In this video I bring you along as I have a look at a customers 2019 Chevrolet 1500 that was at the local dealer to address a customer complaint of no power steering, ESC and service trailer brake light coming on. They made the call and told the customer that he needed a new rack and pinion, a trailer brake control module and a new transmission control module! That is a $4000 repair! Then they charged him over $900 for diagnosis and "restocking fees" because he wanted a second opinion. Good news is I fixed it for wayyyyyyyy less and only $20 in parts 😉.
-Enjoy!
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--Eric & Vanessa O.
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South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
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Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
-Enjoy!
If an SMA Video has helped you out please consider giving using "Patreon" to help support us. The videos take real time to create and pull us away from real work that pays our bills. CLICK HERE: https://www.patreon.com/southmainauto
CHECK OUT OUR "SMA SWAG" STORE! Go on Teespring and get your very own SMA merch!
https://teespring.com/stores/the-sma-store
If you don't like Patreon feel free to use the "PayPal Me" link: https://www.paypal.me/SouthMainAuto
The South Main Auto Amazon Store:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/southmainautorepairavoca
AES Wave Automotive Diagnostic Tools: https://www.aeswave.com/cart.php?m=affiliate_go&affiliateID=2525b91fc8e906e8215984074c9d9e8f&go=https://www.aeswave.com/Miscellaneous-p9347.html
Thank you for all the continuing support!
--Eric & Vanessa O.
Feel like sending some swag to SMA because you love the videos but don't know where to send it?
Just ship it here:
South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
Worry not Eric, you will work on these new cars soon enough, like in another few years when they are a little older. Maybe the dealership should use your services for their diagnostics, they clearly are not much good at it!
Nice find! My 2016 has 52k on it now and has a ton of electrical problems so far! Relay box(Tipm) and fuel pump all before 40k the starter wire was gone at about 45k. Never have had this many problems with a new gm until my 2016
Need to do a tic toc video interview with this dude & id this dealer & put them on blast
Great going! Come- on GM GIVE THEM THE MONEY BACK plus a free oil charge,,, at least
Well damn, ain’t that some shit. A bad ground can make so many things go cuckoo.
Eric when you say it's a simply problem to figure out and that the other tech who looked at it should have found the problem , you are not taking into account that the other tech doesn't have your
experience or mind set . It's like wow watching you diagnose , thanks
I bet Erics hourly rate is through the roof but he’s well worth it I mean the stuff he comprehends and pays attention to most shops don’t (well they don’t here where I live)
I am simply amazed…Love this channel…
A true master of the art…Well executed!!!
Diamonds and Rust…equal in value….
great work..you are an honest mechanic.
One of the best Diag videos I have ever seen Eric O do, I do hope the dealership refunds the Guy, But a true Master teaching us all a simple lesson. We have all learned today
Gm owes this dude some money!!
Soo why not replace the engine to body ground as well so the guy doesn't come back in a few months with a non runner
You are the MAN! Great video and as always thank you for helping all of us.
You are savage!!! Please relocate to Western New York.
Brilliant diag
Yep, stay away from SR. Not the first time they have tried to rip off customers if memory serves.
good job
with the low mileage and only three years old, why is this not still under warranty? Dealers suck
Well done !!! Again !! Greetings from an "Old " retired Motor Mechanic in Australia 🙂
Refund his money they should. Last year I spent over 500 dollars on A/C vacuum line repairs on my Taurus only to have it recur, for which they wanted 1200 bucks in labor to remove the instrument panel to repair. I determined that I could use the old plastic vacuum line as a fishtape to pull a 36 inch vacuum hose through the firewall and used an interior section of the old line to splice the new hose to the vacuum harness. Also replaced a check valve I found to leak. It took me a total of one hour to complete, and my total cost was under thirteen dollars!
JR…don't be too hard on the fellers and fellets working as technicians at the stealership. This is an engineering issue from GM engineering that should have never been placed into production. Don't make enemies with the locals (in the shop)…go after the original design!
712 thousand emails from SMA viewers would wake up this dealership 😅
Eric you are a rock star. Man that was a great find, your dedication is fantastic and it is so weird that north and south cars are diagnosed so different. Thanks for the entertainment and the explanations you are one of the absolute best.
Eric O…my hat off to you! Excellent approach and diagnosis that lead to the culprit…bad ground (familiar). I think that these videos really point toward a need for better "basics" technicians at the stealerships.
I bought a used Chivee and its only a matter of time before my ground strap gives up.
Can we all try to fluid film our connections at preventative maintenance?
Thanks to Dr O and the owner for taking is on the journey.
Give him his money back…..
I feel that this is one of those cases where a stealership has staffed with not enough "basics" technicians…not a slight! I am just saying that going back to the basics is a very important pathway to a proper diagnosis. Data is king, period. If the frame is not talking the same language as the battery posts, there is something basically wrong. Every dealership needs a technician that can smell out a rat in favor of the customer from time to time.
