Better not let my wife see your comment about ‘hairdressers’. I agree with Mikey about ‘low bidders’ (I used to work for a department store company and they’d go with low bid on everything, which meant a lot of stuff (light fixtures, toilets, carpet, you name it) was either poor quality, discontinued, obsolete or some combination of them all. Would really bite when something needed service two years after install. I also think many things are automated or modulized because it can be, or needs to be to sell to the masses. Remote start being combined with fob recognition, radio and seat preset, seat heater, phone pairing, radio station and climate control set is just one bundled example of features too many people expect now. At a price. Patrick
Oh man, I am so happy most of you guys get this including you Bob. Wish we could be closer and work together. Here at my NAPA store we refuse to do scans on customers cars. That just leads to selling them a part that didn't fix the issue. Then a pissed off customer. After we explain why, 99.9% of them leave thanking us. Plus the shops we sell parts to have so much invested in there electronic testing equipment we feel it may take away from there investment.
We have a great working relationship with our local Napa store. Yes, I am a Napa Car Care Center. No sign on my building as such, and we keep our exterior decor to our liking. I have pointed out to our local AZ why we don’t buy parts from them. Why would I get involved with that nonsense? Those types of clients can go to the Muffler Monkeys for repairs. I have complained to our state about AZ diagnosing cars w/o having a green sign (NY State Registered Repair Shop like I have to have). Crickets. They are building an O’Reilly’s in our small town now. The only thing that we will get from them is the free pizza when they come knocking at the door. I bet 90% of our aftermarket parts come Napa. Better service that way, not only for delivery but for when something goes sideways.
Our local napa doesnt do parts delivery unfortunately. So.etime the few bucks more I spend there is well worth the quality in the long run. Remember changing an OPS on a 3.8l only because I had to have the cover off to fix a leaking gasket and these were known to seep through the sensor.....damn thing read like 20 psi short......sensor came from AZ. ended up taking my recently replaced one off my car that was gm, and ordering me another new one. You get what you pay for sometimes that's for sure
Ha! An O'Reilly's just built and opened up a store in our very small town, now with three auto parts stores including us... crazy. So far they are not hurting us one bit. I did invest in more stocked inventory to help offset what they are bringing in and thinking that helped. That is very interesting about the green sign law. Will have to look into it if we have that in our state. thanks!
Lol, yeah that’s it, I can’t afford a Zeus. Autel is further ahead than Snap On is when it comes to aftermarket scan tools. And I have 3 Snap On scan tools and keep one current (same software as Zeus). So I’m curious Andrew, did you roll back your OEM Ford IDS software update from 116.05 to 1,2 or 3, or are you waiting for 117 to come out? 116.05 has been nothing but full of glitches. I’m assuming (yeah, I know..) that as a shop owner you must have wheel alignment capabilities? How are you handling the required ADAS recalibrations that manufacturer’s have issued position statements on? Were you able to add an ADAS area or build a new building like I did? Do you use Snap-On’s EZ ADAS system, other aftermarket, or OEM? What do you do when Zeus can’t even ID a car because Snap On is so far behind on software? We are currently working on 2020 vehicles, and not all vehicles that come through the door that need such ADAS calibrations are body shop sublets either. We’ve done a 2019 Honda Clarity with iHDS and a 2019 Jetta with ODIS. Both were necessary after wheel alignments after we put tires on. Off the top of my head, in the past month or two we’ve had a 17 Nissan Versa that had CVT shifting issues that were caused by a faulty left rear tail light, and a 2014 or 2015 Hyundai Sonata that had an engine overheating problem caused by a faulty back-up camera. You aren’t diagnosing these in 5 minutes, nor using Zeus except maybe as a wheel chock.. ASE? Sure... Who cares? I have fired my only 2 ASE Master Techs w/ L1 because they were much better at interviewing and taking tests than they were at fixing cars. I have been an ASE Master Tech since the 80’s, and have aced all of the tests since then including the Automatic Transmission one. Big whoop. I just recertified A1-A8 (overall 91%) last month and and heading to the testing center for L1R in a little while. I find that one to be the easiest and have been certified since it’s inception. Again, big whoop. ASE is currently writing an ADAS test, and they just met in Leesburg, VA for an initial conference that some of my colleagues attended to give input. That will be my last ASE test when it comes out. Again, big whoop.
