Words to live by ... "If Eric O can do it, I can do it." It might take a while, and your wife might get upset that you bought a new scan tool and oscilloscope, now there's a lift in the garage, and tool trucks are stopping at your house, but I say go for it.
I have a friend who's wife found a used lift at an auction & had it delivered to the house as an anniversary present. I have never seen a happier man in my life!
I'm losing count of how many times Eric has found and fixed simple problems in a GM vehicle in a fraction of the time and for a fraction of the quote from the stealership. Keep up the great work Eric!!
There was a local Chevy dealer in the next town from my city. They were charging people for work that wasn't done. The DA set up a some decoys to go through that dealership. Yep and sure enough the DA found they were lying about what repair work they were claiming they did. They pleaded no contest to the charges which is a bit of a bummer. But they did get a substantial fine that was almost $300k. This had happened over years ago. So that $300k was substantial.
@@sartainja There was another dealer that my friend had a bad interaction with. He stopped by the dealer to check out what's with all the white smoke. They checked and told him he had a hole in his piston. They were need to replace it with a new engine. My friend asked why a short block couldn't be used. The dealer refused to sell a short block. My friend said he'll think about it. They even he could cause more problems if he drove home with the hole in his piston. After a couple of days he decided to tear down the engine himself if it's just a hole in the piston. During his break down of the engine he noticed that two head bolts weren't as tight as the others and sure enough when the head came off he could see a leakage trail leading to the cylinder. When they torque down head bolts at the factory they have machines that do all the bolts at the same time. It's likely the tighteners got out of wack. So others had a similar problem. The dealer probably knew what was wrong as there were probably others showing up with the same problem as my friend. They made up a story about a hole being in the piston. It's likely a TSB w;as sent out to dealers about this problem.
We had a flatbed truck at work that the clearance lights on the bed didn’t work. Boss had it at the dealer for a different issue and asked them for a quote to fix the bed lights. They quoted $1200 and said they had to re-wire the bed and replace all of the lights. Boss asked me to take a look at it. Literally took 30 seconds to find a corroded crimp and seal connector. Couple snips, crimps, and some tape, and 2 minutes later the lights were working. Dealerships are SCAM. Lol
Code reader was written by someone who LOVED diagramming sentences in grade school. Or the pre-med student whose favorite song was "the leg bones connected to the knee bone...". 😅
When my wife catches me not paying attention to what she is saying i usually come back with some variant of "I was just entranced by your beauty and got lost in the moment". Works sometimes.
My electrical diagnostics story that was most frustrating, yet felt so great to finally solve- customer had a 90s GM car (LeSabre or clone) that had a dead battery every morning. Battery tested good. No excessive draws. Swapped in a known good battery to rule it out- good battery was dead the next morning. Put the meter on and watched for several minutes for an intermittent draw- nothing. After trying several other things- put the meter back on and just kept watching while I ate my lunch. After many minutes- the meter jumped for about 30 seconds then dropped! There it was! But which circuit? I pulled fuses one at a time and watched for the draw- which meant waiting forever for each circuit. Finally after an eternity of repeating this process I finally found which circuit had the draw- the radio! Huh? Checking the radio circuit on the diagram showed me what happened. I went to the rear of the car and opened the trunk and unplugged the power antenna motor wire. Draw gone! The explanation- the antenna had frozen and wouldn't go down, but when the car is turned off it keeps trying to lower the antenna every 10 minutes or so, resulting in intermittent draws all night.
OK that is the _best_ reason to love Eric O! "Is somebody beating their dog? Does somebody need to be shot?" That is the _correct_ attitude. I concur completely with that sentiment.
As a novice DIYer who has been completely frustrated with shops and dealerships I can say that you are a super hero amongst mortals. These "mechanics" aint nothing more than part changers so to see your level of knowledge and expertise makes me sad as hell that your shop is so far from me. I enjoy the hell out of this channel and glad I found it.
Your dad was a hard man but it gave you the impeccable integrity and work ethic. Bravo sir. In the old days men earned the knowledge they got from the old timers and I think that’s missing today. When you earned the privilege of learning a trade you also had to carry on that trade with integrity and professionalism. You are a good man.
You know it is Eric O's video when you hear the lawn mower in the background! And the reason I listen /watch this channel is for the "stories". Love your work Mr O.
It was nice to see somebody brought you a car with a clean interior. In the back, a clean rubber mat and just an umbrella. No junk. I have always thought if I brought in a car that looked like I took care of it, the techs would be more inclined to take care of it too.
I worked at an independent VW shop and this woman brought in her car to get the battery replaced which is under the rear seat on the original Beetle. This woman's very dirty laundry was all over the back seat including under garments, it was disgusting.
I have always preached that to my kids also. As a service person, there is clean and there is ocd clean. The ocd customer machines are worse than the filthy ones imo, you are scared to touch anything. I once had to service a panasonic copier in a home office that has a plush bright white carpet. I don't care how good you are, you start copier disassembly, toner does come out of the machine. Everyone was scared to service this machine.
I worked In a City Fleet. Some vehicles were so clean I put in seat and floor protection, and didn't want to sit in it because my uniform had a little dirt on it. One van was so filthy with fast food wrappers, spilled drink containers, old newspapers, kleenex (assumed it was used) and more. I used an old pair of gloves, a mask and eye protection. It stunk in there! Everything went in a box along with scattered tools and his parts, not the van's parts, and I put it all in the back of the van. When he came to pick it up he asked for the tools and I told him where I put them. To get the engine cover off, I used brakkleen to break loose where soda was spilled on the engine cover, ran down to the floor and dried almost like glue! It took over 25 minutes just so I could remove the engine cover to diagnose the problem. Yes I documented all this on the work order and kept a copy for myself in case I needed it. The supervisor over the driver also got the usual copy for his records at the end of the month. I did repair that poor vehicle, and also gave it a safety check to be sure nothing was damaged or overlooked! That was one of the worst ones I saw in 29 years and 3 months working in that shop!
The sad part is that a harness would've fixed it. Much more expensive and time consuming. Your way was cheaper and quicker. So the dealer wasn't totally wrong. You were right, they didn't want to fix it.
Truthfully, no dealership employee is going to go thru this sort of diagnosis essentially bcoz it wouldn't be on the clock! Good stuff Eric O, really good auto-tech..
Exactly my frustration when I was a GM tech many years ago. I enjoy electrical diagnostics, unfortunately they usually require some time (and expensive tools that the tech pays for) to find problems, only to get paid 3/10ths to fix it. And once you are known for being able to find these issues, you get them all- which means losing money every day. Just think about doing 4 jobs a day that require 2 hours of tracing wires, then getting paid 18 minutes time to fix it. I can't live off less than an hour and a half of pay each day.
@@jimalton1564As an electrical engineering major who started a job at GM dealer looking to move up and gain experience, I was excited to see how GMs training videos focused on electrical diag, and meticulous diag to fix the problem right the first time, ideally without replacing any parts beforehand. Unfortunately that's not what I see in the shop at all, but it makes sense for the hours. Messed up system
Erik went around this point, but I'm going to put in print anyway: When you are troubleshooting ANYthing, you first have to know HOW it's SUPPOSED to work before you can go any further. My two life passions are wrenching and electronics. I worked as a mechanic for 2 decades, then went to work in electronics for the next 3 decades. The way vehicles are going in these times, one needs both skills. I wonder how many dealer techs don't even know the first thing about electrical/electronic systems... or even understand how to read a schematic diagram? THAT is why many 5uck so bad.
