I've said it before and I'll say it again. It is easy to head down the proverbial diagnostic rabbit trail. This video is just a reminder to all of you to try and not let that happen by planning the work and then working the plan. I am not exempt from these mistakes either. -Enjoy!
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50 thoughts on “Stick to your routine!”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars BUTTABALLA999 says:

    Great video!

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars J S says:

    I just saw this one today, a year after you posted. Super nice as always BUT one question. I understand the shorted #1 injector but not sure I understand it’s effect on cyc 2&3 which were not shorted. Thanks

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars MELO says:

    He rolled a fatty before this video.

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars jeramy duncan says:

    Why would #1 cause miss on other ones? Please explain very good diagnosis

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars buddycraigg says:

    sorry about your eye

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jordan S. says:

    So sharp this guy

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Buz Off says:

    But they're not embarrassed, after the $3K bill, or any other Pull A Part Til Its Fixed venture. And we're stuck cycling through Pull A Part Til Its Fixed garages, which has included dealerships.
    Right now, about all we have to discern is ASE.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars jerry c says:

    Sorry about your eye… that reminds me of a pirate talking to a barkeep:

    'Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible.'

    'What do you mean?' said the pirate, 'I feel fine.'

    Bartender: What about the wooden leg? You didn't have that before.

    Pirate: Well, we were in a battle and I got hit with a cannon ball, but I'm fine now.
    Bartender: Well, ok, but what about that hook? What happened to your hand?
    Pirate: We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with a hook. I'm fine, really…

    Bartender: What about that eye patch?

    Pirate: Oh, one day we were at sea and a flock of birds flew over. I looked up and one of them pooped in my eye.
    Bartender: You're kidding, you lost an eye just from bird poop?

    Pirate: It was my first day with the hook.

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars jorge fernandez says:

    Even with one eye you can see the problem that others missed. You are the best.👍👍👍

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars ehsnils says:

    Using eyes (sorry eye) and ears first could tell a lot. Reading the spark plugs is essential in engine diagnostics. And how does the vehicle behave when driving can also tell a lot more than the codes.

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Latarian HoodRat says:

    Now I'm gonna lose sleep over my 2013 Ridgeline… Has 30,000 miles.

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars YoBoyJoeBoogie says:

    Installed a engine at 2 in the morning trying to get away from a nagging wife. Forgot to put the fly wheel on and didn’t notice until I tried to bolt it to the torque converter. Everything else was already hooked up 😡

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Henry D says:

    I come here to relax. To watch someone else do the work and so capably is so satisfying. Thanks!

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Marshallz79 says:

    Awesome work as always Eric, I believe in safety third, i mostly get crap in my eye when it bounces off my face hits the safety glasses and back into my eye! Eric says.. "dont be a dope use that scope"!

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars edac1078 says:

    Hope the eye is okay!

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars manwiththestar says:

    Got it!
    #1 codes
    #2 tsb:s
    #3 why?
    #4 verify
    #5 having a scope helps =)
    #6 Wear goggles/glasses/visors during test drives

  17. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars JG Ren says:

    When you got to the ER, the nurse told the doctor that the money eye is on. JK

  18. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars sam says:

    South main eye repair, you know about the “pulling your upper eyelid by the eyelash over the lower one trick” to getting something out of your eye? It might have saved you a trip to the shop, I mean ER

  19. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars WyGuy says:

    So it was showing that bank running rich because the shorted injector was stuck open? And that caused the fuel trim to starve the other two cylinders of fuel? Or is it the other way around and the injector was stuck closed, causing the fuel trim to make the other two clinders rich enough to miss?

  20. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Paul Santos says:

    Can you update and confirm the injector replacement fixed the issue?

  21. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Carbon Stampede says:

    I'm a weekended warrior, i would love to have a pico, but can't justify the cost, as this is something i would use once or twice a year. Anyone got a recommendation to an affordable easy to use scope?

  22. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Clint Harris says:

    Maybe you should wear eye pro when running diagnostics? 😀

  23. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars How Dy says:

    Thank you for the video! Questions: How does the shorted #1 fuel injector cause other cylinders to misfire? But scan data shows #1 cylinder runs fine. How does the shorted #1 fuel injector cause the rear bank to run rich? Thank you very much!

  24. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Mike Antee says:

    Yessir, always stay on the path and never assume.. great lesson , hope the eye is ok

  25. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars geoff dearth says:

    I have done a lot of work the same or similar to what you do. I have found flushing my eye/ eyes with a sink sprayer (with carefully adjusted pressure) to almost always solve the foreign object problem. The only time this wouldn't have worked was when I got a steel sliver in my eye (which of course argues for always wearing eye protection).

  26. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Paul Hoskins says:

    Wear a face mask AND an eye patch!

  27. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jeremiah Bullfrog says:

    The first cylinder's problem causes the computer to think the next two are the cause. This reminds me of computer programming; you can be notified of an error in your program, but the instruction the compiler (think of it as a grammar checker) cites as the problem is just where the error manifests itself. The actual cause of the error is one or more instructions prior.

  28. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Blues Dirt says:

    Eyes scratch easy . Is there a way to figure out if my timing chain tensioner is going bad on a Toyota 2.5 the things chattering not sure if it's normal ?

  29. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars LOS TIPS DE CHUY JCN says:

    I'm always curious in your videos which flash light are you using. I noticed that you have plenty colors and shapes . I also use a different flash light in every car i work on 😂👍

  30. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Daniel C. says:

    Yes Sir, stick to your guns, always confirm your "DIAG" it could be any thing, down to a simple broken wire, you never know what can be in that RABBIT HOLE 🕳!? ¿ 🤔 👀🐰, & you do want everybody to be happy Pappy…..

