Gonzo

Air Bag Light in Disguise Gonzo 2011 Sometimes I wonder if the things I find wrong with some of these cars are just there for me to find out how ridiculous some people can be. I've got to question the thought process of the brilliant ideas that some people can have, just before total stupidity takes over. I gotta ask… "What were you thinking?" The other day I had a late 90's GM in the shop. The owner had recently bought it off of a small car lot, and had no idea of the history of the vehicle. It was one of those "great deals" that he couldn't pass up. Why is it these "great" deals always have some sort of catch to them? Maybe it would be a good idea to have it checked out before you buy it. After looking at it, I might tell you to "pass it up". Honestly, I'll never understand why someone will buy a used car when they know nothing about it, or decide after they buy it to finally have it checked out … but they do. This particular creation had some strange problems. It had a strange battery drain. At first glance all the instrument cluster warning lights, interior lights, and all the electrical functions seemed to be working correctly. There was a drain, a good one too. Strong enough to drain the battery in a day, or so. Finding the solution actually was going to lead to an even bigger problem. Narrowing it down by watching the amp meter for the parasitic draw value, and pulling fuses till the numbers dropped back into factory specs was the next procedure. Of all things, it ended up back to a crossed up circuit between the air bag system and the charging system. I decided to check the air bag system for codes. This is interesting, it's off line. No communication with the crash box. Hmmm, I'm a little confused, because I know I saw the air bag light come on and go off when I pulled it into the shop. Turning the key off, and then restarting the car didn't help me much, because the air bag light was on… and then off. But then, maybe it did. Like I said, the light came on, and then went off… hey, wait a minute isn't there supposed to be a few seconds before it goes off? Isn't this how it verifies its systems are functioning properly? I thought so. So, what's going on here? As a technician I'm trying to follow the codes, the diagnostic charts, and the operating description of the system I'm working on. This particular problem wasn't following the chain of typical scenarios. Take in account this whole thing started off because of a battery drain… I'm really starting to scratch my head over this one. I had a lot of different ways to go with this one. I could try and follow the draw a little further, or I could chase the problem from the air bag side of it. Maybe, it will all lead to the same problem. For my money I think I'll work on it from the air bag side of the problem. The air bag fuses were all good, and the light did come on in the dash. So, I decided to pull the air bag diagnostic module out and pin check the leads to see if that lead anywhere. My first check on any system is the positive signals and then the grounds. Why's that you ask? Because a loss of ground can be seen as an open lead, and if the positive signals are there, you'll actually find a voltage signal on the open ground. That's what electricity wants to do… find ground, and find the shortest path back to the source of the voltage. In this case they were all there, but when I checked the leads to the instrument cluster the voltage was coming towards the crash box rather than to the cluster. What now? (I love my job, I love my job, repeat as necessary) I guess I better pull the cluster and check the wiring from there back to the crash box and see if that leads anywhere. After pulling the dash it didn't take a rocket scientist to see what the problem was. On the back of the instrument cluster somebody had cut the circuit board line to the air bag light, and then added a soldered-on wire to the charge light. So when the charge light was on, so was the air bag light. Once the car started (providing the charging system is working correctly) the charge light would go out, and so would the air bag light. Huh??? You can imagine my "mechanical language" was not for the faint of heart when I found out what was going on. It seems some genius didn't want to replace the air bag module, so they invented their own air bag warning light instead. Brilliant stupidity… I think that's the best way to explain it. I can't imagine somebody went thru all the trouble to deceive the buyer of this car for a safety issue such as air bags. It should be a criminal offense. After undoing the homemade airbag light, the draw was completely gone. Now the only thing to do was to replace the air bag module to bring it back up to working order. I'm not saying anybody would have caught the problem at first glance. It was a well thought out deception. If you were not intentionally looking for an air bag light delay, I don't think you would have caught the problem. Leave it to some unscrupulous dork out there to try something like this. But, I still think it is a good idea to have the car checked out prior to buying it. Maybe, just maybe, you can spot problems like this before you own the problem. these stories are here before finally editing. Your comments are welcome and always love to hear from everyone. If you have a similar story, let me know. Watch for my articles in several automotive trade magazines. Gonzo View full article

