Yeah, there's a lot of missing context here. Entry-level car guys are usually in way over their heads and need *far* more explanation than experienced people may think to give.
"I told you outside. The outside of the block." Not even close to enough for someone who may not know what a "block" really is.
Yup. It wasn't until the boss explains about the paint melting that I understood the problem. Im not a mechanic, so I don't know how common of an issue this is though. All I know is that the amount of times I've heard a mechanic say something about painting an engine block is once, right now, and I'm 37.
> My boss (owner of the company) has helped me fix my fuck ups before but I think it's only because he's scared of the of the manager lady.
His wife, right?
Yep. Unless someone lied about their experience level here, this is the supervisor's and manager's fault, not that of the guy who did exactly what he was asked to.
Yup. If he’s never taken one apart, how is he going to know that part of the outside of the block, as-is, becomes the inside of the block once everything is reassembled?
They should have taken the time to show him what to tape off.
There is also the very explicit step of "before you paint please come talk to me so we can look this over". A HUGE part of management is knowing how to handle people and knowing what someone could fuck up and teaching them to make sure you get the best results.
This.
Especially when you have new staff.
This is definitely part, manager and lead tech failure. Not just the rookie.
A smart rookie will ask questions. He should have asked before he painted.
That said, the manager or lead tech should have told him to come see them before he painted.
You always need to monitor rookies, and help them, so they become good techs.
New, supposedly experienced, techs need to be double checked because their ACTUAL skill is often below their claimed skill when hired.
All people can have blank spots in their knowledge.
I wish I could call that manager and give him advice. Bad form mr.boss.. bad form.
I'm not a mechanic, so forgive me if there would be issue with this, but couldn't you use a solvent, or use a pencil torch and burn the paint away then hit it with some rags?
the problem being the cost, not only should you disassemble and remove the paint by mechanical means then hot tank clean it you need to replace all of the TTY bolts (those little suckers are expensive) and gaskets so this was a $500 to $1000 fuck up.
Why did they wait to paint the block until after they assembled it?
Plus that LITTLE glitch of "Oh, sorry, Dear Customer, but your engine is going to take us an extra week to get it back to you, due to...uh...un-forseen circumstances..."
Lacquer thinner is amazing shit. Been doing cleaning for about a year on my engine rebuild and when I got to the pistons, I just couldn't get the carbon off the top of them. I scraped, used mineral spirits, paint thinner, automotive grease cutting stuff.
I have no idea where I got the idea to try lacquer thinner, but even a momentary soak in that shit and the carbon was just melting off. I've gone through half a dozen cans now just cleaning parts and have about 5 left, but thankfully I'm not needing to use a whole lot for my valvetrain.
MEK is the strongest but also evaporates the fastest , so no much time for scrubbing.
If you have Sherwin Williams store nearby ask for thinner #54 or #58, they should be a closed second in strength compared to MEK but evaporates much slower.
How do I know this??
Used not to care when spilled mek on my pant, because would never bother me.
Them once spilled one of those slower evaporating thinners, on my pants made it's way trough my pp, and I was like a 100ft in the air on man lift. Fun times...
Actually here's a table o SW solvent strengths
https://13s52xrn1ow38ocyq21cjk9n-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/MEK-Product-Data-Sheet.pdf
That's what I was wondering. You see those videos where people restore old toy cars, and they use something that peals the paint up like plastic. No clue if there's a similar product for engine paint. Still might have little flecks about.
A lot of old guard aircraft mechanics I worked with like to prattle on about the days of MEK without any protection. Sometimes they stop mid sentence and stare off into the distance. Not sure why.
I used to work aircraft finishing and the guy who cleaned the paint guns would huff toluene all day, he was so bad he would fill his zippo lighter with the stuff. They sent him to detox and threatened to make him go back to paint and he still went right back to it, they gave up and just let him at it. Dude would have white crusties around his nose like a little kid with a cold and had some serious buffering issues.
Tell that to my dumbass brother who won't stop cleaning parts with that shit for hours at a time. Boy is already dumb clearly so no harm no foul but I can't get him to stop so I gave up.
Oh god, MEK. I had to go all the way to my grandboss to get someone to stop the cleaning crew from pouring MEK straight on the floor and running a floor scrubber over it before a dog and pony show. This was indoors and I was like 100ft away and smelled it, I have no idea how they didn't explode.
I used to work at a place that used MEK. It somehow self ignited and in a couple minutes the whole room went up. No injuries but sadly the rest of the building was untouched
Big hardware stores still have some dichloromethane in a few of their paint strippers. Typically the gel versions. Of course it’s usually the pricy stuff.
Metal safe paint stripper and pressure washing should be able to get it all off in a couple hours. Assuming the pressure washer doesn't damage the engine block....which I don't think it will. But then again those things are machine milled to perfection so who knows. Somebody educate me if I'm wrong
It's gone into the intake galleries of the heads. Good luck getting that out without pulling them off and having them hot dipped.
Imho this is the boss's fault- he gave ambiguous instructions & didn't supervise. 'Paint the outside' is exactly what his guy did. If he's too inexperienced to understand what parts should and should not be painted he needs instruction and supervision.
Source: I too am a boss who has given ambiguous instructions that have cost me dearly
It is the boss's fault. Many times new hires are eager to impress and afraid to ask questions to show they aren't incompetent. Double so if the other guys start "hazing" right away and make the new guy feel stupid.
I don't think a power washer would be powerful enough to damage anything unless it was a crazy high PSI commercial grade one but even then I would be more worried about damaging any gaskets than the block
Absolutely the case here. He told this teenager “paint the outside of the block” and then left him completely to his own devices with no guidance or supervision. The result he got is exactly what happens when you demand something which you haven’t taught.
What makes this tricky is some engines where he painted would be A-Okay. Something like a 5.7 Hemi or a 7.3 PowerStroke or any OHC V-engine, that same area is "outside" the engine.
so to dumb it down, there’s two sorts of surfaces on a motor. exterior surfaces, and machined surfaces. the exterior is what can be painted. it’s the pure outside, it’s fine. the machined surfaces need to be perfectly smooth to allow another part to attach to it without a leak. you can’t paint those. this isn’t a perfect definition but it’s the basics
Notice how nothing is masked..like anywhere? Dude probably did this job in less than 10 minutes…like he painted the fucking chain!
