213: Don & Kyle 3- Mobile Drift

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They've got a website that they'll be a link to in the show notes , and what they offer is top-notch training to technicians like us in the field . I've been taking their training courses for years and have got a ton of benefit out of it .

They've got top-notch instructors John Thornton , scott Shotten , scott Manna and every other month they've got a two-night course that you can sign up for , join in , ask questions and afterwards you've paid for the course . You can access a recorded version whenever you want .

You can re-watch the class two years later in case you wanted some details on it , and that is a fantastic feature . So make sure to check out the website to see what courses they have available and what's coming up in the future . Hey , what's going on ? Automotive World . Welcome to another episode of the Automotive Diagnostic Podcast .

My name is Sean Tipping and I'll be your host once again for today's episode . Thank you so much for joining me On the show today . I've got Don Smazzle and Kyle Buell joining me again . We are doing this just about every six months .

Getting together Started last year , last summer , and we first talked and all three of us were just getting our businesses off the ground around that time . We talked about six months later , kind of caught up to see where everybody was at and how everything was going .

And we're doing it again today and I got to say it's really cool to just kind of check in and see all the progress , improvements and challenges that everybody has as they're growing .

Well , I mean even turning a sole proprietorship into a business and what that looks like and how it takes shape , and the hurdles that you encounter , but then also the successes that you have . And these are two very intelligent , successful guys that are doing some really cool things with their businesses .

So it's inspiring for me to see what they're doing and I've mentioned it in the show . They've encouraged me to make certain moves within my business , and so that's what I think is pretty cool to share on the show and we'll keep going with this . Every roughly six months or so We'll check in and kind of see where everybody's at and how we're doing .

So , anyways , great chat with these guys . As always I know you'll enjoy it . So with that out of the way , we'll jump right in . I think that was probably one of the last Fast and Furious's that I actually saw . Actually , no , I don't know what number it was , but I was single at the time and I went to .

I went on a date with this chick to one of the Fast and Furious movies . That was just what we decided to do and it was one where they were chasing an airplane down a runway or something Goddamn stupid like that , and I don't know . I'm not a big fan of those movies . The first one was cool , maybe the first two , I don't know .

But she loved it so much . She was on the edge of her seat and she was squealing and so excited and stuff . And after the fact that I decided I don't think we can continue this Any further . I think that was my determining fact . I'm like , yeah , I'm not really that into you .

I was like , oh yeah .

I'm doing a lot more , I guess , working on the business , not in the business , or at least I'm trying to hiring advisor , lawyer , accountant , bookkeeper , getting all my ducks in a row , if you will . That's probably the newest thing for me .

So as long as I can maintain that and keep the relationships happy , keep the workload under control and still maintain a home life , then I will make it to the end of the year . And then the biggest hurdle I think I'll run into is every shop I go to they say they're looking for text body text detailers .

It doesn't matter , and most of my friends who I joined the trade with are no longer in the trade . So I don't know anyone specific who I can say hey , you want to jump on board , you want to do something different .

So I'm presented with the unique challenge of hiring someone who might be very fresh to the industry or the complete opposite , who's been in the industry , knows a thing or two .

So , yeah , so there's there's a lot of years that are tuned in , so maybe somebody will be out there . That'd be pretty cool .

I want to see September , october , until the snow flies , kind of where it levels off at , and then say , okay , what would it take to add a third person To what we're doing right now ? And then , yeah , then I gotta get the van , I gotta get the equipment , and that takes a little bit of of doing to get all that stuff Figured out .

But I first see it in the future . I honestly do , I think . I think that's the direction it's

headed . There's I . I still have done very little marketing . I did actually hire administrative guy recently , so he's doing phones for me , he's doing scheduling , dispatch , ordering parts and Kind of customer relations in general . He's got a sales background , not a technical background , which I'm okay with .

I'm helping them out with that , but he's got the , the sales background he's . You know , he's good at schmoozing and so I my . My goal actually is to kind of target some body shops and get some more of that business and that I think once I get More of that work , then then I'll have you know that room for that third person . So it's in the future .

It's a super technical question . He'll , he'll throw you a me in or whatever . But you know , here's the guy that is gonna handle the scheduling and everything and and kind of showing him what we do too Right , because he doesn't have a technical background . So I had to like this is a module program , this is diagnostic . This is a key job .

This is an 8-os . Here's the shops that handle stuff really well . Here's the stuff Really like to screw around , you know that sort of thing , showing them the ropes . But he's he's handling it really well and I can't express how nice it is to have the , the Volume of phone calls Not coming into me all the time . Always that has been so great .

I'm just like over here , I'll do die I sure don't get tired , do , do , do you know before you be in the middle of a die egg and you know shops are blowing up your phone and you just lose your thought and just , it's just annoying .

We've talked sense on how Much of a relief that's been for you and that that was a big part of why I Was like , okay , I'm gonna make this decision because it's tough , because he's not out there Programming stuff , die against stuff , making money like my other guy , and so the salary that you pay that person , it it feels a little different .

But I mean again , I'm only three , four weeks into this and a marty like this was a fantastic decision and I will . I will pay to have my , my sanity and my free time back .

And they would literally ask me like , oh Well , when can you come ? I'm like Me , man , like that's the whole reason why she's here to answer the phone is to not answer these goddamn questions . Yeah , so , of course . And then I would show up to the shops and they'd be like , you know , they kind of got little attitudes , they got a lot of two of me .