It's timeless... I don't think it will ever change in this business. All the tomorrows start with doing a good job today. you can quote me on that one... LOL

Joe, you are always welcomed with your comments. I see I accomplished what I set out to do in this story. Have guys like you and me read this, and walk away with a better outlook on what we do. A little self gratification is what I call this article. Like ya said, it's a roller coaster of emotions. It makes ya think of the past and the future at the same time. I can't think of a better way to express it than the way I wrote this article. I'm sure one of my editors is going to pick this one up and print it in one of my columns. I think it's a story that needs to be told to everyone out there in the business. Thanx again Joe, as always... I'm very appreciative of ASO, it's my pleasure to share my thoughts and stories with everyone. All the best... Gonzo

Some Fatherly Advice Gonzo 2010 Before my father passed away we spent several years under the hood of cars working together at my shop. He was an old school repair guy. Always looking out for the customer, and wanting to do that little bit extra for them. You know, adjust that crooked license plate, grease the door hinges before they pulled away from the shop, that kind of thing. I usually did the diagnostic work, and he would stick with the mechanical repairs. But most of the time his favorite thing to do was to entertain the customer while I figured out the problem. The one thing that would give him fits was the way a customer would react after I diagnosed the problem, especially if I diagnosed it quickly. A quick diagnostic might be fine for some people, but others it was more of a matter of pride that their "regular" mechanic hadn't found it so quickly, or that the customer themselves didn't find it so easily. It didn't set well with them. I got the impression that a quick diagnosis led to some sort of mistrust with my abilities, or that I didn't thoroughly examine the problem to their satisfaction. A lot of times it had more to do with the previous technician taking so much time and not coming up with an answer, so they think it can't be that simple. Dad had his own answer for it. He was going to get one of those aluminum foil fire suits, a couple of tall curtains on moveable stands, a disco ball, and some strobe lights. His idea was to pull the car into this "special" diagnostic area turn on the strobe lights and hang the disco ball over the car. Stick the suit on and make some comment like, "I'm going in…" and then let the light show begin. After a few minutes, come out from behind the curtain wall, whip off the aluminum fire suit hood and say something like, "Whoo that was a tough one." Maybe then, these types of people would be more likely to believe the results of a quick diagnosis. We never tried it, but I think about doing it from time to time. With the advent of the scanners to read and show detailed parameters diagnosing has taken on a whole new approach. A lot of problems are a matter of following the diagnostic tree correctly to get to the source of the problem. (Codes don't fix cars… codes are the starting point) Sometimes it's a quick trip on the diagnostic ladder, and other times it's quite lengthy. It really depends on the problem, of course. Trying to be quick and on the right track with every diagnosis is what makes the money in the shop. Stalling the results just for the sake of making it look like it was an extensive search to find the problem doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Then on the other hand, I sometimes believe this is one of the many reasons why a doctor has you wait so long for his 10 minutes of time. Even though he may have walked into the exam room, looked at the chart, took some quick looks at you, and back out of the exam room in less than 10 minutes, I'll guarantee his bill isn't going to show a 10 minute charge on it. But, in my business, time is money… and most customers are watching the clock. Back in the days when my father and I worked together, he came across an old Bosch injector tester for the early K and L injection systems. The old tester was done for. Not only was it dated, it had several missing connectors and the information booklet didn't come with it. I took it apart and rewired it as a large volt meter, with a lighted buzzer attached to a separate set of wires. We then rigged up a swinging arm mounted to the wall out of PVC pipe. The pipe contained the wires to the tester that we mounted on the wall. It was more for decoration than usable, but it was kinda cool in its own funky way. Anytime we got one of those "lookylews" (one of my dad's favorite words), you know the type, the kind that has to hover over the hood while you're working on it. Dad would motion to me to wire up the buzzer to the battery, and use it as a way to find the draw or short in the car. His job was to entertain, while I looked for the problem. Most of the time, I'd study the wiring diagrams, determine the most likely spot for the problem, and find the solution. As I would get close to the problem I would intentionally ground out the buzzer on the wall, and it would make a horrible noise. Dad would make a comment to the customer as to what was going on. His old school charm was what made the difference. At times this whole thing would get quite humorous. I'd be lying under the dash zapping the buzzer and good old dad would be working his magic with his broad smile, and his quirky sense of humor. These days the electronic scanners have somewhat evened the playing field. To some degree the abilities of a good tech are now wrapped up in a good quality diagnostic machine. But it still takes a good tech to understand it, and evaluate the information he/she sees on the screen. I still try to diagnose things as fast and accurately as I can. I don't have the old buzzer, or my dad's inventive conversations with the customers to help me with the diagnostics. It's a memory I'll never forget. But, I'll always keep in mind some of those lessons from my father… "Take your time son, you're good… but they (the customer) don't know how good you are… so you'll have to prove it to them each and every time." Old school wisdom is still important, and fatherly advice is some of the best. Thanx for taking time to read my stories. These stories are here for your enjoyment and before final editing. As a shop owner, an author, and a syndicated columnist I spend an equal amount of time writing as well as turning wrenches. So each week I try to introduce one new story for everyone to read. Your comments are extremely valuable to me to find out what you think of the stories. Leave a comment and visit my webiste www.gonzostoolbox.om for more auto info. Thanx again, Gonzo View full article

