In this video I bring you along as I "take a guess" at a customer car to fix their intermittent ABS light. I explain the why in the beginning and again at the end of the video.
-Enjoy!
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-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
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--Eric & Vanessa O.
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Disclaimer:
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All right folks, Welcome back 2017 Buick It's a Encore I Believe it is and by the title of this video, little out of the norm for us. You got to take a guess and by that sometimes it mean you got to take a guess. Sometimes it's more feasible economically to take a guess than it is to spend hours into uh, a diagnosis. and this is a good example of that.
and this happens sometimes in our industry. So this vehicle is having a couple issues. Got issues with his uh blind spot monitor which we're going to fix, but in this case he's having a problem with his uh intermittent ABS light and some days it comes on. some days it doesn't and sometimes you have to drive the car for quite a while to get it to come on.
And it throws a code for the left front wheels speed sensor. Sometimes it throws um I don't I think they were like open circuit code uh circuit low circuit high circuit Implausible. Everything always pertains to left front wheel and some really kind of just bizarre codes there in that left front wheel. uh, the connector is a pisser to get to You' got to pull the wiper col and stuff off to get to the wheel speed sensor connector uh GM Active wheel speed sensors in general are difficult to diagnose because when they set a fault, they shut that circuit off and they can be kind of a pisser to go through and diagnose.
So couple options. we can drive it around and around and around and wait for the light to come on and you know have a scope hook to it and kind of see what's happening and you know try to get that circuit to reset which like I say is a real piss around GM or you can spend just a couple bucks uh and buy a wheel speed sensor and put it in it and take a big fat guess and spend a whole lot less time and then after that if the customer still has a problem at that point you can spend some more time in it. Now I Know that sounds completely the opposite of what we normally do, but like I say these sensors are really cheap. Experience tells me when I start seeing these codes it is typically just a fail sensor and I just think this is the best approach.
Silly as it sounds, you just got to trust me folks, sometimes it's okay to take a guess. I'm not sure why they hid the connector here under the wiper towel, but they did. So we have to pull the wiper arms off to get under here to get to the connector to get down there to take the speed sensor out. Looks like we're going to need a 15 mm McCoy a deep socket on a ratchet, so get there's that Mcoy thank you! So usually the this style arm you don't need a puller.
You can crack the nuts loose, let give it a little push and usually they'll wiggle right off there. There's that one. There's that little bit. we'll just pull out these push Nails here I believe may not even have to take all the way off.
We just got to be able to get up in there to unplug it. Can grab a little pocket screwdriver there Co Get grab the ones on that side. Oh, side is all broke. so there's supposed to be some retainers on this thing. Three of them and these ones are all broke off. It makes me wonder if it's had a windshield put in. Let me show you. so there's supposed to be a retainer here.
and here those ones are broken. Let me see the one from that side before course. so I can show them what it looks like in case you're trying to get these off. So oh, this one's got one broken one.
That one there. Oh maybe I'm wrong. It showed on the picture in service data. Yeah, definitely some broke off, some broke off both sides.
There's that one. So this style here sits inside the window seal. There we go. Uh, is that rubber and see somebody's been here Because like this, these rubbers are all tore up.
Um, your rubber is still attached over there. Yeah, but it's all stuff. Let me just unhook the washer hose over here. All right there we go.
So we do all of that so we can get down here. and right there, right there is our connector for the the ABS Uh, so I'm going to set you guys I'm going to unplug that. We're going to give a little visual inspection on the harness here. Uh, make sure that we don't see anything or we do see anything.
This is a really tough system to get to. Uh ABS lives down here. Everything's kind of pretty compact. Now we've already looked over.
uh, the wiring, harness, and stuff. uh, you know, down that way. just kind of visual inspection. Make sure we're not seeing it rub on anything.
Uh, so we're going to raise it up. We'll get that wheel off, we'll get the connector off, and then we'll just fish our new one back up through there. So I just unplugged it. Oops.
