It's hard enough to get the Thai wife to translate mechanical things and our local neighborhood mechanic is a bit of a dummie with English [and mechanics] and he suggested that I go into the Chev dealer for diagnosis.

I was just wondering if there are any recomendations for an honest English speaking mechanic in CM that I can explain my problem to, preferably with a diagnostic computer.

Hi

I'd recommend a Thai nick-named 'Jimmy' who runs J & N Autos on the southern ring road. As you leave Hang Dong Road (signed to Lamphun) you pass Global House on your left and he is another 1-2kms along on the left. His sign has 'Total Oil' on it.

He ran a sports car garage in Las Vegas for some years, is bang up to date with modern tech and very good at modifications. Popular with the classic car and tune-up enthusiasts.

Very pleasant too, and not too expensive.

I recommend simply as a happy customer of several years.

I like Jimmy too. He is honest and both he and his wife speak fluent English. He is much more hi-tech savvy than say Khun Daychar (whom I also like). I don't use Jimmy for everything as his prices are a little on the high side and at times there are several people waiting for up to a few hours. But Jimmy knows his stuff and is easy to communicate with. I think he does have a diagnostic computer.

Another potential line of action: The Chevy Colorado is inside (and very nearly outside) 100% the same as the current Isuzu truck. So if you don't fancy the Chevy dealer, try taking it into any Isuzu dealership.

I have always been very happy with the one on Kaew Nawarat road, until they tried to charge me 5000 baht for some lightbulb. (Xenon, but still). Haven't been back since, but nothing wrong with the skills of the mechanics there. Just keep an eye on the spare parts prices, and decide if you like to pay the price for the official part. (in many cases yes, in some cases no) They will let you know the estimate before doing the work.

It's a 5 yr old '3.0 TD commonrail intercooler'........that's the old model??

Yea, I'm scared just to go into the dealer and have them say that I need the whole onboard computer @10Kthb.....

thanks for the tip and excellent directions on Jimmy, I'll try to check him out today, before going into Chev dealer.

Found Jimmy's shop....nice guy who speaks great English. What a relief to actually speak to someone about mechanics that understood me. He had the computer diagnostic tool and saw nothing wrong [electrically], so reasoned that it may be a fuel/injector problem and refered me to 'CM diesel'...a shop that specialized in deisels.

Thanks for the recomendation for Jimmy. What a cool collection of antique and rare cars he has!! I saw the first 'bullet nosed' Studebaker that I've seen in many years. It was a 1949, I think, but needed a lot of work.