never trust a dealer

[Paintman]

Air Shift

Hey Prom yup they had a sep Vac assist that came off the vacum pump. they were interesting to say the least i used mine for a hunting vehicle LOL i would leave it running in winte whenver i went shopping.
John

[prometheus578]

"This was back in 1979 and this one was mint..."

Belonged to some Chicago political bigwig who was a friend of my boss at the time.
He was taking quite a risk bringing his Mercedes to a gas station for repair.
I mean.. you know what they say about service stations and those young punk mechanics who've never seen a vacuum assisted shifting system before!

Ok, ok let's let it die.
HAhahahahah

[Axel]

hijack and lojack

Ya . Thanks for totally hijacking my dealer hate thread guys.

[Paintman]

It Sucks

LOL Prom worse car i worked on was Audi 4000 with vacum acuated door locks. i must have replaced every piece of rubber hose in the car Owner had more Money than sence.
<-----was just a Punk kid back then lol

[GNEPIG]

Quote:
"I have a '66 Chevy van - three on the tree. ;-)"


I used to have the 66 Chevy van also, it looked like a dog house on wheels= I loved that van, shoulda never gotten rid of it. I bought it from a now defunked motorcycle gang up in CT for 200 bucks, back in 1991. Yep it had 3 on the tree, it was so worn out that if you didn't have any kinda finese, you had to pull over and climb under it and unstick the linkage. So did the 68 GMC van that I bought back in 1981. And the 69 Chevy van I owned in 86, had 3 on the tree.
Now all I gots is an 86 Astro.

Sammy Johns:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf40aGhYs2o

[prometheus578]

Thanks for the memory of popping the hood and unsticking those damned "Puppet Strings"

OK, Axel... we dealer mechs are done now. You can have your thread back.

[Axel]

mee too

Its funny . I had a 70 Chev 1/2 ton with 3-on -the-tree and had to unstick the linkage, sometimes, so I can relate .

[red bandit]

I had a 74 Dodge 1/2 ton 3 on the tree, had to pop the hood and unstick the linkage if you didn't have finesse.

Back to slamming dealers. My local Yami dealer would tell me he could get the part I needed Tuesday. Didn't matter what day it was. It usually took him 2-3 months to get anything for me. I haven't been back for 3 years or more.

[prometheus578]

Dealerships order parts once a week to keep shipping costs down. (If you go in and order a part on Wednesday... they will add it to their order that they call in on Friday.)
They can usually tell you what day their deliveries come on. Manufacturers come on Tuesdays... "Tucker Rocky" parts come on Wednesdays, "Parts Plus" is delivered on Thursdays, etc. Of course, this also depends from what delivery warehouse the stuff is coming from. How soon the distributor can deliver the parts depends on their shipping system and what they have on hand. It has nothing to do with the dealership.
Some parts are on "back-order".
Again... that has nothing to do with the dealership. They can't sell you what they can't themselves lay their hands on.
I've ordered parts for older Kawasaki's and had to wait weeks, too, as the parts were in the warehouse... in Japan.

And no, they can't keep every single part, for every single model, on hand in their storeroom. Dealerships have to pay distributors for parts... in order for them to have the parts to sell to you and get their money back.
Inventory costs money.
Here's one of three pallets of "dealer bought" tires going back to the distributor when the shop went under. Quite a lot of money invested just so some customer could have his tires "right now!"

It usually took him 2-3 months to get anything for me.

It also may have taken the dealer 2-3 months to get anything from you. Quite a lot of parts are ordered... and never paid for.
Now.. I'm not saying that you're like this... I mean... I'm just sayin'.

A lot of people also order (and pay for) parts... yet after repeated phone calls and messages, never come back to pick them up.
I can't understand that...
( but that "free" windscreen on my XS850 sure looks good!)

[red bandit]

I understand what you are saying Prom. No problem with that. At this place anything that has to be ordered is paid in advance, no problem. They tell you their supplier has it in stock and IT WILL BE HERE TUESDAY. I have even had the owner call me and tell me my parts are in. I get there and the parts guy says...nope not in yet. I ask the parts guy why did the owner call me? I don't know... he does that. I know not all dealers are like this. but this dealer stinks. I go to my Chevy dealer and never get this.

[prometheus578]

Red Bandit...
I know of what you speak. Not all dealerships are the same.
I've ordered Suzuki parts from the dealer in the next county... rather than step foot in the dealership down the street.
I was getting a lot of Suzuki work from them... as customers refused to take their bikes there.
Was a high volume dealer... more concerned with "new sales" than service.

[fredintoon]

4 on the tree

Hi Paintman,
had a young fellow come to see me about bike parts. He drove up in an Austin A55. Hey, I said, I had one of those back in England, what do you think of it?
It was given to me. Cost me $3 to swap the registration. Waste of money, piece of crap (and on and on) Well, I sez, it's only got a 1500cc 4-banger and it's quite heavy for that small a motor, what don't you like about it?
It'll only do 55mph, it drinks fuel like a fish, reverse don't work and it don't even have a spare wheel.
May I try it round the block, just for nostalgia's sake?
Sure.
So we both get in, I back out of my driveway and take it up to 70mph. The kid's jaw is hanging open. Back to my place I explain.
This is a 4-speed column shift. You were driving in 3rd all the time. What you thought was reverse is in fact high gear which is why it stalled out when you tried to back up.
Reverse is by pulling the shifter knob out then swinging the shifter down like this. Now let's open the trunk. Take this long skinny cranking handle and shove it in this pocket then crank. See the bomb door under the rear bumper opening? See the never-been-on-the-road British Dunlop spare inside?
Well bu**er me, he sez, who'd'a thought it, what a neat car, I gotta show my buddies. I got one hell of a deal on those parts.

[jeffe]

I knew that my 78 would need carb work when I bought. I also knew that I would probally need someone to do it for because of several reasons. No garage, live in a condo and I can't have a nonworking vehicle there for very long, not much extra time, and because of my uncanny knack of taking a carb and making it ten times worse by just touching it. I called all the close Yamaha dealers and was told..."bike sat too long will never run right"..." we don't really have anyone that can work on it"... "Impossible to get parts"...etc. I was lucky enough to hear about George at Westerville Service center. He only works on old Japanese bikes. I brought it in. The first thing he did was run a compression test and take it for a trip around the block. He wanted to make sure that the engine seemed to be in good shape and the rest of the bike was not a piece of junk. He cleaned and synked the carbs and I have not had a bit of problem with them since. He has also done some other things for me that would be impossible for me to do in the parking lot of where I live.
He has always been upfront and very helpful. If I have a question he always will take time to answer it even when he knows that by helping me out he won't get that business. His biggest problem is limited space . He always has people that can't wait to get their bike fixed, need a rush job done , bit then don't pick them up. Their are good mechanics out their, you just have to find them.

[red bandit]

How about a positive note.
A couple years ago I needed a new fuel cap for my Stihl chainsaw. I ordered a new one, the salesman asked if I wanted him to ship it direct to my house as to save the gas and the trip to his shop. Sure, I gladly paid for the shipping, it was cheaper than the gas for the trip. When it arrived it was the wrong one...GRRR. I went back and was not a jerk about it and he ordered the right one and when it was in... he drove to my house and delivered it personally. This was the salesman not the owner..OUTSTANDING.

[prometheus578]

Hell, I had one guy call up...
Wanted to bring his bike in for service, but couldn't get it to stay running.
I loaded up some tools and rode out to his place and got it running for him.
He became a shop regular.

Good story, Fred.