Just had a similar situation with a 2017 Prostar International Truck, Driver Complaint my Radio and front cab fan randomly stops working turns themselves off while driving, He told me the truck dealership replaced the Fan Motor and Resistor, while hooked to the fan resistor input voltage I found a massive voltage drop from the cab frame versus the truck frame rail, The repair replaced the melted down 30 amp breaker feeding the fan resistor block, installed an additional ground right from a Negative post on one of four batteries right to a stud on the cab, Now Radio and fan stays on no more massive voltage drop. O in this case the factory grounds looked ok but it's done Stupidly by using the truck main frame as a ground extender to save on two feet of cable because the cab ground from factory hooks to the truck frame about 3 1/2 feet from the cable coming from the batteries. Looks like GM needs to salt proof those grounding straps like You just did with a little fluid film, Great Content as always TOP SHELF from SMA 😎👍.
Damn This dude is just smart…he wouldve been great at anything he pursued, Imagine him as a doctor tracking down what rare disease you have based on your symptoms lol he's the Dr House of mechanics without the drug problem, narcissism and limp lol
Great job and you are the man
Eric, you are DAMN GOOD at what you do! I watched the video and was lost amid all the wiring and computers that these things are loaded down with. It came down to a crusty cable and GM was going to replace all that stuff and then it wouldn't have fixed the problem! Stealerships! Hope the customer gets his money back, that was a total ripoff.
Money back
That was good keep up the good work we need more shops like yours
my daughter had a GM dealer miss diagnose a starter issue. said she needed new injectors,power trane modual. and change the brand new gm performance super charger pulls. I told her get it out of their they are miss diagnosing the problem. I checked it out. and the fuse box had multiple bad connections.
Thanks Eric, This video is now in my top3 videos of S M A.
the local dealers just hire warm bodies…
One of your best diagnosis videos. Matter of fact, simple thought process. Hopefully this will be another "refund" by a shamed shady dealer. Can't remember how many times your hard work and videos have saved someone from being ripped off. I remember the used car you checked out that was basically ready to fold in half and sold to an unknowing customer. What you found and put online I'm sure was a factor in getting a refund for that poor customer. Great job..Eric
The dealer mechanics clearly arrnt stopping to consider that the engineers design for the ground cable doesnt work well in the region they're in.
My diagnostic of my vehicle is always what sounds different than usual, but even I could follow your trail that there's a crazy power issue. I wouldn't know where to look like you did even with those tools at my disposal, but id be wondering is it suppose to do this when I turn the wheel.
You have the same problem with flashlight gravity as they do in Florida !
That scan/diag system/tool looked awesome!. Can really drill down in to the systems. Great vid.
Great troubleshooting. Made my evening.
Great diagnosis, but what I can't get over is a 2019 truck has that much rust already!!
Excellent
Is this a rusted frame on 2020 model car!?
Dealership should pay him back. What did your bill come to?
Dealership should refund every penny for something so obvious and a $500.00 diag fee ! They should be ashamed and start watching a real tech named Eric O.
Easy one for the legend. Love your videos man, never to old to learn something new
Good GM quality.
I am a mechanic and I'm Highly impressed of Eric's skils
Great video
As a tech and yes I have worn the Miss Diagnoses dress more than once, the Flat rate tech should be charged back time spent, dealer to refund customer ,case closed. But short term thinking in the corporate world is to drag this out ,ignore the customer until customer decides to cut their losses and any ties to the dealership. Customer loyalty is just a word to them.
maybe put in dealer name
dealer should give full credit plus a 100 free oil changes, well done mr O
The dam alternators that stop charging when no load causes so many issues.I mean how much fuel and economy is actually gained. I had similar issues with a 2016 gmc.The small 4" positive battery cable also fails a lot causing all kinds of crazy electrical gremlins
All dealerships are scam artists. I wouldn't even go there for an oil change.
Really? This is a 2019 and already THAT crusty rotten underneath? Gosh… How long do vehicles live there before crumbling to the ground? 5 years max? Maybe using less salt in the winters? Or protecting the undercarriage a little better?
Do you ever go to court for a customer?
Eric, you are one smart cookie!
if i still lived in buffalo i would definitely drive the 2.5 hours out to a real honest mechanic wish I was closer than 14 hours now, atl
The Service Dept at the local dealer wasn't thinking about road salt conditions?
Sounds like their guys are all tech and no action.
Take that green grody ground strap and mount it on a plaque.
Then put it on their wall in the service dept, by the time clock.
But that truck is damaged up underneath by the corrosion you can see eating things up.
I would get it some treatments, and check all it's ground straps.
I've seen a lot of vehicle lighting conditions affected on older GM trucks and poor grounding is common or typical. And that's even true where salt is not used on the roads.
With a cannon of a part list estimate like that for comparison?
Treatments for rust and corrosion addressing it's future protection would be cheap , compared.
The dealer had a gross negligence in diagnosis.
The GM techs who would have the required experience and knowledge?
How come they don't work there anymore ???
And that's the name of that tune.
Erik, you had that things number from almost 10 seconds after we were yelling Ground cable, and ground strap at this phone.
Mrs O was a great help and thanks Trinity for helping Erik O.
A truly blessed and skilled businessman and technician.
