Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/25 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/25 for details.
Options
Comments
How does a fuel gauge on a '67 Coronet work? I have a nonworking gauge and here is the situation:
1. No gauges are functioning
2. Cluster ground is good as evidenced by dash lights and signal indicators all working
3. I already replaced the 5v voltage limiter with a new solid state model
4. I attempted to test the 5v that I have read should be going to the fuel sender and water temp sender in pulses by hooking a test light to ground and probing the wires at the senders, and got no reading
5. I have also attempted to get that same reading at the pin on the gauge harness that goes to the fuel sender, and got no reading
So what does this tell me? What I can't seem to comprehend is HOW the 5v pulse is supposed to route to the sending unit. If we have 12v coming into the cluster, then what happens? Does it go through the limiter and to the gauge, then from the gauge to the sender? I guess my biggest brain block is how, using just a single wire, 5v goes to the sender and back again to the gauge.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
1998 Blazer Crank/No Spark Condition
When we teach electronics diagnostics one of the fundamental principals is that when a circuit has an open (or high resistance) in it, system voltage will be measurable right up to the point that the circuit is failing at. Immediately after that point the voltage will drop. The amount that the voltage drops will be dependent on the actual resistance at that point in the circuit and the total circuit current flow. I didn't look up the schematic and circuit description (yet). Off hand I would not expect that to be a 5v limiter, I would expect to find a 12v pulse coming from the regulator. Either way you should be able to measure the voltage out of the regulator and find it at the input for each of the gages in the cluster. What ever that power regulator voltage output for the gages happens to be, you should be able to measure the voltage at the output of the regulator and also at the voltage the connection for each of the gages, it should be the same. If it is lower at the gages then there is resistance (poor connection) in between the regulator and the cluster gages. A test light is the wrong tool. The current would have already passed through the regulator, which by your description is a 5v supply and one of the coils in the gage. Since there would already be two loads in the circuit the test light connected to the sending unit connection would essentially just be a resistive ground resulting in a circuit in which the current that would flowing through it would be too low to illuminate the lamp.
With the sending unit disconnected and a volt meter in its place, the volt meter connected to ground would look like a 10,000,000 ohm resistor to the circuit which would reduce any current flowing in the circuit to a negligible level so the voltmeter would then display the voltage between that point and ground. If you saw 0v then the circuit is open somewhere between the gage power connection and the sending unit connection. You would then have to move your test point back towards the instrument cluster and re-measure at different points until you find a point where the voltage is again measureable. At this point you moved your testing point to a location before the circuit failure and you would then have to choose a test point somewhere between that point and the sending unit connection and test again.
This is how you use voltage drop to find excessive resistance or an open in an electrical circuit. So you have the 5v to the gage, but cannot find voltage going out of the gage? One post of the gage output goes directly to ground, so you really shouldn't find much if anything on that post, .2v or less would be considered normal. The other (or only if a two post) post goes to the sending unit. With the sending unit connected there should be some current flowing and therefore a voltage drop should be measurable across that coil in the gage. With the sending unit disconnected, no current "should" be flowing and so you should then be able to measure the 5v on the output post of the gage to ground. As you can see it doesn't. The sending unit is a ground connection of varying resistance which changes the current flowing through that part of the gage and therefore the magnetic field in the gage. The balance point between the magnetic fields (if a three post) created by those two coils in the gage results in positioning the of the needle. As mentioned earlier keep in mind that this can be done with a single coil in the gage and only two posts if the gage needle is spring balanced. Again that would not change the diagnostics beyond the fact that the gage would only have two posts instead of three.
So with the sending unit disconnected:
What do you measure with a voltmeter from the sending unit connection (vehicle harness side) and ground?
What do you measure between the gage power connection and ground?
What do you measure between the sending unit gage connection and ground?
Someone also mentioned that the bulbs are necessary to complete the curcuit. I do have a couple of bulbs with busted bases that are not sitting correctly. auto parts store did not have them so I had to order them.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
According to the survey, 30 percent of technicians said they expect to be working at a different dealership within the next three years. And for all 21 vehicle brands included in the study, the share of technicians who said they wouldn't recommend their career to a friend far outnumbered those who would.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20170417/RETAIL05/304179996/1434
Despite snags, efforts grow to hire ex-military in service departments
OK, so they are encouraging each other to look at veterans as a possible source of prospects. But what are the snags mentioned in the title?