A lot of the line cards are the same, aka the parts are being made by the same A/M company, just supplied in different boxes through different stores. I have been buying Napa parts for more than 30 years and have a good relationship with them. That is very important. Has all gone well - not even close lol. Would AZ, CQ, OR, or whoever be better? Not likely. I suppose it varies with people being the difference. We learn what parts not use from the A/M and source those from the OE’s. The problem is it’s a moving target.
Jesus, take a few days off. If you don't enjoy it, why do you do it? I haven't worked a day in my life because I enjoy it. Not bitch about it like you.
There are for sure some werid issues out there in cars, and have been for years, the more **** they pack into these things and the more connected they become the worse it's going keep getting. One of the hardest things I ever found was on a 2000 Nissan Altima. It keep putting the transmission into limp in mode every few weeks, everything could trace down from every source I could get ahold of was looking like the car was having a case ground problem.......I could watch the positive voltage on the ground side get up over .02 especially when the cooling fan turned on. I cleaned every major connection and even added additional ground between motor, trans, body, battery. Nothing kept it away. I personally on my 120 bucks each time, took it to 2 different Nissan dealers, they couldn't find it. It got to the point every few weeks I would just stop by and clear the codes when I was out for lunch or parts.......this went in a few months, and just dumb luck one day I stopped into Dennys where she worked to clear the code and the Nissan team running at mid ohio was there........so I waited till they were done getting ready to leave and walked up talked to them and picked their brains..........as I explained everything you could see the gears turning in their heads after about 10 minutes the one guy asked if I cleaned the TB yet, which I hadn't, the others at the table looked as shocked as I did at his comment...........turns out the guy was right........we cleaned the TB and never had an issue again...... I wish they would of had time to explain to me how a slight dirty tb causes an increase in positive voltage on the case ground cause I still cant connect those dots.........but something tells me that msn had walked my path b4.....
We are just a little local 2 bay shop, I feel blessed for all the equipment we have. I do alot, we dont see many car under 4 years here, but I can see the writing on wall. I simple can not justify the crazy major cost for all the stuff needed to keep up with these new cars, I will never see enough traffic to justify it........and it's only a matter of time b4 there will be a line in the sand of vehicle I simple wont be able to fully service or repair. Thank god most the ppl who are good at this new **** and it makes sense to them cant do old stuff......lol
Bob, we just recently ran into one of those Nissan cvt issues because of the taillight. IIRC issue was with the reverse light circuit, it was telling the ecm that the vehicle was in reverse. And the ecm selectively believed it! What over educated under experienced engineer/programmer thought THAT was a good idea? Guess the tr sensor and shifter position sensor signals weren't definitive enough...?, or the cluster signal?
Asking questions is bitching? I noticed you didn’t answer any of my questions. I love what I do or I wouldn’t be doing it. Some of this stuff is hard! My only regret is not opening my shop sooner.
I am grooming my son to take over our business. He is 24 years old and his mind is a like a sponge. He went right on by me with the high-tech diagnostics. He has very good skills. Ironically, up until last summer, I didn’t have any problems working on old cars in the summer, from 750 HP builds to points and carbs. However, working behind hacks finally got the best of me. I decided to throw in the towel on all but a small handful of clients with old cars/hotrods. It just isn’t worth the aggravation of fighting with people with unrealistic expectations, cars that have been hacked for 40 or 50 years, and the poor parts situation. Then there was the JW engine mess for a client not once, but twice, and that was the final straw. However, that particular Buick GS made the cut because I like the owner of it. But I would rather move my business forward and keep the old stuff to a minimum and a hobby.