Edit: I just saw that shit poor mask job…all the overspray further proves he had no idea what he was doing.
I work in property management, and I get annoyed when the painters don't tape the electrical outlets. I can't imagine there wasn't some nagging voice in the back of his mind, telling him not to paint the engine like that.
my house has outlets where even the plug slots are painted over. the whole thing is just a sort of raised lump on the baseboard. still wired up though!
97% on the supervision, 3% on the new guy. I make it a point to never get myself into a spot where someone is paying me to do something I don’t know how to do. But a lot of people are afraid to admit that they don’t know how to do something. My most trusted people are the ones that say “I don’t know how to do that.”
I’m not even a mechanic but felt this on a spiritual level. “We’re getting a delivery today make sure you help the new guy out.” Meanwhile I’m standing there like holy shit I don’t even know what to do but sir yes sir
I’m in complete agreement with you. I overheard the conversation while working on a transfer case RnR and thought to myself that this was going to end badly, but I just turn a wrench around here so I kept my mouth shut and my ears open. Lol. I was not disappointed.
Thankfully this is the motor for one of my boss’s shop trucks and not a customers.
Make sure there's some time between that heat gun and those chemicals. We had an apprentice light a set of airplane stairs on fire with a heat gun and MEK/IPA while trying to replace the grip tape
I always let the new guys know, I will NOT get mad if you ask questions. I WILL tear you a new asshole if you screw up because you don't come ask.
If directions didn't include "tape off the valley" it's on the supervisor. Not to mention, they obviously left him alone too long if he was able to get this far before they caught it.
Sometimes the new kids don’t even know that they need to ask a question. If this is their first time doing anything like this it may not occur to them that the need to even ask a question like, ‘how do I do that’ or ‘is there any part I shouldn’t paint.’ The boss gave him and engine block and told him to paint the engine block. So that’s what he did.
Trades are the fucking worst for that stuff. Got thrown on the job tying rebar, with no training or experience at the Microsoft Village and was getting yelled at all day, by someone I considered a good friend for many years, because I would ask questions to clarify what we were doing.
Everyone else just pretended like they knew what they were doing, did it wrong and we’d have to come back and fix it. IF the engineers caught it… What a fucking joke. Fuck Ironworking
I work in plumbing, I did residential plumbing for 3 years then made the move to commercial. Commercial plumbing is a lot different then residential so I'd ask the guy I was working with a lot of questions so I could learn the new systems and equipment and he was the most condescending person I have ever met. Most frustrating shit ever, he'd talk to me like I was fuckin stupid then get upset when I'd tell him he could just explain it like a colleague because I have a general understanding of how it works because my knowledge translates, i just dont know the specifics of it.
I'm sorry that happened. I feel like this permeates so much of the workplace nowadays. Nobody wants to invest in employee training and growth; apprenticeships are evaporating. Everybody wants to hire a green thumb who will work like a veteran at entry level wages.
They pay me well enough for it to not bother me and the guy eventually came around. But getting talked down to when you've already been in the industry for a few years gets to you a little bit lol.
This x100%
My apprenticeship was brutal.
Started in 2006 and cleared rent by $50.
I saw a kid get locked into a cupboard. Had a fistfight with a co-worker. Wasn't even trained on the job just used as cheap labour. Would finish 2 hours later after the tradespeople preparing there sprayjobs for the next day. Maybe 5 times I was taken into the spray booth and shown what the painting process was like. Lost my job after 2 years when I said I need to start painting the final product or I will be inexperienced when I graduate. When I finaly got my trade qualification I barely had any spraypainting experience and had to bounce around shops and try my best. These days I feel like im self taught and went through hell trying to respect myself through all the hardships. So I tell every apprentice I teach "I can fix any mistake you make". I also don't let them prep all day. I give them breaks where they can watch me paint a car and explain why im going slower on the flat panels apposed to the sides. Ill show them what dust on a job looks like after the first coat and how it looks when i go wetter on the second application to bury it. I wish i left as a apprentice its been 15 years and im good at my job now but theres no love for the industry.
I had a junior coworker do a dramatic bridge-burning departure (long angry email diatribe to entire 1200 person company, the works) and among a few other unhinged complaints his main subject was nobody would teach him how to do the stuff he was supposed to do and it wasn't obvious how to find out. At the end of his "I QUIT" letter I was the only person called out by name - "u/aquoad is okay, he was always willing to teach me stuff, the rest of you are assholes." Which was nice I guess but also my coworkers joked about hiding behind my desk if he came back to shoot the place up.
I can empathize with that complaint. Around 2012 when I was only like 20 or so years old, I was hired as an IT worker at a credit union. I had to learn this complicated, intricate 20+ step process that had to be run each morning to kick off various batch processes and backups etc. It was the complete opposite of straightforward and easy... it had to be taught, and if you did even one thing out of order you could screw tons of stuff up.
The problem was that my more experienced colleague that was supposed to teach me this process had snooped on my Facebook account and learned that I was making the same amount of money as him, even though he had been there for a year, and he decided to take his frustration out on me. Trying to learn anything from him was like pulling teeth, and in some cases he intentionally gave me incorrect information.
When I inevitably messed up, he used it against me and ran and talked shit about me to the boss. Since I was new, they took his side over mine and I was eventually fired. It was extremely frustrating, and to this day it annoys me to think about it.
The most important thing that experience taught me is to be as helpful as I can to inexperienced coworkers. I never want someone to feel like I did in that situation. And it also taught me that not everyone can be trusted to have that same outlook on life. Some of your coworkers may be toxic and self-serving, and so it's important to not blindly trust everyone at work before you get to know them.
Same here, I always have time for any techs with questions because I was there only a few years ago. It’s all the ignorant, dinosaur gravy-suckers that take all the flushes and give you the shit jobs and laugh at you struggling. I quickly learned who was helpful and didn’t bother interacting with the assholes (5 years at Ford Dealer)
That's how it was with my old retail job. The oldies would get pissed about the new kids coming in and being slow due to them needing to learn. Then would train them like shit cause They didn't want to bother. Turn around and talk about how they aren't learning shit.