Maybe this?
"But it is a good and respectable and long career choice," Jennings says.
"Technicians can make from maybe $60,000 to $120,000 a year, which is very good for
someone who perhaps didn't go and get a university degree."
Except that just before that the author quotes this;
"It's becoming harder and harder to get technicians, partly because there's still the stigma that it's not a good career choice," says Jeff Jennings, director of training for Jaguar Land Rover North America.
In the past there were a lot of open faced statements that suggested techs would make $100K, take special note of how it was just worded above Technicians can make from maybe $60,000 to $120,000
From Maybe? Yeah, that's a snag. But wait, there's more.
Here is another one.
Many veterans have received a set of Snap-on Tools worth about $1,500 to $2,000, depending on the automaker.
$2000? In Snap-On tools? Considering the average tech at ten years will have some $50,000 in his/her tools and be no where near having everything that they need......
Hiring a veteran can reduce a dealership's tax bill by as much as $9,600, and the government helps pay for training Why does that read like there is more to be realized in benefits for the shop from the tax deduction perspective than there is in hiring a vet and growing them into a lifelong career?
More later......
This part is right on the money.
Car companies and their dealers also favor veterans because of the increasing technological and electronic sophistication of motor vehicles. Their innards can easily mirror the complexity of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle or a fighter jet.
"More than one-third of the vets that Jaguar Land Rover is hiring are aviation types, with experience repairing jet aircraft, helicopters and avionics systems, among others," says Bernie Hyland, automotive programs manager for Calibre Systems. The military contractor and management consulting firm, based in Alexandria, Va., has worked with Audi and is Jaguar Land Rover's partner on its veterans programs.
Candidates "must have a higher math aptitude, with a strong underpinning in electronics theory as well as diagnostics," Hyland says.
This looks good on the surface..
Nick Justice, assessing his skills and vocational orientation, enrolled in a community college automotive-technology program in 2014, right after he ended his six-year stint in the U.S. Air Force as an aircraft armament systems technician.
Last year, Audi of America noticed his half-finished online application for its Veterans to Technicians program and asked him to complete it. Several weeks later, Audi Louisville hired him as a technician. A few months ago, Justice, 28, became the dealership's service appointment coordinator.
But he didn't stay a technician. That means his education as one has now been frozen at best and will more than likely now erode.
Lastly there is this.
Attrition has hurt some dealerships that have invested heavily in hiring veterans. Blue Grass Motorsports hired seven veterans over the past few years, but only two remain.
One problem, Woods says, is that unlike Justice, most other veterans "don't have that traditional training in the basics of automotive that someone coming out of a trade school has."
Audi of America's program has lost some momentum since last fall, when the automaker stepped back from its role in operating and financing Veterans To Technicians in favor of encouraging direct relationships between Calibre Systems and Audi dealerships.
Fischer concedes that Audi has experienced a low rate of successful placement of veterans with its dealers. He says many ex-military members have never had experience with a regular job interview.
"We've had to build in coaching about how they can prepare for a job interview, even for understanding how a dealership works, so they don't look stupid when they're talking to a service manager," Fischer says.
How much longer will it be before they realize the problem is right here and they bother to try to fix the real reasons that this is the most accurate statement in the article?
It's becoming harder and harder to get technicians, partly because there's still the stigma that it's not a good career choice," says Jeff Jennings, director of training for Jaguar Land Rover North America.
It's not the stigma......
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
If this happens, then the competition for really competent shops drops, and they can jack their prices to a proper level.
Really, the customer should be paying the same for car repair as for any other high tech skill they pay for.
The day may not be too far off when the customer wants his older car diagnosed, and the only people who can do it are going to charge him $150 an hour. He, in turn, can't afford that, and the car will just get parked.
I still like my idea of an apprentice program, where the parent of a young person interested in auto repair would pay a shop rather than a university to train them. The shop gets maybe $1000/1500 a month (same tuition as an in-state resident at a state college) and the trainee works for free. Naturally the shop will need 2 or 3 trainees at once to make it pay for him to take the time to train them. "Classes" could be 4 hours a day learning, 4 hours a day doing tasks for the shop. So hopefully the trainees will also be making money for the shop.
