Hi Liam

"""I dont want this forum to be elitist"""

I agree totally, but there is a fine line between an elitist environment & one that is set on raising & maintaining industry standards.

Replacing a DPF without fully assessing the whole system is unprofessional & unfair to the vehicle owner. There is no way of making this point without ruffling a few feathers.

There is no escaping the fact that too many mechanics are attempting to repair systems that they are insufficiently equipped to do deal with.

Long gone are the days when a mechanic would be able to "have a go" at anything that came through the door, yet the mentality still remains.

No one can avoid this fact & even the cleverest & best tooled up technicians know that they have limits to what they can tackle practically. There is no shame in it whatsoever.

One of the problems is that many people still won't accept that they have an obligation to their customer, to understand the technology set before them & if they don't understand it, either turn it away or use it as an opportunity to gain some experience. I regularly take on jobs that I am not totally able to understand from the outset, but I makes sure that I make allowance for the "Learning" portion of the hours spent, when I write out the final invoice.

Often the ratio between earning & learning appears to be unprofitable, but in the long term I have to hope that I pull it back.