As I am deep into the electronic side of things I do have a different look at this whole problem. First off, cars in the past have had unitended acceleration problems, but most could be accounted for by a mechanical failure... why, well we didn't have the computer controls as of today. (dah) One that I remember was the mid 70's GM cars that would have the motor mount go bad... you would gun the engine and it would rock the engine over in the engine bay and pull the accelerator cable even more... that was a biggie. This Toyota deal, well, very much a different kind of problem. Even though from the reports I've read, the "experts" (from NASA) have gone thru miles of line codes and could not find anything in the programming that could cause the problem. I'm not convinced. Sorry NASA... but you guys aren't perfect either. If they asked me, I'd say it's possible that something is doing it in the programming... hell, if NASA can't prove it then I guess my vote doesn't count... LOL Back in the mid 80's the Audi 5000 had a run away problem. Where it would drop in gear and take off on it's own. The result of that little incident led to the shift interlock... (doubt if many people knew that's why we have shift interlocks today) However, the run away problem was hushed up and never talked about again. I worked on a lot of those 5 cylinder cars... My opinion, the cause was the interaction with the cruise control electronic module and the computer system in the car. All of which was "designed" out of later models. The reason it woul drop into gear by itself (in my opinion) was because when the engine would race the detent for the park position was usually worn down and it didn't take much force to knock it out of park. Ok, that's about all I've got... hope it makes sense. I guess in a nut shell... I think there still is a weird problem with the software... but that's just my opinion, and I DO think IF it is a software issue... the real issue comes back to the operator... PUT THE DAMNED THING IN NUETRAL ! ! So operator error still is an issue. Gonzo

LMAO --- you are so right Joe... reminds me of my story "Breaker, Breaker" I think I posted that one a while ago... LMAO gotta lovem... even with all the high end electronics... human mistakes still happen. Then I start thinking what would happen if the world really was taken over by the "machines" LOL doubt it will ever happen... because every time a computer goes into snail mode (processing, processing, processing) that's just enough time for some dumbass human like me to slap the sh$t out the dam thing.... LOL So even though we humans have our faults... it's still ain't a bad thing... thanx for the comments. Gonzo

Sounds like you've found something in my articles that you can use ... nice... I'll keep them coming Gonzo

Class Act all the way.