They're like , hey , you know , we need your direct number , we need to talk to you directly . And I'm like , look , brother , like I'm working , just like you guys , man , I'm busy , just like you guys . If you guys can't respect that man , then sorry , man , is what it is . This is how it is from here on out . So you just got to put your foot down .

Like I am the technician when I come out there . You don't want me answering five phone calls while I'm trying to figure out your problem . But that's what I was doing . I sat in this car , a couple Going a month back , like 45 minutes , and I hadn't done anything on the car .

I just was doing phone calls and getting people back and ordering stuff and this , and that I'm like I haven't even . I'm sitting in this Nissan center . I haven't done anything on it , though Like this is such a waste of time . But yeah , the , the help is huge and it's , it is nice .

So we had three people now and and we we've had a couple meetings , like we had lunch on Friday all got together and I was like , wow , this feels like a team now . Like it's , you know , it's just me originally , obviously you guys know the solo gig and then I added a second guy , steve , and you know we'd meet up time to time and talk and stuff .

But now that we got three people like there's just like a little different energy to it and I felt that on Friday when we had lunch together , I was like this is a cool feeling to have an actual start of it , of a team , and hopefully it gets bigger . But I'm I'm enjoying it .

But in the he's been in the industry I'm gonna say 12 years , 13 years somewhere in there . So Of course , asc , master , advanced level , right , it's guys L1 , l2 . So he you know he can wrench and obviously he's seen plenty , knows , you know , knows the ins and outs of a lot of the common issues and stuff like that .

So the biggest thing is obviously his attitude and his attitude in his headspace is right .

So Definitely adding him onto the team was a big plus and a huge help for me , because now it's like those 40 abs modules and steering racks and Nissan TCM's are like , you know , quick , the easy job , but you know , obviously the drive time and the time to do those jobs . Obviously I'm able to unload them onto him .

Yeah , originally , man , I was shooting for 90 days to train him right along with me , but here lately we've just been so freaking busy I've just been sending him on his own and we've just been kind of Going crashing and burning along the way . But we're making it work , obviously learning a whole lot . How'd you find this guy ?

Then , of course , you know him and I started talking and he had mentioned that you know he was tired of the monotonous day in and day out kind of stuff . Yeah , obviously , we started talking and then I started to get to know him and , like I said , the biggest thing was his mentality .

Once I figured out his mentality , you know he Got a good head on his shoulders . I was like , okay , hey , this guy is somebody that you know we'll invest in and we'll we'll grow him and , you know , bring him on part of the team and and , yeah , so far everything's been working great , that's awesome .

So the I think I'm gonna go ahead and say that's awesome .

You know , if it's one of my better shops , then you know we take it in , or what have you , um , and then of course we do . Obviously we work with body shop , so a lot of the Wire , harness repairs and stuff like that , stuff that's gonna take some time .

I just haven't taken over to the shop and just we just do it there and it's just so much night , it's just so much . It's just nice to have everything . I mean , obviously I got my shop equipment and we got the mobile equipment . So , yeah , stuff in the shop , but just conveniently there and then you're in your own environment and you gotta worry about .

Let's say I want to get a late start on the day and if I start at noon and I work till Whatever , nine , ten o'clock at night , if I want to , or you know , I've been going on the weekend , you know , from there at one o'clock , two o'clock in the morning , I mean , nobody tells me anything , it's my place , you know right .

The 8-os thing , I guess , is the one Part that would kind of pull me towards it . All right , because I've had a couple of the round view Calibrations with the mats where I just said the tele shop Sorry , you guys don't have the physical space oh well , I can set up a thing on the parking lot .

It's real level , like no dude , it doesn't work that way , and so I have enough space for that . I guess would be A something that that would draw me towards it . But I just , uh , I don't know if that's the move for me right now , the direction I want to go , and now , yeah , that was also .

It's like I'm going to be professional as I can , right , um , so that was another reason . Uh , a huge part was obviously get the shop , get the guy , then we can just keep growing from there . Uh but a lot of it was because of exactly what you said . Is eight Austin space , um , I mean , shops , don't understand , they just don't get it .

And then you have a few that do you know . But the ones that probably do Probably do their own already .

Getting a shop or hiring someone first , and which one to do first . Do them both at the same time . The commercial side at least getting commercial space , appears Not very difficult . It's just that location . Then if you want to remain , you want to keep the same convenience that you're offering as a mobile tech . Um , you have to hire at least two people .

Run cars back and forth . You know , sure , convenience , convenience and availability are definitely like the two top priority of a lot of shops that I've encountered when , I asked them directly to just like hey is there . You know some feedback as to what I can do when I could change , how can I make this better for you ?

So not only does she obviously handle the phones and then the ordering parts and the same thing , the dispatching , but Uh , when we coordinate some stuff , uh , most of the shops we deal with they're pretty good

. Some of them actually , will just take care of it all . They'll bring it to us and drop it off and pick it up and you don't have to worry about anything , yeah , uh . then obviously there's those instances where it's like , obviously they don't have the people available or what have you , and so there we are trying to figure out .

Okay , hey , go pick up this car . Hey , they close f5 like we need to go now .

It's like Okay , we just know , like I'm charging you additional , like yeah , whatever , whatever we just it's like okay so there's a clock there I am throwing all my eight off stuff from my van . Like an example I had a Subaru eyesight and they didn't have the space , I didn't have the board with me either .

