01/29/2026
Facebook asks what’s on my mind today!! I would like to express my frustration in the mechanics world. I have personally been doing this for roughly 20 years from automotive to heavy diesel and anything in between. I by any means don’t consider myself the best in the biz but am confident in my abilities to say I am good at what I do!! Today was just one of them days that I question the industry and the quality of work!
This morning I was called out to a truck that was not building air. When I arrived at the truck I noticed it wouldn’t build over 50 psi. I removed the compressor discharge line to verify compressor was pushing air and found it misting an oily substance out of the line. I removed the filter from the air dryer assembly and found it full of oil/sludge mixture as seen in the picture above! At that point it’s indicating a failing air compressor. After speaking to the customer he also stated they replaced the air dryer assembly a couple days ago, another indicating factor. I told the customer of the suspecting compressor and best would be to tow the truck to a shop to have compressor issue addressed. Customer argued that it was just froze up, in which I stated probably was but will continue to have these issues if the compressor isn’t replaced. He finally agreed and was calling for shops as I am booked out and didn’t have the time for the job. After gearing up the tow truck and waiting for a response as to where to take it, they call out another local mechanic. Customer calls back and says the other mechanics found ice blockage and got it to air. This is what bothers me, yes it was potentially froze up, I informed them of that, but now they will continue to still have problems because they just did a bandaid repair and didn’t address the underlying issue causing it. Worst of all this mechanic is now bragging like he did something and putting my abilities down. Great on him but now he just did a huge disservice to this customer and sent a truck back out on the road thats not properly repaired and could potentially cause another hazard sitting on the side of the road.
Later I am working on a good customers truck that they just purchased a while back, I go and pull the steering wheel to straighten it due to it being off centered, 5 minute job. Removed the nut, retainer clip was missing, nut was cross threaded on the shaft. Pulled the steering wheel with a puller and found the splines damaged and stripped out. Looked like someone jammed it on and rammed the nut on with an impact. Now we need to replace the steering wheel, steering shaft and hardware. I am thankful for my customers and the trust they put in me with their equipment that I will always do my best to repair it properly and keeping their equipment operating at their best.