Maxwel Anyanwu joins me on the show today! Maxwel is a mobile tech and teacher. He shares his journey coming to America from India, getting into the automotive world, & starting a mobile service.
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Maxwel Anyanwu joins me on the show today! Maxwel is a mobile tech and teacher. He shares his journey coming to America from India, getting into the automotive world, & starting a mobile service.
Website- https://autodiagpodcast.com/
Facebook Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/223994012068320/
Email- STmobilediag@gmail.com
Please make sure to check out our sponsors!
SJ Auto Solutions- https://sjautosolutions.com/
Automotive Seminars- https://automotiveseminars.com/
Jarhead Diagnostics- https://www.jarheaddiag.com/ Free Shipping in the month of November 2023!
L1 Automotive Training- https://www.l1training.com/
Autorescue tools- https://autorescuetools.com/
Welcome to the Automotive Diagnostic Podcast. We're going to explore ways to sharpen our diagnostic skills, find learning resources and hear from experts in the automotive field. This podcast is brought to you by Jarhead Diagnostics. Jarhead Diagnostics manufactures in-house diagnostic equipment and storage solutions, as well as distributes for companies like Pico, ats and Topdion. One of my favorite tools that I have bought from Brandon and Jarhead Diag is the case for the Uscope. If you don't have a Uscope, you probably should, but if you have one, you got to get. One of these 3D printed cases has a magnet on it, has a full-size BNC lead that you can connect to and it gets rid of the weak point of that scope, which is the mini BNC connection, which is pretty fragile. This case makes this thing nice and secure and makes it even better tool than it was. So check out jarheaddiagcom. The link is in the show notes. Hey, for this month November 2023, all shipping for Jarhead Diagnostics products is free. You don't pay for anything if you order something in the month of November. That's jarheaddiagnosticscom. Check it out.
Speaker 1:This episode is brought to you by L1 Automotive Training and Keith Perkins. If you're looking for education on module programming, j2534, eprom work, key and immobilizer electrical diagnostics or drivability diagnostics. Keith has a website, l1trainingcom, that's got over 60 hours of training videos on all those subjects and more. When I first started out doing mobile, I utilized Keith's videos on module programming and J2534 in order to get my head wrapped around what I would need for the tooling, the computers, the software setups, what kind of obstacles I would be up against when I'm out there programming modules on cars. It was a huge benefit to me. I continue to use the training videos that he has on his website. I strongly recommend checking out L1Trainingcom. The link is in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Hey, what's going on? Automotive World. Welcome to another episode of the Automotive Diagnostic Podcast. My name is Sean Tipping and I'll be your host once again for today's episode. Thank you so much for joining me Today on the show.
Speaker 1:I've got a guest. His name is Maxwell Anianwu. He is a mobile technician and instructor out of Idaho. We've developed a friendship over the last couple of years, interacting through Facebook and helping each other out with diagnostics and modules and things like that. But Maxwell is originally from India and he's going to share on the show today his story about coming to America, going to school for automotive, working in several different shops and for Ford for a while and then eventually transitioning to doing mobile work, which is what he's doing now Diagnostics, programming, keys and he's been doing a lot of board level module repair as well. So really cool stuff and a great guy. So I enjoyed this talk quite a bit. Hopefully you will as well.
Speaker 1:Hey, before we jump into the episode, I do want to let everyone know I've gotten a lot of requests for shirts and or sweatshirts for the show, for the podcast, right? So I actually have that set up now that we can get these made. If you want to check out the mock-up, go to the Facebook page. You'll see that in the show notes and you can get ahold of us and get them ordered and we'll get them shipped out to you Prices and sizes and colors and all that stuff's on there. But go check that out and yeah, that's it. So with that out of the way, let's jump into the episode. All right, good evening, maxwell. How's it going? Or do you go by Maxwell or Max? I guess I never asked.
Speaker 2:It's either one works for me. People from India mostly call me Max, but yeah, either one works.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then how do I pronounce your last name? I don't think I've ever heard you say it out loud.
Speaker 2:It's Ani Anbu.
Speaker 1:Okay, awesome. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I get that right. I'll do a little introduction ahead of time where I say your name, but I was like to get the pronunciation as close to correct as possible. So cool, so you're originally from India.
Speaker 2:So I'm. I'm from. I was born and raised in India. My my parents were from Nigeria, so they met in India and, yeah, me and my siblings were born there, okay. And grew up. Grew up in India, yeah, till till I came to America.
Speaker 1:How old were you when you came over here?
Speaker 2:About 24. Okay, about nine years. Yeah, it's been nine years.
Speaker 1:Oh wow. What was the? The driving factor? How did how did that shape up to come from across the world to America?
Speaker 2:So I mean I, I mean as, even as a teenager I guess I I wanted to come to America to for studies, what, what made it? I was thinking at some point, because I actually was. So I did a voluntary service for my church as a, as a missionary, for two years and then after that I was thinking, you know, I was like, should I go to college here in India, should I go elsewhere? And my, my mom wanted me to come here, her friend also wanted me to come here, and I was just thinking about it and I guess fights between me and my mom and my dad grew a lot and I didn't. I didn't want that environment, I wanted to get out, and I guess that was a way out for me. So yeah, when people, people think it wasn't just about the education but it was about the whole, the whole environment that I wanted to get out of.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:It was. It was abusive and so I wanted out, and so oh, okay. I was able to come here.
Speaker 1:Now I don't know much about India, but from the stuff I've read like population is a big issue there. Did you experience that where you were at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean living, living in Idaho and obviously coming from India, it's a huge I guess that's the culture shock because it's it's crowded, like when I live in, like we call it's, we're near Idaho Falls. I'm in Rexburg, so if I were to compare that to India city in India would be about like 10 million people leaving living in that area, combining maybe Rexburg and Idaho Falls.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:It was, it was a lot, and this is we're talking like 10, 10, 11 years ago and now it's probably more, because I hear they're about to surprise China In a little bit.
Speaker 1:That's wild, yeah, especially if you look at, like, the physical size of the of the country that there's that many people crammed in there. That's, that's absolutely crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it used to be. It used to be Pakistan and you know, before the partition I can't imagine how much, how many people were there, but after the partition it's still big enough. And you know it's India. India has been divided several times and still big.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what. What did you do for work when you live there?
Speaker 2:When I was there was completely like I was. I never worked as a, as a foreigner, you can't really work in India, you can only study. So I was more so focused on my studies. My, my dad had like supplemental income. He was also, he and my mom, but they were students too, so they were doing their PhDs and masters and they had like supplemental income coming from Nigeria. But yeah, you couldn't, as a foreigner you can't. It's not like here, where you know you can have a work visa or something like that it's. I mean, I guess, if you, if you're there for work, you have to have a work visa. But I was on a student visa and even though I was born there, they never considered, considered me a citizen. I was just because, in order to be a citizen, either, either one of my parents has to be Indian, and so it was yeah, I, I've always been kind of the outsider because I never belong.
Speaker 2:I went. I went back to Nigeria for two years to I felt like an outsider because people didn't understand the way I say things, because I had that Indian accent.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I think, coming here to America, I think I feel more welcome because obviously it's you know, there's a reason it's called a melting pot.
Speaker 1:Right, right, yeah, it's a little bit everything here. Yeah, do you have your citizenship for the US now?
Speaker 2:I am still. I'm still a permanent resident and I'm working towards that, hopefully next year.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I know a couple people I used to work with a guy from Mexico that he went through the process and it was a process like this wasn't something where you just go to the DMV and sign some paperwork, like it was years long of doing things and waiting and, and you know, jumping through hoops and stuff. But that I mean that's good that there is a route that they have for you to get there. I didn't know that about India, that you couldn't become a citizen there unless you had parents that were from there. That's interesting. But, yeah, what were you studying when you were there, where you're going to school for?