Hopefully I didn't dump it there. we go actually pull it out. Do you guys see that you see what's in that connector? Let me see if I can't dump it out here for you I can't it's full of mud water See's full of Muddy Water So that's pretty interesting. And then you see the red overspray on it or the red paint there if I remember it I Think this car has been wrecked cuz I See, we see it's still got a GM window on it according to the label over there unless they put a GM window in it.
But now we've got to get this connector off the body here and we're going To look in the other half of that cuz the M half here is Right full of Muddy Water and a little bit of corrosion. aha I See said the blind man. As expected, this half had water in it also. I Don't know if we're going to be able to see this on camera here.
We'll try to enhance enhance but those connectors are corroded. Hopefully you guys can see that I don't know if you can or not. You might have to trust me or you're looking at my corroded thumb. Come on.
Focus Well not working out like I wanted to. There we go. Yep, so she's crusty. We're going to have to get a connector also.
so so it's a good thing we come in here to take a guess and finish our visual inspection. That let us right to uh, the cause here. Now this sits in here upside down like this. so I don't know if you know the cowl draining down on it um or what the case is here. not good either way unless it had had water in it. from when you know body work was done you know, and been painted and stuff I I Don't know, hard to say but but uh uh. in either case, we need to get this half of the connector. We're still end up putting a wheel speed sensor in it because those pins are super coded and I don't know how far down into the harness it has gotten.
So there there's the answer to that. So good thing we went through to do our Vis finish our visual inspection rather and we were going to guess and put a speed sensor in it, but we obviously found what's going on here and it's still getting a speed sensor ultimately. Uh, Napa has one of those connectors. We won't be able to have it till this after afternoon though, so we you guys stick around.
only be a second, but as soon as that shows up, we're going to cut that off. and I think we'll probably once that connector's in. I I think we might tape right over top of the whole thing because I don't know if that water intrusion is from, you know, a previous repair you know the connector sat open or if it's water intrusion from uh, the water coming down in the cowl sitting on top of it and you know, wicking down through the pin. So I think we're going to kind of error on the side of caution.
we'll end up uh, you know, uh, he shrinking and crimping that on there and then we'll probably just tape up the whole thing just to be safe. Qu just enjoys of looking for the wheel lock. Classic mechanic problem I Don't know if we have to take this all the way down. it's already missing a retainer that goes up in there.
You definitely tell the car has had bodyw work just because of all the stuff that's brok and or missing. So I'm just going to reach up in here, fish the wire out that we already disconnected up top. so there's is that and then there's one little Fastener Christmas tree back here. I'm just going to give that A Yank The new sensor comes with it so if it breaks, it doesn't matter mother.
Pearl All right. So I've got that out. We're going to go ahead and pull that retainer and this retainer all the way down through. and then this snakes all the way down and then where we might have an issue is trying to get it out of the Hub.
So we're going to take and pop these little fellas off here first. Oh oh look at that, she come right out. I Thought I Thought Mcoy was probably going to be seized in there, but um, that worked out pretty good for us down in the aluminium. so we're going to clean this up just a little bit.
We'll get the new sensor stuck in there and then fish it back up around through it holders here. read the comment sections: McCoy Yeah, oh, you got one down lower there buddy. and you don't understand the McCoy Bones reference any more than I Do no, cuz we're not a bunch of sci-fi nerds. I Didn't watch Star Wars or Star Trek I Don't know, it's one of the two. Looks good, she's all up in. Looked like it was a Uh OEM sensor in the Napa box which is great because we couldn't get it from GM because they're on back order but it came with a lot of paperwork here. I Don't want to translate it all but uh, this say genuine GM on it. that's an NA part number there made in China Just like the car, there's a number on on that if it's helpful to anybody.
We got our new connector so that's good. I've taken Uh I lifted up the plastic here, a couple bolts all down through here. just lift it up so we could get a little better shot at this. Took the Uh test the tape off from that appears to have a gray wire and not a gray with white.
