Think what you want...

As things stand, if I don't fix something right this week, I may well fix it
for free (and properly) next week.... It's not me decding what is the best
repair strategy, it is the car and I am simply the translator.....

When we get into modifications (and even dents in the oil pan are
modifications), we are entering an area where one change often begets
another.... and another... and another.... The chance of having some
Frankenstein sitting in the drieway that nobody can fix without a big
checquebook is all too real... And THIS, young sir, is a trap many
inexperienced DIYers fall into....

When I first started out in my own business, I had the dream of being that
guy that could fix cars well and for much cheaper. In reality, I bought
myself a job... a poor paying job ... where it was common for a customer to
come to pick up his car saying "I don't have the money today - but I
can.....". And it was just as common for a customer to forget what was saved
doing a piecemeal repair (because he didn't want or have the cash to spend)
when things went bad - "You f*cked up my car!!!".

Then, I moved a little further uptown.... I do only that quality of repair
that I would do on my own vehicles. With this comes the understanding that
many parts on a car are considered "sacrificial"... and with the
understanding that, if I am into a repair in a particular area, there are
parts that might be more economically changed now rather than a month or two
or three from now.

Let's say you have a bad rear wheel seal on an 8.8 diff..... Do you go in
and replace only the seal that is leaking? Or will you replace them both?
Let's not allow a piffling thing like realizing that both rear wheel seals
have had a very similar life - and one has already failed....

Whoops.... lookee there - the brake shoes are contaminated with oil... Now
there are a lot of rules and accepted industry standards (not to mention
liability and litigation concerns) that I must follow..... (You, being a
DIYer, are allowed to thumb your nose at these common sense
onsiderations  - and even if something went wrong to the point of
litigation, you can plead inexperience). So... contaminated brake shoes just
ain't going to make it out of my store.... I don't care how many times
someone tells me they wont blame me if something goes bad.... Now we notice
that the brake hardware (springs and such) have been subject to the ravages
of time - and nature..... I don't care if you trust it or not.... If *I*
don't trust it, the job isn't going to get done - not in my store, anyway.
And the list can grow.... what shape are the drums in.... how about the
e-brakes.... the wheel cylinders..... All of these desparately need to be up
to snuff. Because if one of them is going to be considered as contributing
to an MVA, I do not want to be named a correspondant....

It can be easy to confuse "oversell" with doing something the way it should
be done.... On one hand, the owner might have an idea of how much he may be
willing to invest in any repair strategy..... On the other hand, an owner
will demand that he makes as few visits to the shop as possible.... I have a
LOT of customers that insist that brake pads are changed when wear
approaches 50%.... The few bucks worth of usable brake pad that are
discarded are more than offset by removig the inconvenience of another visit
to the shop... quite possibly at an inopportune time.... Interesting thing
with sacrificial parts... we can change them when it is convenient for
us.... or we can wait for them to be a problem that can both cause further
damage and/or become a very real inconvenience.

So..... since my customers look to me for guidance, it is up to me to
recommend a repair strategy... one that will minimize the number of times
they return to the shop (inconvenience), one that will minimize the number
of times they "waste money" on duplicate labour ops, one that will, in the
end, give them "more bang for the buck".... one that will, over the life of
the vehicle, result in a lower cost per mile of operation.....

Now... let's mention your "dents".... We finally have at least some
description of your dents.... I'm still not impressed with your brand of
ingenuity. Your engine mounts, by your description, have sagged.... Even
now, there could be a drone or vibration that you don't realize..... I
vaguely recall you mentioning that the mounts have been replaced - since
they have sagged, I must assume they were replaced with the cheapest parts
available.... . If you don't feel a drone or vibration, we can assume one of
two things.... it isn't there to be felt (yet) - or, a buyer may pass up
this vehicle whenever it may be offered for sale because something "isn't
right".  If the mounts have deteriorated in a short span, there is a very
real chance that this deterioration may continue and you will once again
replace the mounts... this is the gamble.... I don't have the luxury of
gambling with other peoples money..... But, if you do have to replace the
mounts again, you now have dents in your oil pan.... and neither one of us
has any idea if these dents are in a critical area or not....

The guy that ran over something in the road drove for a long, long time
before the problem became an issue... and when it became an issue, it cost
him a lot of money and downtime (isn't this what DIYing is supposed to
"SAVE"?).

DIYing shouldn't be an adventure in "how to hack a repair"... it doesn't
work..... damned near 40 years of doing this has proven it time and time
again.

Bars Leaks (or Silver Stallion or any of those other homeopathic remedies)
isn't a "repair"... it's a placebo. And when the concern comes back (and it
will), it will come back with a vengeance.

Dents or other modifications to other areas of a car aren't likely to offer
instantaneous symptoms of a concern.... many of these can take many miles
for the first symptoms to become obvious... and it is at this time that it
is already too late in far too many cases.

Back when I was younger, I thought I knew it all..... dents in oil pans....
cheapy stop gap measures.... I was gonna save the world.... Now I'm a lot
longer in the tooth.... I've been doing this sh.t since before you were a
gleam in daddys eye... and I can look people in the eye and say "I don't
know jack sh.t about this stuff"... It's easy to think this stuff is
simple.... But if you want to save money, do it once - do it right.

But people come here because they lack the experience to diagnose a concern,
the knowledge to diagnose a concern, the ability to diagnose a concern, the
patience to diagnose a concern or the facilities to diagnose a concern (or
any combination of the list). Puff your feathers all you want... there are a
hundred ways to "fix" a problem..... only one of them is going to be right
and only one of them is going to be dependable.

When push comes to shove..... I have a lot of people that drive on the roads
in our area that I admire, consider friends or even love..... I do not enjoy
the notion that there is the chance that some jerry rigged, ill considered,
"accident looking for a place to happen" is hurtling towards them at
break-neck speed....

As a (retired) rescue tech with our local fire department and in my capacity
in assisting with accident reconstruction with our local LEOs, IO get to see
many tjhings that you haven't even considered.....

Which brings us to a crucial consideration.... "haven't even
considered"....... I may be old and I may be cranky.... You might even think
I "oversell".... I'm booked over two weeks in advance right now.... I work
12 hour days..... and my customers go away happy....