The trainees buy their own tools (like they would books) and they can live at home, bring their own lunches, etc.
After 6 months of this, the shop decides if the trainee has what it takes to go on, or the trainee "fails" and goes on to something else.
On top of that if they don't buy good tools the first time, it ends up costing them even more when they have to turn around and buy better ones later on.
Then to prevent that you would have to have some type of a system to check them out and back into the tool crib which adds employee(s) and would slow production.
So the answer is no, there isn't an effective way to do it other than the Mechanics/techs have to provide their own.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
"I owe my soul to the Snap-On truck"
Wouldn't want them working on my car. Of course, maybe their employer underpays and overworks, so some might justify the thievery.
It gets whatever it needs, even if the clear coat is peeling. At 240,000 miles, there's a small weep at the left side valve cover gasket, the passenger side door lock doesn't lock automatically anymore, and the AC is blowin' warm (again). That's about it. Tires are old but they have meat on 'em.
tool truck but not so well when a private party is selling them. Professionals in the business know the value of used QUALITY tools but garage sale people do not. Trouble is, the guys in the business will want to cherry pick through them and leave the seller with the oddball stuff that few people want.
Question, is there any difference between Whitworth and British Standard sizing?
For instance BSF, which uses the Whitworth thread angle but a different pitch.
Then BSC which uses a different thread angle and even finer pitch threads that BSF.
Shall I go on? OK, I'll stop.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
http://techiemindset.com/car-repair-fixd-georgie/?voluumdata=BASE64dmlkLi4wMDAwMDAwMi1mOTM2LTQ3OTItODAwMC0wMDAwMDAwMDAwMDBfX3ZwaWQuLmY3YjJjODAwLTMyOWUtMTFlNy04YmVjLTU0NTQ0ZGYwM2I2NF9fY2FpZC4uZWZjYTFkYmItZmMzZC00OGJkLThmNTItNTZjOGI1N2ZiMzBjX19ydC4uUl9fbGlkLi5lMjJjY2MyMi05MmUyLTRjNjUtODJhMC0xMWUyMzM5YmExZWVfX29pZDEuLmZiMzcwOGQ2LTY4ODktNGI0Zi04ZTZiLWNjNTAwNTczZDExOV9fdmFyMS4uWUNhcjRfX3JkLi53d3dcLlx5YWhvb1wuXGNvbV9fYWlkLi5fX2FiLi5fX3NpZC4uX19jcmkuLl9fcHViLi5fX2RpZC4uX19kaXQuLl9fcGlkLi5fX2l0Li5fX3Z0Li4xNDk0MTA3ODkzOTc3&ad=YCar4
I have had something just like it for years now, and it only cost me $15 for the wi-fi OBDII dongle and the app I have was a free download.
Here is an example of the dongle:
Car WIFI OBD 2, Wsiiroon Wireless OBD2 Car Code Reader Scan Tool ,Scanner Adapter Check Engine Diagnostic Tool for iOS Apple iPhone iPad Air Mini iPod Touch & Andorid https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071YC1J7R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_IvMdzbF76KVGP
And the app is called EngineLink
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
In order to make ends meet a lot of techs work at home too.
As the guy in that ad noted, something like this doesn't take the place of a good mechanic. What it does do is to give me an idea of what codes are popping, how the vehicle is performing (if I want to go that far!), and whether anything new crops up if the CEL/MIL is active. Once that light is on, you really don't know if it is just steady-state or if there is something else that just happened that is a more serious concern.
Did you notice this is little more than another episode of the same old over worked story? These kinds of things have come and gone so many times that it is way past time when consumers should see them for what they really are.
