As a General Practitioner, the doctor’s role is to deal with most day to day conditions & refer the complex problems to the appropriate specialist. The GP feels no shame that he can't deal with the patient directly, as he understands the limits of his training & he will only treat conditions that he is qualified to treat.
We couldn’t hope to survive in our trade if we turned away anything that we hadn’t encountered before, or taken relevant training on, but we do have a responsibility to make sure that we know when to stand back & seek more specialised help, or even refer the customer directly to someone who has the necessary experience.
The frightening thing is that too many mechanics are willing to gamble on solutions, without any alarm bells ringing. They are usually gambling with the customer’s money & often the odds are not that good. I think it was a Clint Eastwood line… “A mans got to know his limitations!” blimey if ever there was a more appropriate line!
I recently rang Martin Wainwright about an old Diesel Renault Master (non common rail). I knew I was out of my depth in respect of my knowledge of the operation of the pump, but I also knew that I was dealing with an “injection advance” type fault. I checked the basics & sent the pump to our trusted diesel specialist & let them work their magic. We became mere “fitters” in this example, but the customer was happy that it was turned around promptly & without unnecessary costs. (He was insistent that he needed new injectors)
As I mentioned in another thread, we are all learning on the job every day & we have to balance the learning/earning ratio, so that we earn a crust & treat the customer fairly.
One of the most important things for a mechanic to learn is, where the gaps in his knowledge are! Then go fill them!!
Cheers all
Dave
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