Developing the Tech Help Forum (Post your area of expertise here)

GTE

Hey all,

I had a thought that we could compile a list of brand gurus for this place.

I am a member of the Tdiclub forums and they have a state by state list of "TDI Gurus". These people are known to be very good at what they do, know exactly what they are doing with the car and are generally reasonable and honest people.

It could be a useful resource for people like me who want the car to fixed up and serviced to the highest of standards but cant do all the work themselves. I would never try to change a timing belt but Id love to have a local TDI guru that could do it for me.

I suppose it could be done brand by brand and within that location.
Also, anyone could recommend anyone so I guess a few people would have to have a good experience with them before they make it on to our prestigious list

Any suggestions?

TDI club example
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dj2b4ww_0cbj2p8dt

Also, if any of the gurus reside here also topics like this could be answered. Quite in depth technical stuff
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=256531&highlight=guru

Slidey

Well I'll be the first to throw my area of ''expertise'' in here.

DoE tester so have a fairly vast knowledge on what fails on a wide range of commercials/4x4s. A lot of my knowledge of the testing regs also matches with NCT's.

Served my time working on Isuzu's (waaaay too much time on 3.0 troopers).

Have a good working knowledge of most commercial lorries too.

Also served my time working on Mercedes commercials, but they have changed a good bit since I stopped working on them in 07ish

Car Mad

Hi heres my first post on this discussion board and first let me say im glad to see a part of the forum like this that will help people with there problems instead of the general posts you get in motors that do nothing to help and just annoy you.Well heres what I have to offer the forum if anyone needs help with there Volkswagen/audi im an ex Vw tech and i have access to the garage maintenence manuals called Elsa and I also have access to the parts program Etka so if anyone needs diagrams for removing parts finding parts etc post here and I will reply as soon as possible also If anyone needs part diagrams please post and I will get pics up.:cool:

peasant

This may be trouble.
I'm a member of several fora for old VW's and there always is a need for part numbers, assembly drawings, repair procedures etc.
Over several fora these things have been copied and published and over several fora VW have taken a very dim view of that and have gotten injunctions and the like preventing publication of this data.

Quazzie

peasant wrote: »

VW have taken a very dim view of that and have gotten injunctions and the like preventing publication of this data.

Do you think that is because VW want you to have to buy the information, either directly or indirectly through a main dealer, or because they are worried about people using the information wrongly and then having it come back on them?

peasant

I would suspect that this is commercially motivated

MetzgerMeister

Hi all,

If anyone has any technical questions about the RX-8 I'm here to help

ianobrien

Maybe if the data was sent via PM, VW would not have such an arguement as if the relevant info is sent via PM, you are not breaching copyright by publishing it on the interweb.

Hellrazer

Been in the trade almost 17 years now all after sales based.Mainly in spare parts but I have run a busy workshop in the past for Hyundai and Mitsubishi as well as Ford.

Experience in Ford,Citroen,Hyundai,Mitsubishi,Honda and Volvo.

Im probably most experienced with Hyundai and Volvo since theyre the ones Ive spent most time with.

Happy to help out in any way that I can and save users a few quid aswell.

El Guapo!

Hi lads
Im a fully qualified mechanic and served my time mostly in an independant garage so I have experience on everything from punto's to bentleys. I also worked in peugeot for approx a year.
I'll be glad to help as best as I can with any questions...and if I don't know the answer I'll do my best to find out.

Cosmo K

Hi folks,

working for the NCT since 2003, worked as a mechanic on Fiats and Alfas, I also have some BMW experience. Happy to answer all NCT related questions. I have to say, I really like this new tech help forum, brilliant idea, now lets get it working.

Owen

Spent 7 years woring with BMW/MINI as a Manager, so I've an insight into how it works there. Glad to answer questions if I can.

Obviously I've an insight into Paintwork/Wheel repairs, and I'm happy to advise on installing Parking Sensors/Car Kits, anything ICE related.

GTE

Cool lads.

So we are getting some good details on a wide range of specific manufacturers now as well as some nice insights into commercials and BMW group managment.
Great start to this forum.

Idealy what i see the list growing to would include mechanics who specialise or mechanics who are downright good and reccommended by the users. They can be users themselves or a place that a few of us all agree have great experience with.

Maybe two seperate lists.
Local (as in the members of the forum) Q&A guru's for general and different brands

Trusted Mechanics across many brands and specific ones like VAG specialists.

Personally I dont think Im the correct person to really take care of it since Im not that mechanically inclined at all haha.

Captain Slow IRL

I'm 7 years under the bonnet, 2 of which have been as a qualified motor mechanic - have spent time working for Hyundai, Ford, Volvo, Honda, BMW and Mini.
I'm a bit of a BMW fanboy; I'm not saying I'm an expert but would have access to very helpful info!

Gary ITR

I have a bit of an idea and I'll try and do something with it later. But I do like the way we are developing here so far.

Again if there are any issues with decisions taken or anything I've done just let me know

robtri

7 years working with the bodyshop trade... estimating..

