I brought my truck to Baystate Ford s Service dept...

I brought my truck to Baystate Ford s Service dept because it would stall only when the truck was running hot or in hot weather.
I explained all the details to the Service Advisor (Emily) and emphasized 3 times that it only happens when the truck is hot and I very recently had the oil changed in accordance with the mfg instructions.And if the Mechanic needs to reproduce the issue they would need to run it for a while to get the truck hot. I got a call later that day saying the truck s code was P0022, and the Mechanic thinks there is sludge in the truck causing this code. It would cost at least $600 to start with, to tear down the engine to look for Sludge and other issues. I asked if there were other options for trying to correct the issue and Emily said No, the mechanic thinks it s sludge .
So I politely declined the work and looked up the code to see what it meant and found multiple potential causes: Wiring problems; Failed timing valve control solenoid (stuck open); Incorrect camshaft timing; Continuous oil flow to VCT piston chamber (which is dependent on Oil Pressure). Some of these potential root causes are easily tested or eliminated without needing to tear apart the engine to look for sludge.

When I went to pick up the truck I asked Emily if the mechanic checked for these other potential causes. She looked down at the write up paper and said the Mechanic said he thinks it s sludge

So this is where it gets bad. I asked again if the mechanic ever ran some of the simple tests to eliminate any of the less costly potential causes. She just repeated the mechanic thinks it s sludge . So I said, I guess that s a no then? . I asked why the mechanic didn t do or even recommend these low cost tests or options and she rudely replied back again because the mechanic thinks it s sludge . So I asked if the mechanic even test drove it to try to reproduce the stalling issue and she said no because the mechanic is pretty sure it s sludge with her tone and body language clearly showing that she is aggravated from me asking questions.

So I said to her, I still don t understand why the mechanic wouldn t try to eliminate the easy stuff, She said why would he if he thinks it s sludge? So I said back, a good mechanic eliminates the easy low cost stuff first. Then she rudely replied So now my mechanic is a bad Mechanic . Now she was putting words in my mouth and abandon all sense of customer service. So I left.

I took my truck to another Mechanic who suggested an oil additive to increase the thickness of the oil because there wasn t enough oil pressure during hot weather. It cost me $10 for the additive and it made the stalling issue go away completely.
This was a very simple fix rather than to tear apart my engine looking for sludge which definitely was NOT the cause but definitely would have been the most costly way to try to fix a simple stalling issue.

Lesson learned: From now on I will have the Auto Parts store read the codes for FREE instead of wasting $120 dollars for a Baystate Ford Mechanic to do the same thing. Then I will ask my own mechanic for advice. Guaranteed my mechanic won t be as rude or unhelpful as Emily was. And guaranteed he won t try the most costly repair before eliminating the easy stuff.