The problem is they don’t anderstand shematic shema they don’t know what they see diod , bulb , rele 😮just chinese characters for them I know , I am electric
Cars these days are computers with some mechanical bits. If you don't understand electronics and logic perhaps it's time to retire (or stick to old classics) The problem with dealers is that they're owned by and operated for the benefit of the sales team. If they could dump parts and servicing, they would but in the mean time they treat it as a cost centre which can be treated as a cash cow (ie: charge the earth but invest as little as possible). Nissan in Britain stripped the franchises from a couple of dealers in the 00's due to absolutely rotten service/spares performance that destroyed a few engines. The dealerships went to court and got the franchises reinstated WITHOUT being forced to sort the service side out Mercedes dealerships in the UK are even worse. They only care about getting money from the customer and go to every possible stepto avoid keeping the cars running reliably (or taking responsibility for things like destroying engines or scratching the hell out of the paintwork on a $150k car in the service bay on its first visit and doing a 4th-rate touchup job to try and pretend it already happend)
Yup, especially in this economy, everyone is scrambling. I'm a quick learner and strong at problem solving. Currently in college for electrical engineering. Do several projects and work on my own/family&friends cars on the side. I recently took on a job at a dealership as an express tech. Mostly fluid changes, tires, with some basic diag/brake/suspension work. Seeing how the other techs I work with approach "diag" really turns me off of the dealership approach, but it makes sense considering mine seems not to pay out accurately for diag. I took on the job hoping to move up and gain professional experience as a mainline tech, but I find myself really wanting a job at an independent shop with knowledgeable guys that pride themselves in quality work. And not turning cars as fast as possible, no matter the cost to the customer. But the flat rate system is fundamentally flawed I feel
While I was working as a frontline service technician for Chrysler, I sort of fell into the shop electrical/drivability specialist. As you show most often, you always do a sight examination first to see the problem before doing any other tests. The best advice, especially during the 80-90s vehicles were moving to electronics and turbos. Like you Mr. O, I constantly found the green and broken wires from most shoddy add-ons, especially trailer hitches and radios.
I work at a hospital ambulance service. One of our vehicles was making a lot of engine noise. It got sent to the local Ford dealer that we deal with and they said it needs an engine for $10,500. When we got the truck back I checked the oil level and found that it was down four quarts of the five that it holds, put in four quarts of oil and bingo engine runs great, sounds fine, problem fixed! Can't believe they didn't do something as simple as check the oil!!
Meanwhile I've had a pup who was a drama queen for attention. I didn't blame her, she was frickin adorable but in her opinion all eyes HAD to be on her.
They don't have time. This kinda stuff is only easy if you do it regularly. I worked in a dealership in early 90's. Mercedes/Toyota/Geo/Chevy/Cadillac. I was the Chevy heavy line tech but shop foreman figured out, I could fix anything. If they had a broken Yota come in, gave it to me. Said they so infrequently "broke", as in a no-start or electrical problem, the Master tech had been out/away from training so long, he was clueless. Some jobs are labor intensive to do correctly. I spent 12ish hours putting 5.7 small blocks in pick-ups. Because everything went back together like it came from the factory. While I wasn't the fast guy, my stuff didn't come back. Eric is same type of tech. As he keeps saying, what he does isn't hard, just takes time and thought. Most techs don't want to think or spend any time. "The printer" is in the office where techs aren't allowed to go. Or it is so old you can't print a legible diagram. Hurry, hurry, hurry, so can handle more tickets. Quality of work is secondary. Main reason I retired is a can't see crap anymore. Hard to diag wiring when you can't see it. Reading glasses only go so far. Another stellar job Eric!
@@gailtaylor1636 _"They don't have time"_ When you are unskilled diagnosing these issues does take a long time, and typically involves replacement of numerous random parts and causing further damage to the vehicle. Some years back I used to work for a local auto electrics company and a good part of our business was diagnosing faults that the main dealers couldn't and repairing the damage they had caused to their customers cars.
It's disgusting that supposed "masters" of their craft weren't able to spend 5-10mins and use common sense and logic to diagnose this. What if the customer agreed to a new wiring harness? The mechanic at the dealership installing it would have immediately found the issue, said nothing about it, and gladly charge the customer for the harness + labor. It breaks my heart this vehicle has such low mileage, and the dealership will not service it properly. Keep em coming Mr. O.
“Eat your heart out Ivan….”😂😂😂😂😂. Love it when the GOATS give each other the business all in fun…..Ivan does the same. You can tell they respect each other a ton.
@@vincentlallo6543 It would take a bit of effort to spin professional diagnostician into a more general audience type show, despite the views they do get on UA-cam.
I help a local used car dealership in diagnosis, and with your knowledge helping me learn how to diagnose vehicles; I've managed to bust quite a few shops plus dealerships in shoddy work. Recent repair....2018 GMC truck had a no-start/no-crank condition. In the end, it was a bad battery..the computers managed to drain the battery down to below voltage, and the computer modules couldn't boot up and communicate with each other or the scanner. The local repair shop said they couldn't do anything, as their scan tool would not communicate with the vehicle, so they couldn't diagnose the car. Simple things as a bad battery with low voltage is enough to trip up my local repair shops........kind of sad really. A good battery with proper voltage is the FIRST step in any diagnosis. The cost for diagnosis and repair: $140.00 plus install the battery for my time and labor. This was easy money, as I only needed the digital volt meter as the diagnostic tool. In the end, I ran a full scan with the Autel just to make sure nothing else came up.
Incredible... Imagine the actual dealer not knowing enough about the vehicles they sell to make such a simple repair!? There is a real niche market out there for people like Mr. O. who actually know how to learn new things, apply established principles and make repairs accordingly.
Homie that shit be blowing me really basic checks knowing the system and a wiring diagram I live for stuff like this especially when the dealer couldn't fix it had a Volkswagen with a problem turned out to be carbon on the valves.
Probably dealer mechanics know this is some BRAIN work, and shy away from it, knowing parts and labor makes money more than actual real life diagnosis which is time consuming cause they cant think for themselves. they need computers analyzers to tell them keep replacing every part till the lights go green. Instead of fixing a crusty wire they only know to replace whole wire harness?
It's becoming more and more obvious that most stealerships really shouldn't even be allowed to offer maintenance or repair service's....something needs to change. I mean most people don't have money to just flush down the toilet
Dealers are in the business to make money and they only do that in 2 ways. 1. Sell cars 2. Sell work on cars. Surprisingly, dealers don’t make much on sell cars, about 75-80% of their profits are from the shop. They wouldn’t be able to stay in business JUST selling cars. The shop CARRIES the whole business and they need big estimates to pay the bills
@@remodz6385 Exactly this except repair income percentage is higher. They only make $1000-$2000 on new car sales plus whatever residual backend stuff for financing
I can assure you that is not the case for the service techs. I did 10 years as a Chevy tech. All those guys are flat rate. The lady just got a crook that only wants to do gravy jobs. He probably beefed the hell out of the labor charge too.
I have a Toyota minivan that has a engine oil cooler. The rubber hose failed and leaked everywhere at about 75k miles. A year later had it at a dealshio, they called and said the cover for timing belt was leaking oil, gave a appraisal to replace timing belt and gasket. They gave an outrageous estimate and said I would be better off trading in on a new car. I looked at my floor of garage and behold no oil. Asked my normal mechanic about it. The timing belt cover has no oil in it. If you are going to lie, atleast come up with a good lie. Car now has about 200,000, same timing belt and no oil leaks
That's true of some......but not all. I had a fix that "needed the dealership".... and the local trusted indie body shop told me who to try. It got fixed. My mom had a car that the dealership she purchased the car at failed 3 times to solve an issue..... so I directed her to try the guys that the body shop sent me to a half year before. They took a few extra days, BUT my mother's car was fixed, and stayed fixed. There are some good ones. Make friends with everyone, so you can ask around when you have an issue. I have an "unfixable" car that's being fixed up by a regional independent garage that I would have NEVER known of if not for a network of friends.
the frustration with RPO codes had me dying with laughter! as a GM dealer tech, now you know my pain every day! absolutely insane that even the actual GM service data and diagnostic software asks the same questions. the fun ones are the seat memory module and rear diff modules when it asks you for a module version! nothing like designing an OEM diagnostic software that cant even pull RPO code lists despite having the VIN and GM vehicle data that it already accesses for recall/warranty/title stats info!!! thanks for another great video, learned a lot from watching you and lazy scam like dealer work like this just makes me sick 🤬
Eric, you are truly a logical, mechanical wizard, but your entertainment value is equally wonderful. Just be an honest man is the basis of your popularity. Add Mrs O and you have a grand slam! Keep up the GREAT work!
