Shoutout to the mechanic who refused to fix my car the way I wanted

I brought my old Honda into a shop in Portland about 3 years ago, convinced the transmission was shot and ready to drop $2,800 on a rebuild. The mechanic, this older guy named Pete, just looked under the hood for like 5 minutes and then told me I had a bad sensor and a clogged filter. I argued with him for a solid 10 minutes, telling him I knew cars and it had to be the transmission because of the way it was shifting. He just said 'let me fix this $150 part first, if it doesn't work I'll do the rebuild for free.' I felt stupid when the car drove perfect after he swapped that sensor out. Has anyone else had someone push back on your assumptions and actually save you from yourself?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wesley1mo ago

Did the guy actually say he'd do the rebuild for free if the sensor didn't fix it? That is wild, most mechanics would just take your money and do the rebuild without asking questions. I had a similar thing happen with a bad alternator once, the guy at the shop told me to just get the battery tested first and it ended up being a loose connection. Probably saved me like 400 bucks in parts and labor that I didn't need.

wesley_jones1mo ago

That sensor thing is pretty common actually, most shops don't offer that though.

thomas_torres1mo ago

Wait, he actually offered a free rebuild if the sensor didn't fix it? That's insane. Most shops would never put that on the line, they'd just take the easy money for a full rebuild job.