I just wander why they didn’t check the ground like you did. The technician had to have seen the same voltage drop and should have questioned why is that happening.
Soon in the news…
This weeks count of mobile spontaneous ignition events is…
GM dealer playing parts darts
Another good “follow the facts” video. The diagnosis was well ‘grounded’ in facts. 😉
Most guys want to win the lottery, Eric already has in the form of his wonderful family
please keep the fredo comments to your self
Incredible. Thank you sir 🍻
Awesome job Eric!
Wow! You did an INCREDIBLE job here. A real diagnosis vs a parts changer. Phenomenal.
Three winters and that thing looks worse than my 20 YO Chivvy. I hope he gets his diag and re-stock back or else get a vid of him pulling up to the Chevy dealer in a new Ford. I'll keep my likes and comments flowing as long as you keep those electrons flowing.
Excellent video. Seems like GM has had ground issues on their trucks for the last 20 years. My problem was ground wire to firewall under hood right below driver side of windshield. It happened just a few years after purchasing new truck in 2001. I also see countless videos for many of the years that follow.
My neighbor's car wouldn't start and they asked me to change the starter , so I did for them but after I installed the new one it still wouldn't crank. Went to test for power and ground at the starter and figured out the shop that put a new engine in , left the main ground just hanging in the engine bay.
They should give every penny back and offer a free service
Wow just Wow!
So you confirmed what we all knew: Chevy makes crap these days!
GM should refund this guy his money and take him to breakfast.
they dont know how to diagnose
What an awesome video Eric, thanks for sharing this one. You can be assured that many more problems will surface in time to come using ground straps as you have identified.
As you mentioned the rust belt totally destroys vehicles over time.
It would have been priceless to see the customers face when you told him what you have found.
Eric the lord has definitely blessed you with a great talent.
May the Lord bless youre family always.
Pig of a engine?
I've been a technician at a gm dealership in Wisconsin since 2004, I've sure ran into a lot of corroded wires especially with trailer brake systems. I've never ran into corroded ground strap…good to know. You're a great tech and I like watching your videos
Very interesting for sure! I have a 2016 that I’m having some similar issues with. Service trailer brake, service stabilitrak, service traction control, steering jerk (electric power steering), radio loosing power and going blank, complete loss of power driving down the road resulting in truck shutting off and restart all on its own, etc.
Was told by the dealer it was a bad battery, replaced still have issues. Have been told by another dealer that they have never heard of this issue. I feel this gentleman’s pain!! I’ll have to look into this on mine.
Good Stuff..!!
GM should refund 100% of what he paid them, complete retaining of their technician and a review of that dealership. this is what this owner should be compensated for. As always you do a !st rate job in your diagnosis.
Just had a similar issue last week. Someone else threw the parts cannon at it first lol. Ended up being a frayed ground wire. Pretty easy to find in my case just by watching voltages drop under load. Thanks to this channel for teaching me to how to use my noodle 🙂
What's up E great job as usual. I had a similar problem when I did a frame off restoration and painted the body on a car. When I put the ground straps on, I removed the paint at the connection points but that was not good enough as I later learned. The turn signals, lights and dash lights acted strange, just random stuff. Remember, if I can do it, you can do it. LOL. P.S. you inadvertently disclosed Mrs O's real name
Increible ,que el concesionario oficial , cobre y, no solucione el problema. Son del terror, espero nunca tener que ir donde ellos. Trato de cambiar mi auto a los mas a los 60.000, lo hago por eso , acá no hay sal en las calles vivo en Santiago de chile,. Saludos
Eric, most of your videos are entertaining but, damn Dude, you really Sherlocked this one! Gonna have to swap that baseball cap for a deerstalker hat and a magnifying glass! Excellent video, sir. Well done.
At first i was thinking it was emisións crap cuz if the egr or the mafs go bad they go nuts
I think that anymore that for the most part, dealer service departments are severely lacking in diagnostic abilities. There mechanics (excuse me technicians) are mostly parts changers
and nothing else.
Ha! I knew it!! I had a rig in with the same problem, but this one someone disconnected it when they were diy-in it on some repairs and never reconnected it.
Damn shame the owner had to pay anything more than an hour of labor for their double-barreled parts cannon.
2019 is getting old (for NY)… wow.
Great video
Eric when you hang up your tools you can open a school and teach how to read schematics. It seems like you are the only one out there that does.
WOW 1 hell of a diagnosis!
Great job. you are very good. Yes GM needs to give him his back
I say GM should refund the man his money. Great video. Keep up the good work. We learn so much from your videos.
Yes, the dealer should give him a Full refund. They have no soul if they don’t.
Back story:
This vehicle was at the local dealer to address a customer complaint of no power steering, ESC and service trailer brake light coming on. They made the call and told the customer that he needed a new rack and pinion, a trailer brake control module and a new transmission control module! That is a $4000 repair! The customer didn't think this was right (even though he is not a mechanic) Then they charged him over $900 for diagnosis and "restocking fees" because he wanted a second opinion. Good news is I fixed it for wayyyyyyyy less and only $20 in parts 😉 I hope with some evidence he is able to get some of his money back.