These are polarity sensitive so we are going to keep a little bit extra on here so we can see who's who. Gray with white went up towards the latch. I'm going to trim these wires back a little bit. not a lot.
We'll leave them a little on the longer side, so gray with white we're going to hook to Black so strip these back red wire feels like it's a little heavier gauge. I'm going to get a couple butt connectors. yeah it is. so the black is a lighter, the Red's a heavier gauge.
The ones on the car are both the same size wire. Kind of difficult to see here. where I have you guys? let me see. if we can't get those stripped back, might have to get a different pair of strippers here.
These wire strippers are kind of neat because it allows you to come in. you know, head on with them. Uh, Snapon makes them PW ch7 in case you're looking for a pair. Probably can find some.
you know aftermarket or not aftermarket. just you know, a different brand there. twist these around, slide that little fell on there. Make sure when you're crimping insulated connectors, you use the correct portion of your crimpers.
Otherwise you're going to poke a hole in it and then the heat shrink and adhesive in it is irrelevant. That was easier letting you guys. Uh, just look at the back of my hand. So like I said, we use the crimp and seal connectors here.
We've had really good success with these. Uh, as long as you buy the ones that have the adhesive and stuff in it, you can see it kind of oozes out. uh as you heat shrink that down. But as I was mentioning, you can see there's no poke holes in these and I'll show you over here.
We can just use uh, this piece of wear here for example. just show you what not to do so we'll strip her back. This one's a little long, but it don't matter when you put it on here. your crimpers.
They have that side that's got the little nipple sticking off there. That's for non-insulated Use the side here that has just the hole in it. That's for insulated connectors. So if you use this properly, you know your crimp will look something like that. That's like I Say that's for insulated connectors. Now if you take and uh, use the non-insulated side, you risk the chance of poking a hole through the insulation. We'll see if it works here. So Crimps down makes a nice little crimp.
but the problem is you've pierced through the insulation there. Okay, so when you go to heat it often times this, this one will probably sell Fuel and make me a make a liar out of me. We let that shrink down. Often times that'll leave some metal exposed and then the corrosion starts and then this connector is worthless.
Of course, this time it didn't really happen. You can see you can see the indent there. you know where. I crimped it wrong.
but I've seen it more often than not when you do that as soon as you heat it, if this thing has a little slit in it, the whole thing pops open. If you don't notice it and you've got this underneath somebody's car, well, that's it. And it's hard to say. You know whether or not there is, you know where the dent is and that if it's you know, exposed or not.
But I guess we could poke at it with something and see, but you can see the difference from the uh in non-insulated crimp to the insulated crimp as far as far as that's concerned. So anyhow, for what it's worth, that's what I'm talking about when I tell you to make sure you use the right side of your pliers while we're right here. we're going to have to salvage this little clip. Our new connector does not have this option to put that on there, however on the speed sensor itself.
so this is the old one on the new speed sensor, it has the option on the sensor. So I'm hoping that we can just slip this little guy. oh no, see it works. It's is it backwards? No.
I'm hoping that we can slip this into the sensor. Yeah, it's not quite perfect, but we able to slip that in that way there. we can latch it back into the body where it should be. So cuz like I say the connector is a little different design doesn't have that on there but we'll make it work.
We're going to come in clutch now with the mini roll. just your 10 mil. wrap it with some tape I'm going to go over top of our butt connectors. It's kind of difficult to record this cuz I need to stand pretty much right in your path.
but you can can Envision what I'm doing. Wrap these little guys up just for an extra layer of protection I Think it we would be best served to cover up that whole connection because we don't know where the water intrusion came from. I'm going to start back down here on the loom I'm going to follow it all the way up. We're going to make connection I Already put the little Christmas tree faster on here and then we're just going to stick it back where it was from the factory, in which case it sits like this on the firewall. I Suppose we can stick it like this, you know. However, we stick it in there, leave it laying sideways. Um, it might be a good option too. We'll give this a little Spritz of fluid film or something that is dialectric, these sensitive or these circuits.
