"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
But I learned a long time ago that it's more important to simply
get the damned thing fixed. If that means shotgunning likely
components, so be it.

Would you be happy for a car mechanic to shotgun a fault on
your car, with you paying for his time and all the parts he is
unnecessarily fitting?

Yes, if an initial /conscientious/ troubleshoot didn't reveal the problem.
I'd rather pay for parts than time.

Of course, you can't draw an exact parallel between cars and electronic
equipment. It's easier to "see" what is wrong with mechanical devices, but
car parts tend to be more-expensive than electronic parts.



I'm not at all sure you would say that if one of the incorrectly fitted
parts was the EMU, for example. This, and many of the expensive sensors on
engines nowadays, are usually 'bonded' parts, and once the box has been
opened, the supplier will not accept it back, which leaves you paying for
it, when it was not required. A while ago, I had just this problem with my
local garage, who replaced a cartload of parts and sensors on my engine, for
an idle problem that ultimately turned out to be due to a split in the PCV
hose. I argued with them long and hard about having to pay for parts that
had been shotgunned due to the fact that the guy doing the job had not
correctly diagnosed the problem. I eventually had to settle for a reduced
labour bill to offset the unnecessary parts cost, which they were determined
were staying on the engine, and that I was going to be paying for (at retail
price, just to make it worse)

Arfa