Speaker 2:So I started out with mechanical engineering. I was doing mechanical engineering even when I came over here was mechanical engineering and then, yeah, I like wasn't, I wasn't passing my classes. I was, you know, it was kicking me around and I heard, like some, some professors were like you know, you probably should, you know, change your major or something. And my, I had a friend who was in the automotive program here at BYU and he was like you, you, you'll be good in this major. And I'm like, yeah, but it's too expensive for me. And this was two years before I even thought about like, changing the main, my major. And so I switched. Eventually, like you know, I took a break from school because I wasn't doing well. So I had to decide what I was going to drop out or, you know, pursue something else. And yeah, automotive made sense. I talked to the instructors here and, yeah, they, they were like, yeah, they convinced me. And I was like, yeah, I want, I want to try it before I completely give up on education.
Speaker 2:And so I ended up getting my four year degree in automotive.
Speaker 1:Oh OK, did they actually have a four year program for the automotive, or how long was that section?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. It was a four year program.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2:By the time I was done with mechanical engineering I had already taken some generals, so now I was focused more on the core of automotive. But yeah, they do have like four programs. One of the four programs is a two year program, the three are four year programs.
Speaker 1:Gotcha. Yeah, that's interesting though. So I taught at the one, the local community college here for the auto program and, yeah, two years was the max and we, you know we were trying to expand to build upon that because, as you know, there's just so much to learn or to know about cars and to do it in two years is actually kind of tough. But that's where we were capped out at as far as time for what they would allow, because they didn't have, there wasn't a degree that you could get in automotive, unless it's on the engineering side of things. But that's not what we taught. There's the diploma and there's only so many credits that you can do an at whole thing. But that's that's cool that they had a longer program. So did you? And then, ok, so you did the the tech school and then you just did you go right into a shop from there. Where did you take it from there?
Speaker 2:So right after that I had a nine months stinked with Ford Ford Motor Company so I worked there as a technical support analyst. So that's kind of like the same route. I mean a step below a field service engineer.
Speaker 2:I say I mean, I've, I've, I've listened to your show and you've had like a couple of field service engineers on the show. So if I, if I pursue that route, I would be like looking into that, that being a field service engineer. But I was a technical support analyst for nine months and things didn't work out there. This was right around covid.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was, they had to let me go because obviously I was, you know, not making the progress that was needed and yeah, I mean it was kind of a downturn. But I mean looking back I, if I I mean, if it had to happen, it makes sense now that it had to happen that way and because a lot of the things I delve into I got to know about, like the other side of automotive, like programming and all that came from that aspect of working with them, because I worked in the sink commodity. So, like the, yeah, I was in the sink commodity like the infotainment.
Speaker 1:Yes, apms and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:The.
Speaker 1:FC I am. I actually just did one the other day for the first time in a while because, as I'm sure you know, the the programming for those is a little different than your average module. There's a little bit more to it, and some of the ones that I had done in the past took me a long time, like it's. You know, you're there for a couple hours at least to get this all done, and so of course I got a charge for that, and the dealers around here do them for pretty cheap in comparison. And so I was telling people like, hey, you know, to be honest, like I don't want to sit there for two, three hours programing an APM, that doesn't sound like fun to me. So the dealer do it cheaper.
Speaker 1:But this one guy, he, he was just adamant. He's like I don't want to bring it to dealer, I'll pay you whatever, just come to it. Okay, and I hadn't done one in probably a year and a half, two years, I want to say. And so now they had switched it to where it's all through FDRS, regardless of the year, like it can be an IDS car, but you still go through FDRS to do it now, and it went way easier than the last time. I remember I mean you still do the flash drive thing and it's not the quickest module. But honestly, I know I have a VCM three, so I don't know if that plays a role as to maybe speeding things up, I don't know. But man, I was like, oh, these aren't too bad now, and I mean, still, you charge more than an average programming. But I'm like, ok, I was in and out of here in a reasonable amount of time so I might start trying to scoop those, those modules up again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those, those ones were like, even being in training, the way they talked about it and how you do those resets, because everything was about like, because the APM is like basically the Bluetooth module and so whatever these issues with that. They're like oh, could it be the customer's phone, could it be you know? And we check everything, and so it always came back to either the customer's phone or the module itself.
Speaker 1:OK, yeah, that's sort of stuff so hard to test to right. Yeah, how do you test an intermittent Bluetooth connection without replacing things like Exactly. Guys have enough trouble with just regular electrical testing and then you try to throw something like that on top of it and it's just ridiculous. I've had a few things like that and it's like, hey, it works. Right now I really can't tell you much. Check for updates, right that there are updates for stuff like that and maybe they'll fix it. Maybe it won't try a different device.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's.
Speaker 2:I mean the cool, the cool thing about being an at a dealership is you can. One of the recommendations that I I heard that even in training that they'll tell us to tell the technician at the dealer would be to swap a known good, because obviously they have the if they have the same car. To swap a known good because those, those APMs, if you, if you swap them or if you swap the I think it was more so the display module, touch screens.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Because you swap the touch screens, because it's just part of, it's just connected to the APM.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you swap them and if it works, it works. If it's if it doesn't work, then something is going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I and I've run into that scenario. I had a newer Ford I don't remember what size truck, but it was a truck and the screen was blank. And it's that setup where the screen is sandwiched onto the front of the APM and technically it's two different modules but the connection between the two is not normal wiring. It's this little tiny four pin connector and there's no diagram for what's what. But OK, one's got to be a power, one's got to be a ground right, and I was trying to make the determination to the shop you need a screen, which what's? I always get these two confused the FC I am and FDC I am. Is that the two different?
Speaker 2:modules yeah, the FD I am and FC D I am.
Speaker 1:Right, which one's the controls?
Speaker 2:the. The controls is the FC D, I am the one. It's on the can network basically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then the screen. That's the the FD.
Speaker 2:I am.
Speaker 1:FD. Ok. Ok, see, I can never remember those two. I know there's two and but anyways, like on this one you couldn't even with it functionally. You couldn't talk to this screen on the network, even though technically it's kind of a module and there's not a whole lot of testing. When you get to that point and we end up putting an APM in it that was my determination that I made I was like it doesn't seem. I actually went into the little pins between the two connectors and I'm like there's no power around here. Let's, let's put an APM in. And it did fix it. But yeah, those are, those are interesting. You can. You can do quite a bit with those APMs to with the forescan. You can like change a lot of the settings. I've turned on navigation on some older vehicles that didn't have it and you have to get. You have to get some additional stuff so that it actually has the information, but then you can change like the splash screen and stuff like that. It's kind of cool.
Speaker 2:And I never knew that I was actually go ahead. No, you go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 1:That's the reason I got forescan was because somebody was like hey, I have this forward fusion. It was attacking a shop and he's like I saw this YouTube video where this guy, you know, basically activated navigation and it is just a setting. Now you have to have the memory card and then it has like data, and this is an older fusion. But that was the whole reason I bought forescan is because you actually went in there and you changed the, you know the as built coding, and then it turns it on and then you put the memory card in and it worked and yeah, so that was my. That was my first experience. That was quite a few years ago, though.
Speaker 2:So that the old few like that fusion. Was it a sync, sync one or sync two?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I want to say it was a two, but that was like 2018, so it's been a while and it was an older. I don't think what year this was. Yeah, it was a long time ago. There's no way I'm gonna remember that, but it was one of the earlier versions of sync. Yeah, so you went from Four dealership and then where'd you take it from there?
Speaker 2:so after they, let me go at four, because all this is happening Right around the time of COVID. So I never got the chance to go all the way to Michigan. I was like at I was in Missouri with my in-laws and, like my wife and my and me were In Missouri because it was remote. The position was remote because when, when I was going into it, it wasn't remote, it was we were told that we were at some point, we were going to go to Michigan.
