takes for three different skill levels of mechanics to make the repair; beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Two things can get you going faster than the book time. 1, you've done it before, and you can fly through it. 2, you use a shortcut. This can be good or bad. Sometimes the manufacturer steps are not the most efficient way to do the job, and there is honestly a better way. Sometimes, jackasses will cut past important steps, screwing the customer over in the long run. Not to mention. Most vehicles have different engine options. And engines go in different vehicles. Let's say the manufacturer lazily copies the book time to do valve covers on a dodge challenger with the 3.6 liter pentastar engine to be the same as a jeep wrangler with the 3.6 liter pentastar. There is a huge difference in the time it takes to do those jobs. Sometimes the mechanic gets the short end of the stick, sometimes the customer does. It balances out. But any shop would be stupid to absorb those losses and forfeit the gains. If you quote less time to do a job than you should, and ANYTHING does not go according to plan (very common in this line of work), you've just shot yourself in the foot and given away skilled labor for free. So there is your answer. You have not uncovered some sinister conspiracy to sperate customers from their hard earned money. You have just realized the flaws in an imperfect system that ultimately is designed to be the most fair for both customers and mechanics. I could talk all day about the pros and cons of flat rate labor. But the most important thing at the end of the day is the integrity of the mechanic and the quality of their work. P.S. "I've always finished my jobs in less than half the book time". I hate to hear younger techs brag about this. And old heads never do. If you can do a simple alternator and maybe the serp belt in half the time flagged, that's great. If you are consistently cutting the book time in half, every single time, you are cutting corners. Have you resurfaced every part that is meant to seal fluids? Have you lubricated and replaced every gasket? Torqued all of your fasteners to the proper spec and in the proper sequence? If you repaired a leak, have you cleaned the engine of any residue so that the next guy who looks at the car doesn't recommend the exact same repair to the customer? And have you road tested and reinspected the vehicle to actually verify that you have made a proper repair? You can skip all of this to save time, but it WILL reduce the longevity of your repair. And that screws the customer over in the end. Sorry to rant. But there is more to this than just turning bolts.
@@ChrisLim-if4rk I quote based on the job. Sometimes if I know the job will take longer/ is more complicated on a certain brand, I will include that up charge in the quote
Book times are set by the manufacturer who isn't making any money off of the repairs. If they could justify quoting less they most certainly would, like they do with warranty work. Also, if you really are always billing double the hours you actually work I think you'd be working in a shop and not the street lol.
I took the key tumblers out of my ignition in my ignition still locks still works fine still hold the same key and you can’t put another different key in it tumblers inside
Or you just just take another 90 seconds to remove the 4 column bolts to lower it down to gain the clearance to drill the security bolts instead of butchering the lever carrier...
Well, have you ever done work on a car from the northeast? 40 minute jobs turn into four hour jobs when a bolt snaps. It should average out. New tech takes longer. Paid for your experience and a little bit of luck.
This plastic piece is hidden and everything clips back on with no issues. I showed the customer what I had to do beforehand and he agreed to it and said “this cars a beater, no worries” lol
I think the book time is an estimate for if you have to follow the book. If you’ve done the job before and know how to do it, often you can do it faster cuz you’re not constantly going to look at the steps. Book times are generally an estimation of time for people who don’t know how to do it from memory, but a lot of shops will charge by the book time instead of the actual time
In collage they always told us to not put anti seize on spark plugs because it could cause carbon tapping, but I told the teacher I’d rather have carbon tapping and switch one spark plug out rather than pulling the whole head
Instead of anti-seize, go with NGK plugs. They have a special coating that will resist corrosion while working as a release agent without messing up your torque specs. You could also try an extended backtap to clean up those threads before ramming another one in there. Reshaping the threads will save you a world of problems. I have a long plastic tube to start these without cross-threading them.