So there I am , like okay , I'm loading all my eight off stuff into the Subaru to go drive it back to my shop to unload it , do the calibration load . But I left everything behind them and I just took the car back . But Uh , I got there at one and then obviously by the time I got done , drove back , it was 430 .

They closed at five and we like barely made it and but that's that's last day of the month . We're delivering this car at five , why you talk to me . Go drive it . You know like , come on , now we're screwed .

And I tried it in a gazillion different like whittings and Different positions and different backdrops and whatever , and I couldn't get this thing to go . It kept saying contrast error , contrast failure . When I went to do the alignment , we even tried a different camera .

Um well , they had aftermarket glass in this thing and so that was literally the only thing that I could find and I . This was also reached out to some people that do aidos and they told me a check for that , and so they poured it oe and glass , oe glass in it .

I'm going back tomorrow morning to try this again , so I will let you know how it goes , but is there anything else that ? I should be looking for to get this stupid Subaru cross track . It's a 19 cross track to pass the calibration .

I gotcha , see , and I'm , but if it's , if it's high enough , even they distributed , it's you okay .

Please make sure like the front camera fault or malfunction Message on the cluster disappears and it never would kept throwing the fault C100178 for alignment incorrect , etc . Etc . So I checked the pitch angle . Pitch angle was , I think , zero degrees the first time I did and that has changed the point to the second time I did it .

And Then I just looked through the weeds a little bit , went through TSB's . Everything was up to date and everything and Part of the pre-inspection I noticed it was an aftermarket glass . So I mean you have to Before you rule out the glass and you just show up and say like hey , I'm not doing it because it's aftermarket .

They want obviously proof and one not so that they can go back and adjust it however they need to . Yeah , I did a bean glass . Even though it passed the calibration , they would never clear the light . Weird , there's a bit odd .

They didn't realize there was one in in town . So , as I Let them know , like well , let me know when you get it sorted , because I can only Do the button pressing and driving , I Can't do the glass . Yeah .

Yeah , that's what actually where I learned or not why I learned . That's actually when I started getting deep into scoping , because I Starts obviously scope scoping , communication networks , okay , and that's what really took me into a network die-act with the scope . I just first it was . It was pretty evident there you go , it should be there , oh .

Yeah the first time that you know somebody reads , all struck by like I don't want , I don't want , no , like me . So of course , dispatcher watch by is like okay , I know you like the next going to challenge , here you go and I'm reading it . I'm like I was like we're about to make some money .

So that's , wild you know , I got with the service advisor and I was like , hey man , I was like that's what we're gonna do , was like because if I write up a list of modules , the total listing out , so we're gonna start with we need seven hours of die-act and we need two modules .

Remember , we did those two , did die-act and got another list of like four or five modules . Like here you go , insurance . They like , okay , go for it . And then we just kept doing that . Next thing , you know , 30 something hours of die-act and R&R modules . Got it all up and running .

I needed two door speakers in the rear and I needed , I think was the AC amplifier . So it was the two door speakers in the rear and the AC amplifier and they told it out . After that I was like god damn it , I was like right here , man , like I'm not , like I'm about to clear this thing , like Through and through and look nothing to .

The customer didn't really want it anymore , so he was on the insurance company . So the insurance company was already like , all right , fuck it , we're just gonna total it . Well , they dropped like that's happened 27k into it and then they decided up that's it , we're totally it up , that's wild .

And then it had timing codes in it too , which they tried arguing with me about it , like , well , isn't this caused by the lightning ? The lightning strike to I'm like I'd , I dude , it's a correlation check the oil bro .

Well , we're gonna put in cam and prank sensors and solenoids and like , go for it , but you're still gonna have a correlation code , like maybe one of those solenoids is stuck , I don't know , but you're probably still gonna have a correlation code , and they did . And then he calls me back and he's like , was there anything else the lightning could have done ?

Because I think they were trying to get it through on insurance and I'm like I was like no , like those timing chains were screwed long before the lightning came along .

Like that's just the way that stuff works and yeah , so , but anyways , that was an interesting one to deal with because we we had no idea that that's what happened and which , just like module after module after module , like this is very strange that all of these things would have failed at one time .

So I bi-direction control and I can hear the BCM click . And that relay is actually integrated into the BCM so I could hear it click when I bi-direction control it . But the dash nothing comes on only . Hmm , very interesting . So we jump the run start relay while bi-direction controlling the run accessory nothing .

So , based on that code and the troubleshooting troubleshooting tree , I End up calling a BCM . Of course I check powers , grounds , comms , all that was there I had . We even went , looked in the RFA .

I'm seeing the ignition switch input commit come into the module and I'm like , okay , well , I mean that ignition switch input should say something to the RFA and the BCM . Somebody should wake up the bus , right , which would be the BCM in that case . And no , nothing happened from the BCM . So they get to use BCM .

I show up , program it and now that code is gone Still won't ignition on . But now the RFA is throwing a Pats identifier Because the BCM was replaced . So you do a parameter reset , same shit , nothing changes . So I'm like thinking okay , is this RFA bed ? You're able to program keys to it . You can erase keys .

I updated it , I mean Everything , but I didn't know what else to do , what to do . At that point , truthfully , I told the shop I say man , look , this potentially looks like an RFA . I said . I said there's nothing really I could check to test . I mean everything is here . I don't understand .