Speaker 2:But that didn't yeah, that didn't work out, so I stayed. I stayed in Missouri till the day they let me go. And then my wife got hired teaching Elementary, special needs elementary here in Idaho Because she pride to leave to leaving Idaho. She was doing preschool, special needs preschool here. So she got a special needs elementary job and we came back and and then I worked for a shop here in town it was a shop slash use car dealer. And yeah, that's when I think I was there for like eight months and then I was like at some point I wanted to do it, do my own thing, and so, yeah, I decided to kind of go mobile at that point and I mean your, your podcast was the, because I knew people were doing this, but I never knew to what extent. But at once I listened to your podcast, I'm like, oh, this is a thing you know, it's like a this dummy is doing it.
Speaker 1:I know I can.
Speaker 2:But, but it was. You know, I mean I don't know what, I've told you this before but your podcast. Like at that point when I left for left ford, like my confidence was at an all-time low, I was just like I was almost out of the industry. I was like I don't want, I don't want to do anything with cars, I'm because, basically, I Felt stupid. I felt like I didn't know anything. You know like who who stays in a training for that long? And so At that point I I was listening to your podcast and I was doing this paper route.
Speaker 2:At every time I would play a podcast and those early ones with the speed, density and the mass, a photo sensor. I'm like, well, that makes so much sense and that got that, got my love for diagnostics back. And I was like maybe I, maybe I want to do this. And I talked to a lot of people and a lot of people were like you know, you should, you should probably get more experience, which, yeah, they are not wrong, but I mean any experience is better than no experience. And so I was just like I mean that's why I worked at that shop for eight months. And then I'm like I think, I think I want to do this on my own. And yeah, it was. It was really hard at first, and yeah.
Speaker 1:So now you're out there doing the, the mobile programming, diagnostics, all that stuff. Yeah, mobile programming.
Speaker 2:Diagnostics. I even started cutting keys now.
Speaker 1:Oh, nice yeah, what, what machines you get?
Speaker 2:I got the Triton plus.
Speaker 1:Oh, cool, yeah, I just. I just got the Triton.
Speaker 2:The only thing I don't like about it is that it's, unlike the the, the the other. What's the other one? The dolphin or the yeah, this horse, one that Basically you know it has its own battery. It's, yeah, this one you have to like power it all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it motivated me to put an inverter in my van because I've been dragging my feet on that and it's nice, I like having the inverter in my van, for sure, that is nice to just be able to plug anything in and charge a laptop or whatever. But I did, yeah, kind of miss the battery Function because with the dolphin I would just grab that thing. Yeah, like, if it's cold outside, I mean I, I don't have room to go inside of my van to cut keys, so I would just grab it and bring it inside with me next to the car in the shop and just cut the key right there. But yeah, yeah, obviously, I mean I guess I could do that with the one I just got to bring the the cable and plug it in somewhere. But, yeah, I, I bought the Triton on the recommendation from Isaac. I was talking to him about like, hey, I'm gonna buy a new key machine because I'm gonna put the dolphin in my employees van. What would you recommend?
Speaker 1:Because I, the dolphin I had was a few years old and there's, it's like one of those things, it's like what you're used to. You miss that because you know it. And then you're using a New tool and you're like oh, I don't like this and it's not that it's bad, it's just, it's different and it's, it's a learning curve and but it cuts cuts the keys. Good, I've had really good luck with it and it actually has a shield over the front of it so that my van's not completely full of metal shavings all around it. That was the one bad thing about the dolphin is there's no guard. So these little metal shavings are just going everywhere inside the van. How's the how's the key thing? Going for you and doing a lot of them, or still just getting into it?
Speaker 2:I'm slowly getting into it. It's been about a month and I've had a lot, a lot of requests, especially the euro stuff, and that's that's a big learning curve. I Did a. I try to do a. I think it was an o2 z3, bmw z3. Okay, that's the one that you have to take the EWS out of the car and read it to enable the key. And I, yeah, I had to pass on that job. And later on I found it about AK 90 and I'm like, wow, I wish I had that tool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's it like 70 bucks or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and that's.
Speaker 1:That's the tool. I don't know of a better one. It's not like there's a more expensive option that works better, like that's the tool for those EWS BMWs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's. It's on back order right now because the one I ordered, they told me that it's on back order and when it came, when it's out of back order, they'll ship it to me. But like yeah, okay waiting for mine.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, yeah, if you need it, I can. I can mail it out to you if you just got to finish a job or something. I don't use it very often because I don't get the calls on those old ones all the time, but every once in a while and when I needed, it sure works good. Yeah, I haven't. I haven't done a ton of Euro keys lately. It's like I'll have a big wave of them like yeah.
Speaker 1:Volkswagen, bmw, audi, blah, blah, blah. And then lately it's all been domestic stuff, ton and ton of domestic stuff and For the most part all that's pretty straightforward, right, like, yeah, or GM, chrysler, outside of some oddball stuff, that's all All, scantul just got a weight, or there's, there are ways around it. I found, like with the GM's I didn't know at first you could just do key in out, key in its program, like remote and everything. Like that's almost any blade, gm with a transponder, almost not all. But and the Chrysler's, I found out, if you have two functional keys, same thing Ford. If you have two functional keys, that third one, like you don't have to wait to ten minutes, you just go key in out, key in out, third, key in, boom, you're done. So it's like little stuff like that.
Speaker 1:But I will say this it's bad on me for not knowing that stuff. It's in the service information. It tells you, if you just read it, for key programming. That's. That's where I picked up those, those tricks. But I don't know how many hours and hours I wasted doing the the ten minute learn For these keys when I, and when I had a functional, it was especially for GM, right, you know. So I'm doing, all keys lost, okay. Well then you got to wait. But if I'm just doing, if I have a functional key, literally I'm done All right. That's about as gravy as it gets as those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's that's good to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right. And then when I learned, I'm like how do they not know this? But Again, it's gotta gotta read, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you've been. You've been doing a lot of module stuff too. I have seen you on the pages and stuff and getting in there Getting yeah, getting your hands dirty in those modules.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been doing. I've been doing a lot more modules. I think the last one I did was a GM cluster that they they got a used one and so I obviously had to match up the mileage to the car. So that was pretty tricky because that was the e-prom was right underneath or right very, very near to the Prindle, and so getting getting the e-prom out was that was, that was the only option, because I have an in-circuit reader like the AR 32a and but that one, that clip, won't go on there because the Prindle is right.
Speaker 1:Oh, so Gosh, yeah, but you made it work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, made it work. I mean, at first it was reading zero miles, zero miles and I was nervous. I'm like, what did I do wrong? And it's just the e-prom. The e-prom wasn't sitting right, so I had to Make it sit right. And yeah, I'd read the miles and they were. They were happy. It was actually for the school. I did it for the school I. I also teach their part time.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, at the tech school that you went to yes, yes. Oh nice, yeah, that's awesome. What, what courses are you teaching there?
Speaker 2:So I'm doing currently? I'm doing the electricals, the basic electrical class and vehicle electronics, which is the a little bit advanced electrical class, and then they have me doing a lecture for auto ownership and maintenance. So that's all people like they have people from all of the majors that don't know Anything about cars. So you know they want to learn about cars, they want to know about how to maintain their cars better. So I teach that class, oh.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. I didn't know that. That's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And those you doing that at night or when are you doing those courses?
Speaker 2:I do so. Today I had a class, so I I I usually do Monday, wednesday, friday and then the the lecture. The lecture is from 11 30 to 12 30 and then the the lab, because I teach the lab. The electrical courses is just the lab portion that I'm teaching, so those labs are from two to four, fifteen Okay, and it's like it's kind of like a block class. It's not. Those electrical labs are not the whole, it's not whole semester. So they go for six weeks and then I switched to teaching the other lab and so it's all condensed and yeah okay, and you got a full shop shop there, hoisted vehicles and all that stuff too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have. We have full shop. We work on customer vehicles, like people actually sign stuff through the school and you know they bring in their cars and we work on them nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's Getting them that real-life experience in a controlled environment I always thought was so good and we had this, a similar type of thing and cove it kind of screwed with taking in outside work, unfortunately, but before that, when I was there, it was. It was awesome because, yeah, all the faculty and staff would bring their cars and then, as long as it fit the progress or the subject we were covering, oh yeah, we'd make it work and it was. I always found it was better. So let's say we're getting a vehicle in where it has a problem and I want the students figure out what it is. It was so much better if I didn't know what the problem was. Right, if, if I had set it up, or maybe it's a school car that has a bug, a problem we know about, I Would.