Can ya still make calls with it??

I would have to agree with most of the comments on this one. But I'll add one more thing to this. When an employee screws up and you as the owner feel like it's their fault and you can prove it do to their neglance... that's one thing. But the other is, they are employees.. they chose not to put a sign up and go into business you and I did. As the owner you ARE responsible for EVERYTHING that happens during the business hours involving the customers cars. What ever way you decide on how to take care of this problem it will lead to whether or not your employee will be around in the future. As much as it pains me to say this... but as the owner it's your pocket thats going to be affected. Not the customer or the employee. If it's not fixed to your customers satisfaction then it's your problem, If the employee doesn't feel that it's a justified problem by his short comings... you're still the the problem. Either way... it's your problem. The other advise... try a new insurance company...

First, The Basics, Let’s talk diagnostics. Do you follow any kind of diagnostic procedure, or do you just throw darts on a wall, or play “pick-a-part” and hope you fix it before you or the customer runs out of cash. I hope you don’t do that. That might work some of the time, but it’s not a good way to get to the source of problems quickly or accurately. One of the tire shops that I do business with dropped off a 2003 F450 with a 7.3 diesel for me to look at. It’s one of their service trucks that died on the highway. These guys are super, I’ve known them for years, and they’ve got a great reputation and excellent work force. In fact, I buy all my tires there, and they do all my alignments. They try to fix their own trucks “in-house” and sometimes, well……the repair/diagnostics are a little out of their comfort zone. This was one of those times. Now, they don’t try to keep up with the scanning or diagnostics on most cars and trucks. It’s a tire shop that specializes in tires. They stick to what they do best, tires, wheels, and undercarriage stuff. The only “techy” stuff they get into is with the TPM systems. Most generally, when it comes to their vehicles they’ll go with the tried and true…”throw a dart and whatever it hits we’ll change.” Of course they’ll ask around first, but you know, second hand information hardly ever gets the job done these days. They had it at one of their stores in another town for about 3 weeks trying to solve the problem. When that didn’t work they decided to tow it up to another one of their stores, and see if the guys there had a better dart. Another couple of weeks and several darts later, all they had were holes in the wall and no truck running. Then my phone rang. “Can you program a PCM on a F450?” the shop asked. “No, sorry I don’t do those, but I know who does. I’ll call him and see if he can come over and do that for you,” I told them. A day or two went by and the phone rang again. “Hey, this thing still doesn’t start. The guy that programmed it said it sounded like an electrical problem”. Ok, somehow, I’m getting involved now. “Sure, bring it over,” I told them. Well, they towed it over with a strap pulled by an F250 diesel truck. The F250 looked like a toy truck compared to this behemoth. With a push and a shove from the F250 the guys got it lined up and into one of my service bays. The big concern was the IDM relay, it kept chattering like a machine gun. Instead of checking codes I thought it best just to start with a complete wire to wire check to determine if there was some lost signal that was causing the problem, or a wire that was scraped and grounding out. Removing the inner fender on the driver side I could gain access to the Injector module (IDM) and the PCM (Power control module). Seemed easier to start here than any place else. It didn’t take long before I tracked down a problem. On pin #71 of the (new) PCM there should have been 12 volts from the ignition. No voltage at the terminal. Tracing the wiring diagram thru its maze it led back to the in-car fuse box on fuse #22. I grabbed my test light and checked the fuse… (Rolling my eyes about now) the fuse,… oh man… the fuse is blown. Good grief… all this for a blown fuse. Well, better change the fuse, and see if it starts. Sure enough; it fired right up… sounded great, good throttle response, and no service lights. Now the big challenge, what blew the fuse in the first place? Following the wiring diagram again…. I traced out all the components on the fuse circuit. There was one that caught my eye as the likely culprit. The brake cut-off switch mounted on the master cylinder. (It’s the one that had the big recall a few years ago.) The updated replacement piece was in place but somebody forgot to secure the wires. The replacement piece has a newer style connector and an adapter connector to allow you to attach it to the original style fastener. Which makes it a little longer than it originally was from the factory. It was hard to tell where the new wire and connector started, and the old one ended, because the whole thing was lying on the exhaust manifold, and had melted down to a glob of wire and plastic. Looking around under the hood there were all kinds of new parts installed. The nicest part……they were all installed correctly. There were no other wires out of place, or any signs of scraps or melted wiring. The important thing is that it runs, and the truck can go back to doing what it needs to do. I think the biggest thing that threw everyone on this job was the chattering relay. It sounded bad, sounded expensive… but, all it turned out to be was a loss of proper voltage to the PCM, because a fuse blew from a lead that grounded out. This was due to the improper installation of one small component. The PCM couldn’t spread enough voltage and ground signals to all the necessary systems when it was missing the voltage it needed. As the relay would engage, the voltage drop was too much to keep the relay engaged. The IDM would pull more signal voltage as the relay would come to life. Then the PCM would have to drop the ground signal to the IDM relay to compensate for the loss of voltage. All this was going on very rapidly … on and off, on and off… making the machine gun sound coming from the IDM relay. The guys at the tire store were extremely grateful that I got the job done, so they could use the truck again. For me, it’s another day at the shop. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the guys at the tire shop. Hey they tried, I’ll give them that. But one thing I wish they would do next time --- CHECK THE BASICS—BEFORE BUYING PARTS! It’s cheaper that way… I'd like to thank ASO for allowing me to post these stories. Everyone here gets to see them before I send them to the editors for final approval. Not all stories make it into print and a lot of times I use your comments and interests in the story as a gauge to whether send them on. (Ya haven't let me down yet...!) Enjoy, any comments you have are appreciated. Gonzo visit my website for additional stories and info www.gonzostoolbox.com View full article

