To think that I'm better than a computer and a team of mechanics!

[MargoLivebetter]

This is potentially a dull tale for those not mechanically minded - but I can't work out whether I feel pissed off and / or vindicated or both.

When I took my car in for its service and MOT, I said to them, I think one of the cylinders is mis-firing slightly. I said that if felt like the car is "pinking" or "knocking" and when idling the revs are too low. The mechanic chuckled and said "oh, we haven't used the term 'pinking' for years now, but yes, well take a look". He wasn't at all rude, but equally I couldn't help wondering that if a man had handed in his car reporting those issues, if the mechanic would have chuckled and been quite so dismissive.

Pick up the car after its service and asked about the mis-firing. Chap smiled and said "oh, yes you were asking about "pinking" weren't you" again in a slightly dismissive 'silly little woman' way. Well, he said you'll be glad to hear that the computer didn't show any faults in the engine. I queried it and said but at idling speed the revs seem too low, as well as the sensation of mis-firing. He replied saying that the car passed its service and MOT with flying colours, so all was well. As in - shut up & go away now!

Roll on two months and the car sounded considerably worse, so I took it back. Well, wouldn't you know one of the cylinder coils is mis-firing and needs to be replaced!!!! I did remind them that I had reported the mis-fire two months ago and was told once again that the computer hadn't reported any faults.

I'm not a car enthusiast but my long dead father was and I paid attention and picked up lots of useful information. Over the years I've fixed various things and diagnosed various issues myself and yet I can guarantee that when I go into a garage and try to discuss my car in a more technical way other than "its making a funny noise" it is like I'm speaking a foreign language. Grrrrr, we need more female mechanics and maybe some thinking outside of the computer diagnostics!

TBF I've known men be dismissed in exactly the same way. So yes it could have been sexism, but not necessarily (and the managers at both our local garages are women).
But there seems to be a computer says yes/no attitude to everything these days. Obviously you were right in this case!

How likely were you to agree to change the coils when you first raised the issue? Sounds like the fault was intermittent and without a code to diagnose which cylinder was at fault there could have been some labour charges to identify which one was at fault / check spark plugs and cylinders condition etc.

Most customers probably would not agree to this until a code comes up on the ems, regardless of sex.

My late husband could strip an engine and diagnose/fix most things (diesel engine). Garage mechanics were just as dismissive of him as you. He’d order parts and fix things himself and tell them he’d done so when he had to get it MOTd and they were astonished, but still only react to what the EMS said. So no, it’s a sign of the times really more than misogyny.

The problem wasn’t inconsistent, it was constant. Given the coil and spark plug change was relatively inexpensive, I’d have rather had it done two months ago. The car will have been running inefficiently all that time.

A misfiring car is unlikely to make it through an emissions test and combined with a lack of misfire data I think it highly likely that most mechanics would come to the same conclusion.

"Given the coil and spark plug change was relatively inexpensive, I’d have rather had it done two months ago. The car will have been running inefficiently all that time."

There was nothing stopping you insisting on a spark plug and coil change if you felt that strongly about it....

Did you notice any change to the long / short term fuel trim?

@Walkdeneven though I had identified a problem, I didn’t know precisely what the cause was, so it would have been difficult to insist that the garage do work, when I wasn’t exactly sure which cylinder was mis-firing - or if it was even that. There are a number of things that can cause mis-firing. They were insistent that the computer said everything was fine.

Yes, I did notice that the car was less fuel efficient and also lacked omph. It felt peppy again on the drive home today and it was idling at the right number of revs too.

I had a very similar thing happen to me.... i booked my car in for a service, dropped it off Saturday morning, was met with they haven't got my booking but they can definitely do it on the Sunday. No issues but I had to have it bavk on Sunday due to school runs the following week.
Had a phone call the sunday saying my car wouldn't start, then they got it started but wouldn't sit idle so they couldn't do the service. Listed off some very expensive things it could be to do with the dpf, all saying they could do it that day blah blah. I said to my husband that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my car, starts first time etc (don't think he believed me) rock up to the garage to discuss the work it needed doing. I said I needed it home that day but we'd look at possibly next weekend. I got in the car and the battery was flat. Apparently a garage full of mechanics couldn't work it out and I realised the minute I tried to start it.

Lol, did they turn it off and on again??
Good on you for knowing your car

I don’t understand why you didn’t just book it in for coil and spark plug

My husband is a mechanic (although less general now, he builds engines for high performance cars)
I definitely know ‘more’ now than I used to by sound and feel, can usually tell when break pads/discs needs changing/have warped and also know when a bush has gone 🤣

You could have just asked for those things to be repaired. However, there is distinct sexism in mechanics - my mum rang for a price on tyres once, noted down the tyre size ect and was quoted one price, then my grandfather rang later on to ask the exact same question, same tyre size.. to be told a considerably lesser price.

