Leaks, Squeaks, Rattles & Creaks

By George Witt. These are common consumer complaints and a frequent source of conflicts with customers. If you work on many older cars, fixing oil leaks can get you into more problems than honestly answering the question, “does this dress make me look fat?” 

One thing we frequently overlook when writing a repair order with one of the above complaints is identifying what the customer really wants. What? They want the leak fixed, you nimrod! Not always.

I remember a recent repair order on an old Camry reporting leaks. By the time my guys got done identifying all the leaks in the thing, the estimate was over $3500! Hey, there’s a sure sale….not. It was a kid’s car and Dad was none too receptive to the whole idea, to the point of dropping us as a service provider.

Whenever anyone wants me to “check it for a leak”, my first question is: “Are you most concerned about the car or your $126,000 hand-laid Italian marble garage floor?” This is a key element—what does the customer really want? If they have a nice house in a nice neighborhood and want to park their car in the driveway and not have to file an Environmental Impact statement with the EPA over the lengthening stains (heading toward the curb) on the concrete, then we need to be thorough in our analysis. Most people don’t care so much about that as they do wanting to be sure there’s not something serious going on with the car.

I’m generally pretty hesitant to take on oil leak repairs on older cars, because it can be a potential snake pit. Too many techs want to blow off the customer with the standard, “pull the engine and do a complete re-seal”, figuring the cost of that will shut them up and let them get on to better paying (and less risky) work.

Many years ago, I was a Service Adviser at an Oldsmobile dealership and the guys were diligent at reporting everything they found. “The oil pan gasket is seeping” came the report. “Well, we’d better fix it” was the reply. This set us up for nightmarish followups. Older cars seep and leak a lot and once you’ve fixed any leaks, Sam Ting is sure to be calling frequently. “Uh, car do sam ting—now you fix, I no pay!!”

The first thing I do when discussing oil leaks is to tell customers that older cars have earned the right to leak a little. Most minor oil leaks are really no big deal. So what if the pan gasket has a slight leak? It just doesn’t affect the safe operation of the car.

But I digress. Let’s go back to the leaking Camry and the mad Dad. My SA was already in over his head with a mad customer over our analysis and, furthermore, Dad wanted to know why he hadn’t been told about these leaks on previous visits.

I got on the phone with Dad and asked him about the car and what he expected the car to do (get Jr. to class and back, never going out of town or be the main transportation on the trip over the Continental Divide, across Death Valley and on to the Redwood Forest with a family of small children).

He said it was his kid’s car and needed to get him to school. I asked if oil spots on the pavement was any big deal. “Not really”, came the reply.

OK, this is easier now, I’ll call you back. I told my guys to identify the critical leaks and the source was traced to an oil pressure sending unit. Now, I’ve got a sale I can make, I did easily and Dad was now happy.

I like to separate leaks into several categories; seeping leaks and pressure leaks. Seeping leaks are gaskets and seals and pressure leaks are oil pumps, filter adapters and oil pressure senders. Pressure leaks are best fixed promptly, because they’re under pressure and, if they “let go”, the results can be disastrous. Easy sale.

Next, we have to further refine seepage leaks. First and foremost is the question: Will I run out of fluid? Power steering leaks are fairly easy to quantify if you regularly service the car. Is it out of power steering fluid? How low is it? I tell people they can buy a lot of power steering fluid for the cost of a rack with a small leak and they really appreciate that. In fact, my best selling techniques have been telling people what they DON’T need to fix. If you don’t have to add power steering fluid between oil changes, a good case can be made that the car isn’t really broke (that bad).

After that, will the leak affect the operation of the car? A power steering leak on the suction side can cause foaming of the fluid in cold weather and render the steering assist useless or impair it substantially. In addition, the foaming fluid can even cause the reservoir to overflow (with foam) and blow out more fluid. This leak should probably be fixed. Easy enough.

Next, will the leaking fluid cause other damage that will cost more to fix now than later or cause a fire? Timing belt seals, severe valve cover gasket leaks, or leakage that’s damaging a coolant hose are good examples. These do need to be fixed and the case to do so is easily made. Another easy sale.

So, what’s left? Seepage leaks and judgment calls. One of my standards is the underside of the car. If the entire underside is coated with oil and drops of oil hang off the muffler in the rear of the car, we need to fix it.

If, on the other hand, the underside is dry, then maybe it isn’t so urgent. In fact, when showing a customer who has a leak concern their car on a hoist, I look for drops of oil hanging. If I can’t find any, I can build an easy case that there really isn’t a lot to be concerned about.

I think it’s every bit as important to know when NOT to repair a car as when it IS important to repair it. Once we’ve “fixed all the leaks”, we may have set ourselves up for a relationship we’re not eager to embrace, if you get my drift.

Finally, let’s look at an oil leak job we may not even want at all—the dreaded rear main seal. This is the ultimate high-risk, low reward deal. The labor is nearly all the bill, the parts are next to nothing in comparison. The risk is extremely high and the potential gross profit very low. This is much like finding a mushroom when hiking in the woods—might look good, but do we really want to risk it?

We all know that a rough crankshaft, worn rear main bearing or other potential snakepits might await on this job. So, my advice is to be very careful when taking in this job and bid it super high in case you have to re-do it twice. You have to build that risk factor into the job. If they go shopping to see if they can “beat your price”, hope they do and breathe a sigh of relief. If they don’t, you’ve got the extra dough to smile and re-do it if you have to. This is not a job you really want to get into a custody battle over.

So, to wrap it all up—Always ask the customer what’s important to them. Do they want a clean floor or to just know the car is OK? Do they really want to fix the noise or do they just want to know it’s not something serious? Once we know for sure what the customer really wants, it’s much easier to meet the customer’s expectations and that’s the definition of a successful repair visit.

Now, in the case of noises, it’s a little hard to tell them it’s nothing to worry about if we don’t really know what it is. I think it’s very important to get a real good idea what the noise really is. Loose and worn sway bar bushings make noise, but hardly affect the safe operation of the car. Creaking ball joints are signs of impending doom. These just aren’t interchangeable on the importance scale and should be addressed as such.

If you can be thorough, professional and give the customer enough information to make a good decision to achieve their goals, you have a winning relationship that’s likely to endure over time.

Remember, “It’s our job to give our customers enough information so they can make the decisions that are appropriate for them at this time”. Everyone’s different and there are no universal right answers. Let each person make their own call and help them make good ones.

I frequently tell my own customers that I never worry much about how much I sell them on any one visit, I’m after all their money forever and, if I do my job right, I’ll get it all eventually. I want to be their trusted mechanic for a long time.

So far, it’s worked like a charm.

Check out George’s training programs click here.

This Article was reprinted with permission from Automotive Management Network‘s forum. For more information about Automotive Management Network, click here.

George Witt is the owner of George Witt Service, a Honda and Acura repair shop. He is an ASE certified Master Technician and service advisor, an AMI Accredited Manager, and an AMI Approved Instructor. He has presented management training classes to thousands of shop owners from coast to coast.