Speaker 1:I would find myself, even though I was trying not to, I'd find myself kind of nudging them in the right direction, right, like I know you probably shouldn't check that right, that sort of stuff, whereas I'm obviously there to help them but also part of teaching is letting them figure it out and if I don't know the problem, I Found it went a lot better because I just I make some suggestions, but I don't. I don't know if they're going the right direction or not. They might be going chasing their tails on something, but that's part of the process, right? So anyway, I tried to get in as much live work as I could. For that reason. That was Really really beneficial for them to actually do that work. It classrooms important to.
Speaker 1:But then getting out in the shop getting their hands on the stuff you know, like Talking about something like a can bus or module communication or whatever it's it's one thing in a classroom man. It's a totally different thing to get them out on the car doing it. And Sometimes you see the light bulbs come on. At that point they're like, oh, this is what you meant. I completely misunderstood or I didn't conceptualize this, or saw it on a diagram and, yeah, that little line made sense for a wire, but it didn't make sense in the car, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, that's exactly. I mean, even I knew about Ohm's law, like when I was doing mechanical engineering because of my physics physics classes. But once, once I switched to automotive, where you can actually, you know, put that concept into practice, that's like the light bulb started going off. And I imagine, like just seeing the light bulbs on these the students faces like that makes me like I'm like, oh yeah, they're getting it, they're getting it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's like I've I've dove into or tried to dive into, like the actual physics of electricity a number of times. You know, looking at electron flow and all this stuff, like what's actually happening, because I want to know, I'm curious and it's interesting. But you think about it like if you had just learned that side of it, like how it actually works and you were really proficient on it, and then somebody throw through a broken car in front of you. You're actually going to have a pretty tough time figuring it out in a practical situation and I try, when I was doing teaching and even with myself, I try to remember okay, well, what's practical right we can talk about. You know, current actually flows this way instead of you know, and that's great. But let's say, okay, for fixing the car, what really matters, how is this going to actually work for them on a car, so that they can understand it in their heads. Right, like I always said for electricity, you need to have a visual concept of it in your head, because for so many things that we fix as technicians, like an engine or brakes or suspension, when I'm going into it, I can picture the components in my head. Right, there's the control arm, there's the brake caliper, there's the piston right, especially the engine right. I can't see the components but I can visualize them. I know how the crankshaft works and all this stuff.
Speaker 1:But for so many techs out there with electricity they don't have that because, you know, realistically we can't see it. Yes, we can measure it and all that stuff, we can't see what's happening in the wires, and so so many people are lost because they got nothing as far as the visualization up here. But if you can give people here's how this works, here's the visualization. And that's where, like you know, people argue against the water and a tube analogy. But boy, I'd say, for most of the stuff that we do on 12 volt systems, that works great as far as a conceptual understanding. That's really when I'm thinking about electricity. That's how it is in my head. I don't know. I don't know what your feelings are on that.
Speaker 2:I mean I that's how I understood it like the garden hose, if there's a kink in the garden hose, then there's resistance. And so that that made sense to me and obviously, as you know, time has gone. Then I've seen maybe there's flaw, there's some flaws to it, but you know, as far as a basic understanding of Ohm's law it works great.
Speaker 1:It works great. Yeah, yeah, and if you can get that, that basic understanding down, boy, yeah, it's just, it applies to so much of what we do. I mean, I'm sure you see it like you're getting called in for diagnostics and some of the stuff is, you know, relatively straightforward and right it's a blown fuse or missing fuse or open wire or you know, so little of this stuff is actually some crazy wacky problem. Some of it is, but most of it's very basic and just if you know your electrical stuff, you'll get there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's, that is true, there was. There was one that I saw today in class, I think it's a. They were chasing down a parasitic drain and they've been chasing this for days now. And we saw like, right when we moved the seat forward, there was like a wet puddle of water. And obviously I want you to we took the carpet off. It's all like it's all water. And I was just joking. I'm like where, where is the marine life here?
Speaker 2:I mean modules and water and all that and so, yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, things get crazy sometimes, but I mean the basics is, is what gets us like 90 percent of the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. Yeah, anytime I'm going, I found myself going into a vehicle where I'm suspecting an open circuit and maybe an open wire. I will just like I'll be leaning in the vehicle and I don't know why I don't look at it when I walk up to the vehicle. I just don't think of it for whatever reason. But I'll turn my head, I'll look up and I'm like Sunroof or no Sunroof? But if I see the Sunroof, I'm like I'm going for that water. I know it's there, yeah, but yeah, that's. It's almost guaranteed If you've got a Sunroof on a vehicle and it's older than five years I mean probably newer if it's European but it's going to have moisture and water underneath the carpet, it's.
Speaker 1:It's so, so, so common. And well, now they have all these vehicles with these, like the, the rooster, almost all glass. I don't forget what I was in. It was a lift or an Uber that we took from the airport in Florida and, like the whole, the whole roof was glass, besides the like framing of it, and I was like all those things leaking like crazy for sure. Give it, give it five years out in the wild and it's going to be like you say, yeah, a fishbowl, yeah, yeah, that's that and that's the sort of stuff that you see when you're out there is. You're able to recognize that because you've done it over and over again. Like you were saying, the experience part of it. You just be like oh yeah, sunroof. Ok, all right, I know where I'm going.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So doing the mobile stuff. What was your experience starting out with that? How did that go for you? Kind of starting from scratch. What did you start with? What jobs did you look to get right out the gate?
Speaker 2:So obviously the way, even I like that question because that also helped me see the way I advertised to, because when I, when I initially started, I was just advertising as diagnostics I'm like I'm a diagnostic company and I'm willing to come and diagnose issues for you and most shops were like oh yeah, we can do that ourselves, we don't, we don't, we don't need someone to diagnose.
Speaker 2:And then I'm like, oh, I need to think out of the box, OK, I can program. And then some are like, oh, we have, we do have programming equipment. You know, some do have like a J-box just sitting there and some do programming, and I did a few that way and then I was. It was your podcast. It all comes back to your podcast, Sean, because your podcast that I was listening and I heard about Mike Christopherson and you know Pedro, and luckily for me, Mike is just three hours away from me and so he was holding a class and you know I went to like I think I've been to like two or three of his e-prom classes, and that's when I started offering. I'm like, OK, I can do use modules too. And they're like. That's when they started being like, oh, that's different, and so that's different. And so.
Speaker 2:But that now I've also been able to enter into keys because, yes, the simple, you have the simple keys, but then they obviously some of the more complex ones that require you to do access the e-prom, that that base is already there. I've already invested in training with that, and so that that was kind of I shouldn't say easy, because I'm probably going to get something messed up but that was, that was a good base. So yeah, I think, and that's why I'm like you know, that the way I approach advertising and marketing has changed, because before I was just saying diagnostics and then they moved up to programming and now I'm like cloning and now keys, and so it's just I'm offering, I'm like my thing is just to be what's the full package? For lack of a better word of phrase.
Speaker 2:Of race and so, because the reason I even got into keys was because I was, I was doing this, the Ford BCMs and a lot of the times they require two keys and I'm like oh I have to wait for days. I have to wait for them to go to the locksmith and get a key and I'm like, oh, why don't I do, why don't I cut a key?