You my friend are a credit to the trade... actually fixing something and NOT replacing parts.. that my friend is a true mechanic... And you are one that I would certainly bring my vehicle to anyday... Honest and lots of Integrity.. WINNER WINNER . People in your area should be PROUD to have YOU in their community... x tec from 80-2000 when we actually fixed things
I slightly disagree with you. As Yoda once said "There is another..." UA-camr "Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostic" he's some fella also up the NE region of USA somewhere, and yeah he also fixes cars where the branded dealerships, (whether it be Ford, Toyota, Chevy, whatever) are unable or unwilling to fix them. Eric O does do more general repair videos, brakes, suspension etc also, whereas PGAD is more of an electronic diagnostic specialist. Both channels are excellent watching, and watching competent tradesmen doing a good job for customers at an honest price and only replacing parts when necessary. (Thanks Wheel_Horse" I have corrected my earlier mistake. cheers)
@@KiwiCatherineJemma I could be wrong... Isn't it Pine HOLLOW ? Ivan, smart guy from Russia. I know a lot of smart guys from Russia myself. They have a culture that promotes fixing things rather than buying new stuff, which in Russia they would have to get on a list miles long to buy new stuff. Anyway... Ivan is great, but sometimes he goes off on a tangent then has to circle back again. Erik O gets right to the point, every time. (or, he doesn't do videos of the times he doesn't! LOL!)
@@Wheel_Horse Yes yes thanks, I think maybe it is Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostic. He sounds "ordinary American" to me. if he's a new immigrant to USA his language skills are next level. Do you mean he's historically Russia ? Thanks for the correction.
@@KiwiCatherineJemma I think his family immigrated when he was a wee tyke. There's a bit of a biography on his business web page, that's where I learned that.
A classic example of why I now follow your channel. I love the methodical way you go investigating the issues. Oh, and I like the occasional side stories too, as per the Honda that got bullet from the insurance company. An of course, Mrs O made a appearance too, that is always the icing on the cake. Many thanks, David in the UK.
I've always used a 9mm socket to roll up the Tesa tape I need... Mainly because I'm always looking for the 10mm I've lost. Now I know why my tape jobs didn't come out correctly! Keep up the good work!
Today's dealer are looking for the big easy job that does not require analysis of the problem. Back in the days, ( mid 70) we had to work with the 3C's " condition, cause, correction " and that is what you did today on this car. Keep those video's coming, been a follower from Quebec, Canada for the past 6 or 7 years.
The dealer doesn't want to work on a 4-year-old Chevy with 44k miles. How pathetic. I don't know what happened to pride, pride in your dealership, pride in your skills as a mechanic, or just plain curiosity to find out what's causing the problem. Instead, shoo the lady away and go back to your overpriced oil changes and tire rotations. Eric is a rare person who actually cares about things like everyone used to care.
Just like Eric O walked around all pumped up when he verified the wire color, that is the pride that motivates a person. It's also the pride that"every participant gets a trophy", and "every kid's a winner" eliminated from the American workforce. Pride and reputation are being systematically wiped out so that shame can't exist.
I tell you… Eric, I’m currently on active duty once again in Germany. Every night before I hit the sack, I have to watch one of your videos. I’m exhausted right now, but could not go to sleep until I finish this video. You are the man!! by the way I am the service member who was in Afghanistan once and sent you a hat, and you sent me SMA stickers, and I stepped them all over our military up-armored trucks. Anyway, I have a car back home in New York City, and I think I’m gonna have you, and only you work on it to get her back on the road (2003 MATRIX/Engine swap/285,000Miles). CARRY ON!
please don't be sorry for story time man, My old man "grandpa" was a diesel mechanic for over 50 years but unfortunately I came along late. Loved hearing his stories, Miss them to this day. Watched almost every video on this channel and it just brings me back man. Great work again. just a guy from Indiana.
Eric, for me, there are (only) two components of a first-rate youtube vid: 1. Competence, and 2. Stories. And you bring both in spades. One without the other is great, but when you combine them, it is just so compelling. You have obviously learned the craft of auto repair, but your delivery of 1 and 2 are just stunning. Don't change a thing, please. Thank you...a major fan.
That was a stroke of genius/experience, to go look at the wiring integrity locally. I would have started at the BCM end and checked continuity/voltages and wasted a whole lot of time. Eric is the best.
Leave it to the stealership to not fix stuff and propose new car purchases. Spectacular. It’s why my cars have never seen a dealership service department (ever).
…and that “new” vehicle just might make it to the end-of-warranty before it goes to the auction lot…or recycling. Just thinking…12 new cars every 6 years maximum from age 20 to 78, $50,000 average price…you’ll have spent rough ballpark dollars of $600,000 +/- on rust. Your costs will definitely vary!
Those guys are giving the rest of us a bad name. We're not all bad but I take pride in my work and abilities to diagnose and repair like you. Always great stuff fine sir 👍👍
Story time is great, especially when we get Mrs O to join us. Miracle repair by our man and he is using knowledge he has gained working on this crap. Plus if the last half wit mechanic had fixed it right we wouldn't of got to watch this. Again, thank you for joining us Mrs O.
Long ago, I had a '71 Cadillac Eldorado, and the 'bulb outage detection' was fiber optic cables from the back of the headlamps and turn lamps to a 'display' on each fender, plus one on the back parcel shelf for the taillights. Can't get much simpler than that!
Been watching you for years, and I've always been super impressed with your skills and abilities. Too bad we don't live near ya. Our local mechanic is a good guy and reminds me of you.
These are my favorite videos. Especially because it relates to my work as well. It’s amazing how they put a monitor all the way from a tail light to a module. Excellent work as always Eric!
Excellent job as always, hopefully your customers really appreciate your company, they don't realize how hard it is to find a Great shop like yours!!! Nailed it 🔨
Your diagnostic skills are awesome in my opinion. I've learned alot just watching your videos. Keep doing what you do. Mechanics like you are hard to come by in my home town.
Absolute winner of a video Eric! Failure analysis and the desire to know WHAT is causing the trouble made you what you are! Let me also say I just love the relationship you and Mrs. O have-never change that part of your life!!! Also- Let's get Eric to 1 Million subs people!!!! He deserves it!
The logic behind putting a circuit in that can sense there is something wrong without any way to talk to it is beyond my comprehension. Good catch Mr. O.
I'm with you on the dog owner comment. The local guy uses Boss Wax for undercoating. Since I started watching you I have used fluid film on a tractor attachment I leave outside. Very happy with it. I'm an old guy but I still enjoy Mrs. O's chats. You are a lucky man.
If a guy is as good at troubleshooting and logic as Mr. O. he is not working at the dealer. He has his own shop and is so busy he has to turn work away. Love your videos sir.
With most dealerships, not spending a lot of time on a project is the name of the game.Either it's a quick repair or it's out the door. Few dealerships will spend the time or find out if there is a service bulletin regarding the issue. This where Mr.O steps in to save the day. Great video BTW.
Eyes always work best. I worked EMS for 45 years and always taught Norman Newbie to use your eyes and hands before all the newfangled electronic crap. I'm glad you kept this a PG video instead of R rated and didn't have to shoot an owner of the dog. Great video sir. thank you
One of my mentors as a young man 50 years ago taught me that "Troubleshooting ANYTHING is 99% VISUAL" and that has proven to be true so many times over the past 50 years that I won't ever forget it. Even if you don't SEE it and pull all the newfangled electronic crap out and eventually find it with that, you often find that if you had spent more time LOOKING, you WOULD have seen it!