LOL Joe, Think of it this way... If it wasn't for me, they'd all be coming to see you. LOL Don't worry, I gave this guy your address.. he'll be there shortly... Thanx for the comments... always can count on ya Gonzo

Distributor Fall Out As the years start sliding by, I don't remember all the details on every job, especially the daily typical jobs that don't present a problem. So when someone comes into the shop with an issue on a past repair, and my memory doesn't even recall the job, paperwork makes a difference. A strange traveler comes thru the front door clutching the remains of what he referred to as his distributor cap and rotor. It was nothing more than several small pieces of plastic, most of which were no larger than an inch or two. It was the color of a distributor cap, I'll give him that. And, there's no doubt the pieces could be described as car parts… but at this point it was hard to tell for sure what they really are. Not even recognizing this guy as an old customer, I asked, "What can I do for you?" He carefully placed the pieces on the counter, making sure not to lose even one scrap of plastic. He piled them all together ever so carefully, as if they were some sort of archeologist find. He seemed very shaky, nervous, and not quite all there. Looking up slowly at me he points at his little creation lying on the counter. "I'd like my money back on this." Now let's think about this….. An unknown person walks into your place of business holding onto shards of plastic, and is asking you to give his money back. I think you'd better start asking a lot of questions. "Now why would I want to do that?" I asked, while looking at this small pile of gray matter, still not sure of the reasoning behind all of this. "I drove my truck to the coast, and when I got there it quit running. I had to have it towed to a shop, and they said you didn't have this on right. So I'm here to get my money back," the nervous, frustrated, and starting to get upset customer said. Now mind you, I'm nowhere near any coast. The last time I checked a map, Oklahoma still doesn't have any beach front. I'm not taking this as some sort of joke; I'm going to get to the bottom of this problem. This beach bum is dead serious, and he's getting pretty demanding about the whole thing. The only problem I have is I don't remember when I did all of this. "How long ago did you have this installed?" I asked. "Not that long ago," he answered. "Do you have an invoice?" "No." Was that any surprise? Of course not, did ya ever notice most of the "complainers" generally don't have any proper paperwork. But, the person who keeps repair receipts as an important part of their car's history usually doesn't have these kinds of unusual problems. The only thing this road warrior has is an attitude. "I'll need your name and car information, I'll see if I can find something for you." As I dug thru the files, my not so patient globe trekker was drumming his fingers on the counter showing his contempt for everything I was doing. The more I dug the more frustrated this guy was getting. His constant drumming on the counter was turning into a nervous pace. One second leaning as far as he could over the counter to see what I was doing, the next he was hanging onto the end of the counter by his finger tips, while leaning as far back as he could possibly go, then pace to the other end of the counter…. and do the same thing all over again. "Do you have any idea when you had it in the shop?" I asked again. "Yea, it was about 2 years ago man," still swaggering back and forth. The files went flying and landed with a "smack" on top of the counter. I rested my shaking head on my hands with both elbows on the