This is more of a rant than anything, so please bear with me.
I am honestly sick and tired of visiting one mechanic after another for my car problems. Almost all of them seem to be working with a hit-and-trial methodology. No one appears to have any semblance of knowledge about what they are doing. So your car has this problem? Try changing that part. Not resolved? Try changing this then. And continue in the same pattern till we find a solution. Why exactly am I paying you, dear mechanic sir, if we are just figuring things out as we go along? Half of your fee should belong to me in this case, no?
Just today, I spent over 7 hours tryin to fix a couple of issues of my Honda City 2003 Exi-S. It was misfiring and jerking when accelerator was pressed at low rpm, and also getting overheated. I first scoured Google Maps, looking for mechanics with good ratings. I found Automan Garage with positive reviews and decided to visit them even though its about 60 kms from where I live. This is where my trials and tribulations began.
I was hoping the people at Automan would used guages and diagnostic tools and whatnot to pinpoint the exact issue with my car. After all, they advertise the same on their website. But after a 10 minute test drive, their mechanic told me that the car's distributor needs to be replaced. Now I know this was not the issue since distributor was replaced only a few months ago. When I told the mechanic to check the cylinder compression using a guage and the condition of ignition leads (as advised by a friend), the mechanic ustaad literally laughed in my face, like telling me to leave the diagnostics to professionals like him. Then he went on to quote 7000 for a kabuli distributor and 3000 for labor. I told that I'll visit again after getting a second opinion and left, without any intention of returning.
Here's the somewhat good part: A friend of mine then advised me to visit Ismail ustad in G8 on the backside of AGPR office. He was able to diagnose that the issue was with the ignition cables within 3 minutes. I replaced them and voila, the issue was gone. Then he referred me to a radiator works mechanic on the backside of the market to get the radiator serviced for the heat-up issue.
This friend of ours, a "Sethi" guy, spent about 1 hour on servicing the radiator and charged me 1000. All the while, he was lowkey scolding me for the condition that the radiator was in. Now I take full responsibility given that radiator service had been long overdue for my car and the fins inside were blocked due to grime accumulation (correct diagnosis by Ismail ustaad, once again). But I heartily accepted ustaad ji's comments thinking this is the price I have to pay for my negligence and it'll soon be done with.
I thought my miseries were over and started towards home, after sethi saab was done, with a big grin on my face. After parking the car at home and having dinner, I come out to find a puddle of water under the bonnet. The radiator has somehow sprung a huge leak and the entire radiator was drained in 2-3 hours!
This, after spending 1 hour at the workshop and countless reassurances that the radiator will be a-okay once Sethi ustaad is done with it.
Now I am lying in the bed unable to sleep and overthinking the entire day's happening because it's Friday tomorrow and sethi sahb will be on a well-deserved leave tomorrow, hence Saturday is the soonest I can return to him with the request to please finish what he started and do the job correctly this time. After all, what else can I do here except "haazri lagana" day after day until the issue is resolved?