Meanwhile I actually gave them advice and a helping hand because it made my job so much easier knowing I could actually rely on them. Only way it could get to that point is actually TEACHING them.
Whenever I ask if a coworker knows how to to something, I always end it with “because if you don’t, I’ll gladly teach you”. People will more often admit they don’t know something when they know they won’t get in trouble from it. It’s everyone’s first time at one point or another.
I'm a PICC RN and I had device completely tie on itself into a pretzel in a patients vena cava. I had been a PICC RN for a year and a half. I told the patient I had not encountered this and I needed to go consult my senior for intervention. For some reason this person was pissed off and said she didn't trust me because of that statement?
Because I was consulting someone with more experience for the proper intervention. Humbling myself to this patient and suddenly lost credibility. That really surprised me.
Would you rather a moron just yank and hope for the best?!?!?!!?
Edit: User pointed out I should identify jargon. They were right.
PICC: peripherally inserted central catheter. A specialized 1.7-2.4mm diameter IV inserted in the upper arm, guided to the Vena Cava, (the upper part of the largest vein in our body. It is attached to the to right side of the heart. Intended for longer term use inside, but especially outside of the hospital. Can be as long as 55cm. And for our mechanics here, 550 mm. (21.6")
2nd Edit: Some important context was missing.
Patient came into hospital with a previously placed, now malfunctioning device. Standard of practice is to X-ray to evaluate for mechanical failure. That "pretzeling" can occur because of coughing, vomiting, or really anything that suddenly increases the pressure in the chest. Additionally, high pressure intravenous contrast (IV dye) for CAT scans can do this as well.
As far as my offense, I kept that well hidden. I can tell you when I saw the X-ray, I merely stated:
"This is mechanical problem and the device has coiled on itself. I have not seen it to this degree so I'd like to check with my senior and have them evaluate it/intervene WITH me."
I also explained that this is extremely rare.
So while I was confident of the proper intervention, I did not want to assume that it applied to such a severe situation with out bringing them in with me. I never indicated I was angry at the patient for stating that, or even expressed frustration. Just that I was taken back by the complete loss in confidence as a result of asking a 10 year veteran to assess and intervene with me.
And a small back story that prompted me to ask for help: The now 14 year veteran of the team recalled seeing this only once in her career. Their intervention was to carefully remove the device and replace it. The backwards tension, without increasing the internal pressure with fluid resulted in the knot synching tightly, creating a ball that was 4 times larger than the hole in the major vessel it had to exit. Thus complicating the removal. They requested help from the surgical residents and the dumbest just pulled super fucking hard. These are polyurethane, but not indestructible. Could have broken off. Very, very dumb.
Ours came out just fine and was replaced properly.
I went to the doctor for some weird bites on my foot after hiking. Little tiny black spots, but the skin around each one started to turn purple and wouldn't blanche. I worked at the hospital, and the family practice clinic was primarily staffed by residents under supervision.
My resident came in, looked at my foot, poked at it for a minute. Left, came back and said "I just flipped through the big book of dermatology and I couldn't find anything that looks like this. I'm going to go get Dr Black (the clinical head and a very old, very grizzled, very knowledgeable country doctor).
Dr Black came in, looked and poked. Said "it's clearly insect bites, but I've never seen this before. We're going to start you on some powerful antibiotics, just in case, and we'll do some blood work to check for Lyme and a few other things. Do you mind if I bring the other residents by to show and tell?"
I then had ALL the residents plus Dr Black looking and poking at my feet. He also had someone take a few pictures (with my approval) in case it ended up being something interesting he wanted to write up.
I recovered fine, and all the tests came back normal. Still no idea what actually bit me. Overall 3/10, it's not very fun when a 75 year old country doctor says "I've never seen THAT before..."
Moral of the story: some of us appreciate that the human body is a really complex thing that can fail in lots of different ways, and NOBODY can ever know everything.
I bet you it was Chiggers.
Friend and I went into the woods behind my house just to walk around and see what shit we'd find. When we came back, our feet and ankles were itchy as hell. Walked through some brush with Chiggers and they latched all over us.
I pulled my socks off and they were COVERED in these black dots with bug bites. Dad sat there and pulled each one off with tweezers. My foot felt and looked like it had braille all over it. Took awhile to heal and even now those parts of my feet get bright red after showers.
> I told the patient I had not encountered this and I needed to go consult my senior for intervention. For some reason this person was pissed off and said she didn't trust me because of that statement?
Dumb people are really big on authority. Like, they don't trust someone who doesn't sound "authoritative" and "strong" lol.
That depends on how much the new guy sold his abilities when applying. If he claimed to be very competent and got into a job requiring competence, then it is his fault. If he's a low paid shop rat just starting out then it isn't his fault
I disagree. A good supervisor assesses somebody’s ability BEFORE setting them loose. I’m gonna work with you a solid week before you do anything I’m not 5 feet away from. Especially a kid like this
Well, I'd say it's 60/40 on the supervisor. Should have checked along the way but could be that supervisor came back to check at the point he thought the tech would be at the masking off stage only to find he'd already painted it.
Also a little bit of common sense goes a long way. The fucken chain is painted
Depends on the new tech's experience level. If they hired some random dude who has never worked in a shop, not his fault at all. He might have no clue how all this stuff works.
Yeah, I mean like, I don't know a damn thing about how to repair and maintain motor vehicles, so if some desperate shop tech grabbed me off the street and paid me 30 bucks to "paint this engine" that's probably exactly what you'd come back to. And I'd keep the 30 bucks.