I’m fairly glad I married who I did, I’ve never had to have a garage experience as he deals with it all 🤣

I dont drive but dh does the mechanics still have learnt to speak to me about car things not all mechanics are sexist

Because when I originally reported the problem, I was told that the computer said that there wasn't a problem and the car was running fine! I 100% knew that all was not well and the car was mis-firing / pinking / knocking. But as I don't have my own garage I couldn't start dismantling the engine to work out which cylinder, coil or spark plug it might be or if it was damaged plug wires, a gasket leak, a clogged injector etc.

from my experience when booking car in for mot/service they will literally mot and service the car regardless whether I report a issue (unless said issue directly effects the mot or service), if I wanted issue sorted or diagnosed they would then say to book in separately and pay a diagnostics fee?

I have a thing about mechanics always wanting to connect cars to computers I’ll try avoid a rant but I’m yet to come across this method actually solving any issues on a car so if you can find a old school mechanic you have to hold on to them like your life depends on it 😅

however not dismissing the sexism, the chances are had you been a man and said the same sentence of pinking and misfiring it would have probably had a different response yes.
That can be said for any male dominated trade. Recently needed work done and a builder gave me a ‘woman’s’ explanation of the job, I had to stop him mid sentence, he then said he’s just trying to help me understand… he didn’t do the work, I did it myself…

Main dealerships only do the bare minimum in routine/schedule services these days. It's basic a VERY simple checklist, which is mostly observational matters. We've often looked at their checklist after a service and wondered just what they'd done to earn the few hundred they charge.

Latest "discovery" what that our main dealership doesn't even check battery health in services - discovered when the system update wouldn't work, nor would the app to start/stop/lock it, and only then found the battery was running at only 40% so the system shut down when engine not running to preserve it (rather than being "on" to keep it live for the internet).

Before that with another car, it leaked into the footwells for several years. Kept reporting it to the dealership who kept saying they couldn't see anything and kept trying to blame us for not closing the windows properly! Then the heating blower/fan stopped and they farted around having it in several times swapping various components, but it still wouldn't work. Eventually decided they had to remove the dashboard to look at the fan itself which turned out to be heavily rusted/corroded. Then they "discovered" it was a leak from the scuttle board that dripped directly into the air intake for the heater, so basically water flowing through the blower fan and then into the car! I did some internet research and discovered the scuttle board seal was a known problem with that make/model, so really should have been on the service schedule to at least check it, but, no, not on the schedule so garage didn't look!

I have a thing about mechanics always wanting to connect cars to computers I’ll try avoid a rant but I’m yet to come across this method actually solving any issues on a car so if you can find a old school mechanic you have to hold on to them like your life depends on it 😅

Good luck in finding a mechanic who can diag a modern car without plugging it in 😂😂

YANBU. I would recognise knocking too having driven 1980s and 90s cars and would expect a mechanic to have a proper listen or investigate. Was your mechanic quite young?

If it was booked in for MOT and service they have allowed enough time in the diary for that only. You’ve said yourself it would have been a long diagnostic to find the fault, it was generous of them to even plug it in to see if there was any codes.

My biggest bugbear is customers booking in for one thing then mentioning faults when dropping off.

My biggest bugbear is customers booking in for one thing then mentioning faults when dropping off.

It’s a bit of a double edged sword isn’t it? Great if it’s a 2 min diag and then you can report, price and re-book. Annoying if you have to re-book for diag and then again for remediation.

@megacatif it makes you feel better, I mentioned it when I booked the car in. 😁

You sound like quite hard work to be honest a coil can generate anywhere from about 20-100kv. The manufacturer sets normal range threshold values and this is what the mechanics need to work with. If the combustion wasn't somewhere near it wouldn't have passed MoT emissions test. Also, If they replaced the coil packs 'just because' you'd be on here complaining about unnecessary work!! 2 months is likely quite a few thermal.cyclea and the coil will have continued to break down.

I'm no longer a mechanic but choose to maintain my own car. We're nearly at 300,000 miles together and all is good. Not had an MOT advisory for 8 years. So you have choices moan about others or, with your knowledge, do it yourself.

Also, we don't live in the carburetor age. If you used the term 'pinking' I'm not really surprised you weren't listening to! That was a historic, and fairly offensive term when I started training in '94. It comes from the age when we happily referred to people as backward.

@ECGG how is "pinking" offensive when describing the running of a car engine? I'd like to understand this better please.

I had no idea that showing a basic level of understanding of how a car engine works and raising a potential issue with a garage when booking a car in for a service would be deemed as "hard work" either. Next time I book my car in for a service and I'm asked if there is anything in particular I would like them to look at - how best should I raise any issues I think the car has, so as not to be deemed "hard work"?

i would call it pinking too.

i once had a car in a garage to get the timing done. i got it back. it kept stalling. i took it back to the garage and they kept it all bloody day and told me it was fine. they couldn’t find anything. there’s no way they drove it or they'd know it wasn’t right.

it nearly killed me stalling in the middle of a junction when i was going right in the face of traffic.

i went to my ex in tears and asked him to look at it. within one minute he found a loose air hose. tightened it, i drive round the block, it was fixed.

sometimes garages do write us women off. i paid £700 for that repair a decade ago. must be what £1200 worth now. and they didn't care enough to check. either that or their plug in computer diagnostic tool was useless.

i would call it pinking too

These days it would be referred to as detonation or knock and is fundamentally different to a misfire. Modern cars came equipped with knock sensors and the ECU will retard the ignition timing when it detects knock.

Why is the term pinking offensive? Or “fairly offensive“?