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"Step up" all you want, but I will continue to call out shops and techs who have no business working on a tricycle-never mind a modern vehicle-whether they have opposable thumbs or not. Defending incompetent and/or lazy techs does nothing to improve the reputation of your profession.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
When the abusers like you finally go away and we get to help the younger techs learn from the mistakes that they are going to make, then maybe we will get to keep them in the trade long enough to learn to be good at it. That will get you and every other consumer a better chance to have qualified techs who make fewer mistakes servicing their cars. It won't happen as long as there are people like you who continue to try and make the career not worth the effort it demands. More of the same BS. You want to pat yourself on the on back with a few obscure posts about doing some basic maintenance on a car that allegedly resulted in an improvement, you are free to do that. But don't try and suggest that reflects even the slightest talent towards the work because in a real shop you would quickly be the incompetent hack in someone else's story that the shop would have to be apologizing for. Then you would have to hope you would have someone who could explain to you what happened and why so that you could learn from it and grow.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
If I found myself constantly complaining about how terrible it is to be a member of my chosen profession I would simply have to find another line of work. Life is too short.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLNZ6bB-QFQ&t=492s
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
1. This week the owner of a well-regarded indie BMW shop posted this picture on his local chapter's FB page:
And this wasn't the only unforced error, the large o-ring that seals the cap/canister was also improperly installed with the result that the cap was barely hand-tight.
The only surprise was the lack of Channellock gouges on the cap. A cautionary tale for anyone tempted to take their car to Billy Bob's Hi-Teck Auto Repair.
2. A member of my local chapter advised that his new car's low coolant light illuminates every six weeks like clockwork, so he brought it to the dealer(not my old store, BTW). According to the tech, the coolant loss is due to the owner using the car's heater a lot. Not to worry, the tech refilled the expansion tank- after unscrewing the cap and allowing hot coolant to spray all over the engine compartment.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I can't do a lot on modern cars, because I don't know enough. But what I can do, I do well.
Doc, why don't you fly out here and help me fix the air bag light on my Mini Cooper? We're having a devil of a time with it--part of the problem being that some long time ago, some monkeys got into the wiring and by-passed various connectors. The scanner gives a code for side air bag. I'd hate to have to tear into the seat as a last resort.
What code is setting? Model/Year? Since you referenced a particular device, one of the side air bags, the first thing I would do is force the opposite code and see if the module recognizes the change in the circuit. This is a routine that I created, use and teach.
That first step does several things. It first proves that you haven't misidentified the code. There are lots of reasons that can happen not the least of which can be mistakes in service information. It also allows you to test the module and the harness up to the test point that you choose without doing a lot of extra work.
So, when you try to force the opposite code what can happen is:
You get a code for a completely different circuit/component. That means of course the one that actually has the issue isn't the one you accessed.
You succeed in forcing the opposite code. That means everything is fine from that point back towards and including the module. Choose another point to repeat the test moving away from the module towards the airbag.
The module still sets the same code. That means the problem is towards the module from the point that you chose to do your first test.
So how do you force an opposite code. This is a 2003 Mini Cooper S. You may recall that the first code was for driver's side pre-tensioner. I took a working one out of another car and that just caused a new code--driver's side air bag. I have heard of one code blocking another.
Now let's break down the details, first what code exactly is setting right now, give me both the number and the description that you have.
If the code description is high resistance or open, then disconnect the wiring to the airbag anyway that you have to and jumper the module side of the harness, shorting it. Cycle the key off and back to on. If the module now shows that the circuiit is shorted, then that confirms everything is fine with the module and harness to that point. Restore the circuit and move towards the airbag.
If the code description is that the airbag circuit has low resistance/shorted. Simply open the circuit any way that you have to, cycle the key and see if the module now displays an open circuit code.
You can clear codes at will as you try each step too, that can help with keeping the strategy in focus.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
Will it be going back onto the market?
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Just drove it around. It's a lot of fun, but I have to say the Volvo C30 is more comfortable, quiet and less jittery. When you threw the Mini into a turn you never knew exactly where it was going--LOL!.
2) So I think I mentioned before that Pep Boys (the last time I used them to mount tires - and will be the last time) got 3 tires on correctly, but mounted one of the directional tires backwards. The tire even said "inside/backside" on it. The inside was placed on the outside, and the outside on the inside.
3/4 is a 75% and mediocre C grade in school. However, for a paying customer, I considered this an F, unless of course they only want to be paid 75% of the bill.
Should this have been a teachable moment, or was I right to consider them incompetent.
Also, what is a battery tender compared to a trickle charger. Someone told me that I can put a "battery tender" on the cables when changing out the battery, and this will keep me from losing the vehicle's memory settings, etc.
Just for context, I'm starting to have reliability issues with my stock battery in the Q7, so I will probably change it out within the next few months.
There are thousands of articles and quick guides like this one for a 2012 Toyota for retraining vehicle systems after a depower.
http://crrtraining.com/CRR2/assets/pdfs/QT611C.pdf
I just learned this lesson when I replaced the battery on my wife's Mazda 3. She went shopping and stalled just as she got into the lot and began idling. Seriously?
That book would now be a two volume set.
The impetus for asking that question was to know whether retaining memory during the battery change would prevent me from having to do a retrain on the system after the swap.
I'm planning on investing in a RossTech unit in the near future, but I'm not sure that my planned purchase timeline for that is going to sync up with my need to replace the battery if it keeps going downhill.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I do need to update to the newer pass through https://store.ross-tech.com/shop/vchn/ but for now my Autel 908S Pro and my ISCAN WT2 fill in when needed.
Weather was warmer this week, and the battery made it a full week without causing me issues. I put the charger on it this afternoon.
His F150 4X4 won't move unless he switches off the O/D button. Weird.
When he says that it won't work in any gear. does the engine just flare like it is neutral or does it feel like the brakes are stuck on?
The same goes for Reverse both with the O/D button pushed and with it released.
Typical scenarios where a shop/technician was dealing with an engine sludging failure like that might start out as an issue with variable valve timing control problem or a loss of oil pressure that they may or may not have already attempted a repair. If they did try to fix it, then maybe they then discovered that the engine had another issue so now they go looking Identifix for quick way to solve the additional problem. Or, maybe the only thing they had done so far was to start searching through Identifix looking first for TSB's and reports of similar problems in order to plan out how they might want to try to "test" or simply suggest a repair attempt.
That's really all Identifix is, an information system that was first created by a technical assistance help line that documented every call for help and they turned it into a searchable database that could be used by a tech without calling in and talking directly to someone. It quite often gets mis-used when someone only attempts to find out what the most common reported fix is (aka Google) and then turns and suggests doing that as a first repair attempt. When going for that quick fix works, it is praised for saving the shop time and the vehicle owner money but no one stops to evaluate what does to help a technician in regards to gaining more experience using critical thinking skills and learning how to really go about testing the right way on his/her own. Identifix does have lots of information about how to test the right way, but that usually isn't used by the weaker shops/techs until they have a problem where the "known fixes" failed to solve the problem. What makes things even worse since they usually don't test the right way they quite often now find that they don't have the skills let alone the tools to do it anyway.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
My advice to used car buyers is if you are not mechanically inclined, or not very particular in your car maintenance, don't ever keep a Mini past warranty.
I have no regrets.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive