Any mechanics here? Please help me understand

[phylodog]

I dropped my truck off over two weeks ago due to a squeaking belt/pulley/tensioner. While I'm there I mention that the brake hydraulic control unit was out and had been for well over a year and that I'd pulled the fuse and that was the reason for the dummy lights on the dash. He tells me he has a replacement HCU on hand if I'd like it replaced. I told him I might be interested depending on the price and that I'd seen a few examples where someone had unplugged the electrical connector to the unit, cleaned things up and after reinstalling the problem went away. Since the HCU sits on top of the driver's side front spring perch and he was going to be in there already I asked if he could to that for me and he agreed.

Few days later I get word that I need a new tensioner and pulley and he quotes me a fair price. He also says he's having trouble getting his scanner to connect to my truck to look at the brake codes and I tell him about a couple of plug in mods that may need to be removed, he thanks me tells me he'd like to dig a little deeper. I told him that was fine, I just didn't want to get in to deep financially as I'd been holding out hope for a recall.

Yesterday I get a text saying good news. He's unplugged my mods, cleared the codes, put the fuse back in for the brakes and all was well during a test drive. I'm not sure why this is good news. The HCU alarms were an intermittent issue, I pulled the fuse because everything might be fine for an hour then I hit a pot hole and it goes nuts for the rest of the day. I ask him what I owe if it's ready to go and now I'm in $300 deeper than I was before.

This is where I begin to have a very difficult time. I am 100% completely aware that my perspective and the mechanic's are completely different. This is why I'm asking for information here. I know this guy is a good man and I do not believe for any reason that he is attempting to take advantage of me. That said, here is my perspective.

For the additional $300:
-The fuse I'd unplugged to silence the HCU alarm was put back into place.
-My Pedal Commander and a bypass cable were removed.
-The HCU connector was not touched.
-There was no troubleshooting done.
-I have no more information than I had going in and I'd bet a month's pay my HCU did not magically repair itself so I fully expect the alarm to start going off again before I get it home.

Can someone shed some light from a different perspective where I'm supposed to feel anything other than ****ed over?

What did he do which I couldn't have done other than clear the codes and Autozone would have done that for free? Now I'm going to have to reconnect my Pedal Commander, research again to figure out which fuse I need to pull and do that again and if I need to modify something again I'll have to reconnect my bypass cable.

Someone please share a perspective to make this make sense to me.

 

[HHollow]

The good man needs to be paid for his time. And most of the $300 of his time seems to have been due to the vehicle mods.

 

[bobzilla]

If you can do it yourself, you do it. If you can’t? You have to pay someone else. If you can but don’t have time? You’re still paying someone else for their time. Unlike you (royal you) they have the overhead of a shop, tools, subscriptions for the software just to access the vehicles, the scanner etc.

I know you think he spent no time on it, I guarantee he did. When the software won’t play nice, probably spent 2 hours on hold trying to get it sorted only to find out it’s aftermarket junk plugged in f’n everything up. Man I hate the software side of cars sometimes.

Only you can decide if it was fair or not. I say probably because I’ve been on that back side trying to figure out what is wrong too many times.

 

[phylodog]

I’m being charged a diagnostic fee which makes up almost half of the additional. I told him when I dropped it off that the HCU was bad. I don’t see where anything was diagnosed, I have no new information. I understand the hour labor for his time, would have been nice if the connector had been cleaned during that hour like I’d asked but I have no problem paying him for his time.

As for mods, one of them can be unplugged from the driver’s seat and the other was mentioned as soon as I was told his scanner didn’t want to connect and takes all of twenty seconds to disconnect from the OBD port. Both were in place for 80k miles before the brake issue arose.

I’m $300 in for no new information and no attempt to repair.

 

[Hoosierdood]

How much time did he spend putzing around trying to connect to your truck before he was made aware of the mods? Shop rates can be $150+ per hour.

 

[indyblue]

That sucks. If he indeed had the correct/decent scanner tech tool, there are usually test functions to verify each solenoid valve in the HCU is working so they can be sequentially blead and tested.

Some of the toughest vehicle components to diagnosis are ABS/ESC Hydraulic Control Units (HCU). Even in a “passive state” the HCU has to keep designated solenoids open or closed to allow the ABS system to be bypassed.

One of the most common failures for HCUs can be dump/isolation valves that are stuck open. This problem can be the most elusive to diagnose. Solenoid valves can remain open due to contaminated brake fluid, rust and sediment. Also, copper from the brazing materials in the hard lines is attracted to the valves and seats of the solenoids.

In some cases, a scan tool with the ability to monitor solenoid actuation can only confirm and test certain functions. Confirming the real-world actions of the HCU is often left to the technician. This is where new tools can help diagnose a vehicle faster.

 

[WebSnyper]

Did you bring up your concerns with him? How did he react? Can he hook up the new HCU now? If so, would he be charging you additional $ for that? I'd have a convo with him and just be level headed and explain what you are thinking. How he reacts to that will tell you how you need to respond at that point.

 

[phylodog]

How much time did he spend putzing around trying to connect to your truck before he was made aware of the mods? Shop rates can be $150+ per hour.

Well the Pedal Commander is sitting right underneath the ignition so I'm guessing that one was pretty self evident. I informed him of the other as soon as he told me me was having issues with the scanner. He is and was fully aware that this truck is modified as he is the one who has performed 100% of the non bolt on mods to it.

If I'd gotten my truck back with some additional information or some sort of improvement I'd be less irritated but I didn't. It's exactly as it was (on the brake issue), I have no new information, I'm no closer to a resolution and I just had to remove the fuse for the ABS again in the parking lot of Menards because the chime started before I pulled back onto the road from the shop's parking lot and went off every 15 seconds until I got to Menards.

Again, when I dropped it off, the brake issue was discussed with the possibility of replacing the HCU. It wasn't replaced nor was it mentioned that the diagnostics confirmed it needed replaced. The fuse was put back in, codes were cleared and it came right back on within the first 200 feet I drove it.

 

[phylodog]

Did you bring up your concerns with him? How did he react? Can he hook up the new HCU now? If so, would he be charging you additional $ for that? I'd have a convo with him and just be level headed and explain what you are thinking. How he reacts to that will tell you how you need to respond at that point.

I didn't push the issue. That's the lovely part of living in the United States these days, you've got a 1 in 1200 chance at finding a halfway decent (insert profession of choice here) and you're as good as cutting your own throat if you do anything to burn that bridge.

I told him the light came right back on and I got "that's crazy, sorry".

$300 pissed away for nothing from my perspective.

 

[WebSnyper]

I didn't push the issue. That's the lovely part of living in the United States these days, you've got a 1 in 1200 chance at finding a halfway decent (insert profession of choice here) and you're as good as cutting your own throat if you do anything to burn that bridge.

I told him the light came right back on and I got "that's crazy, sorry".

$300 pissed away for nothing from my perspective.

Ugh. Well that does in fact blow. I definitely have been there as well. Sorry to hear that.

I've had that in the past as well with a mechanic. After that I only took things to him that were very straight forward (nothing intermittent, etc), meanwhile looking for and finding a "better" mechanic. The better mechanic does cost more than the previous guy in my case, but is more equipped (better diagnostic equipment, etc) but that does cost me more.

 

[Ingomike]

I didn't push the issue. That's the lovely part of living in the United States these days, you've got a 1 in 1200 chance at finding a halfway decent (insert profession of choice here) and you're as good as cutting your own throat if you do anything to burn that bridge.

I told him the light came right back on and I got "that's crazy, sorry".

$300 pissed away for nothing from my perspective.

What happened to the replacement? Why was it not installed?

 

[Hoosier Carry]

What happened to the replacement? Why was it not installed?

I’m curious what the guy wanted to replace it. Dealer quoted my Dad something crazy for the repair.

 

[phylodog]

I’m curious what the guy wanted to replace it. Dealer quoted my Dad something crazy for the repair.

I'm hearing $1400 and up from the dealer, if they can get parts.

 

[phylodog]

What happened to the replacement? Why was it not installed?

Never got that far apparently. I guess he though putting the fuse back in and clearing codes fixed it.

 

[Hoosier Carry]

I'm hearing $1400 and up from the dealer, if they can get parts.

I know they quoted him like $1800. Thankfully it was still under warranty. I feel your pain.

Wifes Town and Country, they wanted $700 to replace a door lock actuator(70 dollar part) . Its nuts.

Also, I had weird ECU issues with a throttle controller and my tuner. After several misshaps I trashed it. The computer didnt like the add on with the tune.(Silverado for me)

 

[phylodog]

I know they quoted him like $1800. Thankfully it was still under warranty. I feel your pain.

It should be a recall, it's 100% a safety issue and when mine went out it put me sideways at 70mph.

 

[HoughMade]

Was it confirmed that the HCU is bad? Just throwing a code doesn't do that. Other than the HCU itself, it could be anything from a broken or damaged wire to a problem with a component that provides signal to the HCU. This is where paying for a good diagnostician comes in. This guy doesn't sound like one.

 

[thunderchicken]

You are well within the right to inquire what kind of diagnostic work was done for the extra money. Second, if he was confident enough to charge you for the HCU "repair" then he should be stand up enough to at least perform a flow chart diagnosis to either verify or prove out the HCU is the actual problem. I've seen many HCU's (Ford calls them ECU's on the ABS) set a fault code that when looked up says replace HCU. However, many times there has been a damaged power wire that caused the code. So, he should be able to at least prove out the HCU or verify it really is the fault either without charge or reduced rate or give you a couple hours diagnosis for free for the time he already charged you for.
Now, he may not have recalled all the mods to your truck and spent time trying to check fuses and power and ground circuits for the DLC (data link connector) before he called you to say he was having trouble getting the scan tool to communicate. He maybe charging for that time as well. But, clearing a code never fixes the problem. It sometimes just hides it for a while. Some codes can return after a certain number of start cycles, some require a number of drive cycles with a set distance and speeds while some a hard faults that come back almost immediately after being cleared.

You need to have a conversation about what he can do to actually repair the problem.

 

[thunderchicken]

Honestly, unless it has been verified the HCU is the fault it's possible the problem could be as simple as a software update (aka a reflash).
If he has access to something like AllData or Mitchell on demand he should be able to get the flow chart to properly diagnose it.

 

[phylodog]

Was it confirmed that the HCU is bad? Just throwing a code doesn't do that. Other than the HCU itself, it could be anything from a broken or damaged wire to a problem with a component that provides signal to the HCU. This is where paying for a good diagnostician comes in. This guy doesn't sound like one.

It’s a well known issue. I have no doubts that either the HCU is bad or the connector has been compromised. There is a an electical motor unit with a fault design or faulty contact springs which cause it to malfunction intermittently for most and some take a crap all together.