Speaker 1:And so I think all these key companies X horse and Triton, oh, ford, a couple bucks, because I hear that's everybody's story is the Ford was the gateway into doing keys. Is the? Me too is exactly why I was like you know, I'm I'm turning down enough of this, or I doing the tin foil thing and I'm like this is stupid. Let's just sell him a key right and you know, up that job. And nobody has two keys for whatever reason. But that's just the way it is. Do you remember? Do you remember what your first job was? Doing mobile, like whoever said yes first. Do you recall what that was?
Speaker 2:Yes, I remember it, my first it was, it was a Ford, it was a Ford Taurus and it had it was something to do with the flex, because it was a flex fuel car and for some reason, obviously Ford they use instead of, you know, gm, they use the direct way of measuring the flex for uses inferred and so he was trying to get me to like he's like we are, like we've checked everything, we've checked we.
Speaker 2:I think they did a tiny timing. They did replace a water pump on those. That on that. That was that's if I remember right. That's the three, five. If I got the same car I have.
Speaker 2:And obviously, if you're replacing a water pump, you're doing timing on that and so once they did timing on that, it started running lean and I was like, oh, maybe, maybe we have to reset the the let's, let's see the alcohol content in that. And you know, the alcohol content was a little higher and we were able to, and I was able to reset it and, yeah, that was that was the fix.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool. Yeah, I remember my first one. It was actually a programming job because I experienced very similar to what you did, where I had kind of jumped into it as diagnostics and I wanted programming along with it. But I started out very simple. You know, I had a Karnak M and I was going to do GM Ford and work my way towards Chrysler and I didn't get any response to the diagnostic portion of it either. It's exactly like you said. No, we don't need anybody for that, we take care of that.
Speaker 1:And the first job I did was a programming job at a shop and it was a fuel pump control module on a Chevy truck. And I get up there and I read up ahead of time and know everything I'm going to do and I get this was SPS one at the time for GM. I get that, all that set up and you get to the part where it's going to like talk to the module to get the current calibration out so that it can show you here's the current, here's the updated calibration going into it. But it just failed, Module fails to respond or something. You get that message in SPS. Still, if the module doesn't communicate, at that point it airs out.
Speaker 1:And it aired out and I'd never seen any of this before and I'm like, oh crap, I did something wrong. I know I missed the step. I thought it was me and I'm going back over all my stuff. I'm like, do I need to like uninstall and reinstall my drivers and this and that? And it was the fuse for the fuel pump module had popped when the old one was in and the shop didn't realize that they didn't. They didn't replace the fuse. Whether the module is bad or not, I don't know, but they didn't replace the fuse. So once I like calm down, I'm just like, okay, let's just see, Can I talk to the module? And I couldn't. So then I was like, all right, all right, let's go and fuse. I popped fuse in there, got the programming done and it was. I remember it being a pretty cool feeling. Right now, you know, I wouldn't think twice about a fuel pump control module, but that was, that was the first one that I did, and it was. It was cool to walk away from the shop and get paid for it. I definitely enjoyed that.
Speaker 1:But then that programming part of it got me in the door. Right, Got my foot in the door, because inevitably you run into that situation where the fuse is blown for the module you're trying to program right. And so now that for me, I'm stopping there and I'm saying, hey, do you want me to figure this out for you? You guys want to do it and, as I'm sure you have experienced, so many of these shops are at their wits end when they start throwing modules and stuff and they don't want to deal with it anymore and they just want an answer so that they can keep doing the things that they're doing struts, ball joints, alignments, brakes, whatever. And if you can provide that answer like you can actually do it you can get the right answer for them. That's, it's all over. Then they're going to call you all the time for it. That's that's how it works for me. Programming got me in the door and now I can do some diag work and I mean there's an argument to be made that programming is much more profitable and that's what I should be pursuing over diag. But I still enjoy the diagnostic side of it. I really do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this episode is brought to you by auto rescue toolscom and Isaac Rodel. If you're looking for scan tools, key cutting equipment, programming laptops, Isaac is the guy. Not only does he have an extensive list of all those things I mentioned, his support after the purchase is top notch. I bought my dolphin key cutting tool from Isaac several years back and he has helped me out every step of the way Anything that I needed on this thing. I didn't quite understand if I had an issue with it. I needed something additional. He was easy to get a hold of and helped me out with that. So I highly recommend that you check out his website If you need anything related to keys, scan tools, diagnostic equipment and again, that's auto rescue toolscom. The link will be in the show notes.
Speaker 1:This episode is brought to you by AutorescueToolscom and Isaac Rotell. If you are looking to get into module programming but you are not sure what kind of laptop you're going to need or how to set it up for programming, Isaac is your guy. He can set up laptops specifically to do control module programming for specific brands with partitioned hard drives and all the software that you're going to need to do this. He also sells key cutting equipment, scan tools and other diagnostic equipment. I bought some stuff from him in the past and the support is phenomenal, so I highly recommend checking out the website. Again. That's autorescuetoolscom. The link will be in the show notes.
Speaker 2:That's what, like I think it's you said. You've said this. Like you know, when you were working at Firestone, the grind god monotonous. It was like the same thing and then, once you started doing what you're doing, you know you have new problems, new challenges, and it's like what? What is in store today? You know, what do I have to do today? And it's not what happened.
Speaker 2:What worked yesterday may not necessarily work today, and so it's just that challenge that, that drive that keeps, that keeps me going out to say yeah yeah, right it's, it's never boring.
Speaker 1:I was saying this somebody the other day. I'm like I don't remember the last time I was bored. It just doesn't happen anymore. I was stressful. It is definitely stressful at times and we were talking before we hit record of. You know, both of us kind of been getting beat up on stuff recently. I just every single one I walk into it just seems to be a disaster lately. I get a easy one here, there.
Speaker 1:What I have the other day it was a Ford or, I'm sorry, a Lincoln MKZ hybrid that the shop had put in like two or three different racks in this thing and a couple of them from Ford, and it kept airing out and throwing these codes. Something was wrong with the rack. There was a you code in there and this is pretty well known. I didn't discover this by any means. It's out there if you search some of the websites and I've seen it before.
Speaker 1:But if the front tires are either a different size, even a different air pressure, or one of them has like a separated cord so it's pulling or hopping or or or you have a ball joint that's binding, like anything that screws with the front wheels and the turning resistance when you're moving the wheel or going down the road, this thing will shut down, it'll code and it'll stop.
Speaker 1:The power steering will stop working and it's kept happening to him. So I just like hopped in the car, I drove it and it's like pulling to the left and doing one of these as I'm driving on the road. I'm like, okay, we're done, get some tires on this thing, and so, anyways, you do get easy ones every once in a while, but, man, lately it's just been just one after another. That's just a huge pain in the ass. But but, going back to what you said, that's part of why I do it right. It's just it is challenging, it pushes me outside of my comfort zone and to my limits on a regular basis, which I know is good for me, even though I'm frustrated in the moment.
Speaker 2:But that's why I keep doing it for sure yeah, I mean, there are days that I wake up and I'm like what am I doing with my life?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, and and it's like it's it's lately, it's just been anything I touch it's just oh man, what, what did I do? Why did I even look at it wrong? But yeah, every now and then, yeah, those those easy ones come and I think they're just, they're probably doing reassure, you know, to reassure ourselves, that you know that's maybe probably like a confidence check, that you know you got.
Speaker 1:You still got it yeah, yeah, right, it makes you, makes you feel good and, yeah, you, if you've been through a specific problem, hopefully the next time you see that it's a lot easier. But somebody was saying this recently I don't recall who I was in the discussion with, but they were saying you have to do the hard work in order to get the easy work, and referring to an automotive shop specifically is like you got to be willing to take on the jobs that suck if you want to get the gravy jobs on a regular basis. Right and it does make sense. And especially for what we're doing right, we're willing to say yes to our customer when they have got this nightmare, awful vehicle that nobody wants to deal with. And we are willing to get beat up and, just, you know, spend all kinds of time trying to figure this thing out so that when they get that GM TCM hopefully they're calling you for that programming you can be in and out.
