CollinsAutomotive

Theres nothing you can really do, outside of maybe getting your hands on the source code. The hardware is easy to reverse engineer, its dealing with the security software. BTW you are correct. There are 2 reaons however for these newer security measures. The first one is to prevent parts theft, the second is to lock in a exsclusive on repairs. Mostly it is part of a well intentioned anti theft program. However they do need to make available to us as a group, the tools to make these repairs.

This is difinatley a problem. Why does every midsize car need a different balljoint. Why not commoditize some of these parts. It would save the manufacturers boatloads of cash !

I can read that as if nothing was wrong.

In my area, its the backyard partschanger/mechanic.

We also had 2005 GMC Yukon. When it came in it was making a horrible noise, scanned computer and retrieved PO300 random multiple misfires. Live data showed intermittent misfires on 4 & 5 &6 pulled plugs, wires corrosion on the wires, rec: plugs and wires, vehicle was very salt corroded. Engine oil full and proper, oil pressure was good. Engine noise was consistant with RPM and gear change. Best guess was flexplate is cracked. We would have to disassemble to be sure. After repairs it was nice and quite with 2 mounting ears on the bell housing cracked and broken due to rust and may have previous work, no codes and none pending. He stopped by about a month later. It was making some noises. We suggested he take it to our Trasmission shop, we use. He did and the owner called us and said the the flex plate was broken again. He did the repair and we paid him. When I went and picked up the flex plate to turn into for a defective part, it was a disaster cracked all over and broken. No one here had ever seen anything like it except for racing or reving up and dropping it into gear. The transmission shop said they could not find anything we had done improperly. He said there had been an updated one from the dealer. I feel it is going to happen again, don't know.

TQ converter problem more then likely.

We also pay more than most shop and dealerships. But, I also feel I have the best techs because of it.

 

I know when I worked for flat rate in the 1970's, those lean weeks were tough. I was newly married with a new born baby. I had to work another part time job.

 

I think we should pay our techs a decent wage and reward them when they produce.

this greatly depends on the volatility of the shops cash flow and the local economy. If you go out of bussiness paying salarys, your not doing your tech any favors.

A 2002 VW Jetta arrived at our shop the other day, the customer complaint…no air conditioning. The system was fully charged so we started our diagnostic tests and found that there was a pulsing voltage to the a/c clutch. The fan control module would pulse a 12 volt signal every few seconds.

 

After a little research we learned that a faulty compressor clutch could be the fault. We ohmed the clutch coil and found it open. We replaced the compressor clutch and now the FCM sends a constant 12 volt signal and all is ok.

 

Maybe others have seen this, but it stumped me and my lead tech at first. Apparently, if there is a problem with the clutch coil, the voltage will pulse from the FCM.

 

It’s a good thing we did a little research to find how the system works before shot-gunning the problem.

Sounds they are using a current detecting transistor in the output from the module, either that or they are monitoring the feedback diode for current load and if the system sees a out of spec condition it will refuse to power the circut.

I'd have to check the diagram but this AC clutch was not relay drive ?

Initial start of an engine after an oil change causes a period of low oil pressure that wears an engine. Most people don't pre-fill oil filters and on many cars you can't do it anyway due to mounting locations/positions. This period of time where the oil filter is being primed wears the engine more than normal as there is little to no oil pressure. Listen for it when you do your oil changes, you'll notice those few seconds of the cams running dry before it quiets down. So over-maintaining an engine is actually worse than correct maintenance. Notice that car and filter manufacturers have been moving to smaller filters in part to reduce this problem.

 

On Brianp's comment, I agree you are correct if the manufacturer states an interval that short. It is rare now a days though.

ehh with today aluminum bearings I wouldn;t worry to much about dry starts. Plus the journals are well oiled during a oil change.

I'd really like to move out of the retail market. If you could share what it is that you are doing/have done to build this side of your bussiness I would really like to know more. I have several fleets now but I am not sure of how to really go out and get more and what types of fleets tend to be the most profitable.