And then I said you know what Better yet I Just said hey , man , I'm not the bow out of this one , this is just because it was one of those gut feelings . I was there and I was like man , this is , this isn't right . Man , there's something wrong with this thing . Yeah , I'm gonna get suckered into and be married to this thing .

So I told them I say man , I don't have time for this right now . Then you know , if you guys can wait , then cool . But if not , man , I'm not about . And I said don't even worry about the , the diagraphy man , I'm just gonna eat it .

We'll just call it a loss on both ends and I was like man , just kind of Cuz , I gotta keep business moving and that's obviously just coming from being screwed . Enough to when you learn like no , no , we're not gonna do this turn , say no yeah .

They did , I Think , an injector for an open injector circuit code months prior . They changed the squirt plugs and I think they changed valve cover gaskets . And While they did the valve cover gaskets , I think they changed both camshafts on bank one and all the rockers . Okay , I should explain the issue .

The issue was they were chasing a misfire when the car originally came in cylinder 5 and then Months prior had a cylinder one injector code . So they replaced the injector . Months later , some refinement fire Find all this stuff and they never really got down to the bottom of the cylinder 5 misfire .

But in the midst of all this it started throwing a p0 , 171 and 172 for fuel system bank one and

two rich . Okay , so apart from so you know what they did . They did a couple injectors , spark plugs , an ignition coil and valve cover gaskets , camshaft and rockers on bank one , the head on the back . So at this point they . They called me in to they wanted . They asked first if I had a Pressure chance to receive to go in .

So I was like , yeah , sure , I mean they . They told me that they were chasing a misfire cylinder 5 . So I went in . So in 5 compared to cylinder 1 , compared to bank 2 , everything looked normal . I even stuck a borescope down the hole just to look at the valve seats and the valve face just to make sure they weren't like Kind of corroded or weird-looking .

They weren't a hundred percent . He told me he did a leak down the compression test and leak down showed , I think , 15 to 20% Leakage on bank one compared to bank two . Okay , so I was like you know , kind of looking at something Weird valve seats on those , you know they're not the greatest . Anyways , long story short , it's still Hang rich .

It's minus 30 trims all the time . No matter what you do , they've replete . Oh yeah , so once it started doing that , they replaced the PCM , they replaced the map sensor , they circuit tested everything from the map sensor to the PCM . Hmm , they did I fuel sample test , bunch of other things . I showed up , I did the basics .

I did fuel sample , forced it rich fortune . Forced it lean doesn't change you as soon as it goes into open loop . So you rev it and you let off the throttle . It goes into open loop real quick , it trims , go to zero obviously , and it runs mildly better , and then they just plummet again .

Okay , so I went further and I just they had another ECM that they had already replaced . I just made sure it was up to date . No change . You can do a fuel composition reset , drive it . It's always , always , always , always super rich . Okay .

So I'm waiting for approval to see if the owner of the vehicle wants to do anything more , because they've had it , I think , over a year . Oh , wow , yeah , so , and they've , they put the customer , they put the owner of the vehicle in a loner . They haven't . I don't think they paid for anything as of yet .

So I spent like a couple hours in it , got my basic data . I went even as far as like Manually changing the resistance in the map sensor reading to pull it , because it was I wanted to pull it down , right , I was like I'm forcing this thing one way or another and didn't do a thing .

It just threw a barometric pressure sensor low code and I was like what the heck ? So the interesting things that I found that I mentioned to them was that the barometric pressure reading and KPA is 300 KPA and for our region we should be about a hundred KPA .

Okay , right , and no matter what I did , I could not get that down without it setting a code , without it setting a code . And I tried , I looked at why tech , I looked at Autel snap on just to see if , like , is the PID being misinterpreted as like , hpa or mercury inches about mercury , yada , yada , just to see if the value is inconsistent .

So , anyways , that's , uh , it's , it's one of the cars I haven't solved , that I may never get to solve , but like , luckily they allotted me the time and like any , any time moving forward , you know , I'm just waiting for approval , sure , sure , but like I , at this point , my , I think my next test is so , okay , the way it works .

Barometric pressure sensor is the map sensor . The barometric pressure is Calculated as soon as you like , crank the vehicle or ignition on , I'm pretty sure . So , as soon as you ignition on , it reads the resistance value in the signal wire from the map sensor to determine Atmospheric pressure . Okay , right before the engine , before the engine's cranking , really .

So I and the map sensor reading is reading perfectly . It passes the map sensor test as per FCA data . It's constantly rich . I , you know , I blocked off every port on the the intake , you know , check the oil . The oil is fine . They change . I recommend them like you guys change it . It smells like gas , first of all .

So then you start back up , run like poop , stall out again , okay , cool . So they call us , we get there , we , we smoke it , we smoke the crankcase . That was the first thing we do smoke the crankcase , valve covers , pew and smoke . So I'm like guys , this is unmuted air , like we can't have this , like you need to fix this .

So , anyways , they put a new valve cover gasket on . They're like , hey , it's doing the same thing . We show up again , we smoke it again just to make sure . Yeah , okay , it's the leaks gone and we have an O2 code for for I forget the exact code , but it was an O2 code and it's stuck low pretty much .