  31. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars mongomay1 says:

    So was the injector from the voltage reading shorted open? If reading voltage on the injector would not the key off sensors. relays and injector show anything?
    I am trying to understand if I do not have these tools and all I have it the mfgs key switch diagnostics, a meter and jump wires and I am stuck on the road or heaven forbid everyone goes out of business and need to rely on my noggin and skills I need to build on.
    I buy the older auto manuals that still have some manual test procedures, when diagnostic equipment was 5k to 10k on a crt screen.
    I understand you are an hour shop and need to understand the situation and provide the customer a solution in a timely manner. The diagnostic tools can make that process clearer with the data returns.
    Thanks for your time….
    So if those engines are failing on rings, is it the materials, the specs on how tight/loose they are or lubrication types?

  32. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars ast5515 says:

    The thing I don't understand is why an injector in one bank causes a misfire code in a cylinder of the other bank.

  33. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars klystron says:

    What a trooper! Get well soon Eric.

  34. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Yammie Tom ogrady says:

    Great Advice

  35. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Brad Klingensmith says:

    Ordered a t-shirt, thanks for providing fat guy sizes.

  36. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars No Name says:

    i almost fell off my bench when I heard you say a scope is cheap. Nothing like quality tools. Therefore picoscope seems to be what is pushed. These scopes are not cheap, let alone when you dont know how to use them fluently. Like reading a wiring diagram, with out a legend/parameters, thats almost impossible to interpret a lab scope.
    Im a home mechanic. I dont work on cars for a living but I do believe in tools. Ive purchased a few as I watch your videos. You give me the confidence to try. But im coming to the point to think this isnt for me. Unless Im making money with these tools, they are not for people like me. I just get upset when I pay someone for something I could do. I'm self taught and I can pull my wait. Im what my dads calls a part changer. Not an engineer or a true mechanic. Either one can prove the part is defective w out a doubt, while a parts changer is leaning on luck, hear say or hope it will solve their issues. I love to know how to be more accurate on a Labscope. Ive purchased a pre own Vantage pro to try and learn. Issue is, my cars are never breaking down. I typically sell them before that happens. The longer once keeps a car, the more money you spend and older it is… I got into working on cars out off necessity. I was too poor to pay someone to fix one. I built lowriders growing up. My first car I could put in my name when I turned 18 was a 1964 Impala. I grew up w my dad working on his pos. I always wanted to have a car. They would buy me one nor let me drive until I turned 18. They didnt want to get sued for damages I would have caused behind the wheel nor were they willing to buy me insurance/gas to have a car. The day I turned 18 at midnight, I moved out of my house and in with my g/f who shortly thereafter became my wife. I bought my car of my dreams, took it on a flatbed to a body shop and we went to town!!!! 100% restored and modified to the 9's. My parents insisted I go to college and get an education. My mom said, rather than being up all night and day, bending over the front end of a car or under it, getting dirty, get yourself an education and make enough money to pay someone to do it for you…. I fell for that story and things didn't turn out as I was lead to believe. In any event, I buy projects from time to time to work with my hands and try to do something others don't think I have the capacity too. or to help someone else with less means who otherwise wold have financial hardships to keep their cars going….

  37. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Annie Renard says:

    thank you for this lesson

  38. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Cutabove says:

    Your message to stick to your troubleshooting process can't be repeated enough times. Over and over you see professional YouTube mechanics forgetting this message. And it runs into much more serious consequences than wasting a few hours of time. The most resent example of this was Paul Danner (Scanner Danner). In his last two videos he first hydro-locked one car before realizing he had a ECM problem and in his last video sloppy handling of a trunk control module activated both the driver's and passenger's air bags on a Lincoln ( his comment about not caring about procedures just before the air bags went off was priceless). It was lucky no one was hurt. I'm sure his brother was thrilled having to replace both airbags for this customer since this was done at his brother's shop.

  39. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Walter Shulas says:

    Your awsome Eric hope your eye feels better stay safe brother

  40. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Daniel Spangle says:

    Hate that had to use a drill last time I did that my son just got home from the war watching them drill my eye Blue his mind more than the war

  41. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Tim Stanford says:

    I think a relative compression test would have been my first test to prove or disprove a base engine problem. Nice job Eric!

  42. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars PAW Walton says:

    As part of your "diagnostic routine" recommend you ALWAYS wear safety glasses! Excellent diagnostic routine – verify fault symptom cause. Talk like a pirate day was April 19.

  43. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Martin Lavoie says:

    Would Cyl 2 and 3 be counting misfire because number one is so rich leaning the whole bank out causing lean misfire ? Anyhow nice find.

  44. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jared THISDELLE says:

    100%agree great vid man

  45. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Dunc Keroo says:

    Rrrrrrr, Galley Mates : Tis oar #1 slowing them down.

  46. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars JD RS says:

    ….oh and Eric, someone needs to forge you a crown of wrenches and ratchets. You’re the best YouTube mechanic.

  47. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars JD RS says:

    Hello Eric. I’m sorry about your eye. I hope it gets well. Anyway, this question I have is rather off topic from your normal job title. My question is this: Has anyone ever asked you to look into their home appliance??? Mostly gas range stove or a washing machine??? If you, or someone else’s washer ever breaks down, and you take on the job of seeing what’s wrong with it, please post a video. Peace✌️.

  48. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Ethan Bradshaw says:

    What is it with guys named Eric being so good with Hondas?

  49. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars throttle bottle says:

    I wonder if it was overheated pretty bad or a rodent chew intermittent shorting injector open (causing it to cook)

  50. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars throttle bottle says:

    eyerona lol

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