Re: Here's what's going on w/my Scout/Help in the Bay Area?

["J. Michael Shaw, II" <MikeIIDC@domain.elided>]

Ken-

Well, I certainly don't go out looking for a dishonest, incompetent
mechanic, but have had several bad experiences with "the best mechanic in
town" in several towns with my IH's.  And whenever I get something done by a
mechanic-always after asking around from several people in the community to
find out who is the best for "good old American Iron," it seems something is
always done wrong.  This is where some of the people on the digest keep
telling me to trust my instincts and try to fix things, because I know the
IH's and my own personal rig better.
One winter in Taos, NM, a town very full of old american 4X4 vehicles, I
began having problems with my '68 T'all.  First time I had it towed when it
died, and the tow truck guy told me that their mechanic was great with stuff
like mine, as he was a big 4X4 guy that had owned almost everything.  Well,
he had two different shots at my truck, and didn't fix it either time.
Between towing and and the work, I was out about $400.00.  Asked around
after they couldn't fix it the second time.  EVERYONE said, go to DOC-Doc
was the old local mom-and-pop garage that was still in business since the
50's.  He was a great guy, very nice, and took time to talk to me and
explain a lot.  He had two shots, and between parts, rush shipping (as I
needed the thing running soon), and labor another $600.00 was gone.  Of
course, you never know it isn't fixed until you're driving down a mountain
road at two in the morning in a blizzard and it dies again.  Had it towed to
the NEW guys that everyone recommended.  They were young and enthusiastic,
had all the hot equipoment for all of the new cars, but built stock cars,
and thus, knew some about old American engines.  Two more shots, more parts
and towing and labor, $350.00.  I rented a small, Toyota U-haul for a week
(it was cheaper than renting a car out there!), took off the gas tanks and
cleaned them, put all new gas line on, and put it back together (as two of
the last three shops had said that if nothing else worked, this may be my
problem-though nothing was showing up in my filters-could have been water I
guess).  Between renting the truck and the new hoses and stuff/tank cleaner,
etc, another $250.00.  Finally was asking in all of the parts stores what it
could be-still wasn't right.  They all said, "Well, I thought so-and-so
could fix it.  Guess you need Jesse"  They told me how to get out there-way
out in the high desert, about three miles down a dirt road.  While I had it
running, I went out there.  He listened to the description of symptoms, even
though it wasn't doing it at that moment (it would, of course, never
reproduce symptoms for the mechanics), looked at it for about ten minutes,
told me what it was, did a "quick fix," told me what to order and to get it
back to him within two weeks so the quick fix didn't wear out, and told me I
didn't owe him anything, and it would cost $20.00 to have him do the work
when the part came in.
He worked on everything, but owned IH's, having about twenty in various
states of disrepair in his back lot-along with a variety of other vehicles.
He instantly became my mechanic/IH mentor (don't hold this against him).
The other guys, though I still believe them to be honest (not necessarily
the first, "junk yard" guy, but the other two have stellar reputations in
town to this day) and more than competent, simply did not know the
quirks/simplicity of the IH engine.
I believe it was their competence that hurt them, as it turned out being the
bearings for the dist shaft going bad.  Jesse heard the problem, said,
"Well, you're either having a gas problem or a spark problem."  He pulled
off the gas line and had me turn it over and said, "Well, your getting
plenty of gas," at which point I told him what I had done to the gas line
(and two different fuel pumps had been tried by this time), so he checked
the spark and it was getting spark.  He asked again about the intermittent
nature of it, pulled the top off the distributor, wiggled the shaft around,
put the cap back on, and it wouldn't start.  He went back in, re-jiggled it,
and it started right up.  He opened the points for the "Quick fix," and that
was it.  I think the other guys felt it must be something more complicated
than that, because they figured if it were so simple, they would think of
it.  A little "hybris"-too proud to start at the very beginning.
Anyway, this is the worst of these stories, but I have others that are
similar, just less expensive.  I am convinced that I would rather have a
borderline trustworthy IH knowledgeable guy than a very trustworthy non-IH
guy.  If I go to the IH guy and get my truck fixed and get screwed, fine, I
won't go back.  But if I go to the other guy and he is completely up-front
and honest but doesn't fix my truck despite his best efforts, I am in worse
shape than with the first guy!

Just my opinion, and you have a very valid theory on it as well.  Just
throwing in my .02 where it is not needed!

Michael