DURANGOKID59

I understand that part at a marina with 5 mechanics, and they just do what is on the work order kinda thing, and get it out the door. This guy is a one man operation, and does all the work himself. I guess I would have just expected different from an independant shop owner to tell you if he saw or noticed a problem or future problem. Whether the cable was already wearing out before he did any work, or he routed it wrong when he put it back together, Ill never know. Guess Ill have to bite the bullet and buy it and have it installed.

rackster

I ran my own boat repair business for about 10 years. In this situation, I would have replaced the cable. This is a very inexpensive repair. Certainly cheaper than most advertisements. This way I keep the customer, he "advertises for me" that I stand behind my work, and I have the oppurtunity to regain lost revenue through repeat business as well as possibly picking up new customers. It turns a problem, into a situation where we all win (customer gets a new cable). Not every problem is this simple though.

DURANGOKID59

This would be my exact thought if I were in his shoes. Ive always had nothing but good things to say about his work, but something this simple makes me rethink it a bit. If he did in fact notice it, it would have saved me being stranded and then towed, plus the aggrevation of wondering if he did it, or if it was on its way out already.

rackster

Unfortunately there are a lot of "gray" areas, when there is a failure, shortly after a repair has been performed. In this case, it's an inexpensive (out of pocket and labor) repair for the shop owner. It's not worth the loss of a customer, if there is any question about fault. However, there are customers that try to hold repair shops liable for every problem that they experience after the work has been performed, whether it could be related or not. So every situation is different.

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

The fact that he thought it may have been run incorrectly and still ran it that way tells me he's a knob. When I used to work on sleds I can't count how many times I reran throttle and choke cables because they were to close to jackshafts, exhaust etc. I did it as a courtesy and let the customer know.

How much work does it take to reroute a shift cable? He is responsible IMO.

Were you out on the Torch Lake sandbar this Saturday? We were there for a few hours.

Panther

Well, I feel for ya but I can also see what he's saying.

If the cable is routed properly there is no way it will rub on the drive shaft. The cable comes out of the transom assembly off to the side and slightly below the drive shaft. It then runs outside of the bellhousing and up to the shift mechanism.

I've seen people mistakenly route them in between the transom assembly and the mounting bolts on the bell housing. This can not only make it rub on the drive shaft but will also make it harder to shift cause the cable has a decent bend it it. They also make a spiral plastic piece that protects the cable from vibration and heat. Since it's a pain in the arse to put on, some people just leave them off.

DURANGOKID59

No, thought about hitting Torch, but just hit one of the smaller local lakes. Wish I would have been out on Torch, probably would have been more people to hang out with. I think there were four boats on the lake I was at.

MitchStellin

Well I saw that coming, he was not going to admit to that one or even acknowledge a chance he moved it . I would have gone at him like this."hey dork Myer (optional) it looks like when you worked on my top end and had to unhook the cables, my shift cable should be attached to X spot, do you want me to do that? He says "oh yea, I must have missed that go ahead" then you say, well thanks for being a stand up guy and admitting this but it caused the cable to break since it was rubbing against the shaft. When should I bring it by to have you fix this?" It was clearly his fault, he had to remove this cable to remove the carb and he had to remove or loosen clamps to get it out of the way. This is a fact and I would go to the owner and explain this. You would not have lasted any longer if it was rubbing before and the smell is the key to the timing of this. I say make them be accountable for their work, which means the inevitable mistakes we all make but own up to them, no one is perfect and mistakes happen but you have to own up or be held accountable.

DURANGOKID59

Looking back on it, I should have gone about it that route, and gone from there. Stupid me expecting someone to admit they "could" have made a mistake in the way he put it back in there. The other thing that makes me wonder that he knew he routed it wrong, or it was already routed wrong is that when I questioned him about it there was absolutly no hesitation in his response. It was instantly "it was already routed wrong". He seems/seemed like a stand up guy, but I dont know now. Its not only this, but we had a few problems while the head work was being done also. Anyone recommend a good mechanic around the Traverse City area?

cuda

My mechanic I use now, will always let me know if there something I should be concerned with, and asks if I want to fix it or not. Whenever I get an invoice from him, he even notes on it if there was something I should be aware of, whether it had anything to do with what he was working on or not.