These active wheel speed sensors are very very sensitive circuits circuits so you have to be cautious putting anything in there that's conductive there. It looks to be a bit of a mess. you know, with tape wed all around a connector. but I think it's our best bet in my opinion.
I did Spritz a little flood film in there to hopefully drive away any moisture any is making its way some unknown how way reason can't use my words. So now I'm just going to go down and plug this back in or reinstall it here in the firewall where it was. Hopefully all right. Well there it is.
I'll see if I can move my light so everybody can see I know it bumps a mic and then it sounds terrible on on the YouTube but so there it is. Reattached it kind of wants to lay in that vertical position here and I know it looks to be a bit of a mess. However, this is a big big water well down here. as you can see down there, let's see inhance inhance see where that Leaf's laying.
So that's the drain. That's the cowl drain. So as all the water collects you know it collects in this well and then providing that is not plugged up with Leaf litter and debris. you know it drains out.
So uh yeah, some real pissed poor uh Chinese engineering there. let's put the connector. Down In The Water Hole Perfect All right, What could go wrong? It's all good till it is it. That's what they always say.
That's how the old saying goes. Anyways, get this line back up. get these little guys lined back up. We'll get our bolts back in this.
I'll get the vacuum here. We'll suck out some of the leaves and junk that are shoved over here. We got leaves, we got whole sticks, lots of things so we'll get that cleaned up out. Get this calling back on and that should resolve his issue.
So it's a good thing we took a big fat guess. All right. So that's all pushed down. Let me show you how the washer hose hooks up over here.
What's up? We haven't seen you in a while I'm still here I mean I See you every day. You're lucky me people haven't seen you. What's up I needed to know something Bear right back folks. take somebody special.
Yeah, it's a business woman. pure business. So what's what's up? What's new? Got your nails there getting older by the day? That's right every minute. All right.
deal with the people. So this is your washer hook up. It has a quick connect on it so you squeeze the little tabs. okay so that I don't know if you guys can see here.
my hand in the way that clicks together to unclick it, you squeeze it and wiggle. wiggle. my hand righten away so you couldn't see it. So it's like magic. but you know, just give it a little squeeze, little squeeze, a little pull. all right. and then that has a little trough that sits in where it comes through. There sits like that.
We got to go through. Put our little Clips on. put our little rubber piece back in here. put the like I See this one's all tore up.
The other side was tore up worse. Get that wiggle down P here. Get her lined up. reach behind, stick the Christmas tree in.
line up in there. Nobody ever know it's torn Except for the 20,000 of you that watch this. you'll know, but don't tell anybody. Oh that a boy, that's a good job.
Eric So that's it folks. It wipes it squirts. That's what it wasn't here for. Uh, but that's all together.
good. ABS Lights How I started the car up and that's well. it was off when we brought it in, so we're no further ahead than we were. except it should be fixed now.
I Don't want you to look at this video and think that I'm an advocate of uh guessing cuz I'm certainly not. even though that's what we were. Our initial intention was in this video which ultimately led us to, you know, the wet, crappy connector that was corroded so uh, good on us. Um, however, if I had gotten there and the connector was clean and dry and happy I still would have put the speed sensor in it just based off from the data that I could see that was saved in the scan to an old historical speed sensor.
Irrational data. and you know. Circuit low circuit, high circuit, open and plausible. you know everything was saying.
You know something's going on here in this left front wheel. Nothing visual. Um, outside of, you know, getting down inside the cowl really said, you know? Hey, here's a problem: No harnesses, rub through clean connectors. You know, no corrosion out here.
