good mechanic

[honda]

Does anyone know a good and honest honda mechanic in the Harrisonburg, VA area?

[Hondaisok]

Sadly, now days that is getting to be an oxymoron. Good luck.

[HondaBoy]

i must say a good mechanic is hard to find. they are lots of times shady and unreliable where ever you go. the thing to look for is an ASE certification sign posted somewhere in or on the shop. usually they have ASE patch on their uniform. most dealerships have pretty good mechanics, IMO dealerships are more reliable than small shops or individuals. anyway, that's why i do just about everything on my car myself. i've wasted plenty of money on a bs job done by a mechanic i thought i could trust.

[w261w261]

Here's the problem. I agree that the dealerships have some pretty good guys, but now they have to be old good guys, because the new good guys have no 3G experience. If the dealer shop is big enough and stable enough, it should have at least one old guy that they give the 3g work to. But if they don't (and you should ask), then you're at the mercy of the plug-and-play guys, and at dealer rates that can be an expensive as well as frustrating experience. My guy used to work at the dealership, and quit to start his own shop. Frank is personally very good, but here we are with problem #2, and that is that the guy who has the knowledge is not usually doing the work. His employees are, and how good are they? Probably not too good. How good can he supervise them, then. Well, he's a good mechanic, but is he a good boss and supervisor? Maybe, maybe not. So far, so good. I used a shop for a couple of years whose owner was really good (as a mechanic). As a manager, he sucked. Turnover of personnel, bad scheduling, stupid mistakes (he put in a new aftermarket rear engine seal with a clutch job, which leaked. He then had to pull the tranny to put in another seal, and he still put in an aftermarket part! It leaked too. After that, when I made him tear it apart again, I said "Greg, how bout using a Honda part this time?" Funny thing, it worked (DUH). I mean, all that labor and he's gambling on saving $3 on the cost of the seal? I've also found that a few Jackson's sprinkled around the shop floor really go a long way towards getting better service. 20 bucks isn't too much extra if you're having a lot of work done over a period of time.

Time can be a substitute for talent or experience, btw. If you have a shop which isn't pressuring the employees to jam it in or not letting them take a good look at a situation, even a moderately talented guy can work his way to the end. But the worst case is where that time pressure is high, the mechanic isn't experienced or isn't a quick learner. Then your car is is deep doo-doo.

[A20A1]

New mechanics + Carbed 3G...
They'll open the hood and react the same way the 'Bell-Hop' did in the movie 'Four Rooms' when he discovered the dead body stuffed in the matress.

"WTF (puke) Is That!!!!!!"

[Kabuki]

New mechanics + Carbed 3G...
They'll open the hood and react the same way the 'Bell-Hop' did in the movie 'Four Rooms' when he discovered the dead body stuffed in the matress.

"WTF (puke) Is That!!!!!!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, shit! We had a young guy that came to work for us this summer, and that was pretty much his reaction. Damn, I forgot how funny that movie was. *logs on to Netflix, adds Four Rooms to queue*