Once again Eric, you never disappoint. Your troubleshooting skills are top notch and incredibly through. I'm guessing your local Community College or Trade School is constantly trying to get you to trade in your tools for a lab coat! You're a great instructor. 👍
Do not ever apologize for story time. It is your shared experience that teach us what to look out for and/or avoid. Thank you. I have learned more than you could imagine.
40 years experience here in industrial electronics, Eric! Really appreciate your excellent diagnostic skills. My guess is that this system uses an opto-isolator at the dash panel end, driven by the "logic" in the tail-light assembly. This logic will be an light sensitive transistor (a photo-transistor) looking at the LED tail-light: when the light is on, the transistor will cause that sensing wire (brown-yellow) to be pulled to ground, which turns on the LED in the opto-isolator (via a smallish resistor in series somewhere to limit the LED current). The LED in the opto-isolator is connected to +12V battery - as shown in the schematic. The opto-isolator is an LED which illuminates a photo-transistor. When the LED is producing light, it causes the photo-transistor to turn on, which signals to the electronics that the distant light is working. I think the symbol at the dash end is dark to signify that the LED in the opto-isolator does not produce visible light - it is probably an infra-red one. I could see there was a high resistance problem when you showed the waveform on the left hand side. The top of the pulses was rounded, indicating that it was taking a very long time for the voltage to be pulled up towards +12V. My guess is that the wire was probably measuring many hundreds of kilohms in resistance - resulting in just not enough current to light the LED in the opto-isolator. This shows why they probably used an opto-isolator in this position. The opto-isolator requires a reasonable current - perhaps 10 or 20 milliamps - to turn on. This ensures a good, robust, signal back to the dash panel end, generally immune to any transient pickup in the wiring harness between circuits.
Another great one Eric. It is like a detective show. Course my wife walked in when Mrs. O said the B word and asked me what the heck am I watching! 😂. No electric mower? Get nostalgic when I hear the Briggs and Stratton.
Following you for as long as I have. I have saved my customers an exorbitant amount of money with the question of “why” yes I can fix the broken thing. But will never guarantee it won’t happen 5 minutes after said part cannon. I can link this to the lessons you have taught. Thank you Mr. O I am in your debt.
Once again, loved they way you meandered to the solution on this one. Your confidence in the process was absolutely hi-vis all the way through, plenty of time for storytime 😃.
Great fix! I can understand why seeing the message would be irritating. I had access to Ford, GM, Freightliner and International service manuals and spent a lot of time reading the theory and operation sections. Very, very helpful!
Bravo again Eric! Your diagnostic processes, Skill, attention to detail, and perseverance remind me of Gus Wilson, the fictional auto mechanic in Popular Science magazine of decades ago. Gus would be proud :).
Many times I've come to notice its not incompetence, rather poor pay. The techs, the guys who do the actual work, are paid peanuts.. So they give what they pay them for!
I sure hope you know that the “story time” is a big part of why I’m here. I learn from every single one of your videos that I have seen. You’ve been in this game for a while, so I have not seen all of your videos yet, but I’m working on it. To get to watch a master tech diagnose anything is the coolest thing ever! To find one that wants to share his knowledge and humor, well that’s just on another level of awesome. Thank you Eric-O!
This happened to me with my last car. However, I didn't take their word for it...I literally could not find the harness anywhere from the dealer (a different one) to amazon to rockauto to ebay, to anywhere else.
4 years and it's considered "old", man. It's a grim future for keeping vehicles long term. On a side note, Eric and Vanessa's relationship is so wholesome.
Words to live by ... "If Eric O can do it, I can do it." It might take a while, and your wife might get upset that you bought a new scan tool and oscilloscope, now there's a lift in the garage, and tool trucks are stopping at your house, but I say go for it.
AGREED
❤❤❤ Eric Its a last frontier !
Hey if she can buy all that makeup and hair crap...
I'm getting tools and video games! 😂
I have a friend who's wife found a used lift at an auction & had it delivered to the house as an anniversary present. I have never seen a happier man in my life!
@@douglasphillips1203 She's a keeper!
I'm losing count of how many times Eric has found and fixed simple problems in a GM vehicle in a fraction of the time and for a fraction of the quote from the stealership. Keep up the great work Eric!!
But they are factory trained, remember?
Believe it is hard for dealerships to keep good repair techs. Many of the good ones leave and start their own businesses.
There was a local Chevy dealer in the next town from my city. They were charging people for work that wasn't done. The DA set up a some decoys to go through that dealership. Yep and sure enough the DA found they were lying about what repair work they were claiming they did. They pleaded no contest to the charges which is a bit of a bummer. But they did get a substantial fine that was almost $300k. This had happened over years ago. So that $300k was substantial.
@@Rhaspun It is really sad that franchise repair shops do such as these activities. It just drives people to the independent shops.
@@sartainja There was another dealer that my friend had a bad interaction with. He stopped by the dealer to check out what's with all the white smoke.
They checked and told him he had a hole in his piston. They were need to replace it with a new engine. My friend asked why a short block couldn't be used. The dealer refused to sell a short block. My friend said he'll think about it. They even he could cause more problems if he drove home with the hole in his piston. After a couple of days he decided to tear down the engine himself if it's just a hole in the piston.
During his break down of the engine he noticed that two head bolts weren't as tight as the others and sure enough when the head came off he could see a leakage trail leading to the cylinder. When they torque down head bolts at the factory they have machines that do all the bolts at the same time. It's likely the tighteners got out of wack. So others had a similar problem. The dealer probably knew what was wrong as there were probably others showing up with the same problem as my friend. They made up a story about a hole being in the piston. It's likely a TSB w;as sent out to dealers about this problem.
We had a flatbed truck at work that the clearance lights on the bed didn’t work. Boss had it at the dealer for a different issue and asked them for a quote to fix the bed lights. They quoted $1200 and said they had to re-wire the bed and replace all of the lights. Boss asked me to take a look at it. Literally took 30 seconds to find a corroded crimp and seal connector. Couple snips, crimps, and some tape, and 2 minutes later the lights were working. Dealerships are SCAM. Lol
Because dealership don't fix anything, they only replace parts.
How much of the $1.200.- for you??
Code reader was written by someone who LOVED diagramming sentences in grade school. Or the pre-med student whose favorite song was "the leg bones connected to the knee bone...". 😅
“Stealer”ships. I detest them
So did the Boss do the right thing and pay you at least half what the dealership was going to charge? ... Yeah, I didn't think so.
When my wife catches me not paying attention to what she is saying i usually come back with some variant of "I was just entranced by your beauty and got lost in the moment". Works sometimes.
I've tried that. Rolling the dice
I betting built like a craftsman box wrench won't fly.....
Works sometimes. Every time.
My electrical diagnostics story that was most frustrating, yet felt so great to finally solve- customer had a 90s GM car (LeSabre or clone) that had a dead battery every morning. Battery tested good. No excessive draws. Swapped in a known good battery to rule it out- good battery was dead the next morning. Put the meter on and watched for several minutes for an intermittent draw- nothing. After trying several other things- put the meter back on and just kept watching while I ate my lunch. After many minutes- the meter jumped for about 30 seconds then dropped! There it was! But which circuit? I pulled fuses one at a time and watched for the draw- which meant waiting forever for each circuit. Finally after an eternity of repeating this process I finally found which circuit had the draw- the radio! Huh? Checking the radio circuit on the diagram showed me what happened. I went to the rear of the car and opened the trunk and unplugged the power antenna motor wire. Draw gone! The explanation- the antenna had frozen and wouldn't go down, but when the car is turned off it keeps trying to lower the antenna every 10 minutes or so, resulting in intermittent draws all night.