Nothing like that. So I just want to be clear that when I do something like this. uh I often don't I try try not to guess Usually here's how this typically will go. customer comes in I look at it they say oh well, you might have to drive it for you know 2 three hours one day and try it again the next day.
and if it do, come on. do you know next day like that can accumulate a lot of time I like to do as Keith from L1 Auto Di says is a juice worth The Squeeze In this case, is it cheaper to just take a guess, be transparent with your customer and say hey I want to take a guess if you're willing to. Speed sensor is super cheap, takes you know an hour to put it in or whatever. whatever the labor time is on.
this to put it in here would be your cost on a guess and potentially if I'm driving this thing for say we got 3 hours ACC cumulative in it. This is way cheaper than that and it's highly probable that it will fix it, but it is also possible that it won't So I try to be, you know, very transparent with my customer. Make sure they understand if I don't think they understand I won't do it and and then I leave it at that and in most cases they'll say yeah, you know, go ahead. but I also have restrictions and limitations to myself when it comes to this. You know if this. thing came in I said oh, I think it's you know I think it's the main brain box down here that's going to be $800 you want me to get one I don't know if it's going to fix it I would never in a million years do that I would rather be the guy who says I'm sorry I can't help you I can't duplicate it and I can't fix it so we can either a wait for it to break permanently or at least become more persistent. Uh, or you can go somewhere else and they'll they'll Heath Parts at it. So hopefully that kind of clears some stuff up and maybe explains the you know guessing portion of it.
And like I say fortunately for us, it led us to the codic connector which if we if the customer wanted to go ahead and do the testing, it would have got us right to the same spot and you know we would have stopped right there. So that's that. Hopefully it all makes sense and if it doesn't go in the comment section and I'll be waiting for you on there questions, comments, concerns, find us on the insty the Facebook Just remember viewers, if I can do it, you can do it. Thanks for watching.
“I see, said the Blind man, to his Deaf Daughter”…..Love your videos, you have skills!
Unbelievably awesome tips! I love the idea of wrapping electrical tape around a socket to get into small spaces. Also, I had no idea that the part of the crimper was for non-insulated connectors. Great info, as always!
Yep, legit (d)educated guessing often pays off, as long as it's not too wild a guess.
As a shadetree, and if it were my car (completely different situation mind you, getting parts would be a pita); I'd dunk the connectors in some citric acid over night, neutralize with some baking soda, , brush as best as possiblem, wash out residue with isopropanol,,fill the suckers with vaseline, plug it back in and keep my fingers crossed it won't come back and haunt me.
You may find that mixing up Star Trek and Star Wars references are a bigger comment generator than breaking out your welder! 🤣
Not one for 'guessing' but I would guess that this sort of problem is fairly common regards diagnosing any intermittent issue. Having the integrity to advise the customer regards all the things mentioned by Eric is the difference between 'a shop' and a 'great shop'.
"Damn't Jim, I'm a doctor not a wheel sensor changer"
Just trying to help the algorithm lol
I couldn't tell from the video but was the original Connector missing the Weatherpak Seal? If so, that's why it leaked and became corroded.
It's not Chinese Engineering, it's US Engineering of a car built by the Chinese in China. Don't blame the country of manufacturing for design flaws, blame the engineers who designed it.
Your educated guesstimate was based on years and years of experience. It’s something you learn how to do and trust when you spend many years in the dealership. No harm no foul. Again you were right on the money.
GM was guessing when they routed that sensor.
Hey Eric, Long time viewer but usually don't comment, you've probably already addressed this but with the broken bits when you have to disassemble the wiper cowl would you ask the customer if they want it replaced or just slap it back together as is? I'm probably picky but I'd like to know so I could have it fixed or fix it myself. Thanks for the awesome content as usual.
I have a 2009 x trail, if the drain hole is blocked in the scuttle, when it snows and then freezes there is a block of ice slowly melting and drips onto connectors. On the x trail it tends to also flood the internals of the wiper mechanism causing the dreaded windscreen wipers not to work. Although it's a no cost repair for DIYer most garages will go and buy a new mechanism at £350 + labour cost.