So you start looking at map and yeah , sometimes it runs great and you can drive it . Drive me , they shop , drove it for four days and then they started messing , messing up again . So then when they call us back out . We're looking at it and of course it's running beautifully , there's nothing wrong , mm-hmm .

So we start checking some things and it's a 2.5 Jetta , right . So we check the intake bolts and I mean I kid you not , man , probably four out of the six Finger tight I can loosen with my hand . So , all right , cool , we tied them down . We're thinking , all right , cool , for sure , that's it . I mean that that's it , we're good , we tied it up .

We're like , hey , man , we're good , we drive it . Make sure , okay , cool , shop keeps it . They drive it for a few days . All right , cool , everything's hunky-dory . They call customer hey , come pick it up . They pick it up . Customer takes off , comes back two days later , same thing . I'm like what the hell , man ?

So we started looking at map , map , pid day , pid day , obviously . And yeah , it gets wonky and then dies . I'm like , hmm . So we scope it and Sure , shit man . You see the signal . And at idle , no input changed and nothing . Nothing changed with the car , like there's no one in it , no AC , nothing , nothing should be changing .

And there you see the signal start fluctuating . So we pull it off . Of course it has oil . Okay , cool . So pull off throttle body . We look in the intake yeah , there's a value of oil in there . Like , okay , this is great . I'm thinking , well , maybe this is just residual , so we clean it . Clean the map sensor , put it back on runs like shit .

I'm like , no , we're gonna get a map sensor , so we go get a Bosch , slap it in . We do the TSB update . That idols , idols . Fine , I was fine . We drive it , it's fine . And then it starts acting up again . I'm like man , I guarantee you there's gonna be oil in this freaking intake .

Then we just open the butterfly valve , open the throttle body up and yep , there's oil in there . And I'm like , all right , they're gonna replace . There's a valve cover again . Supposedly that's like the third one they've put on . So I'm like a guy's

look . I'm like either one of two things you guys are putting low quality parts in on this thing or his guy has . You know he has excessive pressure , is crank use pressure , which I know he doesn't because I checked with a vacuum gauge and it's good . So I'm like , okay , this is just quality , quality of parts .

But of course you know the shops like oh , we've replaced that . There's no way . It's that I'm like , well , it's that . I don't want to tell you , partner , I mean , it is what it is . So , yeah , we just , we just took it back to them today to put a valve cover on it . So we'll see , there's gonna , they're gonna get one from Volkswagen .

We'll see what happens . Hmm .

Now I didn't put the pulse sensor in the intake just to see if there was an issue with , like an overlap or valve sealing , but but if I'm seeing it in the exhaust , I could probably see in the intake , sure ? So yeah , I don't know if , if excessive overlap you know putting hydrocarbons back into the intake would create such a weird rich condition .

But yeah , it's a little far fetched . I Cuz it runs fine technically , like you can just step on it and it revs up . It doesn't like bog , it doesn't pop , okay , it's just always rich .

They had two holes in them and the bar went across the front of the engine . I actually had the tool Because I used to do these back in the day when I was a tech and so I know the motor and everything and I look at it and the data pitch show it's out of time . The compression , relative compression shows it's out of time .

The misfire show it's out of time , like those things out of time . Okay , simple . And there and I told them I was like you guys need a special tool Line up the cams , otherwise Good luck . And I borrowed it to them . Actually , because I just sits in my toolbox in my garage . I have no desire to do Audi timing . You know like I have no desire for that .

So here , yeah , I'll borrow the tool for X-mon dollars and you guys can use it . So do it . They get all back together , blah , blah , and they call me back out . So they'll light on . Come back out and timing codes again . Data pins are showing it's out of time again . Everything same tests .

It's up like sorry guys , you must have did this wrong , click something , something screwed up . Did you look at the chains under the valve covers and all that stuff ? Yeah , yeah , we looked at that .

So like , well , we're gonna go back into it , we're gonna go over it again . And they're like , okay , we changed the adjuster this time because we think it was messed up and we'd read it at the timing . And it was the same thing again . And so I come back out there .

I'm like , hey , still out of time , guys , and I'm looking at this from a scan tool , testing perspective , right , like I haven't had it apart physically . So I'm like , guys , you got it . You like , are you reading the process ? Blah , blah , blah , and they're , you know they're an okay shop , but you know this sort of thing just isn't their specialty .

And so I'm questioning whether they're doing it right , obviously because still out of time . And so then they , they called me out while they had it apart and and I'm charging to go out there , and they're okay with this because they want to get this car fixed . But they could . They're like we have it all apart .

Can you just come tell us for sure that this isn't time before we put it back together , because our tax tired of taking this apart . Okay , line up the chain marks and I line up everything . It's all there , yep , yep , this looks good . This looks like everything I can see is in time and whatever , and they put it all back together and same thing .

It's all at a time , you know . So I'm really going over my stuff . Now I'm like is there something up with the tensioner or something that I'm missing ? Is there something else that I'm I'm missing and I can't find everything .

Everything's pointing me back to this thing is out of time , and so I'm like , hey guys , I Don't know I need to spend more time with this , like maybe even taking it apart and looking at stuff , but I don't have the time for it .

So this is just going into you guys , a story like I Ran out of things to do on this car besides taking it apart myself , and I don't know , maybe there's a wrong camshaft or something weird with this car , but everything we could find the thing was in time , but it's still out of time and yeah , that's waiting . They want me to dig back into it .