@@jimalton1564 I had something similar where a relay would get stuck every once in a while. What a pain!
Holy, you got the patience of a Saint.
I was a mechanic for 43 years. Eric is good. Real good.
This vid is a perfect example of why I watch SMA.
Exactly!
Also a perfect example of why I drive a 64' Chevy truck, simple and no computers.
OK that is the _best_ reason to love Eric O! "Is somebody beating their dog? Does somebody need to be shot?" That is the _correct_ attitude. I concur completely with that sentiment.
A mechanic with common sense and rationale. What an amazing concept. Nice job sir!
Also you have one great wife! she can take or make a joke !!
As a novice DIYer who has been completely frustrated with shops and dealerships I can say that you are a super hero amongst mortals. These "mechanics" aint nothing more than part changers so to see your level of knowledge and expertise makes me sad as hell that your shop is so far from me. I enjoy the hell out of this channel and glad I found it.
South Main Auto, the only mechanics channel that gives sound dating advice. "Look, observe, make your observations before you touch anything" lol
Great advice in this crazy day and age.
Your dad was a hard man but it gave you the impeccable integrity and work ethic. Bravo sir. In the old days men earned the knowledge they got from the old timers and I think that’s missing today. When you earned the privilege of learning a trade you also had to carry on that trade with integrity and professionalism. You are a good man.
You know it is Eric O's video when you hear the lawn mower in the background! And the reason I listen /watch this channel is for the "stories". Love your work Mr O.
Lawn mowers , sirens , big trucks , dogs barking and the lovely Mrs.O
And Luna getting her pets. She found a good home
Best part is, I started watching the video, mower guy gets going on screen, and MY neighbor starts mowing as well.😅
"Sometimes you just gotta figure stuff out." You always do, sir, and for that, I am grateful.
It was nice to see somebody brought you a car with a clean interior. In the back, a clean rubber mat and just an umbrella. No junk. I have always thought if I brought in a car that looked like I took care of it, the techs would be more inclined to take care of it too.
So many times they look like a dirty gym locker. You're a mad-man!
You're correct in that thinking. We tend to care more when the owner does.
I worked at an independent VW shop and this woman brought in her car to get the battery replaced which is under the rear seat on the original Beetle. This woman's very dirty laundry was all over the back seat including under garments, it was disgusting.
I have always preached that to my kids also. As a service person, there is clean and there is ocd clean. The ocd customer machines are worse than the filthy ones imo, you are scared to touch anything. I once had to service a panasonic copier in a home office that has a plush bright white carpet. I don't care how good you are, you start copier disassembly, toner does come out of the machine. Everyone was scared to service this machine.
I worked In a City Fleet. Some vehicles were so clean I put in seat and floor protection, and didn't want to sit in it because my uniform had a little dirt on it.
One van was so filthy with fast food wrappers, spilled drink containers, old newspapers, kleenex (assumed it was used) and more. I used an old pair of gloves, a mask and eye protection. It stunk in there! Everything went in a box along with scattered tools and his parts, not the van's parts, and I put it all in the back of the van. When he came to pick it up he asked for the tools and I told him where I put them. To get the engine cover off, I used brakkleen to break loose where soda was spilled on the engine cover, ran down to the floor and dried almost like glue! It took over 25 minutes just so I could remove the engine cover to diagnose the problem.
Yes I documented all this on the work order and kept a copy for myself in case I needed it. The supervisor over the driver also got the usual copy for his records at the end of the month.
I did repair that poor vehicle, and also gave it a safety check to be sure nothing was damaged or overlooked! That was one of the worst ones I saw in 29 years and 3 months working in that shop!
The sad part is that a harness would've fixed it. Much more expensive and time consuming. Your way was cheaper and quicker. So the dealer wasn't totally wrong. You were right, they didn't want to fix it.
The light is ON, but nobody is home!
Truthfully, no dealership employee is going to go thru this sort of diagnosis essentially bcoz it wouldn't be on the clock! Good stuff Eric O, really good auto-tech..
Exactly my frustration when I was a GM tech many years ago. I enjoy electrical diagnostics, unfortunately they usually require some time (and expensive tools that the tech pays for) to find problems, only to get paid 3/10ths to fix it. And once you are known for being able to find these issues, you get them all- which means losing money every day. Just think about doing 4 jobs a day that require 2 hours of tracing wires, then getting paid 18 minutes time to fix it. I can't live off less than an hour and a half of pay each day.
@@jimalton1564As an electrical engineering major who started a job at GM dealer looking to move up and gain experience, I was excited to see how GMs training videos focused on electrical diag, and meticulous diag to fix the problem right the first time, ideally without replacing any parts beforehand. Unfortunately that's not what I see in the shop at all, but it makes sense for the hours. Messed up system
The banter back and forth with Mrs. O made this video great.
Erik went around this point, but I'm going to put in print anyway: When you are troubleshooting ANYthing, you first have to know HOW it's SUPPOSED to work before you can go any further. My two life passions are wrenching and electronics. I worked as a mechanic for 2 decades, then went to work in electronics for the next 3 decades. The way vehicles are going in these times, one needs both skills. I wonder how many dealer techs don't even know the first thing about electrical/electronic systems... or even understand how to read a schematic diagram? THAT is why many 5uck so bad.
The problem is they don’t anderstand shematic shema they don’t know what they see diod , bulb , rele 😮just chinese characters for them
I know , I am electric
Cars these days are computers with some mechanical bits. If you don't understand electronics and logic perhaps it's time to retire (or stick to old classics)
The problem with dealers is that they're owned by and operated for the benefit of the sales team. If they could dump parts and servicing, they would but in the mean time they treat it as a cost centre which can be treated as a cash cow (ie: charge the earth but invest as little as possible).
Nissan in Britain stripped the franchises from a couple of dealers in the 00's due to absolutely rotten service/spares performance that destroyed a few engines. The dealerships went to court and got the franchises reinstated WITHOUT being forced to sort the service side out
Mercedes dealerships in the UK are even worse. They only care about getting money from the customer and go to every possible stepto avoid keeping the cars running reliably (or taking responsibility for things like destroying engines or scratching the hell out of the paintwork on a $150k car in the service bay on its first visit and doing a 4th-rate touchup job to try and pretend it already happend)
Winner of the 2024 Oscars for Best videography, directing, special effects, actor in a leading role. I'm blown away.
And best supporting actress !!
No doubt, the extra time Eric takes to make good clear videos is appreciated by weird people like me that vote Conservative.
And best "story time" segments while the work is getting done.
@@richlagger507 yes that is true , good stories
Biggest problem is most shops pay flat rate not by the hour. Technicians can quickly lose money chasing gremlins.
Yup, especially in this economy, everyone is scrambling. I'm a quick learner and strong at problem solving. Currently in college for electrical engineering. Do several projects and work on my own/family&friends cars on the side. I recently took on a job at a dealership as an express tech. Mostly fluid changes, tires, with some basic diag/brake/suspension work.
Seeing how the other techs I work with approach "diag" really turns me off of the dealership approach, but it makes sense considering mine seems not to pay out accurately for diag. I took on the job hoping to move up and gain professional experience as a mainline tech, but I find myself really wanting a job at an independent shop with knowledgeable guys that pride themselves in quality work. And not turning cars as fast as possible, no matter the cost to the customer. But the flat rate system is fundamentally flawed I feel
“Cameras on, lawn mowers running”😂
Eric needs to do the “Cock o’ the Walk Strut” out front whenever there’s a Double of Dealer Deny and Lawnmower Man.
That neighbor mows his grass more than anyone I know!
Mr Os camera is a remote control for the mower that's for sure.
@@Wheel_Horse He needs to tell us what mower he has. It runs more than the energizer bunny.
