Avoid the Diagnosis Trap When Smelling Burning Oil

The Diagnosis Trap

If there is one complaint that rankles me the most over a growing list of other complaints from dealership garages, it is the one that I like to call “The Diagnosis Trap”.

A Common Trap Example

Scenario: There’s some problem with your car that you have identified. You go to a dealership garage to have it fixed only to find out that they insist on doing a diagnostic first. This makes sense since you could very well be missing something such as the true source of the problem and possibly have misdiagnosed the problem.

However, after waiting an hour and a half for the diagnosis, the service manager comes back to you with a clipboard and tells you they identified the problem…which turns out be the diagnosis you made originally.

When you ask for an itemized bill estimate before agreeing to the repair, he then tells you that the bill for the diagnosis is $175; and the repair is a separate issue at several hundred more dollars. Sometimes he might tell you that the diagnosis is subtracted from the repair to make you feel better, but I never believe it...and neither should you.

My beef and why I call it a diagnosis trap is because many problems are self-evident within the first 5 minutes of looking at a problem. Does this mean you should pay for a full hour of diagnostic labor charges before the repair even begins?!

Yes…yes, I know and understand that what you are paying for is the expertise of the garage, but did you really need the expertise for this repair? Or is it merely bait for a trap?!

There is a difference.

Am I Being Unfair to the Garage?

I would argue that in many cases it is a trap because it means you are now more likely to agree to THEIR REPAIR because you have already invested $175 in the process and an hour or two of your time. Plus, it prevents you from getting a 2nd opinion, which would mean more money thrown into the diagnosis by another garage.

In science, a potential true source is referred to as an upstream event (known or unknown) that precedes a downstream event. Finding the true source of a developmental event or health problem is often not simple and can easily be misidentified or misdiagnosed.

It’s the same with cars in many ways.

One good example is a recent article I wrote about involving an alternator problem that the customer went to the garage requesting “…just an alternator replacement (that he bought at an auto parts store on the cheap) and nothing else be done.” The garage, however, determined that seeping oil from a valve cover was what damaged his old alternator in the first place and that simply replacing the old alternator with a new one would not solve his car’s real problem.

Hence, paying for a correct diagnosis pays for itself.

Related article: Common Car Maintenance Mistake Owners Make When Diagnosing Their Car’s Engine Problems

I Escaped One Trap

However, not long ago I took my wife’s car (which I am forbidden to work on) to the dealership because the undercarriage spare tire assembly would no longer crank up after lowering it to get the spare to change a flat tire.

I took her car to a dealership garage, waited 2 hours, and was greeted with a $175 diagnosis fee and a $700 spare tire crank assembly replacement fee. When I asked what the problem was, they said the tech found the crank assembly heavily rusted and unable to rewind the cable that held the spare tire to the undercarriage.

The diagnosis sounded reasonable since I’ve seen undercarriage spare tire rims heavily rusted from road salt and rain, but I felt that the final bill was too much…and my inner BS meter was beginning to make some noise.

I paid for the diagnosis, thanked them for their service and told them, “…it is my wife’s car, and she has the final say on repairs.”

Arriving home I checked under the car and did not find even a speck of rust on the spare tire crank assembly! Since $700 was at stake here, I removed the easily accessible 4 bolts from the undercarriage spare tire assembly, dropped the assembly crank out and found that the cable had gotten itself bound-up on its pulley.

Apparently, when you lower the spare tire, it is best to lower it only just enough to get the tire off its wheel hook, and then be sure to place tension on the cable as the cable is rewound―preferably with the flat tire rather than tossing it in the trunk of the car.

Simply pulling the cable all the way out of the assembly and then rewinding the cable onto its spool under tension, fixed the problem. I lost $175…but saved $700.

I Do Not Believe I Am Being Unfair

The point to all of this is that I had to pay $175 for not just a misdiagnosis―but a lie! I could have returned to the garage with the complaint that obviously no one had really inspected and correctly diagnosed the problem, but your rights are typically signed away when you put your name on the service manager’s form before diagnostics begin.

In fact, I recently got into an argument with a dealership service manager when his techs diagnosed a faulty fuel pump as the problem with a relative’s car that he said they were 80% sure was the source of the car’s rough running problem. The diagnostic work was at the time over $200, and they wanted another $1300 (minimum) to replace the fuel pump in the gas tank.

I pointed out that their “80% sure” sounded more like a guess than a diagnosis and asked what happens if that doesn’t fix the problem. He told me that my relative would be out the $1500 and the garage would have to try again to find and fix the problem.

Related article: Most Important Question to Ask Your Mechanic Before Agreeing to a Repair

Advising my relative that the repairs were likely to surpass the value of the car, the “REPAIR” was refused, the “DIAGNOSIS” paid, and the car traded in as-is…at another dealership.

What This Means to Car Owners

What this means to car owners is that until service agreements are changed, car owners are legally bound to pay for any diagnostics done―right or wrong. And some garages use this as a trap to inflate your car repairs.

The other side of the issue is that many repairs do require a knowledgeable and experienced mechanic to accurately diagnose problems, and that car owners should expect to pay for the services.

But what if you can diagnose your car’s problem? Can you forego the garage diagnostic and pay only for the repair? You can…in some garages. However, be prepared to accept the fact you might have made a misdiagnosis and could be firing the parts cannon at the problem.

As an example of an easy diagnosis (with a twist) you can make for a common problem―smelling burning oil from your engine―here is a recent Toyota Maintenance YouTube channel episode that shows how easy it is to figure out and repair your car’s burning oil smell problem yourself.

Burning Oil Smell while driving, leaking valve cover gaskets and tube seals

For additional articles related to repairs you can diagnose and do, here are three for your consideration:

• Easy Ford Explorer Electrical Problem Fix That Will Save You Thousands
• Simple Check for a Rough Running Ford F-150
• Do This with Your Car’s AC System Before Going to a Mechanic

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on  “Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair” website, the Zen Mechanic blog and on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites  and Facebook for daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

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