Speaker 1:Now I realized it's not always going to be the case, but I've experienced it quite a bit with shops where it's just now I'm getting their business because, you know, I took the hit on this thing to. Really I've figured it out for you, hey guys. So, like this ain't a profitable job for me, but I got. I got it for you. This is the fix we can. You, you guys, your guys. Headache is gone and that has really opened the doors to a lot of the simpler works that comes my way.
Speaker 2:I think, so it's.
Speaker 1:I know there's an argument to the other side of that too, but it's worked out pretty well so far for me yeah, I agree, I mean some, some, yeah they.
Speaker 2:If they, if you've done, if you've gone over a huddle, then they are like oh, that means this, he's capable of doing this. I guess it's like they trust you. They you've come near trust, you've earned your respect and so they're willing to let you do anything yeah, the the trust factor is huge.
Speaker 1:And yeah, you knock out a couple of them for a shop and they're gonna believe anything you say. So use that power wisely, I would say. But it's good. You know, I remember a few shops when I first started were very suspicious of me, and I mean, hey, from their perspective, with good reason. And I remember one guy he wanted me to wait until he installed the part that I told him it was before he would pay me. I'm like, no, this is not how this works, man. Like if you have an issue, you call me, but here's why, you know, I tested it, here's why this part is broken, here's why it's gonna fix it. But he's like, well, you're just hang out here, I'll get the part, we'll get it installed and then we'll pay. No, dude, I got a lot of other stuff to do. I'm out of here. Yeah it's.
Speaker 2:I mean, for some reason they want to put, they want to project the insecurities on to you because they're like oh, there's no one to blame, there's no scapegoat. So like you're the easy, you're the easy target. So like, oh, you, it's, it's you. You know, you didn't fix it, it didn't work, yeah, yeah and so well, we get that fair amount with the programming side of it too.
Speaker 1:You know we'll get a customer request for an update and I'm sure you get this too, like, hey, could we update this module? Sure, can come in, update the module. You know, do everything correct factory software, and then they're calling you the next day or whatever. Hey, I don't think you program this right. Well, what makes you say that, sir? Well, you know it's got this weird problem and it does this. And you know we were pretty sure the programming is what it needed and it didn't fix it. So you, you need you should probably come check this back out.
Speaker 1:Like come on, man, we had that on a Jeep recently and it was actually like an essential update if you've seen those with the blue lightning bolt, which is more important, I guess, of Chrysler for the, the ECM, tcm, and the customer requested it and they're like hey, we got this code. We come in and we show them, yep, essential flash got to do it. Okay, so we do it, charge our money and we're out. We didn't do any dyag. But the guys calling me back the next week saying, hey, this code's back, like whoa, okay. He's like what are you gonna do about it. I'm like, do you want to pay me to figure it out? Well, no, you guys programmed it. I'm like, yeah, and so we had to show them like screenshots of like here's why, tech, this is what the dealer uses. Here's your before, here's your after. I even pulled up the Chrysler flash reference sheet and showed him, like this is the newest version. You have this right now in your car, like there's nothing else wrong that we could have done.
Speaker 1:But I think part of it, and like you were saying, they want to scapegoat, they want an easy way out of their problems. And now that you're involved, hey, that's you. But there's also such a disconnect to what's actually happening when we're doing the programming. Right, they don't. Sean shows up, he's in the car, he has his laptop out, something happens and hey, it's magic, right, they don't know because they haven't done it.
Speaker 1:In a lot of cases they don't know what's actually happening. So then there's no sense of hey, I downloaded the file, this says it's the right file, it goes in, or why tech, you hit a button and it does it. All you know for you, like there's no I shouldn't say there's no doing it wrong. I guess there's doing it wrong, but in that instance, like there's nothing, there's no way we could have screwed that up doing it the way that we did it. But they don't. They don't understand exactly what's happening, and so then that's part of it educate your customer, show them, and that's what I did. I pulled out the screenshots and one thing I can say to anybody doing this get get before and after screenshots.
Speaker 2:It pre-scan, post scan, screenshots of the calibration, screenshots of the completed, all that stuff that saved my butt so many times yeah, it's like someone told me they I think I was talking to a comp, yeah, he's a competitor and he was like telling me that you know, make sure you're doing your post pre-scan and post scans. And at that time I mean, I was still new into this I was like I didn't understand it and like, with few experiences that I've had, I'm like, oh yeah, this is vital, like it's yeah there's no playing around.
Speaker 2:In fact, sometimes they're like what are you doing, what? Why do you need your scan tool?
Speaker 1:I'm like well, I have to make sure that the that there's no pre-existing condition after I'm done with this yep, yeah, I had a shop that they were adamant that their purge valve circuit code was caused by our programming. But and I wasn't there, so he's calling me as the owner of the business and that's fine. My technician did it and Steve tells me yeah, I was in there and so I believe him and I luckily he did the pre-scan right, so he has that PDF saved with that purge code in it and I'm sending the guy and he's like arguing with me when I'm like read the timestamp, okay, and then look at the software that was in there. Okay, here's our post scan. Read the timestamp, look at the software that's in there. That code was there before. We can't. We didn't make that up and he backed off and everything, but he was it.
Speaker 1:Had I not had that the the personality of the gentleman I was dealing with it would have been an issue. He was not going to let that go. But that was proof. Like there's no arguing with that. And so, yeah, that that stuff is absolutely crucial to have. We do it on all our stuff and luckily technology makes it nice and easy. Right, just boom all system scan, report, send, you got it. I like the top-down stuff. I don't know what do you use for a tool for reports?
Speaker 2:so I do I the IM 608, I have the IM 608, and then I also got the what's it called? It's not the autopropad, but it's the X2 Nitro nitro.
Speaker 1:Yes, does that do your ports?
Speaker 2:that does, yeah, that generates reports, that does pre and post scans and you can actually send it to either your email or the other customers email okay, I have that tool.
Speaker 1:I had no idea yeah, it does.
Speaker 2:I mean I got it for keys, but I mean, yeah, I'm just like, I'm like you know, I might, I might as well use it for other things and it's, it's been great yeah, it sounds like you're starting up like a DVD.
Speaker 1:When you turn that thing on, though, it's got like music and like, yeah, the splash screen comes up. I fired it up the other day of my girlfriends like we watching Netflix in there, like no, it's just my tool yep, it is.
Speaker 2:I mean for less than, for less than a thousand bucks you got.
Speaker 1:You know, you can't beat that basically oh yeah, it's what it is it's been the winner for me on Nissan keys a number of times. They'll do like the, the calculations and stuff on all the different ones, but then programming wise, I've had a few situations where I couldn't do it with other tools and that thing was that was the guy that finished it for me and so I don't pull it out every day, which why. I don't know that it did reports, but maybe I, maybe I should. But for the, yeah, nissan stuff it kicks ass yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 2:I recently had a what's it called a Honda or 8 Honda si and Civic si and that that was. That's been a nightmare like. That's one of the nightmares I've been having and luckily yesterday I got it done, because usually on Hondas you do if you change the win and do the mobilizer, it's, it's done.
Speaker 1:You know you're done yeah, I saw you post about that actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I posted just to see if anybody has ran into that. And so I come to find out that the the what I'm suspecting is that that ECM was either tuned or, you know, they did something with it. Okay, I couldn't, I couldn't even. It was kind of like you have to unlock it. You can't even read the VIN number.
Speaker 1:Like you know, this is a used PCM that they were putting into it.