@@robertsmith2956 If it runs that good it's gotta be a ... wait for it ... WHEEL HORSE!
While I was working as a frontline service technician for Chrysler, I sort of fell into the shop electrical/drivability specialist. As you show most often, you always do a sight examination first to see the problem before doing any other tests. The best advice, especially during the 80-90s vehicles were moving to electronics and turbos. Like you Mr. O, I constantly found the green and broken wires from most shoddy add-ons, especially trailer hitches and radios.
Classic diag, classic Mrs O, classic storytime, classic "dealer sucks". I got everything I paid for. Thanks Eric!
I work at a hospital ambulance service. One of our vehicles was making a lot of engine noise. It got sent to the local Ford dealer that we deal with and they said it needs an engine for $10,500. When we got the truck back I checked the oil level and found that it was down four quarts of the five that it holds, put in four quarts of oil and bingo engine runs great, sounds fine, problem fixed! Can't believe they didn't do something as simple as check the oil!!
When you went on the hunt for the potential pup abuser, both my wife and I were cheering you on! Excellent video as always, Eric
Exactly.
same here when i heard that dog i had the same reaction "who needs shot" i do not tolerate abuse of animals or children
@@wolvesonewhatta man!
@@wolvesonewhattaman
Meanwhile I've had a pup who was a drama queen for attention. I didn't blame her, she was frickin adorable but in her opinion all eyes HAD to be on her.
You and Ray Rainman's repairs are just my favorites to watch and Mrs.O is such a delight she lights up the shop when she is around!
He and Rainman should meet somewhere for vacation and talk shop all day! That would be very interesting.
They could talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly in auto repair. 😂
Love both channels as well. 😊
_"You need a whole new harness"_ = "We don't have the skill to diagnose this, go away and stop making us feel stupid".
They don't have time. This kinda stuff is only easy if you do it regularly. I worked in a dealership in early 90's. Mercedes/Toyota/Geo/Chevy/Cadillac. I was the Chevy heavy line tech but shop foreman figured out, I could fix anything. If they had a broken Yota come in, gave it to me. Said they so infrequently "broke", as in a no-start or electrical problem, the Master tech had been out/away from training so long, he was clueless. Some jobs are labor intensive to do correctly. I spent 12ish hours putting 5.7 small blocks in pick-ups. Because everything went back together like it came from the factory. While I wasn't the fast guy, my stuff didn't come back. Eric is same type of tech. As he keeps saying, what he does isn't hard, just takes time and thought. Most techs don't want to think or spend any time. "The printer" is in the office where techs aren't allowed to go. Or it is so old you can't print a legible diagram. Hurry, hurry, hurry, so can handle more tickets. Quality of work is secondary. Main reason I retired is a can't see crap anymore. Hard to diag wiring when you can't see it. Reading glasses only go so far. Another stellar job Eric!
@@gailtaylor1636 _"They don't have time"_
When you are unskilled diagnosing these issues does take a long time, and typically involves replacement of numerous random parts and causing further damage to the vehicle. Some years back I used to work for a local auto electrics company and a good part of our business was diagnosing faults that the main dealers couldn't and repairing the damage they had caused to their customers cars.
We heard every type of interrupting sound except a drunk arguing couple. Too funny!
It's disgusting that supposed "masters" of their craft weren't able to spend 5-10mins and use common sense and logic to diagnose this. What if the customer agreed to a new wiring harness? The mechanic at the dealership installing it would have immediately found the issue, said nothing about it, and gladly charge the customer for the harness + labor. It breaks my heart this vehicle has such low mileage, and the dealership will not service it properly. Keep em coming Mr. O.
What breaky my heart is seeing all the brown stuff on the underside...
It´s already got the crusty Cancer 😞
Corrosion sucks
This high quality workmanship is why I like watching South Main Auto. Thank you Eric O, have a nice day.
“Eat your heart out Ivan….”😂😂😂😂😂. Love it when the GOATS give each other the business all in fun…..Ivan does the same. You can tell they respect each other a ton.
Serious question, who's Ivan??
@@ronyassa8512 Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics
@@ronyassa8512 Ivan from Pine Hollow Auto diagnostics. Dude is amazingly good at diagnostic work, and he’s done videos with Eric O before.
i would love to see ivan and eric on motortrend with there own show
@@vincentlallo6543 It would take a bit of effort to spin professional diagnostician into a more general audience type show, despite the views they do get on UA-cam.
I help a local used car dealership in diagnosis, and with your knowledge helping me learn how to diagnose vehicles; I've managed to bust quite a few shops plus dealerships in shoddy work. Recent repair....2018 GMC truck had a no-start/no-crank condition. In the end, it was a bad battery..the computers managed to drain the battery down to below voltage, and the computer modules couldn't boot up and communicate with each other or the scanner. The local repair shop said they couldn't do anything, as their scan tool would not communicate with the vehicle, so they couldn't diagnose the car. Simple things as a bad battery with low voltage is enough to trip up my local repair shops........kind of sad really. A good battery with proper voltage is the FIRST step in any diagnosis. The cost for diagnosis and repair: $140.00 plus install the battery for my time and labor. This was easy money, as I only needed the digital volt meter as the diagnostic tool. In the end, I ran a full scan with the Autel just to make sure nothing else came up.
Incredible... Imagine the actual dealer not knowing enough about the vehicles they sell to make such a simple repair!? There is a real niche market out there for people like Mr. O. who actually know how to learn new things, apply established principles and make repairs accordingly.
Homie that shit be blowing me really basic checks knowing the system and a wiring diagram I live for stuff like this especially when the dealer couldn't fix it had a Volkswagen with a problem turned out to be carbon on the valves.
Probably dealer mechanics know this is some BRAIN work, and shy away from it, knowing parts and labor makes money more than actual real life diagnosis which is time consuming cause they cant think for themselves. they need computers analyzers to tell them keep replacing every part till the lights go green. Instead of fixing a crusty wire they only know to replace whole wire harness?
It's becoming more and more obvious that most stealerships really shouldn't even be allowed to offer maintenance or repair service's....something needs to change. I mean most people don't have money to just flush down the toilet
Dealers are in the business to make money and they only do that in 2 ways. 1. Sell cars 2. Sell work on cars. Surprisingly, dealers don’t make much on sell cars, about 75-80% of their profits are from the shop. They wouldn’t be able to stay in business JUST selling cars. The shop CARRIES the whole business and they need big estimates to pay the bills
@@remodz6385 Exactly this except repair income percentage is higher. They only make $1000-$2000 on new car sales plus whatever residual backend stuff for financing
Dealerships don’t want to fix your car, they want to sell you a car.
I can assure you that is not the case for the service techs. I did 10 years as a Chevy tech. All those guys are flat rate. The lady just got a crook that only wants to do gravy jobs. He probably beefed the hell out of the labor charge too.
I have a Toyota minivan that has a engine oil cooler. The rubber hose failed and leaked everywhere at about 75k miles. A year later had it at a dealshio, they called and said the cover for timing belt was leaking oil, gave a appraisal to replace timing belt and gasket. They gave an outrageous estimate and said I would be better off trading in on a new car. I looked at my floor of garage and behold no oil. Asked my normal mechanic about it. The timing belt cover has no oil in it. If you are going to lie, atleast come up with a good lie. Car now has about 200,000, same timing belt and no oil leaks
@@randythompson2681 dealership service writers are trash
That's true of some......but not all. I had a fix that "needed the dealership".... and the local trusted indie body shop told me who to try. It got fixed. My mom had a car that the dealership she purchased the car at failed 3 times to solve an issue..... so I directed her to try the guys that the body shop sent me to a half year before. They took a few extra days, BUT my mother's car was fixed, and stayed fixed. There are some good ones. Make friends with everyone, so you can ask around when you have an issue. I have an "unfixable" car that's being fixed up by a regional independent garage that I would have NEVER known of if not for a network of friends.