As always you nailed. I would do business with you because if your years of experience. I also know if you think that testing would yield the outcome of being 100% correct. I would trust your experience in this area.
"Nobody will know except for the 20k of you"…..
Video has over 98k views in 2 days. You're too modest. Also, I would take your "guess" 100 times out of 100. You are a true professional with pride in your work, and it shows in your videos as well.
The "educated guess" from experience is completely different from the "wag" aka "wild assed guess" and is an important part of every "good" mechanic's tool kit. Well done video and explanation.
When Eric fires the Parts Canton he's a sniper!👍👍🇨🇦
That Buick is made in both Korea and China soon to be where all GM cars eventually will be made when buyers here in the U.S. realize they are just cheap Garbage.
McCoy was/is the forensic doc on NCIS. Older dr with a british accent.
Great job thank you.
Your years of experience makes this "guess" an educated guess. That is miles different than using a parts cannon after using an ODB2 scanner. As a guy about the same age as you I have a lot of respect for the application of your skillset. I'm in the IT industry but it works the same for me. Great video!
When you say McCoy I thing Hatfield and McCoy lol
Eric O. Is more familiar with Real McCoy from his younger days in da club
Just spent 4 hours fixing squirrel wire damage 23 wires chewed threw, on ecm wiring harness some with 4" pieces of wire missing.
Thanks for teaching McCoy!
I was happy to find out where the connection was!
I think its funny that while trying to show a situation where a guess might work out better than the standard diagnostic process, you once again proved that the standard diagnostic process is the better direction. Even if it wasn't intended to work out that way.
"Yeah we are just gonna wing a sensor into this thing and see if that fixes it – oh look, the connector is full of water and green crusties.."
That said, you have a point where in cases where an issue is not repeatable or persistent and experience says "it is very likely this part which isn't very expensive – shall we give it a try and see?" an educated guess has a place. Thanks for the video!
93K views in 2 days.
youtube people are so sensitive, just like that sensor
If my Ford mechanic was prohibited from guessing, he would need to close his shop. Why else would Auto Zone have so many parts
? The last time he changed plugs on my 3.5 V6, I asked him before he started the job to save the old plugs for me. When I collected my car, he gave me a bag with 10 spark plugs. When I asked him why, he told me he didn’t know which plugs came out of my car. And only two of the plugs were the same part number. He billed me for eight plugs. I’ve tried 5 different local mechanics, and still searching for someone with some level of competence. I’ve learned you can trust reviews from the internet.
Eric great video as always you are a honest and great mechanic that’s why I love this channel and I’ve been a viewer for a very long time since the beginning is that young man your son he will learn a lot from you
Murphy's Law – old sensor came out of the hub without an issue because you were planning on replacing it. If you had wanted to reuse it, it would have been frozen in there and you would have had to destroy it to remove it.
Why not lubicate the wiper assembly contact points. reduces the chance of wipers siezing up. I disconnected the ABS system on my 2004 nissan, I was taught how to brake with out ABS. I have a CDL and never had ABS in any of the vehicles.
You mean I can’t use my AMP Tetra crimpers & Tesa tape anymore?!?!? 😢
It's funny because this episode describes exactly how I approach every car repair. 🙃
??? I hope you answer
this question ???
Could you eliminate the male and female connectors and just use the butt connectors to splice the wires directly?????
Yes to service it again you would have to cut two wires. But since it's prone to getting wet and you had (or will have) to replace the connector again, wouldn't it less likely to "go bad" again??
I enjoy watching your videos and in very impressed by your knowledge. I wish your shop was near me.
Well that McCoy sure seems like the real…. uhh, McCoy.
royal blue for color
its an educated guess vs parts cannon tracking electrical shorts are pain in the hind parts also get big boy swag have 67 inch chest want a hoodie
Time is money, and sometimes you can save the customers a load of money by using an educated guess, especially if you have seen the same problem over and over.