Speaker 2:It's a used PCM from a company that I think repairs PCM or something I think I think they call themselves and NPC.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah and yeah, I didn't work out. I swapped. I swapped the e-prom. They were two e-prom chips, it's like a 93 series, swap both of them, and I had a code for it's say that keep a life memory error and I was reading the description of that code. It's like oh, this was programmed not you know, you retrieve and you, you retrieved and writ wrote the program Some other means or something. It's like you're not not legal means, or something.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm like okay, and so I go to the junkyard, I get, I get, luckily there was one there. I swapped the chip, did the same thing and it be a car fired right up. I mean, provided the the they misdiagnosed, the thing they misdiagnosed the cluster was actually blinking. I'm like, hey, by the way, your cluster is still blinking. And I'm like, okay, and the guy wasn't happy. He's like, oh, yeah, she's go go up to the front, they're gonna write you a check. And I'm like, okay, all right, and I don't know whether you're gonna call me again. But that's, that's what I'm learning lately, that you know, if you call me for a job, you're calling me to program that, and so I'm going to provide the programming service. Yeah, diagnostic is another service. I would do that if you want me to, yeah, but it looks like they just wanted me to solve all their problems.
Speaker 2:They're just like, oh, just just save us. And I'm like, no, that problem is still there. Mm-hmm and luckily for me, I saved I it's. I done a pre-scan and post-scan, so I'm like this is not on my end. It could have been on my end if I, if I didn't resolve that the the programming error that I was getting. But now it's all. It's all.
Speaker 1:It's all good, it's all fixed and yeah, that's the worst when you so you you have a car that you're programming a module for, for what the shop wants it programmed, right, they've diagnosed this is the problem and it turns into be its own problem for whatever reason, like your ECM that's tuned or whatever. You run into something weird. Now you've got to put a lot of effort into Getting that part of your job fixed. And along the way, maybe, maybe not till you're done, but it happens to me along the way, or I know right away, like this isn't gonna fix their problem, right, like I've now I have crew. You know I'm into my own problem that I've got to work through and sort through because that's the sort of thing we run into. But we're gonna do all of this, I'm gonna put in all this effort to make this thing work and it's not gonna fix their problem. That's the worst. And I'll try to tell a shop like hey, man, this is gonna be a pain for xyz reason. Do you want me to go through with it? I don't think this is gonna fix the thing you think it's gonna fix.
Speaker 1:Um, I had a. I had a BCM on a. I was it on core, some Buick or something the other day, or no, equinox, I'm sorry equinox, and it was a right turn signal and we like, plugged in the BCM and it wouldn't. It wouldn't do its thing either with either BCM plugged in the brand new one or the other one. It was like the same thing, completely dead. And I'm just like I, I guys, I don't think this is gonna fix it. And we, we messed around with it and what we ended up finding was like there was a he wanted me to program it, but it wouldn't program completely. I wasn't able to complete it and I was. Now this is a problem for me. Right, I did they get this program for this guy, get this BCM set up? But I couldn't. It kept blocking me at certain points and airing out, saying no communication, even though I could talk to it, and it showed me the calibration and it did part of the programming.
Speaker 1:And so I'm updating my MDI because I started with a VCM 3, because I found VCM 3 works better on GM most of the time. But so go, go, mdi, I hadn't used it in a while. I need an update and I was, as I'm updated, and I'm like is this the update that? Everybody said that break their MDI? I'm like shit. And so it. It bricked my MDI.
Speaker 1:And then there's a recovery and sitting there waiting, screwing around, I try the MDI, same thing blocks me at the same point and I'm like what the heck? So I had to back out. I'm like, okay, I need to figure out what's going on, because I think there's something else happening with this car. Well, turns out there was a fuse for the BCM that was missing just not not there at all. It was gone. And this particular fuse was for the right rear tail light and for the left front headlight, as strange as that sounds. But the other one, the cross ones, worked, and so put that fuse in there and everything was happy. Now it fixed their original problem, but that was also was blocking me from completing my programming, so that one kind of was got wrapped in together. But yeah, you run into stuff like that. We're just like this isn't gonna fix your problem. Do you sure you want to go through with all this effort?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and sometimes I was having I was having this conversation with a friend the other day and he's like oh yeah, you should, you should tell them that it's not gonna fix it and all that. I'm just like what?
Speaker 2:they didn't, they didn't call me there to figure out that problem, that's not my problem, yeah, and as much as I want to and step in and be the hero, it's not my place because I've done, I've done, believe me, I've done where I've been in the situation where I have told them and they Basically tell me to mind my business that they are figuring it out. My job is to program and so I'm like, okay, yeah, I know my role, so I'm doing what you what?
Speaker 1:you asked me to do and so.
Speaker 1:That's it. I mean, give a customer what they want. Well, you know, if that's what they asked for, that's that's what you're gonna get, sir, you know? Um, and yeah, it depends on the shop. I guess my, my attitude in that moment of what I'm gonna do but for the most part I'm in the same boat that you are is a transition from like, hey guys, I'm pretty sure it's this, you want me to blah, blah, blah. And now I'm just like programming All right, we'll make it happen. And then, hey, you still got a problem. See you later. Oh wait, can you look at that? Nope, got a full schedule. Yeah, call my call, my guy, get, we'll get you on the schedule. You know then, that's, that's the other thing. Do you get this?
Speaker 1:This one, it tears me. You go to a shop, they've scheduled you for one car, one problem. And then they're like, hey, we got another one for you, or we got another two for you, and I want to work and actually having multiple cars at one stop is a really key to good efficiency doing what we do. But I didn't build that into my schedule and and so I'm torn on it in the fact that it it's good that they want to give me more work. It's good that they're here and ready and I don't have to drive anywhere, but it screws up the rest of my schedule. The next shop that I'm going to, and then you said that precedent, and then they're just they're not going to give you the whole picture Anytime they call you, and then that has happened to me. I don't have you experienced that.
Speaker 2:If you dealt with that at all, yeah, I think I had a A shop call me to do. I want to say it was an infinity, infinity, some model and they replaced the cam actuators and they wanted to reset the cam actuators and they call me. And then the guy called me again and it's like hey, by the way, we have a, we have a wolf, wolf wagon here that needs programming.
Speaker 1:Could you?
Speaker 2:do that too. And then I'm like, okay, I mean I was pretty open. And then he's like, oh, we have a radio for a GM, a Yukon, and I'm like, oh, that that would have to be another day, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Because, it's.
Speaker 2:I kind of think it's like you. If you tell them this, like are you, if you show them that you're capable of this right, then they want more. They want oh yeah, you can do this too. Oh yeah, you, that's, that's not a, that's not a big deal, you can do that too. Yeah so they don't. They don't risk some people, I should say some people in quotation, but they don't respect boundaries mm-hmm and.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing about this business, that that's where I struggle with where to draw the line and as I have been Working on that, I've had, like you know, I feel happy, I feel peace because I, I, I, I don't go into the rut of overworking myself and being depressed Because I'm working too much, I'm working around the clock and it's work, but at the same time, I have a family, I have other responsibilities, and you know this is not as much as I like to do this.
Speaker 2:This is not. This is not who I am. This is not, this is not me. An entirety you know I. I have other things I do, and so I have to draw the line. Yeah and so, I think, setting boundaries with these shops and letting them know Expectations. Like you know, this is what you're here to do. Do you need, do you need me to do anything else? That?
Speaker 2:helps them, because that you're kind of drawing the line there and they are knowing, they know at the end, if they don't achieve that result, if you program something that was misdiagnosed, it's not your fault because You've already, you know, set that expectation and this is what you're here to do.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, the policy and procedure and ex setting expectations is huge, and it's one of those things too, like a lot of it is they don't have respect for your time. You know, like if you, you know you, they set up an appointment with you and then you show up in the car, it's not there, it's not ready. You know you'd ask to have it inside, it's not inside, up in the air, it's not up in the air, the battery is dead, right, they don't know where the module is, where's the keys? I don't know. And so they don't have respect for your time. But it's one of those things where I've struggled with this too is you have to at first start with respecting your own time. You know, like Sean has to respect his time and say, hey, I can't waste a bunch of time doing this stuff, because if you don't in the first place, nobody else is going to right, they're just gonna keep doing it and keep, you know, walking all over you in that respect. And so that was like the first step for me is like, okay, I need to value my time and then then I can extend that out to in the business and where I'm taking hits as far as Productivity goes.