Actually, they want to sell you parts and service hours. That’s where they make the real money.
the frustration with RPO codes had me dying with laughter! as a GM dealer tech, now you know my pain every day! absolutely insane that even the actual GM service data and diagnostic software asks the same questions. the fun ones are the seat memory module and rear diff modules when it asks you for a module version! nothing like designing an OEM diagnostic software that cant even pull RPO code lists despite having the VIN and GM vehicle data that it already accesses for recall/warranty/title stats info!!! thanks for another great video, learned a lot from watching you and lazy scam like dealer work like this just makes me sick 🤬
Modules for memory seats and rear diffs..
Who the f%ck thought this was necessary LMAO
Oh it gets worse 😂
Eric, you are truly a logical, mechanical wizard, but your entertainment value is equally wonderful. Just be an honest man is the basis of your popularity. Add Mrs O and you have a grand slam! Keep up the GREAT work!
Absolutely love the hour long diagnostic videos! Thank you for your time and wisdom
Glad you like them!
@@SouthMainAuto we love everything about them !
You my friend are a credit to the trade... actually fixing something and NOT replacing parts.. that my friend is a true mechanic... And you are one that I would certainly bring my vehicle to anyday... Honest and lots of Integrity.. WINNER WINNER . People in your area should be PROUD to have YOU in their community... x tec from 80-2000 when we actually fixed things
No better diagnostician on the entire internet than Eric O. Period.
I slightly disagree with you. As Yoda once said "There is another..." UA-camr "Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostic" he's some fella also up the NE region of USA somewhere, and yeah he also fixes cars where the branded dealerships, (whether it be Ford, Toyota, Chevy, whatever) are unable or unwilling to fix them. Eric O does do more general repair videos, brakes, suspension etc also, whereas PGAD is more of an electronic diagnostic specialist. Both channels are excellent watching, and watching competent tradesmen doing a good job for customers at an honest price and only replacing parts when necessary. (Thanks Wheel_Horse" I have corrected my earlier mistake. cheers)
@@KiwiCatherineJemma I could be wrong... Isn't it Pine HOLLOW ? Ivan, smart guy from Russia. I know a lot of smart guys from Russia myself. They have a culture that promotes fixing things rather than buying new stuff, which in Russia they would have to get on a list miles long to buy new stuff. Anyway... Ivan is great, but sometimes he goes off on a tangent then has to circle back again. Erik O gets right to the point, every time. (or, he doesn't do videos of the times he doesn't! LOL!)
@@Wheel_Horse Yes yes thanks, I think maybe it is Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostic. He sounds "ordinary American" to me. if he's a new immigrant to USA his language skills are next level. Do you mean he's historically Russia ? Thanks for the correction.
He's good for sure. Eric is a fantastic educator and he drives home a back to basics approach to troubleshooting.
@@KiwiCatherineJemma I think his family immigrated when he was a wee tyke. There's a bit of a biography on his business web page, that's where I learned that.
A classic example of why I now follow your channel. I love the methodical way you go investigating the issues. Oh, and I like the occasional side stories too, as per the Honda that got bullet from the insurance company. An of course, Mrs O made a appearance too, that is always the icing on the cake.
Many thanks,
David in the UK.
A real mechanic not a parts replacer ! You are a true genius which is what a real mechanic is!
I wouldn’t even call him a mechanic, the man is a technician and a top of the heap one at that.
There's your problem lady.
I've always used a 9mm socket to roll up the Tesa tape I need... Mainly because I'm always looking for the 10mm I've lost. Now I know why my tape jobs didn't come out correctly! Keep up the good work!
Today's dealer are looking for the big easy job that does not require analysis of the problem. Back in the days, ( mid 70) we had to work with the 3C's " condition, cause, correction " and that is what you did today on this car. Keep those video's coming, been a follower from Quebec, Canada for the past 6 or 7 years.
it's amazing how much you can learn from one SMA video! One thing I love about being an auto tech is learning new things everyday!
The dealer doesn't want to work on a 4-year-old Chevy with 44k miles. How pathetic. I don't know what happened to pride, pride in your dealership, pride in your skills as a mechanic, or just plain curiosity to find out what's causing the problem. Instead, shoo the lady away and go back to your overpriced oil changes and tire rotations. Eric is a rare person who actually cares about things like everyone used to care.
Because most are flat rate, and techs don’t get paid to diagnose
Just like Eric O walked around all pumped up when he verified the wire color, that is the pride that motivates a person. It's also the pride that"every participant gets a trophy", and "every kid's a winner" eliminated from the American workforce. Pride and reputation are being systematically wiped out so that shame can't exist.
Pride was replaced with greed.
Never stop we love story time, stories are how we make sense of the world. Keep up the great work and a shout out to Mrs O
That guy must have the best lawn in town
Still mowing! Lol
I'm guessing the police will tell you you have to wait till his lawn isn't cut for three days before you can file the missing person report.
He should receive the Forrest Gump award for extreme grass cutting.
I tell you… Eric, I’m currently on active duty once again in Germany. Every night before I hit the sack, I have to watch one of your videos. I’m exhausted right now, but could not go to sleep until I finish this video. You are the man!! by the way I am the service member who was in Afghanistan once and sent you a hat, and you sent me SMA stickers, and I stepped them all over our military up-armored trucks. Anyway, I have a car back home in New York City, and I think I’m gonna have you, and only you work on it to get her back on the road (2003 MATRIX/Engine swap/285,000Miles). CARRY ON!
please don't be sorry for story time man, My old man "grandpa" was a diesel mechanic for over 50 years but unfortunately I came along late. Loved hearing his stories, Miss them to this day. Watched almost every video on this channel and it just brings me back man. Great work again. just a guy from Indiana.
You never fail to amaze me with your tenacity to never give up and figure out every challenge. You truly have a gift, thank you for sharing it!
Eric, for me, there are (only) two components of a first-rate youtube vid: 1. Competence, and 2. Stories. And you bring both in spades. One without the other is great, but when you combine them, it is just so compelling. You have obviously learned the craft of auto repair, but your delivery of 1 and 2 are just stunning. Don't change a thing, please. Thank you...a major fan.
That was a stroke of genius/experience, to go look at the wiring integrity locally. I would have started at the BCM end and checked continuity/voltages and wasted a whole lot of time. Eric is the best.
Another Eric O. showing us that a little patience and skill will lead you to the money shot. Thanks for sharing.
Dealers solution is we can sell you a new car
Leave it to the stealership to not fix stuff and propose new car purchases. Spectacular. It’s why my cars have never seen a dealership service department (ever).
…and that “new” vehicle just might make it to the end-of-warranty before it goes to the auction lot…or recycling.
Just thinking…12 new cars every 6 years maximum from age 20 to 78, $50,000 average price…you’ll have spent rough ballpark dollars of $600,000 +/- on rust. Your costs will definitely vary!
"Parts cannon ready. Fire One! Fire two!! Fire three!!! Fire four!!!!"
That kind of thinking, and thier greed are backing dealerships into a corner. I wouldn't touch a brand new car unless it's free
The dealers make the most money on the service department, next used cars and the least profit is new cars.
Those guys are giving the rest of us a bad name. We're not all bad but I take pride in my work and abilities to diagnose and repair like you. Always great stuff fine sir 👍👍
We always like story time Eric! We learn that way! 😁 Thanks for the video!
Story time is great, especially when we get Mrs O to join us.
Miracle repair by our man and he is using knowledge he has gained working on this crap. Plus if the last half wit mechanic had fixed it right we wouldn't of got to watch this.
Again, thank you for joining us Mrs O.
57:17 Don't apologize for story time, your stories are interesting
Detective Eric has solved another one!! I don't think I would have ever been able to find that one!! Awesome job! Learned something new today!