I have a well equipped 3 bay shop with everything you could ever need to fix a damn car/truck down to fabrication tools.

So I would gladly take any input in this direction.

In March at our Car-x trade show I talked to the Walker exhaust people about some of the problems we have had with aftermarket Goerlich/Catco converters. This problem has been most confined to some GMs for us. Here is what he told me. He said that there are certain vehicles that all of the after market converter manufacturers have had problems with. This is because the computers in those cars had a finer tolerance and these after market converters would thus trigger a code. He told me that all of the manufacturers had addressed this problem by coming up with a new design beefer converter loaded with more of the precious stuff and that now they pretty much had this problem licked as long as you go with the new design converters.

thats very beliveable actually. I remeber about 5 years ago replacement cats were a crap shoot. I don't replace many of them but I did notice less check engine lights on in recent years with replacement cats.

There are programming tools which will allow you to change the switching thresholds of the sensors. But it requires a good bit of knowledge to execute and you won't be able to do all cars.

chrysler trucks with the 5.2 and 5.9 and even some hmei models had cat efficiency checking that was so lax, you could take the cat off and it would likely not set a light.

First let me say that it is good to have you on the forum. You have posted some good stuff today and I appreciate it. The point I wanted to make is that O'Reilly has their own Import multi-vehicle transmission fluid out. It is about $5.00 a quart and it says specificially on the bottle that it meets the Honda requirements.

I can put anything I want on the bottle. find out if the fluid has bene OEM certified. I doubt it. The thing with honda transmissions "in particular" is that honda units are very fickle about fluid. VERY. ZF's and other transmissions are more tolerant but the design of the honda unit, the friction metrials the shaft designs and the valve body, all designed for that specific fluid.

I wouldn't chance a come back on it. Even on my honda overhauls I buy the clutchs at $16 each from the dealers and most units have 20+ clutchs becuase its all very critical.

I am sure that someone is playing the wide end of the spec becuase merV and honda ATF and ZF's all have very different fluid requirements. There is no way to do a one size fits all fluid.

Shops need to get paid for diagnostic time. Why is it that I speak to so many shop owners who have a fear charging for what they are worth? If I hear one more time that it only took his tech 20 minutes to diagnose a faulty O2 sensor or if the customer agrees to the repair they remove the analysis charge, I just may shoot someone!

 

Shop owners have NO problem selling 1.2 hrs for replacing front brake pads and rotors on a Honda Civic which takes most techs about 15 minutes, but struggle with charging diagnostic time???? What about all the years of training, cost of diagnostic tools, updates, Alldata, Mitchell, IATN, Identifix, Factory web sites, etc. Factor those costs into your analysis time and you’ll see it’s not just the 20 minutes it took to find the faulty O2, but years of training and ten’s of thousands of dollars of investment.

 

Who among fellow shop owners is as frustrated over this as I am?

It is very prevelant in my economic area and it makes billing almost impossiable. I break my diagnostics into .5 hours segements. We usually charge .5 hours to do a quick trouble shoot and then break diagnostics into further increments based on the problems we find in teh initial .5 hour inspection.

Unfortunately companies like autozone are devaluing our bussiness and Its is very very fustrating.

Aftermarket cats have less paladium and platinum in them, they also have different substrate materials to make the lower content of precious metals a more workable solution. They have vastly lower services life due to this.

OEM cats in a market that demands 100% emissions conpliance is huge. Also alot of oil companies are adding nitrogen and more ethanol to the fuel. Ethanol leaves a very aggrevating residue lower tempature aftermarket cats may not be capable of burning off.

I don't replace many cats. Although I get lots of exhuast repairs lately where cats have been stolen and the customer refuss to replace the catalyst. Thats becomign very prevelant.

If you are in a area with lax enforcement you can also buy programming tools to remove the annoying codes if thats what your customers wish.

We also work on alot of race cars and street performance mcahicnes so my customer spectrum may widely vary from that of the average auto shop.