Speaker 1:But yeah, all that stuff, the policy and procedure having. I got a guy answer my phones now and that's been fantastic for that, because he's kind of got a script he goes through and he he's put some personality into it, of course, but it's like, hey, we need to. This is our checklist of things. Like we just got cold here, right, and so now our like cars and you be inside. If you were doing dyke, that's it right, and then you be inside. And so he's calling ahead and say, hey, can you get that car inside? And they do, and that's been. That's been really good to have some help there. But yeah, for anybody doing the stuff answering phones, man, get that policy procedure and use it every time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. There was a, I think. The other day I programmed our try to program a power stroke and it didn't. It didn't go through. That was having come some kind of communication fault and I was there, you know, I was already there for like an hour and a half and I had to go to the next appointment and I'm like this is not working. I've tried different VCI's. It's not working. It still says the same thing. You might have to take this to the dealer, and they were like what we have to take it to dealer Like, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2:I'm just like I, I can't do it yeah it's in simple plan, simple terms. I can't do it I. I can't be the hero all the time. It's just yeah what it is. And so I had to draw that line, took my my service call fee and you know, I left and, yes, I didn't make as much as I anticipated I'll make, but I was happy because I drew that line and I'm like, yeah, you gotta take it to the dealer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. That's a good piece of advice too. It was knowing when to walk away from something or when to say no to something. And there is a time, right like I'm all about taking on the challenge and stuff, but there's a time where you got a either just say no upfront or Cut ties with something like you're referring to. And I Mentioned on the show a couple times briefly. If I ever get it figured out, I'll probably do a case study on it.
Speaker 1:But it's a Subaru cross-track that I was doing an eyesight calibration on, could not get this thing to go and it's a big, long story. And I tried just about everything under the Sun that I could think of. But then also they got Recommended to me by Subaru technicians and people who know way more about a DOS than I do, and I tried all kinds of different stuff, always with the same air, and we had new parts, oe glass, different cameras, measuring angles, all kinds of different settings, you know as far as what the shop had available to them. I even like printed off an OE target and I had the top down target and we found a scratch on it. So I got a new target.
Speaker 1:Nothing, always the same air contrast air, contrast air, contrast air. And I had Hours and hours and hours and hours into this car with all the trips that I had made to try to get it for the shop, and eventually I just said hey guys, sorry, you're gonna have to take this. A dealer like I'm invested in this. Now I really want to know what's wrong with it, but Something I'm doing ain't working or something with my equipment, take it to the dealer. So they did, and they had to wait like a month to get it in or something like it was weeks before they could even look at it. And they do. They had it for two weeks. They had the same air that I did and they told them hey, you need a new camera. And so the shops like that's cool, but if we put a new camera in there and it doesn't work, we're not paying for it. No, like superiors agreed to that. So they put a new camera in contrast there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's OE glass in there. And so they spent two weeks on this thing and they gave up. They said, sorry, we can't fix it. So this, the shop, which is also used car lot body shop, it's kind of a kind of a big outfit. He took it because I told him, would you please just let me know what the dealer says fixed it Right. If they just go through a normal calibration, I'm going to be real questionable in my equipment. But he called me is like you're like this. They couldn't fix it after two weeks. I'm like, well, that makes me feel a little better. So I see, so they're keeping it as a loaner vehicle for now.
Speaker 1:He's like, hey, man, you want another crack at this thing sometime? Let me know, and I don't have any at the time to get back to it. But I would like to solve it. I would like to know what the heck that 19 cross track. So I've again, I've reached out to a number of people and a nice gentleman shared a TSP from Subaru where I measured like the angle of the mounting of the camera on the angle of the body of the vehicle and it's all where it needs to be. So something, something's up with that vehicle. I don't know what it is, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it sounds like yeah. I mean, you have to know when to say no, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you want to walk away.
Speaker 2:And if people can't respect that, then you know what? Like Sayonara.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, yeah, there's got to be got to be that mutual respect between you and your customer, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and one thing I'm finding some people I mean I want to say all most people, but some people they look at you. I mean when I say you, I mean the mobile guy, as they don't want to go to the dealer. So you are the who they come to because they don't want to go to the dealer, they want to deal with the dealer. And so I got a call the other day and this guy told me that he wanted like he got a radio, used radio from the junkyard that he wanted to make work in his GM. And I told him he's like, oh, they only said they say that it's so he can only work with either using a tech to some kind of factory tool was that old, so you can use your tech to on it.
Speaker 2:And I have I happen to have the tool with me and I told him the price, I was like yeah, it could work with a tech to is also, possibly they couldn't work and we might have to open it up and do some. You know, some e-prom work and this is the price for that. This is, you know, it's going to cost X amount of dollars. And he's like you know that you're charging as much as the dealer. Right, I'm like I'm charging, yeah, I'm more expensive than the dealer. It's like why I'm like? Because I am affording you convenience. I'm coming to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The dealer would charge you that amount regardless of whether they do squat or not. They're just going to charge. It's time You're paying for that.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And he didn't like that. So he ended the call and so I'm like like so you don't see the value in what I'm doing and you think that I should stoop below. And that was I struggled with that because it hurt Maybe I'll say it hurt my pride, it hurt me, and I was. I mean, he didn't see, he didn't respect me, he didn't respect my time, he didn't see value in what I was doing, and so he's like you shouldn't be charging more than the dealer.
Speaker 2:Who are you to charge more than the dealer? Or who? No, not even more than the dealer. Who are you to charge the same price as the dealer? So I'm just like, okay.
Speaker 1:The number one thing. The dealer didn't come to you. So there you go. Why I should charge at least the same, if not more. But then try calling some of the dealers. If it's anything like where I'm at, you call for some of these jobs and they're a minimum of a week out. That's like the best case scenario. We have a local Ford dealer that they can't do like programming until sometime in December, like it's in that Subaru. It was like a month before they could get it in and like we can get to you within 24 hours Most cases. There's exceptions, but we can get to you in like a day and so why would we not be charging more? Like you said, the convenience factor, that's where it's at. So that's yeah.
Speaker 1:And some of that is like salesmanship, right, selling yourself, selling your products, selling your business and that sort of stuff. And that's not my forte. I'll tell you that that's not my chosen profession. I never wanted to be a salesman of anything but as a business owner and kind of pick the stuff up as you go. And, like I said, I got a guy to help me with that kind of now, too, does most of the phone call. So he's much more of a salesman than I am. He's got a like a sales background and I'm cool with that. I'll fix the cars, cool man. Well, I really appreciate you spending some time with me, and we messaged back and forth a lot, and so it's been really nice to get to know you too, hopefully, amici, in person someday. Are you going to vision or anything, I think?
Speaker 2:I'm planning. I'm planning to go to at least one event next year 2020. Now probably be my New Year's resolution.
Speaker 1:Awesome yeah.
Speaker 2:To fly down there or drive down there, however it is. But I definitely want to make it a point to at least go to one of these events. I'm tired of living it vicariously through you guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the worst, when everybody's at an event and they're all posting about it and everything like oh man, I was just looking at the apex Seema stuff. I've never been to it, but there's a bunch of people I know I'm like, oh, that would be a blast, but you can't make it to every one of them. At least I can't. I don't have the time or the money to do something like that. But try to hit the big ones and I'll definitely be a vision this spring in Kansas City. So but yeah, thanks again for joining me. I really appreciate it, man. All right, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thank you so much for Maxwell for joining me today, and also a big thank you to everyone out there listening and all the feedback I get about the show. I really appreciate it. So keep it up. But with that out of the way, let's get out there and start fixing the world, one card at a time.