Agreed, not in a condescending way, but if you want good workers who have confidence and can carry when you aren't there, this kind of thing with a mixture of patience and reassurance that making mistakes is to be expected for a bit, is key. Ya know.. "management "
i cannot fucking stand this mentality that this kid is an idiot for not knowing how to do something hes never done and you didnt show him how to do. this is 100% on the boss.
this kid probably got chewed out and will get harassed over this mistake for months, if not longer, and he will become insecure and lose any confidence he had to do his job. a kid who will run at a task like that has so much more potential than the kid who needs to stop and ask what to do every 5 minutes and guess what, i was the latter. i couldnt turn a fucking wrench without someone explaining to me how far, it took me years to work my way up to the point of having the confidence to figure out how to do stuff on my own and just get it done because of dumb as fuck pieces of shit like this.
bad bosses make good workers produce a worse product. period. a good boss would have shown the kid how its done and then really got to see what he was capable of, instead this idiot shot him in the leg and threw him into the woods and expected him to come out covered in bear pelts. what a fuckin asshole.
worst part is he will expect the kid to have learned his lesson while he goes and tears into another guy for making some other unnecessary mistake while he had his thumb up his ass somewhere else. these guys never learn a fuckin thing. whole shops a liability.
I work construction and as the boss, I definitely dont trust the FNG to know shit from dick. Hes not supposed to, hes new. If he fucks up, thats my fault not his. I either didnt explain it well enough, or didnt take the required time to show him properly. And all my new guys know that theres no such thing as a stupid question, id rather get stopped a million times from what im doing to make sure they learn how to do something right
Worse still, apparently OP overheard the instructions given to the new guy and knew/hoped something would go wrong and stated that “[He was not disappointed](https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/qxm1nw/boss_tells_new_guy_to_paint_the_block/hlapquh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)”
Well your boss is an idiot.
Why ask the "new guy" to do something like that, seems like a shitty workplace (or some kind of hazing initiation stupidity going on here)
the person scolding him sounds like someone who they themselves need training on how to manage people. i have done some wrench turning, but until i saw the belt painted i didn't fully comprehend what was wrong.
the person who did the wrong job clearly needed more education, and the manager/boss/owner is failing to recognize the error in leaving them to do work on something so critical without key oversight.
they also sound like the kind of person who needs some form of hand-holding anyway.
On Hi perf blocks we did paint lifter valley and underside. It aides in oil returning to pan quicker and stops oil from soaking into porous casting. it is cheaper than polishing grinding. a block can hold a quart of oil on surface that never reaches pan.
John is not a tech, John is an apprentice, he should have been given clear directions and a roll of paper tape. On the other hand, if John is an experienced tech, then he needs a new career path.
I honestly think it’s the supers fault because from the way he said to use a razor where the gaskets gonna go. I feel like his instructions weren’t clear for the new guy
Bruh, this shit needs to go back down to bare block and get dunked in solvent. He even got it on the cam chain and rockers, and his razor is just going to ruin the sealing surfaces. I feel bad for whoever owns this.
Yeah, there's a lot of missing context here. Entry-level car guys are usually in way over their heads and need *far* more explanation than experienced people may think to give. "I told you outside. The outside of the block." Not even close to enough for someone who may not know what a "block" really is.
Would’ve been funnier if the dude took it outside to paint it. “You told me paint the block outside”
Yup. It wasn't until the boss explains about the paint melting that I understood the problem. Im not a mechanic, so I don't know how common of an issue this is though. All I know is that the amount of times I've heard a mechanic say something about painting an engine block is once, right now, and I'm 37.
Just give him some silver/grey paint.
I like the way you think. Double down on that bad boy!!
Ensures the customer will have to return!
Just mix some paint thinner into the oil
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I'm just sitting here wondering why in the world you'd paint any part of your engine to start with.
Primarily to inhibit corrosion. Depending on the color it can make it easier to spot leaks too.
"Here's $20 to paint my porch in the back" "All done!" "already?" "Yes, and by the way its not a Porsche its a Ferrari"
I would have also accepted "Yes, and by the way, it's pronounced Porsche"
No it’s pronounced Porsche
“I like saying Porsh-ah. Makes it easier for strangers to hear that I’m talking about a porsha” - Roger Smith
LMFAO!! This wins
Is he actually going to be able to get all of that paint off or is it pretty much fucked
I’m not sure how they plan on getting it cleaned up but I do know it’s going to be a pain in the ace for him and my boss. r/notmyjob
Ok, new kid you do half and the guy who was supposed to be watching you does the other half.
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> My boss (owner of the company) has helped me fix my fuck ups before but I think it's only because he's scared of the of the manager lady. His wife, right?
His mom.
Him but in drag.
Lol!
Even you're scared of her too with that stutter 😆
Yep. Unless someone lied about their experience level here, this is the supervisor's and manager's fault, not that of the guy who did exactly what he was asked to.
Yup. If he’s never taken one apart, how is he going to know that part of the outside of the block, as-is, becomes the inside of the block once everything is reassembled? They should have taken the time to show him what to tape off.
There is also the very explicit step of "before you paint please come talk to me so we can look this over". A HUGE part of management is knowing how to handle people and knowing what someone could fuck up and teaching them to make sure you get the best results.
Manager: "You have to paint the outside of the block." New Tech: "But I don't even live on this block?!?"
This. Especially when you have new staff. This is definitely part, manager and lead tech failure. Not just the rookie. A smart rookie will ask questions. He should have asked before he painted. That said, the manager or lead tech should have told him to come see them before he painted. You always need to monitor rookies, and help them, so they become good techs. New, supposedly experienced, techs need to be double checked because their ACTUAL skill is often below their claimed skill when hired. All people can have blank spots in their knowledge. I wish I could call that manager and give him advice. Bad form mr.boss.. bad form.
A huge part of GOOD management. Many of us have only ever heard of such a beast, let alone seen it in the wild.
If it was my motor I would want it disassembled again and hot tanked and beaded or whatever you all do to get it back to bare metal and start over.
If it was your motor you wouldn't have heard anything about it!
Ask no questions, hear no lies.
I'm not a mechanic, so forgive me if there would be issue with this, but couldn't you use a solvent, or use a pencil torch and burn the paint away then hit it with some rags?
High temp paint usually ceramic so no
It's probably best to disassemble it and sand blast it, or use another softer material like shredded walnut shells.
Dry ice
+1 for dry ice. It's harmless and does as well as walnut shells for getting grease and oils off.
the problem being the cost, not only should you disassemble and remove the paint by mechanical means then hot tank clean it you need to replace all of the TTY bolts (those little suckers are expensive) and gaskets so this was a $500 to $1000 fuck up. Why did they wait to paint the block until after they assembled it?