But I'm like this is on my way back burner , like I don't have time to take apart a 2003 Passat , like it's just not part of my , my daily thing to do and I don't know if I'll ever get to it .

I can't communicate anything on it , but I scope , I scope the splice pack and I can see everybody . I Get to the gateway , my terminating backbones at 60 ohms , but it just I can't talk to it . They put a new gateway in it same shit . And I can't talk to the gateway to program it . So I'm like what the fuck man ?

Like why can't the hell's going on with this junk ? And I mean when I say that there's some road and damage , like it's , it's pretty bad . Like there's road and droppings like under the carpet . Like I got there . They're like , hey , we need you to program this BCM and I was there for something else . And I'm like , okay , cool , they're like .

I'm like what's truck or what car , what they're like , that's the f 350 over there in the corner . So I walk up to it . Dude , the whole front's taking part , like the whole interior is taking part . I can see the metal floor , the center console is gone , the seats are gone , the bottom parts of the dash are ripped off .

And I'm looking at them and the guy's like , look man , I'm gonna pay you regardless where the works tonight . He's like , just give it a shot , okay you know that's cool . Yeah , I was like okay , bro , Cool Whatever . So connect Whatever scan . I get a pre scan and I'm like and that's like I'm looking at this thing and you know IDS .

Oh , they tells you fail , fail , fail or not there , or whatever the whatever the case may be , and I'm looking at the list- I'm optional . Yes , it's optional . I'm looking at it , I'm like I'm looking and I'm like man . I know this thing has ABS , like it has to have freakin ABS , and ABS is under optional and I'm like Hell .

That doesn't work . It times out , errors out . Um , so I'm like , hmm , so here I am like looking at can lines . I was like , oh , I'm just gonna jump it from the BCM to the PCM , get the parameter reset to work and then it should start . That was high heat , that was really high , high hopes I had there .

That was three months ago , and then I would get like suckered into it , right , because I'm like well , now I want to know , right , that curiosity in me , yeah so here I am with just the use scope , and here I am pulling out the Pico and I got all this crap out .

And next , you know , I'm three hours into this thing and I have a bunch of data but no direction . I'm like , oh , okay , and that's when I learned . Well , I didn't learn my lesson . Then I went back on a Saturday . I was like , hey guys , I'll come back on the weekend because I wanted to know I was like I need to figure this out .

But like I'm going down the network and then I told I asked myself I'm like , don't , what the fuck are you doing , man ? Like it's , it is Saturday . You now have six hours into this thing because you're here three hours . You were three hours a day before or a couple days before . And then I realized I'm like this is not a smart business move .

What are you ? Why are you ? Why are you doing this here ? I'm so , man , like , get the hell out . So , yeah , I walked in , I told the shop , I said amen , my

saving grace . And I just did a quick visual right to pop the driver side , no , passenger side . I decided to dash off right the little panel there and I'm peeking in . I'm just just looking in to see if I could just Hopefully see something obvious , right , and I could see the the top of the glove box from the backside .

You can see all the you've wrote it fingerprints , right , okay , and I'm like , hmm , I could see some wires that are like kind of just it just looks . It doesn't look normal , right , just something looks weird . So I pull the tweeter from the top off and I find some wires to don't like guys , you got pulled a dash .

I was like we don't even know , I don't even know what's back there . I was like we just need to pull it . There's wires are a tune , there's evidence , like we just need to pull this fucking thing apart and let's just see , because I have no idea . So I tell them they're like , okay , cool , yeah , we'll pull it . I go back two weeks later .

I'm like I walked through the shop , I don't see it there . I'm like , hey , where's the Ford and the text like , oh man , fuck that for it . I pushed it outside . It's sitting out there .

So that guy came out couldn't do the parameter reset and that's how they said hey Well , you must have a broken wire from the PCM to the BCM . So that's why the whole interior got dismantled . So they have this remand PCM from I don't know where . They don't have the original , of course . So now we have yeah so now we have a new Module into this network .

It's new PCM , and now we got this new BCM and a new gateway . So now we're trying to figure out . Okay , well , is it ? Do you guys induce a problem here ? I mean , you know , all those questions are coming into play and it's like nothing makes sense . Yeah , and then when ? I told him .

I said those just say hey guys , I just I can't , I don't have time , dude , I don't have time for any this , especially now that you know we got a , I Got mark on board and we're trying to get him trained up and , you know , get him up and running efficiently and properly , yeah , that's .

Anyways , I was like you know what , I'm just gonna unplug the gateway . I unplugged the gateway and then the vehicle started without the gateway module . Explain that , I don't know , that's kind of weird . Anyways , I plugged it back in and everything works , so I know . And then their concern was just the blind spot light .

After that , like that the dash was dark and it would start . So they , that's what they were concerned about . Okay , and then the blind spot because they replaced the tail light . In all honesty , in those scenarios I actually ask myself what would Bernie Thompson do ?

This is logical approach if you will Throw it into your daily mix , but it's just so difficult to to make it make business .

But okay , there's a couple cars out there that are just Complete balls and yeah , like you say , like some of these guys can really really get broken . I think in 10 to 15 years a lot of the cars that are out there right now newer are gonna be broken .

That's gonna be real tough for the majority of people that sort through these problems because I don't know , Absolutely . It's just getting any easier and the problems are more unique and more complex Than than ever before .