desk. Then, turned to look at this guy (whom I still don't recognize), and stared in disbelief. "2 years? Well, if there was any kind of warranty on the parts its run its course by now." "You better do something, otherwise I'm going to go to the BBB and complain!" he shouted at me. The BBB, really, I could have guessed that… this guy fits the mold. A person, who shouts and complains about things that probably have other explanations than the one they have created in their own little mind. While the whole thing is based on information they have gathered from an unknown third party. And, not one stitch of documentation to prove their point. Sounds about right…! "Make sure you spell my name correctly when ya do, buddy," I shouted back, "You can head back to the coast for all I care. I'm going to do you and me a big favor, and ask you to leave." I guess the guy wasn't expecting a comeback like that. Could have been this guys medication has finally kicked in. Because he just stood there in shock. All his drumming and pacing came to a stop. Now it's the statue routine, stand there and stare at me … stone sober and motionless. "So you're not going to do anything about it?" he bantered back. "Sir, it's like this. I don't remember you ever coming in here. You don't have any paperwork, and you tell me it's been 2 years since anything was done. I can't remember any small engine parts that are warranted for that long. And, I can't think of anything I would have sold with a warranty for that long without some paperwork with it. Engines, transmissions may have longer warranties but there is a series of paperwork trails that can be followed all the way back to the manufacturer. With your problem, there are too many opportunities for something else to be the cause of the failure." "So I'm just out the money I spent." "Sorry, but I can't take your word for your problems. I need paperwork or something from the last shop that would verify the repairs. Do you have any of that?" "No." "You're out of luck my friend," I told him. He left without another word. And there on the counter were the remains of his archeological find. To think this guy carefully transported the remains of his trucks entrails across the country to deliver them back to the counter from which they supposedly came from. Only to leave them laying there all alone, without even a second thought. I had time to examine the plastic bits; most of the pieces were indescribable. I'm not even sure it's a distributor cap. In fact some of the pieces looked as if they were smashed with a hammer. Hmmm, now I'm wondering… who really was being taken advantage of here? I never heard from this guy again. I guess he is out traveling somewhere across the country with another handful of car parts as his passenger. Maybe, he's heading to your shop next. If he hasn't shown up yet, I'll give ya a little heads up. He's the guy that carries his own busted parts into the lobby and demands service based on his third party expertise, and probably doesn't have any paperwork to go with it. You'll know him when ya see him. These stories are here before final editing and publication. You get to be the first to check them out. Enjoy! View full article

Thank you for everything... guys like you are my inspiration. And, if I do end up hanging up the old multi meter I'll have to visit shops for story ideas... So I'll be here for a long long time. Thanx again. Gonzo

Here's a link to my latest adventure. I've been signed up for 3 trade magazines for monthly columns. Check out the write up. http://brakeandfrontend.com/Article/83874/scott_gonzo_weaver_joins_babcox_media_team_as_columnist.aspx Leave a comment if you'd like. Thanx Gonzo