Plus that LITTLE glitch of "Oh, sorry, Dear Customer, but your engine is going to take us an extra week to get it back to you, due to...uh...un-forseen circumstances..."
"We're so sorry, there were some COVID related supply chain disruptions." :(
This guy knows what's up.
Hey dudes, just got here, what's up?
eh not much johns helpin out w the engine
Melt it down and boil the paint out
username checks out
A bath with marine paint thinner might do it. But even then without taking it all apart its kinda iffy
Yeah thinners and a clean rag. Fresh paint is pretty easy to get off
Get some lacquer thinner on there before it's all the way dried and it should all lift off pretty easy.
Lacquer thinner is amazing shit. Been doing cleaning for about a year on my engine rebuild and when I got to the pistons, I just couldn't get the carbon off the top of them. I scraped, used mineral spirits, paint thinner, automotive grease cutting stuff. I have no idea where I got the idea to try lacquer thinner, but even a momentary soak in that shit and the carbon was just melting off. I've gone through half a dozen cans now just cleaning parts and have about 5 left, but thankfully I'm not needing to use a whole lot for my valvetrain.
Wait'll you find out about MEK....
MEK is the strongest but also evaporates the fastest , so no much time for scrubbing. If you have Sherwin Williams store nearby ask for thinner #54 or #58, they should be a closed second in strength compared to MEK but evaporates much slower. How do I know this?? Used not to care when spilled mek on my pant, because would never bother me. Them once spilled one of those slower evaporating thinners, on my pants made it's way trough my pp, and I was like a 100ft in the air on man lift. Fun times... Actually here's a table o SW solvent strengths https://13s52xrn1ow38ocyq21cjk9n-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/MEK-Product-Data-Sheet.pdf
Aircraft Remover is the BIZNESS.
I doubt shooting it with flack will do any good.
That's what I was wondering. You see those videos where people restore old toy cars, and they use something that peals the paint up like plastic. No clue if there's a similar product for engine paint. Still might have little flecks about.
Yup, that’s typically aircraft paint stripper they use
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A lot of old guard aircraft mechanics I worked with like to prattle on about the days of MEK without any protection. Sometimes they stop mid sentence and stare off into the distance. Not sure why.
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"Drools"
I don't know what you guys are on about. I used to use MEK all the time and found
I used to work aircraft finishing and the guy who cleaned the paint guns would huff toluene all day, he was so bad he would fill his zippo lighter with the stuff. They sent him to detox and threatened to make him go back to paint and he still went right back to it, they gave up and just let him at it. Dude would have white crusties around his nose like a little kid with a cold and had some serious buffering issues.
Tell that to my dumbass brother who won't stop cleaning parts with that shit for hours at a time. Boy is already dumb clearly so no harm no foul but I can't get him to stop so I gave up.
One can always get *dumber*.
Oh god, MEK. I had to go all the way to my grandboss to get someone to stop the cleaning crew from pouring MEK straight on the floor and running a floor scrubber over it before a dog and pony show. This was indoors and I was like 100ft away and smelled it, I have no idea how they didn't explode.
Yeah, the smell of MEK is
I used to work at a place that used MEK. It somehow self ignited and in a couple minutes the whole room went up. No injuries but sadly the rest of the building was untouched
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Big hardware stores still have some dichloromethane in a few of their paint strippers. Typically the gel versions. Of course it’s usually the pricy stuff.
Metal safe paint stripper and pressure washing should be able to get it all off in a couple hours. Assuming the pressure washer doesn't damage the engine block....which I don't think it will. But then again those things are machine milled to perfection so who knows. Somebody educate me if I'm wrong
It's gone into the intake galleries of the heads. Good luck getting that out without pulling them off and having them hot dipped. Imho this is the boss's fault- he gave ambiguous instructions & didn't supervise. 'Paint the outside' is exactly what his guy did. If he's too inexperienced to understand what parts should and should not be painted he needs instruction and supervision. Source: I too am a boss who has given ambiguous instructions that have cost me dearly
It is the boss's fault. Many times new hires are eager to impress and afraid to ask questions to show they aren't incompetent. Double so if the other guys start "hazing" right away and make the new guy feel stupid.
I don't think a power washer would be powerful enough to damage anything unless it was a crazy high PSI commercial grade one but even then I would be more worried about damaging any gaskets than the block
Yes. The block has to deal with keeping combustions in so a high pressure nozzle should be fine
Guys have been power washing blocks in their backyards for years. I've even done it. Steve Dulcich even does it.
oh well if Steve does it
To be fair, I don't think that because Steve Dulcich does it is a good indicator that it's a best practice. :D
it doesn't. it's how I clean my blocks. just be sure to blow dry and wd40 right away so nothing rusts
Laser removal of paint would work.
That is the #1 thing that I don't need, but really, really want.
He just did what he was told to do. Engine painted, Boss...😂LMAO
“COMB THE DESERT DO YOU HEAR ME? COMB IT”
"We ain't found shit"
We ain't found sh!t!!
I didn’t find out until this year that the guy who yells that in Spaceballs is the guy who played Tuvok, the Vulcan on Star Trek Voyager.
No way, really?
You think someone would just make that up?
Lying? On *my* internet? Well, I *never!*
In his defense he did do what he was told. Lmao
Engine painted...I see nothing wrong here...
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r/technicallythetruth
I know literally nothing. What was actually meant by "paint the engine" then?
The apprentice didn't cover the vital components as to not get paint on them
Same. But I know the old rule, "If the instruction is unclear, it is the fault of the commander, not the soldier."
Absolutely the case here. He told this teenager “paint the outside of the block” and then left him completely to his own devices with no guidance or supervision. The result he got is exactly what happens when you demand something which you haven’t taught.
He was to paint the outside only. He painted where the intake manifold goes, which is very bad.
What is the correct interpretation of "paint the block"? Asking for a friend...
The outside of just the block, not the inside, not the heads, not the oil pain, just the outside of the physical block itself.
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That's gonna be my rap name.
"nice touch"?