Items like CarMd and of course now FIX'D are little more than toys when compared to what it really takes to access today's vehicle systems. To efficiently do diagnostics scan tools have to support more than just retrieving and clearing codes. The scan tool also has to be able to command bi-directional outputs and should access and provide serial data for every module on a given vehicle. Even many professional level aftermarket tools fall short in some places when compared to any individual manufacture's tool. An easy example of that would be performing diagnostics for an evaporative system leak. The Ford IDS can command individual solenoids on and off at the technicians request and it can even command the PCM to run the monitor in the bay to allow for active testing. On top of having the Ford factory tool I also have a Snap-On Solus Ultra, even though it is a powerful professional level tool it does not fully support that kind of testing. People who have only ever had an aftermarket tool and never used the actual factory tool are often unfamiliar with the true capabilities of the car and the factory tool. That means someone who is only familiar with the Solis Ultra wouldn't even know what the car and system is really capable of doing. That is a problem that is greatly magnified for anyone attempting to rely on inferior tools and something totally unavoidable with the toy versions.
Over the last few years you have all been shown what it really takes to do the majority of normal diagnostic routines which don't get anywhere without first having the right tool for the job. Then you have to have access to proper service information which includes the vehicle schematics, and then you have to take the time to study the system description and operation. This is all on top of having a solid background in electronics as well as years of experience. With all of this in place, now you are really ready to begin analyzing a given failure. Meanwhile the marketers for FIX'D had no problem tossing insults towards technicians and using a short-cut version of a diagnostic routine in their attempt to suggest just what someone is supposed to be able to do with their device. Watching a video of theirs that results in the "diagnosis" of a loose gas cap should have sent up big red flags by anyone who really does understand how to do the work. In case you haven't seen it, here it is.
Yeah, that's a nicely edited commercial with someone who claims to be a mechanic who makes the statement that FIXD is doing way more than what he says that he has in the shop (50-60 second mark of the video)
"Most of the time they are going to rip you off" at the 1.10 mark.
At the 1.35 mark it appears that the tool has told him that the gas cap is loose with no other information to support how that conclusion was arrived at. By 1.43 he tightens the gas cap which was just sitting on the filler neck and then turns to the camera to say that the viewers would be charged $200-300 to be told the same thing.
The worst part of all of this is when they also try to claim that these toy tools are making techs angry, what they need to see is it isn't the tool that is doing that. Any educated user will find the limits of its usefulness in very short order and that will take care of itself. What is disturbing is the derogatory marketing statements that they make to try and elevate such devices. While the person in the video states that FIXD can do more than "his" shop tool, here is what it states on their own website help section when asked about other systems other than global OBDII. https://www.fixdapp.com/help
Can FIXD detect my TPMS, ABS, Airbag, or other non-Check Engine lights?
FIXD can only communicate with the car about the check engine light at the moment. We are working on expanding the capabilities to include service reminders, ABS, TPMS, etc. by licensing manufacturer-specific codes.
So the video say's one thing about the tools capabilities and the website say's something completely different. Need I say more?
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
How ironic, though. The ad says you will "save" money but there's an equally good chance that this tool will allow you to waste money, too. It could go either way.
I really don't know why they can't just be honest about it. It will do SOME things that MAY help you avoid having to go to the shop. For the price, I think most people would find it worth it if it saves them just 1 trip in the device's lifetime. Instead, they jump through hoops trying to trick people into thinking it is so much more than it is and thereby destroying their credibility. OH well. Anyway, like I said before, my $15-$20 device and free app seem to do the same thing as their $99 device and app.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
One good diagnostic trick for this is to switch the sensors. If the code follows the sensor, then you know which one is bad (or...that one is bad in the first place).
So yes, you can fix a Porsche with a $15 code reader...sort of....
The settlement resolved residual lawsuits filed against DCH, some as far back as 2012, before Lithia acquired the group in 2014, Lithia attorneys said. The litigation charged the automotive group violated Labor Code standards, including refusing to pay all wages earned and failing to pay the minimum wage. DCH also was accused to falsifying time records to reflect breaks and meals the workers were not granted.
Lunch? Breaks? It's not surprising that they tried to falsify the records to make it look like the techs actually got to take breaks during the day.
Before the acquisition, DCH operated exclusively on a flat-rate system -- just as the majority of dealerships did throughout the state -- in which service technicians were paid only for hours of labor and nothing for inactive periods.
Now they need to start getting the techs paid for active periods too especially when performing diagnostic routines. Making them hourly does help but using a flat rate system as a bonus and then having operations that don't cover the time they have to invest correctly means they lose income potential for taking on the more difficult tasks.
You know the only real solution to this mess? The techs have to own the business.