Having to rely on a tiebreaker

Jan. 1, 2020
I don’t care who you are, if you’ve been doing this as long as I have, you  still know when there is trouble brewing on the other side of that office door!
I don’t care who you are, if you’ve been doing this as long as I have, you could be blindfolded, have the windows closed, the door taped shut and both ears covered by a noise-cancelling headset and still know there was trouble brewing on the other side of that barricaded office door!

You can hear it if you can’t see it, and you can feel it if you can’t hear it!

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Like the ripple in the Force they keep talking about in Star Wars, it exists and it is real. The air thickens and becomes almost still. The noise level drops a few decibels. Everyone’s movements and actions become more deliberate, more frenetic. And there is a sense of urgency and foreboding that draws you away from your desk and whatever it is you are doing and leads you outside to see exactly what the hell is going on!

At first, you are relieved; this isn’t bad at all! One of your people — someone you are “bringing inside,” training to be a lube tech — did exactly what you hoped and prayed they would do when confronted with an anomaly: they realized something wasn’t quite right and didn’t just keep going, they went for help!

You have to admit, in today’s world, that is as rare as it is gratifying!

What did they do that was so terrific?

Our software allows us to look up filter applications and embed them on the repair order, either pulling them from inventory or ordering them electronically through the web. Our trainee looked at the filter application he’d been given and then looked at the vehicle and realized that while the oil filters were manufactured by the same company, the numbers were different. And, that difference sparked a ripple in the Force and a flurry of activity.

We’ve been taking care of this vehicle since it was new. Consequently, we were the ones who put that filter on! We were also responsible for pulling the new lookup and if there was a problem, it was going to be our problem. The lube tech went to one of my lead techs and explained his dilemma: “What do I put on the vehicle? The same filter it has on it now and has always had? Or, the filter that accompanied the work order and is on the tech copy?”

My lead tech went into the stock room, opened the manufacturer’s catalogue and looked up the application by year, make, model and engine size. The number in the paper catalogue, which was just barely over a year old, was the same number that was on the filter on the vehicle and every filter that had preceded it. He stuck his head in the office wanting to know who sent out the wrong filter and why they were trying to sabotage the shop.

My manager opened the work order, cranked up the electronic catalogue and dialed up the oil filter application by Vehicle Identification Number, year, make, model and engine size and it was the filter that had been called out on the repair order and tech copy — the filter that had been given to the lube tech.

What next?

You look for consensus or you look for a tiebreaker. You look for someone to confirm you are right or provide the confidence you need to take a chance on being wrong.

We called our “First Call” and checked the application. They looked it up online and it was the same number that we found, the number on the RO and on the filter in the technician’s hand. I also looked it up on the manufacturer’s website and we got a consensus.

I went to my first call’s website and looked it up on their electronic catalogue. Each lookup parked us right in front of the new number. I called my first call and asked if he had a paper catalogue available — a new paper catalogue. He did. I asked him to look up the application and lo and behold, it was a different number: the old number!

I called the manufacturer’s technical service hotline number. Who better to break the tie? No one was home — they live on the other side of the country, and their hotline shuts down at the end of their day, not ours!

What do you do? Do you put the old filter on? It’s listed as the correct filter for that application in the paper catalogues. Or, do you screw on the filter that’s listed in the electronic catalogues? If you screw it on will you screw it up?

I’ll probably get a call or an email from the manufacturer some time tomorrow, but some time tomorrow isn’t going to help my customer or me today. Aside from that, with the inconsistencies in the cataloguing, I’m pretty sure that if there is a problem in the future, it will be the manufacturer’s problem. That’s who will be hearing from someone’s attorney.

So, we thought about it for a while and installed the filter with the new number. It’s the one listed on the manufacturer’s website and at that point, quite frankly, I no longer cared. The client needed his car back and we were reasonably certain we couldn’t go wrong either way.

Two different numbers, two seemingly different applications, both provided by the same manufacturer – one listed electronically, the other listed conventionally — both for the same vehicle. Looks like I may not be the only one in need of a tiebreaker.

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