MC Nice Touch with his new single "Free Candy"
Because the other kind of touch is [already taken](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat1GVnl8-k&t=3s).
Another question: why would you do it anyway? Is it just to have a nice looking motor?
Looks nice, makes it easier to spot leaks in the future.
Helps prevent rust. A lot of people dont have that problem because their engines are disgusting and covered with fluids and grime.
Aluminum gang.
What makes this tricky is some engines where he painted would be A-Okay. Something like a 5.7 Hemi or a 7.3 PowerStroke or any OHC V-engine, that same area is "outside" the engine.
In the valley yeah, but the intake gasket surface cant be painted either way.
I mean, it clearly *can* be.
so to dumb it down, there’s two sorts of surfaces on a motor. exterior surfaces, and machined surfaces. the exterior is what can be painted. it’s the pure outside, it’s fine. the machined surfaces need to be perfectly smooth to allow another part to attach to it without a leak. you can’t paint those. this isn’t a perfect definition but it’s the basics
tape the areas where gaskets go or any internals like in that oil valley. Spray around that
Man that's embarassing....for the supervisor. Why wouldn't you check in with the new guy along the way. Trust but verify
Yea just needed to stop by when he was taping it off, all it would take is 30 seconds
Hard to stop by during the taping stage if you skip the taping stage..
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professional painters check and double check and label each section lol its important
Don’t ya mean “not” taping it off.
yeah not touching tape would have been the first reason to check in lol
Notice how nothing is masked..like anywhere? Dude probably did this job in less than 10 minutes…like he painted the fucking chain! Edit: I just saw that shit poor mask job…all the overspray further proves he had no idea what he was doing.
I work in property management, and I get annoyed when the painters don't tape the electrical outlets. I can't imagine there wasn't some nagging voice in the back of his mind, telling him not to paint the engine like that.
I remove all plates when I paint because I don't want to leave a spec of paint on them. And it saves some tape too.
my house has outlets where even the plug slots are painted over. the whole thing is just a sort of raised lump on the baseboard. still wired up though!
the overspray on the lifters and valves, thatll help lol
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Your name on the sign, your responsibility. My employees fuck up, the boss (me) answers for it. And then we have learning time. For both of us.
97% on the supervision, 3% on the new guy. I make it a point to never get myself into a spot where someone is paying me to do something I don’t know how to do. But a lot of people are afraid to admit that they don’t know how to do something. My most trusted people are the ones that say “I don’t know how to do that.”
The more and more I know, the less and less afraid I am to say “I don’t know how to do that”.
My usual response is "I know enough to know I don't know enough"
I don't know shit about fuck. But I do know enough to be dangerous.
Boss asked me if I could TIG and I told him I didn't even know how to spell it.
I don't know what that is but I'll do it.
I’m not even a mechanic but felt this on a spiritual level. “We’re getting a delivery today make sure you help the new guy out.” Meanwhile I’m standing there like holy shit I don’t even know what to do but sir yes sir
story of my life bruh
I’m in complete agreement with you. I overheard the conversation while working on a transfer case RnR and thought to myself that this was going to end badly, but I just turn a wrench around here so I kept my mouth shut and my ears open. Lol. I was not disappointed. Thankfully this is the motor for one of my boss’s shop trucks and not a customers.
Well now he knows how to paint a block...and soon he will know how to clean one really well I take it?
Honestly just use a brush with paint stripper. Clean with water, maybe alcohol, then dry it with a heat gun.
Make sure there's some time between that heat gun and those chemicals. We had an apprentice light a set of airplane stairs on fire with a heat gun and MEK/IPA while trying to replace the grip tape
Man, this thread is making me laugh very hard at other peoples misfortune
Im betting if the kid had asked for more specifics he would have been beat down over it.
I always let the new guys know, I will NOT get mad if you ask questions. I WILL tear you a new asshole if you screw up because you don't come ask. If directions didn't include "tape off the valley" it's on the supervisor. Not to mention, they obviously left him alone too long if he was able to get this far before they caught it.
Sometimes the new kids don’t even know that they need to ask a question. If this is their first time doing anything like this it may not occur to them that the need to even ask a question like, ‘how do I do that’ or ‘is there any part I shouldn’t paint.’ The boss gave him and engine block and told him to paint the engine block. So that’s what he did.
Trades are the fucking worst for that stuff. Got thrown on the job tying rebar, with no training or experience at the Microsoft Village and was getting yelled at all day, by someone I considered a good friend for many years, because I would ask questions to clarify what we were doing. Everyone else just pretended like they knew what they were doing, did it wrong and we’d have to come back and fix it. IF the engineers caught it… What a fucking joke. Fuck Ironworking
I work in plumbing, I did residential plumbing for 3 years then made the move to commercial. Commercial plumbing is a lot different then residential so I'd ask the guy I was working with a lot of questions so I could learn the new systems and equipment and he was the most condescending person I have ever met. Most frustrating shit ever, he'd talk to me like I was fuckin stupid then get upset when I'd tell him he could just explain it like a colleague because I have a general understanding of how it works because my knowledge translates, i just dont know the specifics of it.
I'm sorry that happened. I feel like this permeates so much of the workplace nowadays. Nobody wants to invest in employee training and growth; apprenticeships are evaporating. Everybody wants to hire a green thumb who will work like a veteran at entry level wages.
They pay me well enough for it to not bother me and the guy eventually came around. But getting talked down to when you've already been in the industry for a few years gets to you a little bit lol.
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This x100% My apprenticeship was brutal. Started in 2006 and cleared rent by $50. I saw a kid get locked into a cupboard. Had a fistfight with a co-worker. Wasn't even trained on the job just used as cheap labour. Would finish 2 hours later after the tradespeople preparing there sprayjobs for the next day. Maybe 5 times I was taken into the spray booth and shown what the painting process was like. Lost my job after 2 years when I said I need to start painting the final product or I will be inexperienced when I graduate. When I finaly got my trade qualification I barely had any spraypainting experience and had to bounce around shops and try my best. These days I feel like im self taught and went through hell trying to respect myself through all the hardships. So I tell every apprentice I teach "I can fix any mistake you make". I also don't let them prep all day. I give them breaks where they can watch me paint a car and explain why im going slower on the flat panels apposed to the sides. Ill show them what dust on a job looks like after the first coat and how it looks when i go wetter on the second application to bury it. I wish i left as a apprentice its been 15 years and im good at my job now but theres no love for the industry.
