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You get what you pay for

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This guy seriously needs to find another shop to get his oil changed at.

 

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This is what I found on a 2008 6.4l. Who ever did the last oil change just stuffed that filter in there onto the already broken stand pipe and put the lid on which still contained broken parts from the old oil filter and "buttoned" it up!

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Not passing judgement here, Bruno, but I do have to wonder what message we are sending out to customers when we stop using "genuine Ford parts".

 

These past few years, we have begun to send out for 7.3 fuel filters with the built in cap rather than insist on a Ford filter with a pricey replacement cap. I have mixed emotions over this practice.

 

We seem to spend the majority of our time either perched between a rock and a hard place or trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea....

 

In the FWIW department.... our door rate is somewhere in the area of 120~140 per hour - I lost track a long, long time ago. Aftermarket shops (independants and big box alike) are typically $30ish per hour less (possibly even more). Now, I liken us to a burger stand... some folks think a buck99 Big Mac is gourmet food.... some of us are willing to pay $15 so that our taste buds can have an orgasm. I like to think that I am a chef in that high class burgerhaus.

 

I could go on and on about people getting what they pay for.... but a bigger problem, sometimes, is that people DON'T get what they pay for. When I do a service or one of many various inspections, I check the pressure in the spare tire... does anyone care to hear about what I find?

 

I'm going to pause here to avoid saying something I might regret.

 

Aim for your target market. But give them everything you promised. Saying you are better than the other guy is different from being better than the other guy.

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Not passing judgement here, Bruno, but I do have to wonder what message we are sending out to customers when we stop using "genuine Ford parts".

I was kinda thinking the same thing. The best filter that fits these engines is the one that Ford recommends and fits in the OEM cap. We stock caps; oil and fuel. OUR customers expect genuine Ford and Motorcraft parts and fluids when they come to a dealership. Why would you offer anything else? I know other parts exist and most are fine to use but, that would be like going to a steakhouse and asking for a Big-Mac. Posted Image

 

Also, I don't see the the things that Brads pictures depict as a part concern as much as it is an installer problem. If you have to pry a filter from a cap with ecxesive force and not question why, you might be a knuckle dragger. If you are not thinking about what you are doing well enough to inspect the filter housing for debris or broken filter or standpipe parts, you might be a knuckle dragger. If you are changing a customer's oil filter with one that has an integral cap and you throw away the OEM cap with complete disregard for the vehicle owner... YUP! Posted Image You are a knuckle dragger.

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Not passing judgement here, Bruno, but I do have to wonder what message we are sending out to customers when we stop using "genuine Ford parts".

 

These past few years, we have begun to send out for 7.3 fuel filters with the built in cap rather than insist on a Ford filter with a pricey replacement cap. I have mixed emotions over this practice.

 

We seem to spend the majority of our time either perched between a rock and a hard place or trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea....

 

In the FWIW department.... our door rate is somewhere in the area of 120~140 per hour - I lost track a long, long time ago. Aftermarket shops (independants and big box alike) are typically $30ish per hour less (possibly even more). Now, I liken us to a burger stand... some folks think a buck99 Big Mac is gourmet food.... some of us are willing to pay $15 so that our taste buds can have an orgasm. I like to think that I am a chef in that high class burgerhaus.

 

I could go on and on about people getting what they pay for.... but a bigger problem, sometimes, is that people DON'T get what they pay for. When I do a service or one of many various inspections, I check the pressure in the spare tire... does anyone care to hear about what I find?

 

I'm going to pause here to avoid saying something I might regret.

 

Aim for your target market. But give them everything you promised. Saying you are better than the other guy is different from being better than the other guy.

I totally agree with you, Jim, It's just hard to sell a customer an overpriced OE $80+ cap to replace the one the dumbass tech threw away while installing the junk aftermarket piece of shite, just to put a FOMOCO filter back in their vehicle. I used to save all the HFCM primary fuel filter caps off junk pumps(they are identical to the oil filter caps)and use them to put Ford filters back on, but at some point I just gave up and went with the flow. A couple of trucks I took a black permanent marker and wrote under the hood to not throw away the filter cap, then replaced it with a stock one, but again, being flat rate, I eventually admitted defeat. Posted Image Also, like you, I check the pressure in spare tires, unless I have to empty a ton of junk out of the trunk to get to it, and yes, almost all of them are either very low or flat. I hate doing a job half-assed, but sometimes I just get tired of banging my head against the wall for people who either don't care enough to keep bringing their trucks to a dealer for every service to get quality work done, with quality parts, or who don't know the difference and will just go back to the indy garage and get a crappy aftermarket filter installed at the next service interval anyhow. Posted Image
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You'd be shocked at how many NAPA rotors we put on cars because NAPA is closer than running anywhere else for ford/motorcraft parts (our shop is out in the sticks). We're small and as a result we don't stock much.

 

It's a shame but you can't care or it costs you time/money. I will never put a aftermarket oil filter on a truck but I'm guilty of putting on aftermarket 7.3 fuel filters(we don't stock a cap).

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I've told the guys at my shop the importance of motorcraft filters for our 6.4. The other day, I walk outside to a wix rep poping the hood on said truck. "We'll have plenty of filters for this truck". I just smiled and waved.

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