Drummerboy08

Well, I'm sitting in between sales and Aftersales at the minute.

I'm responsible for creating monthly and yearly maintenance figures for all our cars (fleet management), so I know my service/timing belt intervals like nobodies business. As part of this, I spend alot of my time working with the likes of Fastfit for issues/training on tyres and fitments. I also get the pleasure of dealing with some of the more odd warranty issues, such as exploding engines, etc etc.

I do have access to a nice piece of software which combines alot of information such as known issues, guided dianostics etc so if I see an issue here i'll try to help out.

Mr.David

I've been working for Jaguar Land Rover for the last two and a half years as a chassis engineer. Worked on wheels, tyres and more recently foundation brakes (discs & calipers) and springs & dampers.

Main area of knowledge is brakes.:)

Jim from Cork

I would be many years involved with commercials mainly in Spares and Workshop management.
Hino, Iveco, Man, Isuzu, MB.
Meritor (ROR), BPW, SAF, Haldex, Grau – basically all trailer running gear.
Not to mention the Agri side of things!!
Maybe of use at some stage!!

Slidey

Jim from Cork wrote: »

I would be many years involved with commercials mainly in Spares and Workshop management.
Hino, Iveco, Man, Isuzu, MB.
Meritor (ROR), BPW, SAF, Haldex, Grau – basically all trailer running gear.
Not to mention the Agri side of things!!
Maybe of use at some stage!!

:cool:

Your name is going on the 'Handy to know list' so

crosstownk

I think I posted my 'history' on the regular Motors forum some time ago but I'll post it here again.

I went to Bolton St and have a Cert in Transport Engineering and a Diploma in Motor Industry Management.

From there, being wet behind the ears, I managed to get a job as a Junior sales person in an Opel dealership. Being more of a tech head, I moved to a VW/Audi dealer and was a parts man for 3 years. Then I moved to the service dept where I was a Service Adviser for a while. Not long after I was Service Manager at the same VW dealer for 4 years.

I moved into the fleet/leasing game after that and was Fleet Controller in a medium sized leasing company for 3 years and then took the position of After Sales Manager with the same company for a further 4 years.

Next, I moved to a distributor and took the position of Area After Sales Manager and due to the recession and restructuring I became Dealer Development Manager. Then the recession got tougher and I am currently a Commercial Manager for a selection of Irish dealerships and work directly for the manufacturer. I'm involved in sales, service and parts.

Hopefully this forum will be a success and I hope I'll be able to provide useful contributions and maybe some sarcasm

enda1

My area of "expertise" is very narrow and probably little to no use to this forum but here goes:

I am an R&D engineer for a large automotive OEM and have the responsibility for pedestrian protection CAE. That is the virtual evaluation and improvement of the design through countermeasure and design proposal of vehicle bodies.

I know quite well the vehicle structure in the body in white sense as well as the trim body sense.

So roll on the questions :P

Atomic Pineapple

enda1 wrote: »

My area of "expertise" is very narrow and probably little to no use to this forum but here goes:

I am an R&D engineer for a large automotive OEM and have the responsibility for pedestrian protection CAE. That is the virtual evaluation and improvement of the design through countermeasure and design proposal of vehicle bodies.

I know quite well the vehicle structure in the body in white sense as well as the trim body sense.

So roll on the questions :P

:mad: your responsible for cars having to have higher bonnets then!? :P

knifey_spoonie

Work in a Toyota garage, now in sales did parts and aftersales too, started in valeting.
Also have a copy of autodata CD3 lying around here too

docmartin

I work in a toyota parts dept, have experience also with vag and mitsubishi parts

gofaster_s13

15 years in the motor trade(longer if you count helping the Aul lad out with his Nixers:D), served my time as a HGV mechanic, went on and did a degree in Automotive engineering, did a brief stint assessing, returned to the tools then and have been spinning spanners since on everything from Minis to Cranes, currently working as an HGV/LGV DOE tester and commercial vehicle mechanic:D

Owen

Forgot to say I have paint software too, so if anyone needs to know the location of their paint codes, or help identifying them, I'm here. Plus, I can also let you know how many variations there are (Some toyota colours have over 10!)

Mycroft H

As you could probably guess from the username its mostly land rover :

Defenders 90, 110, Series 3, Discovery Series 1 + 2, Range Rover Classic and P38.

Others 4x4. Mitsubishi Pajero, Nissan Patrol, Nissan Terrano mainly.

Cars: MK1-2 Golfs, jettas ect.....

BeardyGit

A fair few years experience owning and troubleshooting:

Series 2a/3 Landrovers - petrols, diesels and turbo hybrids
Range Rover Classics, early types, both 2 & 4 door variants running V8's on carbs
Late 'soft dash' RRC's and Discovery 1's, Diesel and V8 EFI models

I've done about 50k miles in each of the above as a 'daily driver'.

Bit of experience with P6's too, particularly when it comes to their powerplants - V8's of course.