I'm clear with my old car customers that me fixing issue will more than likely mean me fixing numbers of patches done over the years to get things right.......I dont patch over patches
First, does your Autel get porn? My Modis dod not, nor did my SolusmPro No alignments here. Five bays, six lifts, two techs besides me. My 26 year old daughter runs the office. The CVT acting up on that Versa? Read about that on Google two years ago and sent three down the road for under $200. Bob, no disrespect, but why are you working on 2020 vehicles? I'm driving them, but I sit between a clusterfuck of dealerships, literally from Hyundai to Rolls Royce. My 2020s are all Enterprise Fleet and besides the occasional pig they run over crossing the state, the bad ju ju goes to the dealer for the first 60k. Pretty sure the rules of a shop in New York might be a tad different than South Florida. We might just be happier people given that we have a 365 day growing season. Its 73 right now.
Google, now there’s a professional way to fix cars lol. One step below Zeus. We started our shop in 2006, and in 2013-2014 we had a major renovation to add more bays, storage and better offices. One of the items we incorporated into that addition was an alignment bay and a Hunter Alignment system. Looking back, an alignment machine clearly has been the best investment in terms of equipment that we have done. Not having to rely on others, as well as the reasons for working on 2020 vehicles is the same - incorporating wheel alignments in house. Around 2014, a local collision center called and heard (asked) if we could program an air bag module on a 2007 or so Suzuki XL-7. Yep, we’ve had Ford, GM and Chrysler factory scan tools since the first year of operation, so an XL-7 is just a Trailblazer. When they came down with the vehicle, the manager noticed our new Hawkeye Elite, and we struck a deal on wheel alignments. Then it morphed into all sorts of steering, suspension, diagnostics, air bag work, engine work, trans work, differential work, hybrid work, start/stop work, and lately R1234yf and now ADAS work. So we work on current model year vehicles, we’ve replaced and programmed PCM’s in several 18-19 Rogues and CR-V’s/Civics due to collision damage (they are located near the front on these vehicles and are easily damaged) and we’ve done 100’s of ADAS calibrations (had to build another building for that in the fall of 2018 because we were out of room). Now this didn’t go unnoticed. 3 more branches of the 8-store collision chain now bring us the same type of work, and when the surrounding indy shops are struggling this time of year, we have so much work we can’t keep up. We got about 14” of snow yesterday. The amount of collision sublets we will see from that will be crazy. We have 3 ADAS jobs completed but sitting because the weather yesterday prohibited us from our “verification” road test. So now you know why I have the need for factory scan tooling. We had a 19 Expedition from the collision center in for something stupid, I think cruise control but I can’t remember. It was FDRS only, and accessing that module required locksmith credentials. So did you buy access through your Snap On scanner for the keys to FCA’s secured gateway module? I’m curious as to how that works. We have WiTech w/ a secured micropod and T/A subscription so we’ve gotten in “through the front door” since we first saw the SGW a couple of years ago. I’m not sure why you keep insisting that you’re happy and I’m not. As a former resident of SW Florida, I found the summers far too hot for my liking, so I moved back north. Some Florida residents, including my own family members, complain of the incessant heat that starts earlier and ends later in the season. We were just down there a couple of weeks ago, at our favorite haunt on Sanibel Island for a week like usual. I’d highly recommend getting out to Cabbage Key Island, and either rent a cottage or at least go to the Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant for a meal. Great experience.
Yep just reading that last post shows just how far far behind/small my shop is........I couldn't ever see enough vehicles to justify a tiny portion of the equipment in your shop. Fixing cars is for sure a gamble in equipment investment........glad your in an area to process that much through to have all the new toys.......
Southeast Florida and Southwest Florida are two different animals, but being a Polack from Cleveland, I'll stick with the heat. Doing collision makes sense. Did that one for a few years but I'm not a fan of insurance work, and the body shops didn't like to share much of that work. No porn, huh? Zeus is Windows based.
Just reading thru this post reminded me of why I bailed out of the dealership service dept. life.....lol. Enjoy!!