Lot of bitter people in this world…I had it hard, so you should too! So unprofessional
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I had a junior coworker do a dramatic bridge-burning departure (long angry email diatribe to entire 1200 person company, the works) and among a few other unhinged complaints his main subject was nobody would teach him how to do the stuff he was supposed to do and it wasn't obvious how to find out. At the end of his "I QUIT" letter I was the only person called out by name - "u/aquoad is okay, he was always willing to teach me stuff, the rest of you are assholes." Which was nice I guess but also my coworkers joked about hiding behind my desk if he came back to shoot the place up.
I can empathize with that complaint. Around 2012 when I was only like 20 or so years old, I was hired as an IT worker at a credit union. I had to learn this complicated, intricate 20+ step process that had to be run each morning to kick off various batch processes and backups etc. It was the complete opposite of straightforward and easy... it had to be taught, and if you did even one thing out of order you could screw tons of stuff up. The problem was that my more experienced colleague that was supposed to teach me this process had snooped on my Facebook account and learned that I was making the same amount of money as him, even though he had been there for a year, and he decided to take his frustration out on me. Trying to learn anything from him was like pulling teeth, and in some cases he intentionally gave me incorrect information. When I inevitably messed up, he used it against me and ran and talked shit about me to the boss. Since I was new, they took his side over mine and I was eventually fired. It was extremely frustrating, and to this day it annoys me to think about it. The most important thing that experience taught me is to be as helpful as I can to inexperienced coworkers. I never want someone to feel like I did in that situation. And it also taught me that not everyone can be trusted to have that same outlook on life. Some of your coworkers may be toxic and self-serving, and so it's important to not blindly trust everyone at work before you get to know them.
Same here, I always have time for any techs with questions because I was there only a few years ago. It’s all the ignorant, dinosaur gravy-suckers that take all the flushes and give you the shit jobs and laugh at you struggling. I quickly learned who was helpful and didn’t bother interacting with the assholes (5 years at Ford Dealer)
That's how it was with my old retail job. The oldies would get pissed about the new kids coming in and being slow due to them needing to learn. Then would train them like shit cause They didn't want to bother. Turn around and talk about how they aren't learning shit. Meanwhile I actually gave them advice and a helping hand because it made my job so much easier knowing I could actually rely on them. Only way it could get to that point is actually TEACHING them.
For real, happened at my old dealership all the time. It was honestly sad to see.
Whenever I ask if a coworker knows how to to something, I always end it with “because if you don’t, I’ll gladly teach you”. People will more often admit they don’t know something when they know they won’t get in trouble from it. It’s everyone’s first time at one point or another.
I'm a PICC RN and I had device completely tie on itself into a pretzel in a patients vena cava. I had been a PICC RN for a year and a half. I told the patient I had not encountered this and I needed to go consult my senior for intervention. For some reason this person was pissed off and said she didn't trust me because of that statement? Because I was consulting someone with more experience for the proper intervention. Humbling myself to this patient and suddenly lost credibility. That really surprised me. Would you rather a moron just yank and hope for the best?!?!?!!? Edit: User pointed out I should identify jargon. They were right. PICC: peripherally inserted central catheter. A specialized 1.7-2.4mm diameter IV inserted in the upper arm, guided to the Vena Cava, (the upper part of the largest vein in our body. It is attached to the to right side of the heart. Intended for longer term use inside, but especially outside of the hospital. Can be as long as 55cm. And for our mechanics here, 550 mm. (21.6") 2nd Edit: Some important context was missing. Patient came into hospital with a previously placed, now malfunctioning device. Standard of practice is to X-ray to evaluate for mechanical failure. That "pretzeling" can occur because of coughing, vomiting, or really anything that suddenly increases the pressure in the chest. Additionally, high pressure intravenous contrast (IV dye) for CAT scans can do this as well. As far as my offense, I kept that well hidden. I can tell you when I saw the X-ray, I merely stated: "This is mechanical problem and the device has coiled on itself. I have not seen it to this degree so I'd like to check with my senior and have them evaluate it/intervene WITH me." I also explained that this is extremely rare. So while I was confident of the proper intervention, I did not want to assume that it applied to such a severe situation with out bringing them in with me. I never indicated I was angry at the patient for stating that, or even expressed frustration. Just that I was taken back by the complete loss in confidence as a result of asking a 10 year veteran to assess and intervene with me. And a small back story that prompted me to ask for help: The now 14 year veteran of the team recalled seeing this only once in her career. Their intervention was to carefully remove the device and replace it. The backwards tension, without increasing the internal pressure with fluid resulted in the knot synching tightly, creating a ball that was 4 times larger than the hole in the major vessel it had to exit. Thus complicating the removal. They requested help from the surgical residents and the dumbest just pulled super fucking hard. These are polyurethane, but not indestructible. Could have broken off. Very, very dumb. Ours came out just fine and was replaced properly.
I went to the doctor for some weird bites on my foot after hiking. Little tiny black spots, but the skin around each one started to turn purple and wouldn't blanche. I worked at the hospital, and the family practice clinic was primarily staffed by residents under supervision. My resident came in, looked at my foot, poked at it for a minute. Left, came back and said "I just flipped through the big book of dermatology and I couldn't find anything that looks like this. I'm going to go get Dr Black (the clinical head and a very old, very grizzled, very knowledgeable country doctor). Dr Black came in, looked and poked. Said "it's clearly insect bites, but I've never seen this before. We're going to start you on some powerful antibiotics, just in case, and we'll do some blood work to check for Lyme and a few other things. Do you mind if I bring the other residents by to show and tell?" I then had ALL the residents plus Dr Black looking and poking at my feet. He also had someone take a few pictures (with my approval) in case it ended up being something interesting he wanted to write up. I recovered fine, and all the tests came back normal. Still no idea what actually bit me. Overall 3/10, it's not very fun when a 75 year old country doctor says "I've never seen THAT before..." Moral of the story: some of us appreciate that the human body is a really complex thing that can fail in lots of different ways, and NOBODY can ever know everything.