Torque Converter Clutch Drop Out, 98 Dodge Pickup 2500 Diesel

 

Yesterday, we had a 98 Dodge pickup 2500 diesel that the torque converter clutch would engage and disengage at 40-45 miles per hour, when warmed up. You could clearly see the converter clutch drop out and engage again on a scanner. The first thing we noticed during our visual inspection was that battery terminals were badly corroded. We cleaned them up, road tested extensivly and all is ok. Hard to believe! Like everyone says, always start with basics.

I once knew a guy at the dealer who followed the diagnostic tree for a o2 code, he replaced a harness a ECM 4 o2 sensors. A older tech rolled over and cleaned the grounds and the car was fixed, morall of the story. If you have odd electrical behaviors, clean the terminals.

I understand the issue with correct friction modifiers, but if your service your transmission using BG fluid every 30,000 miles, BG will protect your car and give you a protection plan for the life of the vehicle for your transmission. The plan will give you $2,000 if you start the servicing under 36k miles, $1000.00 if you start the program under 75k miles.

 

BG is a good company, why would they stand behind their product, if the product did not work?

 

Maybe we should hear from a BG rep????

As far as I know, BG fluids specifically for transmissions have not been certified as viable replacements by the OEM's. they have not gone through the OEM validation process.

Also mercV and Honda ATF have very different viscosity index's. While BG fluid is fine in most domestic transmissions putting it into a unit with say a paper clutch vrs a high carbon high energy clutch and a aggresive drive could certainly spell disaster in the right circumstances.

Also there is a wide variance in the lubrication film strength as well. BG makes a good product, it just isn't suited for ZF AW or Honda units.I have used it in chrysler vehicles and within a few thousand miles they typically developed converter shutter.

Basically my solution as the shop forman was to use BG synthetic in only vehicles where there was a wide tolerance of formulation.

there are times when as a rebuilder I will change fluids but those are instances where I know how to modify the transmission to accept this and I have very valid reasons for doing so.

claims by BG with me are largely ignored. They do not have a OEM certification or validation that I am aware of for that fluid for use in honda, ZF's AW or chrysler units.

I hear many conflicting points of view about Honda/Acura transmission services. The Honda/Acura dealers in my area only do a drain and refill. They claim that servicing the transmission with a total fluid exchange machine (notice I did not say flush) that removes all the old fluid and refills with new is not advisable. Also, Honda claims that if you should only use Honda fluid.

 

We have all BG machines and perform transmission services on just about all makes and models. We have been doing this for more than 10 years. We also use BG synthetic fluid. I believe that I am giving my customers a great value by performing preventive maintenance and we back it up with the BG Lifetime program if the vehicle has under 75,000 miles.

 

I do know one things, Honda/Acura has a lot of transmission issues that cannot be blamed on “TOO MUCH” servicing.

 

I would like others to tell me their thoughts on Honda transmissions and other fluid services.

BG synthetic fluid does not have the proper friction modfiers for use in honda transmission. there is no discussing this. The formulation is more akin to Mercron V.

as I rebuild transmissions and I have done many honda units, the proper fluid is critical for shit timming, les or improperly friction modified fluid can and doe cuase shift timming errors which can cuase binding of the unit during shifts and ultimately more transmission failures. Honda have synchronus shifting transmissiona dn shift timming is critical. for that matter most of the 2007 up model american cars have gone to similar synchronous shifting. This creates all sort of new problems over the old Ascynchronus designs from 10 years ago.

clearances clutch and band, fluid, shift timing all play a part in the service life of modern transmissions.

this ain't you mommas 1975 ltd with a fmx.

the only thing I can think of is if it wasnt allowing the rings to properly seat on a new engine? Otherwise Im at a loss.

Most modern engines come with a steel nitrided coated ring set on the top ring, a moly coated second ring and a low tension oil control ring in stainless.

There is no wear problem or break in issue with any modern rings, not only that but most engine assembly lines test spin new engines at end of line and the ring seating is checked and done there.