Long ago, I had a '71 Cadillac Eldorado, and the 'bulb outage detection' was fiber optic cables from the back of the headlamps and turn lamps to a 'display' on each fender, plus one on the back parcel shelf for the taillights. Can't get much simpler than that!
Been watching you for years, and I've always been super impressed with your skills and abilities. Too bad we don't live near ya. Our local mechanic is a good guy and reminds me of you.
These are my favorite videos. Especially because it relates to my work as well.
It’s amazing how they put a monitor all the way from a tail light to a module.
Excellent work as always Eric!
I like your deductive reasoning Eric O.
Excellent job as always, hopefully your customers really appreciate your company, they don't realize how hard it is to find a Great shop like yours!!! Nailed it 🔨
For a guy who says he is not an electronics expert it seems true that in the world of the blind the one eyed man is king.
Your diagnostic skills are awesome in my opinion. I've learned alot just watching your videos. Keep doing what you do. Mechanics like you are hard to come by in my home town.
Absolute winner of a video Eric! Failure analysis and the desire to know WHAT is causing the trouble made you what you are!
Let me also say I just love the relationship you and Mrs. O have-never change that part of your life!!!
Also- Let's get Eric to 1 Million subs people!!!! He deserves it!
The logic behind putting a circuit in that can sense there is something wrong without any way to talk to it is beyond my comprehension. Good catch Mr. O.
I'm with you on the dog owner comment.
The local guy uses Boss Wax for undercoating. Since I started watching you I have used fluid film on a tractor attachment I leave outside. Very happy with it.
I'm an old guy but I still enjoy Mrs. O's chats. You are a lucky man.
If a guy is as good at troubleshooting and logic as Mr. O. he is not working at the dealer. He has his own shop and is so busy he has to turn work away. Love your videos sir.
100%
With most dealerships, not spending a lot of time on a project is the name of the game.Either it's a quick repair or it's out the door. Few dealerships will spend the time or find out if there is a service bulletin regarding the issue. This where Mr.O steps in to save the day. Great video BTW.
Eyes always work best. I worked EMS for 45 years and always taught Norman Newbie to use your eyes and hands before all the newfangled electronic crap. I'm glad you kept this a PG video instead of R rated and didn't have to shoot an owner of the dog. Great video sir. thank you
One of my mentors as a young man 50 years ago taught me that "Troubleshooting ANYTHING is 99% VISUAL" and that has proven to be true so many times over the past 50 years that I won't ever forget it. Even if you don't SEE it and pull all the newfangled electronic crap out and eventually find it with that, you often find that if you had spent more time LOOKING, you WOULD have seen it!
Once again Eric, you never disappoint. Your troubleshooting skills are top notch and incredibly through. I'm guessing your local Community College or Trade School is constantly trying to get you to trade in your tools for a lab coat! You're a great instructor. 👍
My brain works. It tells me this is a fantastic channel. SMA rocks.
That dealership should make you Employee of the month. Another excellent job and video as usual.
Eric deserves at least 1.5 million subscriber!Thank you man for sharing your expertise with your audience! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🌸🌸
Eric, thanks for the heads up on the undercoating. Mrs. O is the best. The two of you together are so fun.
Do not ever apologize for story time. It is your shared experience that teach us what to look out for and/or avoid. Thank you. I have learned more than you could imagine.
40 years experience here in industrial electronics, Eric! Really appreciate your excellent diagnostic skills. My guess is that this system uses an opto-isolator at the dash panel end, driven by the "logic" in the tail-light assembly. This logic will be an light sensitive transistor (a photo-transistor) looking at the LED tail-light: when the light is on, the transistor will cause that sensing wire (brown-yellow) to be pulled to ground, which turns on the LED in the opto-isolator (via a smallish resistor in series somewhere to limit the LED current). The LED in the opto-isolator is connected to +12V battery - as shown in the schematic. The opto-isolator is an LED which illuminates a photo-transistor. When the LED is producing light, it causes the photo-transistor to turn on, which signals to the electronics that the distant light is working. I think the symbol at the dash end is dark to signify that the LED in the opto-isolator does not produce visible light - it is probably an infra-red one.
I could see there was a high resistance problem when you showed the waveform on the left hand side. The top of the pulses was rounded, indicating that it was taking a very long time for the voltage to be pulled up towards +12V. My guess is that the wire was probably measuring many hundreds of kilohms in resistance - resulting in just not enough current to light the LED in the opto-isolator.
This shows why they probably used an opto-isolator in this position. The opto-isolator requires a reasonable current - perhaps 10 or 20 milliamps - to turn on. This ensures a good, robust, signal back to the dash panel end, generally immune to any transient pickup in the wiring harness between circuits.
Another great one Eric. It is like a detective show. Course my wife walked in when Mrs. O said the B word and asked me what the heck am I watching! 😂. No electric mower? Get nostalgic when I hear the Briggs and Stratton.
😂 ( . )( . )
@SouthMainAuto Sir this is a family friendly environment, maturity is #1 at SMA
Also: *WHAT DO YA WANT ME TO DO LADY, CHOP IT OFF*
An absolute delight to watch and learn from you Eric! Thanks!
Following you for as long as I have. I have saved my customers an exorbitant amount of money with the question of “why” yes I can fix the broken thing. But will never guarantee it won’t happen 5 minutes after said part cannon. I can link this to the lessons you have taught. Thank you Mr. O I am in your debt.
Once again, loved they way you meandered to the solution on this one. Your confidence in the process was absolutely hi-vis all the way through, plenty of time for storytime 😃.
No Eric, you can do it, we can’t do it, but we love watching you do it. Keep doing it 😊👍🇬🇧
You are undoubtedly the master of all electrical gremlins. I’m amazed on every video in your ability to find the issues!
Great fix! I can understand why seeing the message would be irritating. I had access to Ford, GM, Freightliner and International service manuals and spent a lot of time reading the theory and operation sections. Very, very helpful!
Most shops won't let you spend that time while on-the-clock. Just take a quick guess and move on.
Bravo again Eric! Your diagnostic processes, Skill, attention to detail, and perseverance remind me of Gus Wilson, the fictional auto mechanic in Popular Science magazine of decades ago. Gus would be proud :).
There is a huge amount of incompetence in shops these days. It's very sad. Your town is very lucky to have you.
Many times I've come to notice its not incompetence, rather poor pay. The techs, the guys who do the actual work, are paid peanuts.. So they give what they pay them for!
@@kakeetoalex9924 that seems like just another form of incompetence. If they were any good they wouldn't be at the lowest paying shop.
I sure hope you know that the “story time” is a big part of why I’m here. I learn from every single one of your videos that I have seen. You’ve been in this game for a while, so I have not seen all of your videos yet, but I’m working on it. To get to watch a master tech diagnose anything is the coolest thing ever! To find one that wants to share his knowledge and humor, well that’s just on another level of awesome. Thank you Eric-O!
"you need a harness" but it's discontinued... Is an even better way to get it to go away.
This happened to me with my last car. However, I didn't take their word for it...I literally could not find the harness anywhere from the dealer (a different one) to amazon to rockauto to ebay, to anywhere else.
Eric: There is not much that I can add to your comments. I just agree with you 100% Another very good job.!!
Don't worry about the undercoat, the engine will run out of oil and blow first
Eric, The ‘story time’ is one of the major value-adds that raises your work and this channel to the top of the class. Thank you.
Your customers are so lucky to have you !! Also the dealers!
4 years and it's considered "old", man. It's a grim future for keeping vehicles long term.
On a side note, Eric and Vanessa's relationship is so wholesome.
The Wire Whisperer strikes again!!!
Great job on figuring out that problem. Hope the owner gets the word to trade it immediately, now that it is fixed.
Its known that trailer modules sometimes are the problem due to corrosion . but this is why we watch your videos .