Hi bro l really appreciate 🙏 what you do and if you don't mind I have questions I am working with 2002 tacoma and it just blows circuit boards I really need help if you have time please Thanks
Your aware of "the real McCoy" i bet
I agree Eric. These intermittent issues are the worst. See my comment regarding my grand-daughter's 2017 Buick Encore. A steelership would never have found the cause, I'm sure. You always impress me with your ability to trace down electrical problems, and, your educated guess at times when required.
My grand-daughter bought a used 2017 Buick Encore with 116k miles on it last year after her Honda Civic was totaled when hit at a stop light. Two weeks following, she called me saying that the Encore would not accelerate past 20 mph and she was stuck by the side of the road. I drove to her location and the car started and ran fine. She brought it back to my house and I could find nothing wrong and no codes were set. This was in the winter here in MI and cold. The Encore ran fine for about another 2-3 weeks and then the same issue happened again. The Encore was going into "limp mode" for some reason. At that point my grand-daughter had lost confidence in the Encore. I took the Encore to my trusted mechanic and asked him to run a thorough scan on all the systems. We had to find the cause of this problem. His professional scan tool found only some "lost communication" codes stored in history but nothing that would cause the car to enter "limp mode". He is excellent, like you, at tracing down electrical issues.
This is the only thing he could find and was not sure it was even causing any problems. He said that the fuses on the newer cars have shorter legs than in the past and that he had found several fuses in the fuse box that appeared not to be seated fully. He re-seated each of the fuses and said they were about 1/16" from being seated fully. This was very strange but the Encore has not gone into "limp mode" or had any drivability issues for over a year now. Yes, it's had other issues, like needing a new water pump, coil pack, plugs, and EVAP purge valve. I have to say, these Buick Encores are poorly made in my opinion. Just thought you would be interested in hearing about this strange problem with the Encore entering "limp mode". Thank you for all of your excellent videos, I never miss one. 👍👍👍
Geo from Kalamazoo, MI
If YOU told me you wanted to guess I would turn you loose on it.
This was great! I’m 54 and I just learned the socket/tape trick !!! Would you use dielectric grease in the connectors as “added” protection from water?
Those things are actually built in S Korea. 😊
Sure it’s alright to take a guess sometimes. Based on experience and repeated patterns of data behavior it’s a really high likelihood that you pinpoint the problem. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck and buying a duck is cheaper than taking hours proving it’s a duck, then it’s probably a duck.
Guessing may be alright, but I wouldn't recommend trying it during a math test!
What is this country coming to? Remove the windshield wipers to replace a left front wheel speed sensor.
This is why I continue to stick money into my 1990 Eagle Premier.
You use intuition guided by past experience. Great job. ❤❤
Experience is valuable.
It's not Chinese, it's Korean.
Eric, car maintenance is always an " educated guess" but most of the time you feel much more confident after some testing that your guess is correct. Kind of like taking an open book test, just because you have the book in front of you doesn't mean you looked up the correct answer. IE: Car won't start and the battery tests at 9vdc and you determine at least one bad cell, your "guess" is you have a bad battery. But after replacing the batter the car still will not start, only to find the starter is weak.
As a car owner I would feel much more confident that Eric is making his "best guess" than if I asked the 15 year old down the street what he thought about the issue.
Great channel Eric. I've learned so much from watching your channel and the skills I've gained from that knowledge is not restricted to automobiles. They can be transferred to other life topics as well.
That's the world we live in it smart call like it
Easy with the sci-fi nerd talk, I resemble that!
Makes perfect sense. The DTC indicated a problem with the left front ABS. The most likely part to fail there is the sensor. Or if your customer wants, you can drive it around for 8 hours, charge 8 hours labor for that, find out without a doubt that it is the ABS sensor and then still pay for the sensor and the labor to install it. Diagnostic time isn't free.