You can't over maintain a engine, what you can do is underdrive a engine and if the oil does not reach the proper tempature the detergents will not effectively clean the engine and moisture will not evaoporate out of the engine and you will get sludge. also carbon will accumulate in the rings and cuase oil burning and consumption.

the worst thing in the world or a engine is to constantly operate it below the designed operating tempature. It takes a good 15-20 minutes of run time at full tempature for the detergent carbon etc to burn off.

If you have customers who only short trip their vehicles it should be your job to alert them to the damage they are doing and that you need a more aggresive service schedule for things like the mity vac decarbon system, gm top end cleaner etc.

I used a ProCut at the last dealer I worked before I opened my shop and I was NOT impressed. And the excuses you got from the salesman simply show that he is not in touch with his customer base. As for disconnecting the driveshaft, that's no big deal, and yes you have to do it on some rear/4wd vehicles. To tell you that you have to cut new rotors too is simply ignorant. I am very picky about my brake jobs and I measure and index the rotors for minimum lateral runout and I rarely have an undamaged new rotor beyond .001" LRO (if it is beyond that the rotor is waaaayyyy beyond, like .005-.008") and the ProCut machine I used couldn't consistently achieve less than .001" so why would you cut a new rotor just to have the same LRO? Your salesman was an idiot.

 

And I'm not sure what you guys think is cheap for a rotor but when I can sub out my rotor machining for $9.00 each (I don't anymore because I have a brake lathe, but I'm just saying) at $24.00 cost per rotor, like the ones I'm installing this morning, are a whole lot more expensive. I guess though the way some shops bragged about their loss leader $149.00 all inclusive brake jobs on ASO awhile ago it would be more profitable to replace than to resurface rotors. But when a rotor comes in and measures .040" over machine to how can you ethically or legally recommend replacement when from all appearances a routine resurface is all that it needs? Rotors aren't $15.00 anymore like they used to be so even if you charge fairly for pad replacement and for rotor resurfacing, adding a pair of new rotors can up the bill sometimes by quite a bit. I mean even slapping on new rotors you still have to clean the hub and measure the runout so it's not a labor free operation to just put on new rotors either.

 

As for an on-the-car brake lathe, if you see a lot of captured rotors it would be well worth the money, but otherwise get a good brake lathe, and a top notch chuck. Scratch cut the rotor twice to make sure you have it mounted square and you should have no problems.

To your comment about how to ethically replace a rotor that is 40 thou heavy over spec is interesting. I think this depends on geography. We get plenty of rotors here in michigan which are technically cut capable but often they have so much corrosion that the venting is clogged, the rotor is heavily pitted, there is extremly amount of rust in the mounting surfaces. To bill to clean and cut these rotors is not normally economically feasable. Most of the popular rotrs from Napa " maste installer pricing" are very reasonable 15-25 usd. I think its also a case of can we ensure that the rotor does not overheat and if it does LRO goes out the window.

I take rotors on a case by case basis but given our local enviroment we often replace over resurface simply becuase there are other factors beyond thickness.

As to LRO, I have seen in recent years that new rotors have less LRO then they used to. Maching quality is substantially better. Alot of times I used to cut rotors for LRO and surface finish reasons.

the other unmentioned factor is hub rotor interface corrosion. There are sevral kits avaialable now that make this job of cleaning and removing scale and rust far easier then it was 5years ago.

So you have to understand not every geography is going to manifest the same isssues.

I used a ProCut machine for 2 years along side of a amcco lathe. The only time I found that machine worth using was on captvie rotor. I told my boss not to buy it as most captive rotors need replacing anyway and its not even difficult to do the honda rotors. Just remove the hub.

Anyways The real moral of the story was that when guys used the procut we had much higher incidence of comeback with shake and brake. Root cuase was techs weren't properly cleaning the hub surface.

Now my tech and I clean the hub surface rotors backs all moutning areas thuroughly. I have been in my currently location for 5 years and I have had 3 come back with shake and brake.

We do 10-15 brake jobs a week during the sommer months.

Just a new member checking in

Sean