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Comments
Direct inspection of the connectors is done both visually as well as with terminal pin tension tools.
The terminal at the PCM showed it to be oversized and that "could" result in poor pin fit. The terminal for the relay control circuit was also damaged and had the potential to randomly lose connection. The wire itself did need to be inspected for possible damage and corrosion.
Top row, 3rd cavity from the left. Zoom in and compare that terminal to the others
The tool inserted into the yellow wire from the relay to the PCM fit with no drag at all and had to be addressed. That was a chore all to itself as the age of the wires made the insulation hard and slightly swollen. The reassembly of the connector was extremely difficult and what should have taken a few minutes actually took four hours to accomplish. If a replacement pigtail would have been available, even used it would have been easier to just splice it in. As it worked out this time was simply given away as many shops and techs often do. In the end had this not been identified and dealt with it easily could have resulted in the car not being repaired completely.
Tag wires had to be installed that created accessible test points. The fuse block itself was suspect but wasn't up to this point specifically proven. Here is how the test connections were made.
Using these connections along with the ones at the PCM these measurements were collected.
This first one was as the problem was starting to occur.
The voltage drop was getting worse.
This one was also used earlier but showed the results when the engine finally stalled.
That confirmed the fuse block itself had failed and was the cause of every code except for the Canister Vent solenoid circuit. The customer's goal was to fix the stalling and did not authorize that diagnostic at this point. Wouldn't you know that that code did not reset after the replacement of the fuse block assembly? That only means there is no way to know if that is still a problem or not. Total bill, some $1200 less than previous estimates but still not cheap even with the time that was not billed for. It would be more than fair to question how a shop can do this and survive and the simple answer is that it cannot. If I had to earn a living running the shop like this we would fail.
The only variable is what exactly does "fail" mean. Go out of business? Entirely possible.
Not have resources that would allow for continuing education and investment in the tools to keep pace with technology? That's the most common result of failing to charge correctly for the work that top techs do. The shops and techs don't make the money that they should and therefore find it unjustifiable to continue trying. Yet the best shops, the best techs have kept trying and they learned the skills and routines like the ones that are represented in this series of posts. We did this while people claiming to be experts told consumers just what they wanted to hear while the experts themselves had no idea what it really took to be competent as a technician working on the kinds of electronics that have been present in the cars since the mid 80's.
Lately when I read forum responses for a consumers request for help it is both reassuring that no longer do they routinely get blind guesses to toss parts at a given problem like they were just a couple years ago and yet also troubling at just how far we still have to go for vehicle owners to recognize just what it takes to solve any given problem. I have hope that the next generation of technicians won't have to suffer through the same problems that we did and to that I have been investing my time to explain what the job is really like. That means both what is good about it as well as what is wrong. It's fun to solve problems like this Envoy and it's darn sure worth earning a good living doing and the techs deserve to be respected and recognized for accomplishing it.
But, how do you like what solving that car was like?
Again, something that should be "built in" from the ground up. Ideally the tech wouldn't have to do anything to get all the readouts.
First, what would that do to the production cost of the vehicles?
Second, adding additional wires increases the likelihood that something IS going to act up reducing quality.
Third, someone would still have to do the work of figuring out a failure and while having more accessible test points might help some of the time, there would always be failures that cannot be accounted for in advance. Anything that makes the ordinary easier makes the unordinary that much more difficult. The reason for that is there would be less need to develop the advanced skills and less practice using them. In a way, that's part of the trouble now. People try and insist that the work is easier than it really is and they base all of their other perceptions on that false assumption.
Meanwhile, all of the other perceptions about the trade also never took into account how much of the time the techs weren't being paid for the work that they were doing. In the dealership a tech fighting that harness issue would be lucky to be assigned some easy work (that he/she still had to do) that was somehow supposed to allow him/her to "make up" the time. In the shops the management is/was quite often as ignorant about the demands of the job as was everyone else is and to them struggling with that connector is the measurement of the techs skill and knowledge no matter what else he/she was capable of accomplishing. So that means, we don't charge for those challenges, never have. The reality that someone else would jump at the chance to use having done so against us and that could be more counter productive than just taking the first loss.
