Overheard a customer quote that saved me 2 hours of tear-down

Last Thursday a guy waiting on an oil change was telling his buddy about a rattling noise under his truck. He said, "It only does it when I turn left and it's cold outside." That exact sentence made me think about motor mounts and the A/C line rubbing on the frame. I checked the line first on the next similar job, found the clamp had slipped about 3 inches. Tightened it, no rattle, no need to drop the skid plate. Has anyone else had a random customer comment point them to a fix faster than their own inspection?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_carr26d ago

Three left turns in a row, or just one and then it stops? I had a similar thing with a worn sway bar link that only complained on right handers in damp weather, and the customer's wording was the only reason I thought to check it.

dakota_singh3925d ago

Funny you mention that, because I used to be the exact opposite. I'd always assume a clunk that only happens on one side in the wet was a bushing gone soft or maybe a ball joint, and I'd ignore the whole "three lefts" thing as the customer just being overly specific. But then I had a car come in where the owner swore it was only after a series of left turns, and honestly I almost wrote it off as them imagining things. Turned out it was a cracked subframe mount that only flexed under the exact load of that turning sequence, took me forever to find it. Ever since then, I listen way closer to that kind of detail, because it's usually the clue that saves you a bunch of guesswork. So yeah, you're right, and I wish I'd figured that out a lot sooner than I did.