How many hours of shop time are you willing to pay for with no guarantee of a solution, and very few (if any) parts replaced?
Imagine opening a computer software support business where you bring in your old proprietary binary programs that you got from who knows where, and the business is to fix bugs you've found.
Maybe some really big enterprises would pay for that sort of thing. But I doubt it would be feasible for consumer stuff.
It would be a crazy/fun kind of business to run. I'm sure it probably exists.
Having had a 2006 model car in my workshop forever rebuilding the engine, I have though it might be worthwhile starting a business doing that kind of trouble shooting but nobody will want to pay, because the vehicles involved are inevitably old and worthless. It's fun to do it for yourself, but as a business your typical customer who needs you won't be able to justify paying you.
My other thought was to possibly set up the tools and whatnot to support local businesses in doing that kind of troubleshooting on older cars but building the knowledge and tools to distribute would be a very expensive exercise.
I love this phrase, and it reminds me that the behavior exists in the computer world too. From the Jargon File:
field circus: [a derogatory pun on `field service'] n. The field service organization of any hardware manufacturer, but especially DEC. There is an entire genre of jokes about DEC field circus engineers:
Q: How can you recognize a DEC field circus engineer with a flat tire?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.
Q: How can you recognize a DEC field circus engineer who is out of gas?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.
Bug Hunters
Extremely valuable service. I bet there'd be a lot of demand.
Then there were the cases with arbitrary random bluescreens that were impossible to diagnose where I'd upfront tell them I could only do the bare minimum because otherwise they might have to pay 500 Euros for a solution that probably wouldn't work.
Most people will give up, stop researching and buy a new car when the dealer tells them it can't be fixed.
He had the people at the dealership drive the car. They acknowledged the problem and got on a call together with Ford. Ford refused to even entertain the idea there was a flaw but less than a year later they came up with a "software patch".
Pete would bring it up with anyone he met. Do not buy a Ford Focus / Ford Fiesta with automatic transmission.
Shoutout to "The Hondew Shop" in Dallas. He does great work on all Honda/Acura products!