Probably because our cost of living is the highest in Canada. Our provincial income tax is 37% our federal tax is 18%. I seem to recall in 82 our flat rate was $10.50 per hour and the labour rate was $32.00, maybe $30.00 ? Barry and myself were trimmers, you know what they are, and were offered a garranty of 6 hours a day flat rate. We both refused because you have to stay there 8 hour to collect. If there is nothing in my stall i go home even if it's 2 in the afternoon. We both threatened to quit one afternoon and go to work for Ford. We got our flat rate up to $12.75. That is $25,500.00 in a 200 work day year. I remember those Master Technician exams. Every tech participated in those. I have a drawer full from Ford,G.M. Chrysler, and Toyota. No offence but they didn't mean much. They didn't increase your wages. Our average labour rate now is between $85.00 to $105.00 per hour. If you go to a Specialest dealer like B.M.W. , or Jaguar it is about $150.00 to $200.00 per hour. Now that is the place to work. I'ts usually straight time and if your good and don't mine night mares you write your own ticket. I remember working For Canadian Tire in the 70s making $15,000 - $20,000 a year. We were payed half of the labour rate plus commision on parts. It was good. Just a follow up on customers in our stalls. That was an absolte NO,NO. The insurance company took a very dim view of that. If my customer was waiting for his car i could go and bring him to his car if i had questions. I had to escort him to and from his car. Now that you mention it. I remember working for Dominion Motors ( ford ). The service shop was on the second floor. A horrible place to work. Hot as hell and you froze in the winter. Everything was done on the floor. No lifts. That was 1975. They payed $8.50 an hour just to get someone to work for them. They were the highest paying dealer in the city. Seems no one wants to pay any more to keep their guys. My nephew started out last month on the grease rack for Ford. They are only paying him $12.00 per hour straight time. He wants to go into diesle mechanics. They only pay $15.00 per hour for first year appentice. No wonder no one wants to work anymore. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a smart mouth. You don't servive up here very long at $15.00 per hour with our cost of living. Here is an example. An A.C. tech on a commercial job or roof top makes $47.17 per hour. An industrial A.C. tech. on a 20 ton chiller makes $52.73 per hour. If you bring your home computer into a shop for servicing or virus removal it's $90.00 per hour. If you bring in a brake rotor for turning it's $30.00 each. $22.00 for a new one. Spin balance a tire is $18.00 each plus weights. In 1992 i was being payed $27.00 per hour installing gas pipe in new homes and i was the low man on the pole. Just a little F.Y.I. on this side of the border. Have a good one.

well, it's been almost a year since I repurchased my old 96 Accord. Decided I'd give an update. The car is still going, but has had some issues. Not too surprising since the dern thing is on it's way to 400,000 miles. I'm sitting at a few clicks shy of 330,000 right now. I've really saved a lot of miles on the 06 and have driven the 96 on quite a few road trips this year. My biggest problem has been with leaks. I never realized just how many places there were for oil/fluids to escape from! Lol. I've had to replace my heater hoses, rear wheel bearings and a radiator fan. My driver's side power window is completely out of whack, the steering wheel is so worn and loose that I have to hold it at the 6 0'clock position, there is a hole in the carpet below the accelerator, interior door handles have broken off, numerous interior lights are burned out, interior rattles/creaks, ABS light stays on and the check engine light goes on/off randomly. The first time it was on, it was diagnosed as being a clogged throttle body/EGR ports. Now, I'm not real sure... probably a sensor, though my gas mileage is still what it should be and the car seems to be running properly. The engine continues to start every time and just keeps running on. The rest of the car is really starting to show it's wear and tear from the high mileage, but the engine still starts, runs and sounds the same it did when I first bought the car many years back with only 45,000 miles. I'm truly blown away by it. While I worry a little that something might break on me, I never worry that it's going to be the engine. I didn't think I'd ever put this car back on the highway for the long trips, but it is still able to handle them (well, the engine still can, anyway). The AC, cruise control and sunroof still work, though! The Honda reman. trans. has continued to disappoint... but it's still working, so I'm not going to complain too much. If it ever dies, I'll just have the engine yanked out and put into a better body. I'm really curious to know just how far this stupid thing will go. Also, update on the 06... just over 60k miles (I'd have closer to 90k if it weren't for the 96!) and it's held up exceptionally well. Still feels like a brand new car to me. It does have some rattles in the interior that have come back, but I haven't had to do squat to the car other than put gas in it, change the oil and drive it. It's still got a LOOONG way to go before it proves as good (hopefully better) than the 96.

a friend bought a small car with a 5speed overdrive manual trans. we went on a trip together when he had about 5k miles on the car. we got on the highway and he got up to speed and had it in 4th gear. hmm, i asked him if he used overdrive and you should have seen the look on his face. huh, what over drive? he was not very mechanically inclined but to not realize he had an extra gear was funny. no harm done to the car. just not as good of gas mileage. the shift knob was beige and the gear indicators were not marked with contrasting paint so it was hard to see. most cars will run at about 2k rpm at 60 mph. i think even a weazy little honda 4cyl will too. i could go to a honda website to find out the OD gear ratio but i think 2k is right.

Lots of ideas, and proper testing will lead you right to the one that is correct. With a static charge as you described (even if the gage isn't totally accurate) the system should at least be turning on. Automotive AC systems use switches and sensors to measure the systems charge, and as long as it is above a minimum, they will allow the compressor to operate. Typically that will be somewhere close to 30PSI. Since you have well over that, you will need to find out why the fuel injection computer isn't willing to, or is unable to command the system on. The factory scan tool not only allows a tech to see in serial data if the system is requested on, that is all of the pressure switches, and sensors involved in allowing the AC system to run are sending the correct information. A tech can also see if the compressor clutch has been commanded on or not. It's not uncommon to find the compressor pulley bearing has failed and the heat from that has damaged the clutch magnet. If this is found to be the case, replace the compressor with the clutch because the compressor itself may have sustained damage, which won't be readily apparent until after ten to twenty hours of system operation.