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I once had a car get a bad oxygen sensor while on vacation. Since it was under warranty, it had to get towed 45 minutes to a dealership. I explicitly told them

I once had a car get a bad oxygen sensor while on vacation. Since it was under warranty, it had to get towed 45 minutes to a dealership. I explicitly told them that the problem is a bad oxygen sensor. It took them 10 hours to figure out it was a bad oxygen sensor, and then another 2 to fix it.

fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
It’s tricky to handle this, though. As a programmer, I’ve both had situations where the bug ticket had details I overlooked and situations where the attempt to specify a problem in the ticket led me on a wild goose chase.
- dlhavema 6y ago
  I Can't agree more. Overly specific details in a ticket might mean that's the only place where the problem exists or it might mean that's the only place the problem was detected. Which lead to very different root causes...
- zdragnar 6y ago
  In this case, there isn't a wild goose, it is sitting neatly penned up. They literally have a device to get error logs from the car with manufacturer specific codes specifying what is wrong. That process is the same first step they would have taken anyway; I mentioned what I did to make sure they would have the right part available. As it turned out, I still had to wait an hour and a half once they figured it out because, lo and behold, they didn't have one and had to go out to get another.
throwawayboise 6y ago
That seems odd. An O2 sensor problem will normally illuminate the amber "check engine" lamp, but the car remains perfectly drivable. No need to tow it anywhere. The shop technician can read the stored trouble codes and easily determine it's the O2 sensor, should take maybe 5 minutes do diagnose. I think someone was getting scammed here. Since it was a warranty repair, maybe the dealer was scamming the factory warranty program somehow.
- zdragnar 6y ago
  The check engine light came on, and once I had slowed down, the engine wouldn't get up out of second or third gear. It has happened to me before (different car years ago). The engine ran fine, happily got between first and second, and had no problem with fifth while we were on the highway. It was only after the light came on and I had to slow down to turn on the road to the place we were staying at that it started to struggle. And sure, I could have driven it, but it probably would have been a two or three hour drive topping out at 20mph... hence the tow. Given that O2 sensors aren't exactly expensive to replace, it seems like an odd scam.

fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago

It’s tricky to handle this, though. As a programmer, I’ve both had situations where the bug ticket had details I overlooked and situations where the attempt to specify a problem in the ticket led me on a wild goose chase.

dlhavema 6y ago
I Can't agree more. Overly specific details in a ticket might mean that's the only place where the problem exists or it might mean that's the only place the problem was detected. Which lead to very different root causes...
zdragnar 6y ago
In this case, there isn't a wild goose, it is sitting neatly penned up. They literally have a device to get error logs from the car with manufacturer specific codes specifying what is wrong. That process is the same first step they would have taken anyway; I mentioned what I did to make sure they would have the right part available. As it turned out, I still had to wait an hour and a half once they figured it out because, lo and behold, they didn't have one and had to go out to get another.

throwawayboise 6y ago

That seems odd. An O2 sensor problem will normally illuminate the amber "check engine" lamp, but the car remains perfectly drivable. No need to tow it anywhere. The shop technician can read the stored trouble codes and easily determine it's the O2 sensor, should take maybe 5 minutes do diagnose. I think someone was getting scammed here. Since it was a warranty repair, maybe the dealer was scamming the factory warranty program somehow.

zdragnar 6y ago
The check engine light came on, and once I had slowed down, the engine wouldn't get up out of second or third gear. It has happened to me before (different car years ago). The engine ran fine, happily got between first and second, and had no problem with fifth while we were on the highway. It was only after the light came on and I had to slow down to turn on the road to the place we were staying at that it started to struggle. And sure, I could have driven it, but it probably would have been a two or three hour drive topping out at 20mph... hence the tow. Given that O2 sensors aren't exactly expensive to replace, it seems like an odd scam.