BTW. Most dealers would simply have the techs sell and install a new wiring harness to overcome the issue with it. At $1500 for the harness plus much simpler labor it shouldn't be too hard to figure out why.
Sensors throwing codes is shorthand, but essentially sensors monitor stuff and send signals. The module getting the signals matches them against the parameters and tells other stuff what to do. When the signals are fouled, a code is thrown. Multiple bad signals shouldn't mean 4 or 6 codes get thrown.
Every "real" factory manual I've seen if full of trouble trees or flow charts. Lots of software coding is a variation on the theme - if this, do that.
Another reason for the wires to go away.
If there's nothing special about trouble trees, why are they in the factory manuals? You follow them all the time, even if they are in your head.
The only thing that you are pushing is the same old attempt to minimize the talents and skills that are required to do the job and therefore the employee cost. That approach has been failing the consumer, the businesses, and the tradespeople alike.
Are you familiar with Deming?
Here are some quotes associated to Deming.
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.
It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.
Deming also said "We are here to make another world."
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Sounds like something the Japanese would do. Never the Big 3 though LOL.
I'll forgo my self-replicating part diatribe - bit afraid the AI in my desktop computer will electrify my keyboard and Taze me if I harp on that yet again.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
If everyone boycotted companies that treated them poorly some argue there would be no companies left. I happen to think most people do in fact implement retribution due to long human memories, and what you have is people that'll never buy another "insert brand here." The problem for a particular company happens when you have more of those people inserting your brand over others inserting different brands in that category.
Example "You buy foreign! Traitor! You should buy Fords. Since 2000 I've had to do nothing but oil changes on all my Fords."
I feel like they had a learning curve getting into the automobile business.
The Big 3 get less forgiveness because they've had many decades of prior experience and learning, yet they either refused to learn anything and change, or they deliberately deceived the public with their shoddy product and inflated prices. I believe the latter is more the case; deliberate malarkey.
I take my 90's lemon as a stab in the back by the engineers, designers, accountants, managers, and assembly workers responsible for every failure.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I guess someone always has to be at the bottom of the list though, right?
So it might be MORE OK if you are dead last but scoring 60+. Also, it is more OK to be last when you are not perennially in that spot.
2014 Ford Focus 2.0l Manual.
Customer reports the vehicle wont start (no crank) at times. When it acts up numerous warning lights are lit on the dash and the drivers information center in the middle of the dash is blank. When driving traction control lights and ABS lights will come on and go back out. When the vehicle is having trouble starting waiting for a bit often allows it to start but the power steering is then noted to be inoperative. When that happens shutting the car off and restarting usually restores full operation of all systems.
Pulling codes revealed the following.
PCM. P1607, P05A1, U0121, U0422, U0100.
ABS. U0140, U0100, C0040, U0001, U3003, U0126.
RCM (airbag) B00A0, U0001, U0140, U0154, U0253, U0422.
TCM No com. (Manual trans, not used)
ORC (occupant classification) U0151, U0100
APIM U0140 (accessory/SYNC)
Audio No Comm. (not used)
BCM. U0001, P1934, U0422, U0121, U0131, U0151
FCM No Comm. (not used)
CIM No Comm. (not used)
DSIM No Comm. (not used)
Drivers and Passengers door modules No Comm. (not used)
HVAC No Comm. (Manual AC)
IPC P1607, U0121, U0422, U0100
Parking Aid No Comm. (not used)
Power Steering U0001, U0121,U0126, U0140, U0428
SAS (steering angle ) P0000, U0001
When the vehicle is presented all systems are working normally and only these historical codes are available. There are no TSB's or other product reports that are relevant and you have half an hour to try and figure this out. How would you use the codes as presented in order to narrow your focus on the most likely causes?
Keep in mind that while some testing may reveal issues that need attention there is always going to be a line between "A problem" and "The problem". Also keep in mind there may well be more than one problem here.