Oh , we had 120 ohms . So we had an open and long story . Short , it was in the driver seat module . I got it nailed in in about a couple hours to me a couple hours . First off was obviously getting Acclimated with the vehicle . I'm like , okay , where the freak ? Or where's this module , where's that module , you know , obviously .

So I'm in front of the computer for a solid 35 minutes looking at where's this one . Okay , this module's here connected . View this . Getting all the ammo together in the actual testing was this quick , yeah . But we got an arrow down and , yeah , that driver seat module is bringing down like four , four modules .

So once we got it , we got it offline and I jumped it with a resistor . Everything was hunky-dory , but it was a yeah , it was one of those that I was telling mark . I was like man dude . I was like way too , these become normal . It's gonna be real , real serious then .

No , it's gonna be a need , and I think even more so going into the future .

Not knowing how to make that use module work is just as important , as like diagnostics , like that is the what makes Mobile techs make it look easy , make it look smooth , you know , but they've spent hours at home on the bench or hours with a car Trying to calibrate it and whatever you know . Diagnostics is like it's like almost just the bare bones of it .

It's like , yeah , it applies in every other aspect , but it's like the car has this issue that it's not as like it's not as easy to comprehend as like it's just because of it's a windshield or it's just because you put a used module Right , right , it's like no , there's a physical issue in the car .

But I mean we're at the point where , like if a new shop calls us and they want dyag , we just tell them hey look , it's 180 bucks for the first hour , which I'm thinking about actually bumping that up , I think about going to 250 truthfully , just because of how much we do .

And then I tell them like look guys , and I tell them up front I mean most of them obviously they understand , they understand what a matrix is . So I tell them is I gave me after that it's a matrix . So I Mean you want two hours or roughly . I think it's like 432 . I don't know 50 something , 56 . I can't remember .

So yeah , usually when I tell a shop I'm like hey , man , look , if you need a couple hours , you're excellent at dollars , so get pre or poor for 600 bucks . Then let us know mmm . But yeah , I mean they do , because obviously the cars broken , they can't figure it out .

They got a customer that they have to impress right , or they need to take care of , so yep , yeah .

And then there's the data's getting mixed . I can literally read it once , read it again and read it a third time and compare all three bins , and they're all different every time down . I'm like god , dang it . And they have as an external e-prom .

So I was like , all right , cool , I'm just gonna swap the e-prom , leave the flash back to the way it was originally , and I Should be good now because the immobilizer is also in the flash and obviously I'm . I don't see many Porsches , so this is like my first one where I'm actually having to make a use module working a Porsche .

Okay , and it's been a struggle because , well , this is another one that , like I need time to sit here and mess with it . And you know , I mean you know how Benchord goes . I don't have to explain that to you . Yeah , it's one of those . It's just a pain , man . I even provided a module Because they couldn't get one .

So then I get , I found one , got it , and then I find out , oh , the customer doesn't have money right now . So I'm like , oh man . When he has money you guys tell me and then I'll make this a priority again . But until then it's on the back .

But I'm like , hmm , I don't know , I'm probably not gonna see that many of these and I'm not in an emission state , so I'll just I'll do it the hard way .

So I went to that , to that C pillar , and just just did a visual , looked around at the bottom and I pulled the bottom part of it out and I saw a bunch of rodent poop and I was like okay , yeah . I was like yep , yep , there this is . This is gonna be a big issue here . Yeah , those critters .

I Don't know what , what's happening with it , but it makes it very convenient actually To get through your car . Like there's this this one time I Just finished it , I think . Like the day prior he was at a body shop and it was just a simple thing . Like the passenger rear window doesn't work .

I was like I just go to the door module , reset memory , operate the switch from the door and it'll work . He's like no Thanks .

I'm sorry , yeah , whatever I'm going to do is not gonna help you , that's a good way to put it actually .

You say I can't help them , they're not willing to improve in any way , shape or form and Just didn't didn't all line anymore , I'm like and the guy got kind of pissy about it , but I'm like , sorry man , like the stuff you're asking just does not work for me and what we're we're able to provide . So this , you know , had to make it call .

It's kind of tough on that one Like sometimes it's like you say , like I'll put a do not answer on some , some numbers , where I'm just like that I don't want to deal with these people , but like to actually make you into the decision to like , yeah , I'm just not gonna do you know , business , I don't do that often .

It does , doesn't happen often , but it had to . I just like , yeah , this place and this guy , just I'm shooting for bigger and better things , I guess .

But then when I go in , like , hey guys , you need to do this , this , this , this , and then call me and then I'll come back Because of course it's a car that has , it's a total turd bucket , it's got multiple problems , or I should say multiple components that are faulty that can all create the same issue .

So I'm like look guys , like , first off , we ain't , I'm not , I'm not gonna fight and uphill fight and waste hours on my time . You need to replace those things . Then call me and then I'll come back . And don't go dormant . You know , get an OEM or get this , get that , and then they do . They'll call me and be like hey , we put all the stuff on .

What can you come ? So then I show up and it's literally like okay , poke , poke , poke , check , check , okay here , boom , all right , here we go right here . Bad connection , whatever voltage dropper Kyle doesn't see a lot of this but whatever bad relay .

And I , for me , it's just like , as you increase the volume of shops that you get to , you end up finding , okay , there's X amount of shops that are really easy to work with and they know what they're doing and Everything works well . And then it's like , okay , I want more of those shops , I want to keep those and this . There's other places .

