New year, new column!

Jan. 1, 2016
In this column, I intend to bring you new testing techniques, new repair procedures, a few war stories or just sage advice I learn from the collective whole as I continue my travels and interactions with you – our faithful readers. I am also inviting any one of you that have an interesting diagnostic story to share to submit it for inclusion in this column.

It has been my great pleasure to travel across our country to a variety of trade and association events over the last several years, and I’ve had the opportunity to meet techs from all over the world in the process. There are many common bonds among us, not the least of which is the desire to stay educated and on top of the technology that is changing so fast around us.

Many of you that I’ve met are also highly skilled – probably the top 10 percent of our industry when it comes to efficiently and effectively diagnosing the root cause of failure in these complex systems. You’ve developed effective troubleshooting strategies, invented new ways of using old diagnostic equipment, and have even come up with brand new methods of your own!

Back in the old days, we willingly shared our own experiences and expertise with others in our shop and we all became the better for it. With the advent of the Internet, that sharing now takes place on a global stage but sadly, not all of what you find when you “Google” a problem is in keeping with standard industry practices and guidelines and some results could even cause more harm than good.

In this column, I intend to bring you new testing techniques, new repair procedures, a few war stories or just sage advice I learn from the collective whole as I continue my travels and interactions with you – our faithful readers. I am also inviting any one of you that have an interesting diagnostic story to share to submit it for inclusion in this column. If you think you have a good tale to tell and the talent to tell it, send me an email ([email protected]) with your submission!

Let’s start with a war story

I’ll be the first one to say that I’m one of the luckiest guys in the world. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time when I was given the opportunity to join Motor Age fulltime. Up to that point, I was working in a shop as a technician and had been for nearly 35 years. Had it not been for the magazine, I’d still be sweating over a wrench until the day I couldn’t do it anymore.

Because I’ve “been there, done that,” I understand how tough this business is and how tough it can be to make a living doing what we do. We stay in it because, God help us, we love the challenges of fixing what is broken! And I can personally say that this business always supplied me with a steady living, if not always a lucrative one.

Training was always an issue. Most of the shops I worked for didn’t supply training, and if there was training available from a third-party source, I didn’t know about it or I couldn’t afford it. I’m sure many of you reading this are shaking your heads in agreement with me. That’s why it is my primary objective each and every month to provide you with as many resources as I can, in as many ways as I can, all with the idea of trying to make your life in the shop a bit easier and to put a little more coin in your pocket each pay day.

Vehicle systems on the market today require precise diagnosis and repair in order to function as designed. Anything less could result in injury to you or your customer.

Are you availing yourself of all these resources we’ve started for you? Do you get the Certified Technician newsletter? Have you attended one of our free technical webinars (hosted at least four times a year)? Are you subscribed to our YouTube channel? If you said “no” to any of the above, what are you waiting for?

On to business

Let’s start off this new column with some tech tips (of a sort) you can put to use right away!

1.  Training, training, training. The days of relying on what you know now to carry you into the future are long gone. There are vehicle safety systems in use today that require precise repair in order to work properly and anything less could result in someone getting seriously hurt or even killed. And quality training has been getting easier to find and access. I’ve already mentioned the resources we offer you each and every month and in addition to that, we’ll be hosting single day training events in select cities later this year, culminating in our second Automechanika Chicago training event scheduled for July 2017. Just like the first one held last year, the training event will be free to attend – you just have to get yourself there!

In addition to our efforts, many of the major aftermarket companies have stepped up their training offerings. Federal-Mogul’s “Garage Gurus” program is one that comes to mind, as is the traveling training hosted by Bosch. Of course, they aren’t the only ones. Carquest, NAPA, WORLDPAC, SMP, and many more have professional trainers on staff and on the road. Look for more listings of events and opportunities right here in our pages to find training sessions in your area. Set a personal goal of at least 40 hours of continuing education a year and if your boss isn’t supportive, find one who is.

2.  Use your resources. Believe it or not, I learned that tip in the Boy Scouts. No one can know everything there is to know about everything and as I mentioned earlier, relying on your own storehouse of knowledge to see you through every challenge you face will only cause you grief in the long run.

So unless you’ve performed a procedure or diagnostic process on a particular model car over and over again, you owe it to yourself to spend the first 10 minutes or so working on reading – reading the specifics on the vehicle system you are preparing to repair, reading the specifics on why a particular DTC is set on that particular model, and even researching tech resources to see if others have already done the hardest parts for you.

Test, don't guess! Parts cannon ammunition is expensive and wasteful.

It may be hard to believe that using the wrong oil can lead to catastrophic engine failures, or that installing a new headlight can cause some vehicles to pull to one side or the other, or that you have to tell a computer that you replaced a battery but all of these scenarios (and many more like them) are true. The majority of our self-inflicted headaches can be avoided if you just take the time to do a little reading before you open up your toolbox.

3.  Think twice, repair once. Talk to most any mobile tech (the guys you call in for help when you can’t fix the car yourself) and they’ll tell you that the majority of the work they do is basic in nature, and that any reasonably competent technician should have been able to fix what they found.  

Truth is, when we’re under the pressure of flat rate and our boss is screaming at us to get this car done, it is very easy to forget the basics and start looking for the magic bullet. Rather than think about the repair we are going to make, we check the experts on Google to see what they’re replacing and then we open fire with our own parts cannon.

The majority of the time, this process fails miserably. It costs you time and money, and may cause you to loose what was a good customer. Rather than rely on the magic bullets, rely on your skills and expertise. If they’re lacking a bit, no worries – we all started somewhere. Use tips No. 1 and No. 2 to improve your skill sets and you’ll find yourself firing the cannon less and less. And that means more money in your pocket!

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