Happy to help whenever I can. Not great on autoboxes though, have to admit....they're usually easier to swap than cure!

bladespin

Alfa 156,147

Motorcycles in general, have worked on most modern bikes.

hiluxman

qualified mechanic and doe tester for light commercials.trained and worked in an indepent garage so ive worked on most cars/vans/4x4/light trucks. lot of experience with petrol emissions and diagnostics, some plant/tractors/quad etc experience

beachlife

over 20 years in the trade now,woking firstly on toyotas,then in an indie,now have my own shop and do alot of diagnostic work for other garages to

hope to specialize in the vw group in the next couple of years,so I will try to help you guy's out in any way I can ....based in dublin.

Great forum.

500sel

20 years in trade last 5 working for my self (independant ) specalising in Diagnostics. Now have 7 staff and specalising in Diagnostics, servicing & repair of BMW, Mini & Vag, still repairing all makes but these are our strongest points.

500sel

500sel wrote: »

20 years in trade last 5 working for my self (independant ) specalising in Diagnostics. Now have 7 staff and specalising in Diagnostics, & servicing & repair of BMW, Mini & Vag, still repairing all makes but these are our strongest points.

P.S. Had to sneak in here via a link on another post In motors
can someone tell me how to gain access?

Stoolbend

500sel wrote: »

P.S. Had to sneak in here via a link on another post In motors
can someone tell me how to gain access?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=64768079&postcount=1

500sel

Done
Cheers bud;)

Plug

Im a Ford mechanic, I might add in i'm an apprentice. Im off to FAS again next week:pac: Woo! I work with Ford vehicles day in day out, rarely would I work on another make.

I work on:
Mondeo 01-07
Mondeo, Galaxy, S-max 06 onwards
Focus all models
Fiesta and Ka 98 onwards
Transit 01-06 + newer models.

I don't really work on older stuff.

nogoodnamesleft

A few years owning,troubleshooting and maintaining my own cars.Mainly VWs.

I have a background in engineering (electronics) which can prove useful in diagnosing automotive electrical problems.

Fishtits

Started my apprenticeship in ’83, qualified in ’86, light + heavy vehicle mechanic with auto electrical endorsement. Did the Technician year in Bolton St, did the IMI Cert, then the Diploma, completed the IRTE entrance exams, did the IMI Automotive Engineer. Lectured in Bolton St for seven years. Did an ACCA accountancy post grad diploma, buggered off out foreign as a manager to earn tax free money for eight years, came back a few years ago and opened an auto electrical business. Have forgot 90% of what I learned in the process.

Captain Slow IRL

How many posters here have been in Bolton St?!!?

Stainless_Steel

I've a masters in automotive engineering. Not very regular to the interweb but will chip in where I can.

Nissan doctor

I have been qualified just shy of 10 years now, spent the first 8 in an independant service center gaining a wide range of experience with most cars however Japanese vehicles and Nissan especially are my particular area of interest.
I now have my own workshop dealing mostly with imported high performance nissans with everything available from Japanese spec diagnostics right through to full high spec engine builds as well as diagnostics and service/repairs to all makes.

I am active on many other car specific forums and am happy to give any help and advice I can.

positivevibes

Hi all,
Over many years i have worked for main dealers and would have great knowledge on rover,Landrover,Kia,Citroen,Seat,Opel and Diahatsu.If i can be of any help with mechanical,electrical or cant get your head around problems give me a shout and i'll sure we can get it sorted.:)

Mr.David

I've just gotten a new job - changing from Chassis engineer at Jaguar Land Rover to join the Aerodynamics team (also JLR) as a wind noise engineer. Will involve acoustic wind tunnel testing, CFD, autobahn testing etc etc.

Probably of less use than chassis engineering in terms of what I can contribute here but thought I may as well share it anyway!

101sean

My background is 30 years of skinning knuckles on Land Rovers for pleasure (need my head examining I think :rolleyes:)

Mr David, done any work on the Defender replacement? Bet you won't be seeing it in the Aerodynamics team!

tubsy78

15yrs experience have my own place since 2003 so plenty of headaches and experience to share!!!!!:P

no1beemerfan

Good idea this but I may not be as helpful as I'd like to be....I'm an accountant during the week and my own mechanic at the wkend!!

Do everything myself on my 1997 Laguna, 1998 Micra, 1986 E30 and 1986 E28 and the gf's 2005 Focus II and the mother's 2003 MINI (but this has only been an oil change etc as its too reliable!)

Mr.David

101sean wrote: »

My background is 30 years of skinning knuckles on Land Rovers for pleasure (need my head examining I think :rolleyes:)

Mr David, done any work on the Defender replacement? Bet you won't be seeing it in the Aerodynamics team!

Haven't done anything on the replacement but know some of the details flying around in the early stages of "Icon"

The defender is an aerodynamic tour de force - it can drive upside down in a tunnel at 120mph due to the huge amount of generated downforce

anyway, we better not drag this thread off topic!:o:o