Like man , it's always a pain in my ass to go there and to deal with stuff there . I don't want those shots , you know .

It's like , okay , I , there's my saving grace , like there's my little break for the day , something easy . And then now it took time to like Push my schedule all around .

So he goes to the process , does everything , goes to do the update and , and you know , nissan will launch the , the authentication page for you to sign in . Okay , well , he had his Wi-Fi off so he Obviously consult prompt of a message . You know , do you want to go offline mode , retry or manually connect to a network ?

So he turns his Wi-Fi on and then he just hit offline mode . I think Obviously it was just a mix up there , I'm thinking meant to click retry and you hit offline . Well , then it took him back , obviously , to the home page and the TCM was a no-com . So he's trying to go back in through reprogramming configuration .

And Let me actually backtrack real quick , sorry . So when that prompt comes up , for the ones that don't know your listeners that don't know when that prompt comes up , it's usually after the file gets loaded into the VI , right ? So after the 90% it gets a hundred and then it prompts you the , the authorization . So that happened and then he had home .

So then he went back on their reprogramming configuration , goes into transmission , can't talk to it . So he's like what the hell ? So then he goes back to the home page but he can see the VI . So he obviously goes under transmission and single system tries to go in . It can't talk to it . So they calls me I Team view in and I'm looking at it .

I'm like holy shit , I was like it's gone , like it's , it's a no-com . And yep , people are flagging to you zero , one , one , one , one one . Okay , I'm with last com , with the TCM . So I'm asking him like , hey , is there another Pathfinder around , another CVT there ? And ? And there wasn't .

Because I was gonna tell me , go steal that , go steal that TCM and see if we can well , hot swap . And you know , I'll edit the CSV . I'll edit the CSV to see if I can . You know , just put all the zeros and see if it'll go . And no , no luck .

So I'm like , alright , man , hey , I was like I don't understand how this happened , like I Couldn't understand why . You know that module is offline . I'm like man , they never erased , never erased logic block and never did any of that in the normal sequence . So I'm like mass is very weird . So anyways , he leaves .

I go back later that day and the bus went to sleep obviously . I key it on and I see a prindle and I'm like , hmm , okay , scan it sure shit it's there , so I don't know , I don't know . In that process , when it waits for authentication of it , just takes the module and makes it go offline . I guess it gets ready for programming . I don't know .

It's like , hey guys , look , I apologize like we don't know what happened . Of course we just I just took blame for it . I just like , hey , look goes our computer , our computer crashed . Yeah , you know I apologize , it's just something that out of our control .

You know , we're gonna go ahead , we'll make things right , we'll get a module , get everything squared away . And I'm just , I just need you guys to get time from your customer , obviously , because I got to source the module and you know , may take a couple days and shop was totally understanding .

They're like , yeah , no , it's cool , no biggie , you know , just keep us in the loop . And they they were gonna look for a TCM also got told them I say , hey guys , if you guys can find one sooner , great , just go ahead and get it . And then you know , we'll work out the the money's after at the end and it's all said and done .

You know if I got to write you guys a check or whatever the case may be , yeah , no , we were able to get that going . So Very , very . I thought it was very weird . I never had experienced that before on an e-sign .

I I've had a lot of those , like I say , the Chrysler stuff where it's after programming event or after doing something To the modules as far as a reset or whatever , and then like something won't talk or some function won't work or some weird codes are there , and then yeah , you do either a cap discharge or a key off and Everybody's happy , we're all good to

go . I've wasted some time , you know , tracking some stuff down . Then that all I needed to do is that key off for a certain period of time and then it was fine . So I don't know what's , what the deal is or how stuff gets screwed up between Communication and networks and things like that , but it can be really weird issues .

I showed up Monday mid-morning so it's had plenty of time to sleep . I get there , no print . Oh , scan it , it's offline , like it's dead . So I go tell the shop and the shop was pissed because the guy didn't tell him anything . The guy just said oh yeah , I can't program it's keep , it's kicking me out . And he left . He didn't tell him .

Yeah , he didn't tell him it was a no-com . So when I get there , when I get there , I'm like guys like this is a no-com , like it's dead . So they were mad , right , obviously , yeah , that's a $1,200 freaking module , brand new . So I'm getting ready to leave and I go about to get in the van .

I was like , wait , I walk back inside Like hey , you guys have the old one . They're like , yeah , we do . So I get it and it communicates and they're replacing it for whatever Speed code or I don't know what the hell they were replacing it for . But I go into reprogramming and there's a fucking reprogramming . There's an update available .

Actually , no , it wasn't available . I had to go and edit the CSV file to make it flash the same thing over again .

Okay , so at the authentication page I stopped .

I had it plugged in , obviously the original , and then I unplugged , it , plugged in the one that was installed in the trans , and then we fucking forced it through and , yeah , it came back to life and of course , shop was super freaking happy and of course I got to charge a premium on that one because yeah what else are we gonna do ?

Modeling it plus labor and all that .

Also like to thank everybody out there for listening to the show , all the feedback I've gotten and the people have reached out wanting to be on the show , and so , hey , if that's you you're in this industry , you're a passionate person about what you do , you've got something interesting to say or share ?

Shoot me a message , either on Facebook or my email , which you'll find in the show notes , and we'll see what we can do to get you on the show . But with that all out of the way , let's get out there and start fixing the world , one car at a time .