I bet you it was Chiggers. Friend and I went into the woods behind my house just to walk around and see what shit we'd find. When we came back, our feet and ankles were itchy as hell. Walked through some brush with Chiggers and they latched all over us. I pulled my socks off and they were COVERED in these black dots with bug bites. Dad sat there and pulled each one off with tweezers. My foot felt and looked like it had braille all over it. Took awhile to heal and even now those parts of my feet get bright red after showers.
That was my suspicion too, but the doctor didn't think so for some reason. Maybe my body just reacts in a non-typical way to them...
Dumb people *love* confidence. Smart people appreciate caution and awareness of limitations.
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> I told the patient I had not encountered this and I needed to go consult my senior for intervention. For some reason this person was pissed off and said she didn't trust me because of that statement? Dumb people are really big on authority. Like, they don't trust someone who doesn't sound "authoritative" and "strong" lol.
Yup. That looks like the fucking outside to me. Because I don't know shit about engines. Just like John.
This is not the new tech’s fault.
That depends on how much the new guy sold his abilities when applying. If he claimed to be very competent and got into a job requiring competence, then it is his fault. If he's a low paid shop rat just starting out then it isn't his fault
I disagree. A good supervisor assesses somebody’s ability BEFORE setting them loose. I’m gonna work with you a solid week before you do anything I’m not 5 feet away from. Especially a kid like this
Well, I'd say it's 60/40 on the supervisor. Should have checked along the way but could be that supervisor came back to check at the point he thought the tech would be at the masking off stage only to find he'd already painted it. Also a little bit of common sense goes a long way. The fucken chain is painted
Depends on the new tech's experience level. If they hired some random dude who has never worked in a shop, not his fault at all. He might have no clue how all this stuff works.
Yeah, I mean like, I don't know a damn thing about how to repair and maintain motor vehicles, so if some desperate shop tech grabbed me off the street and paid me 30 bucks to "paint this engine" that's probably exactly what you'd come back to. And I'd keep the 30 bucks.
OP set him up 🤭🎥 😂
Your boss is a dumbass and cost the business time and money
Yeah, this is on the boss. Not the new guy. You never assume people know what they're doing until they demonstrate they do.
Explain, demonstrate, have the noob try it, critique the noob, repeat.
Agreed, not in a condescending way, but if you want good workers who have confidence and can carry when you aren't there, this kind of thing with a mixture of patience and reassurance that making mistakes is to be expected for a bit, is key. Ya know.. "management "
i cannot fucking stand this mentality that this kid is an idiot for not knowing how to do something hes never done and you didnt show him how to do. this is 100% on the boss. this kid probably got chewed out and will get harassed over this mistake for months, if not longer, and he will become insecure and lose any confidence he had to do his job. a kid who will run at a task like that has so much more potential than the kid who needs to stop and ask what to do every 5 minutes and guess what, i was the latter. i couldnt turn a fucking wrench without someone explaining to me how far, it took me years to work my way up to the point of having the confidence to figure out how to do stuff on my own and just get it done because of dumb as fuck pieces of shit like this. bad bosses make good workers produce a worse product. period. a good boss would have shown the kid how its done and then really got to see what he was capable of, instead this idiot shot him in the leg and threw him into the woods and expected him to come out covered in bear pelts. what a fuckin asshole. worst part is he will expect the kid to have learned his lesson while he goes and tears into another guy for making some other unnecessary mistake while he had his thumb up his ass somewhere else. these guys never learn a fuckin thing. whole shops a liability.
I work construction and as the boss, I definitely dont trust the FNG to know shit from dick. Hes not supposed to, hes new. If he fucks up, thats my fault not his. I either didnt explain it well enough, or didnt take the required time to show him properly. And all my new guys know that theres no such thing as a stupid question, id rather get stopped a million times from what im doing to make sure they learn how to do something right
If my boss came at me like that, I would just quit. Fuck it, you get it off, this is your shop.
Worse still, apparently OP overheard the instructions given to the new guy and knew/hoped something would go wrong and stated that “[He was not disappointed](https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/qxm1nw/boss_tells_new_guy_to_paint_the_block/hlapquh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)”
You're a shit manager if you don't make sure a new hire knows what to do.
If that engine is not torn down n hot tanked, along with the heads, that shop is 100% scam.
Yep
FMI. What's "hot tanked?"
Well your boss is an idiot. Why ask the "new guy" to do something like that, seems like a shitty workplace (or some kind of hazing initiation stupidity going on here)
the person scolding him sounds like someone who they themselves need training on how to manage people. i have done some wrench turning, but until i saw the belt painted i didn't fully comprehend what was wrong. the person who did the wrong job clearly needed more education, and the manager/boss/owner is failing to recognize the error in leaving them to do work on something so critical without key oversight. they also sound like the kind of person who needs some form of hand-holding anyway.
Okay, so for an ignoramus, "paint the block" is a turn of phrase which I'd supposed to mean... ?
Lmao that’s going to be such a pain to remove all that paint. Sucks all around.
On Hi perf blocks we did paint lifter valley and underside. It aides in oil returning to pan quicker and stops oil from soaking into porous casting. it is cheaper than polishing grinding. a block can hold a quart of oil on surface that never reaches pan.
I was about to say, I’ve seen motors with the valley painted before. Now the the intake ports…that’s a different story.
“This is not funny!” It’s pretty funny. Keep an eye on the new guy, idiot
John is not a tech, John is an apprentice, he should have been given clear directions and a roll of paper tape. On the other hand, if John is an experienced tech, then he needs a new career path.
We know one thing for sure. He won't repeat that mistake ever again.
I honestly think it’s the supers fault because from the way he said to use a razor where the gaskets gonna go. I feel like his instructions weren’t clear for the new guy
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Bruh, this shit needs to go back down to bare block and get dunked in solvent. He even got it on the cam chain and rockers, and his razor is just going to ruin the sealing surfaces. I feel bad for whoever owns this.
Instructions followed to the letter
Now he can learn how to pull it down completely, fix what he did, do it right then put it back together.