I am a mechanic AMA about cars

Lord Tammerlain said:

That was in 2015 that you said your were in law enforcement

Yet you are a licensed mechanic for 22 years

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Yeah I graduated Police academy in 2014 in my thirties. I had worked as a mechanic for over a decade before that. I could only get a volunteer position is it police officer so worked 8 hours a month I did mechanic work in between shifts because I had to eat the police department wasn't paying me. And I eventually left the police department. Just because I worked for the police department for lose a little under a year didn't mean I stopped being a mechanic.

Currently I'm going to school for ndt.

Yeah 22 years. I've never been licensed nobody offers license. You aren't required to have licensing in my jurisdiction. My business is licensed. But I didn't have that when I worked for other shops the shop held the license.

P.s. This is an ask me anything about cars let's keep it about cars.

CLAX1911 said:

Yeah I graduated Police academy in 2014 in my thirties. I had worked as a mechanic for over a decade before that. I could only get a volunteer position is it police officer so worked 8 hours a month I did mechanic work in between shifts because I had to eat the police department wasn't paying me. And I eventually left the police department.

Currently I'm going to school for ndt.

Yeah 22 years. I've never been licensed nobody offers license. You aren't required to have licensing in my jurisdiction. My business is licensed. But I didn't have that when I worked for other shops the shop held the license.

P.s. This is an ask me anything about cars let's keep it about cars.

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NDT Non destructive testing? A good field but at least here in Alberta they spend a lot of time away from home inspection pipelines and the like

As for cars/ trucks

Which of the 5 full size trucks have the worst record in your opinion. The how about the 5.3 GM V8 with cylinder deactivation, I hear bad things about that.

Personally I want to get a different sports car, this time with a V8. Between the Camaro and Mustang V8s (post 2015, which has the least issues)

Lord Tammerlain said:

NDT Non destructive testing? A good field but at least here in Alberta they spend a lot of time away from home inspection pipelines and the like

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that sounds like an exciting career to me. And there's a lot of companies here in my part of the state that do that work.

As for cars/ trucks

Which of the 5 full size trucks have the worst record in your opinion. The how about the 5.3 GM V8 with cylinder deactivation, I hear bad things about that.

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the full size truck question has a few caveats with the answer. Over the past 22 years of my career I would say the vehicle with the worst track record is the ram. They are notorious for transmission problems here's a caveat. In 2020 they started using Toyota's transmission. there's been some people that they had them and they have some crazy issues with them another words are recalled due to drive line failure which is really bizarre. Nissan's only been in the game for a little while. This is a huge caveat. They have in my opinion a very poor track record in my experience I've done a lot more rear end replacements on those trucks. I don't do transmission rebuilds The replacements much back-breaking work. It really all depends on the availability of rebuild kits for them I've never done one on a Titan. So given the time span that Nissan has been around I would say they're neck-and-neck with ram.

Very little complaints with Toyota and Ford. GM their quality has been slipping. There was a time when those were Dynamite trucks. Are you going to have a couple of them they were almost indestructible. I don't know what happened but it was right around 2008/2009 I started seeing some quality failing.

As far as cylinder deactivation I've only read about it it's understand it they started producing it in 2018 people with trucks that do take him to the dealership to get warranty work. I've heard of some problems with them but that's through the grapevine and I don't know how much I trust that.

I know Chevy in the 90s had cylinder cut out on some of the larger engines. It's saved on gas and then there was less wear and tear than there was on a stop start engine.

Personally I want to get a different sports car, this time with a V8. Between the Camaro and Mustang V8s (post 2015, which has the least issues)

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A used sorts car that old... It's about 50/50. Keep in mind when people buy these brand new they drive the crap out of them. But I understand do you want that sort of thing thing. Oh you Little creature comforts and interior gizmos are going to last longer on the Ford. Chevys more electrical problems as they get older and that's all Chevy's even back before they started losing quality. If you don't care about that stuff are you going to put an aftermarket things then don't worry.

If you get the Chevy definitely get one with a manual transmission if you can find it. If you don't want to shift gears and press clutch pedals I would lean more toward the Ford.

Lord Tammerlain said:

NDT Non destructive testing? A good field but at least here in Alberta they spend a lot of time away from home inspection pipelines and the like

As for cars/ trucks

Which of the 5 full size trucks have the worst record in your opinion. The how about the 5.3 GM V8 with cylinder deactivation, I hear bad things about that.

Personally I want to get a different sports car, this time with a V8. Between the Camaro and Mustang V8s (post 2015, which has the least issues)

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Active Fuel Management. There have been some problems though GM says that is in the past.

How to Delete or Disable Active Fuel Management (AFM) on GM Engines

Personally, I had a 2013 with the 5.3 and AFM, and didn't have any problems. I only kept it about 60xxx miles though and traded it on a new 2500 Silverado with 6.0 engine. No AFM on that one. I wouldn't be afraid of a 5.3 though. In fact, in January we bought another 2013 Silverado for my wife. It has a 5.3 and only 24xxx miles. I like that motor and if the AFM goes tits up I'll probably have the delete procedure done on it.

RF667799 said:

Active Fuel Management. There have been some problems though GM says that is in the past.

