Every morning Monday-Friday I wake up at 5:00 A.M. to begin my day as an auto mechanic at an auto repair shop on the outskirts of Chicago. My day is typical: receive the work orders from my manager and perform the repair, car after car.
Most days go relatively smooth. I occasionally run into a problem that is hard to diagnose, but I always end up figuring out the problem and fixing it. Though, there are times that a customer comes in with a problem and we can’t find anything wrong with their car.
One customer that I recall was a man in his 50’s, I would say mid-fifties. He complained of a constant “tapping” and then a “thud” when the car went over 30 MPH. I test drove the car and did not find any problem with it at all. I lubricated some of the fittings and test drove it again. I still couldn’t find anything wrong with it. The car was immaculate and appeared well taken car of. I let my manager know that I could not find anything wrong with it and what I had done to it. She (my manager) said she would let the customer know.
About a week later, about halfway through my shift I had just completed a tune-up and moved that car out of my bay. I went to pick up my next work order at the service desk. Written on the next work order, I see: “Customer states – constant “tapping” and then a “thud” when the car goes over 30 MPH”. It was the same customer that was in last week. I figured that I would take another look before talking to my manager. So, I cleaned out the items from the trunk and interior of the car (to remove the load) and took it for another test drive. Just like last time, I found nothing wrong and did not hear anything at all.
I pulled the car back into my bay and put all of the customer’s items back into the trunk and interior. Once done, I went to speak with manager to explain that I am unable to find anything wrong with the car, just like last week. It all sounds normal to me.
My manager suggested that I speak to the customer myself and that he is sitting in the waiting room. I went to the customer waiting area to speak with him and he reiterated the problem with the car. I suggested that we take the car for a test drive together and he agreed. After clearing it with my manger we were off for a test drive.
I decided that he should drive, to try and replicate the conditions exactly. As we pulled onto the road and accelerated, I still didn’t hear anything. We reached about 35 MPH and I began to hear a faint tapping sound, as we increased to 45 MPH the tapping sound was strong and obvious. I admitted to him that I hear it, but not the “thud” he referenced in his work order. He replied that the “thud” usually happens as soon as he applies the brakes and comes to a stop. I asked him to please do that; sure enough, there was a “thud” after slowing down and stopping.
We repeated this process a few times with me sitting in front, as well as in back, so that I could try to determine the origin of the sound. I must admit that is was loud and annoying. But why didn’t it do it for me? I drove it and everything seemed fine, but now I am determined to find this problem and fix it.
Within 20 minutes, I traced this sound to the rear of the car, and finally to the trunk. I asked the customer to drive back to the shop and I unloaded all of the items from the trunk, including a tool box. We then took the car for another test ride and the sound was gone.
It turns out that the “tapping” sound was 2 tools in the tool box clanking together when the car was traveling at a medium speed, and the “thud” sound was caused by the tool box shifting when the car came to a stop.
In defense of both of us, it was not an obvious conclusion to assume that the sound was from an item within the vehicle. The sounds replicated a problem with the alignment of the vehicle, which is consistent with this type of problem.
I explained what had happened to my manager and that the problem was solved. I felt better that I had solved another issue and the customer was relived that he won’t have to spend a lot of money on an alignment. This type of problem is rare, but being in the auto repair business, anything can happen. It’s all in a days work.