How to Delete or Disable Active Fuel Management (AFM) on GM Engines

Personally, I had a 2013 with the 5.3 and AFM, and didn't have any problems. I only kept it about 60xxx miles though and traded it on a new 2500 Silverado with 6.0 engine. No AFM on that one. I wouldn't be afraid of a 5.3 though. In fact, in January we bought another 2013 Silverado for my wife. It has a 5.3 and only 24xxx miles. I like that motor and if the AFM goes tits up I'll probably have the delete procedure done on it.

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I had a 2003 suburban with the 5.3 l vortec and nothing got better gas mileage than my friends Honda, of course not in headwind but I was amazed.

And I never had an engine problem with that car. I didn't have a transmission issue either until it had about 250,000 miles on it.

the only thing that caused any problems with it was when I put a k&n air filter on it. It had a problem idling occasionally it would die because the idle was too low.

The 5.3 l had a shaky past but I think that's probably one of the best V8 Chevy has made.

I also had an old pickup 4.3 l v6, it fell on its face when you got up there in speed, and towing a trailer over 2000 pounds was awful but the truck held up. It bit the dust when it took in water during a flood.

GM makes good products or at least they know how to. But their quality has been slipping. Nothing like Nissan they went from bulletproof to... Partnering with Renault.

my 20 something nephew is looking for a diesel truck
price point could not exceed $15,000 ish
any suggestions what to look for
and what to avoid?
also, what would be a good way to find a decent value diesel truck?

justabubba said:

my 20 something nephew is looking for a diesel truck
price point could not exceed $15,000 ish
any suggestions what to look for
and what to avoid?
also, what would be a good way to find a decent value diesel truck?

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Right now those aren't going to be very cheap so 15000 price range it's going to be old. But it depends on what he's doing. Hailing cargo around the lower 48 and southern Canada Ford 250-550, 7.6 if he's getting up into the North as in northern Canada I'd suggest GM.

CLAX1911 said:

Right now those aren't going to be very cheap so 15000 price range it's going to be old. But it depends on what he's doing. Hailing cargo around the lower 48 and southern Canada Ford 250-550, 7.6 if he's getting up into the North as in northern Canada I'd suggest GM.

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he is an independent courier contractor in the carolinas
i believe he is looking to be able to deliver larger/heavier loads to the carolinas and possibly occasional destinations in the contiguous states
problem is, he has no ability to discern a good vehicle/buy from a bad one
and if his uncle was inclined to loan him a bit more to make a better purchase, what would you suggest as the price point above $15,000 to go used diesel truck shopping?

and thanks for the thread. it's quite helpful

justabubba said:

he is an independent courier contractor in the carolinas
i believe he is looking to be able to deliver larger/heavier loads to the carolinas and possibly occasional destinations in the contiguous states
problem is, he has no ability to discern a good vehicle/buy from a bad one
and if his uncle was inclined to loan him a bit more to make a better purchase, what would you suggest as the price point above $15,000 to go used diesel truck shopping?

and thanks for the thread. it's quite helpful

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In the used market you're probably looking at about twenty thousand for a decent truck. If you're going to be using it commercially like that. I'm not saying you can't find deals but that price range is going to put you at a better truck. Keep in mind Diesel's last forever and people hang on to them. I would tell you to take it to somebody before you buy somebody you trust and have them go over it paying close attention to the turbo those things have a tendency to go bad if they're driven and warmed up improperly. And that could wind up being a $4,000 repair.

But please don't turn your nose up just because it's cheap if you find a really good one at 15k and surely you might be able to. If it's your first time buying this kind of thing and you have the time I would say browse talk to people who own the year models you're looking at and see what they have to say about them.

But then again that's only if you have the time. If he needs a truck yesterday then you might consider spending a little more.

The mid to late 2000's powerstroke Ford Diesels had issues with blown head gaskets and fuel injectors. I can't say about other years or other brands. But I worked at a Ford dealership in 2007 part time and the head mechanic said they were horrible engines and he had people coming back 3 or 4 tines for repairs.

F250 to F350

CLAX1911 said:

I've been a professional mechanic for 22 years. I know it says about cars but that includes trucks, and equipment.

I've discovered a lot of people like talking to be about this, so I'm inviting anybody who wants to here.

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What do ya think of the Nissan Frontiers/titans trucks?

Luther said:

What do ya think of the Nissan Frontiers/titans trucks?

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Nissan frontiers were Dynamite trucks a few years back I haven't seen newer one for repairs. But then again when people buy new ones they take them to the dealership. Titans are underpowered their track record is not so great. They have a tendency towards automatic transmission problems.

Alexey said:

give advice. Familiar, engaged in disassembling stolen cars in the garage. disassemble to the smallest detail, and then hand over for scrap so they earn their living. If the parts are in cars that can be sold for parts? so that there would be a constant demand for them while they didn’t lie for a long time, waiting for the client! they drive cars with mileage from 30,000 km to 100,000 km. Your professional point of view is very important to me.

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I'm not going to advise you on anything illegal, but a car especially as they get older are worth far more in parts than they are as a car.

Some cars are far more valuable new in parts. I often thought to myself if I ever came into a good couple hundred thousand dollars I would buy a couple of brand new Mercedes tear them to pieces and so the parts. the car you spend 65 Grand on you could turn around and sell maybe for two hundred grand in parts, of course depending on the car.

I know some people that buy used cars particularly old junkers they don't have to have engines or transmissions in them. Bill pay 200 to $500 for them and sell just the glass for 1200- 1800 dollars, take the rest and sell it to a salvage yard.