Lol when you said made in China like the car I thought you were joking and then I looked it up and it actually is made in China or South Korea. It’s like a Boeing made in South Carolina vs Everett, Wa. There are airlines refusing to accept airplanes assembled in SC.
McCoy is the luckiest helper on the planet as he is learning from a legend…
When you know , you just know!
I guess at the cheap and fast in the name of time and fault elimination. Sometimes, like you did here, you find it anyway.
Not bad if he’s the REAL McCoy!
Great video. Not a guess, just common sense.
Educated guess is not always bad. I call it Symptom Diagnostics. I have ben doing this for year. I started with the GM Magnavox coils in the 3800 with no start in a real cold morning.
I was more worried about the torn rubber. Those can be really costly later.
When you’ve done the same job with the same problem over and over on multiple different cars and the same repairs fixes it then it’s not guessing, it’s experience. At 67 years old, 50 as a auto tech, I wish I could be that young man working with you. I hope he realizes how lucky he is to have you as a mentor.
Eric you should have at least 4-5 apprentices hovering around you learning the trade.!!!
Obviously the GM engineers were jealous when they saw how to change the battery in a Ford Escape
My 04 Tahoe has no headlights and rear locks ain't working. Both fed off the same relay panel. I been guessing this whole time LOL. I'll fix it when it warms up (hopefully)
My guess is that one of the front left wheel lug nuts is miss threaded, it’s a Buick thing😮
You are the man.
Its ok to take an " educated" guess…I guess just sayin!
Thanks for the video Eric, McCoy and the Lovely Mrs.O.
I make sure and hit the "like" button once Mrs. O shows up. That hard working girl deserves some of the credit.
Eric, how did you knew what connector to order from NAPA?
Great video, what a horrible spot for wheel speed connecter
That car needs a car fax report 😮😢
I don't know, I'da just replaced the gas cap, I guess.
Eric is it ok to go after market on these ?
And to add to your explainatIon, your customers are paying for your EXPERIENCE which allows you to take very educated "guesses", which in this case really isn't a guess. It is years of hand on experience combined with hard data in the form of the scan performed which lead you directly to the problem. Don't apologize for professionalism. You are a master knuckle buster!
I'm sure other side not far behind
Often, Eric takes us on the journey when knows for sure where the path leads immediately.
I know you have McCoy there, but where is Hatfield?
Are you the "Real McCoy?"🤤
It's ok when it's not a blind guess, the guess stands a good chance of working, and a correct guess can save a significant amount of time/money.
McCoy has a homework assignment, catch up on Star Trek the original series. One day he'll have the opportunity to say "it's worse that that, he's dead (Eric)" and it will all be worth it…
At this point it's all about experience.
Sometimes customers want you to do "something" even if it may not fix the issue. On diags where I can't recreate the issue I try to be very transparent with customers. I tell them what I think might fix the issue (as they've described it), and I tell them they also have the option of waiting until it's actually broken. So they can choose to do something that might or might not fix it, or wait until the problem is consistent enough to get a solid answer. Leaves the choice to them and often times they agree to take a chance on the guess.
There's a world of difference in approach between using experience and common sense instead of guesswork, hope and parts cannon. Depends if you are happy to give your customer a huge bill and probably never see them again for any other work.
Eric I thought it was just me(the whole McCoy thing going over my Head) never been one for the "Wars" or the "Trek" nor any other show with people wearing Masks for that matter… 🤔
3 years from now when it goes bad again somebody will say “Someone’s been in here”.
I GUESS a quick shot with the garden hose would have established if the drain was plugged. just saying.
Voltage low, voltage high, probably the sensor/connector. Only an improbable info and then you lean towards the bearing/tone ring. Hope it doesn't come back.
The saddest part is that those connectors are supposed to be sealed/waterproof when mated. There are (or should be) sealing glands around each conductor and an internal sealing gland between the two connector housings. I designed industrial/military connectors for a large part of my career.
When you see it tome and time again it be ok…green crusties will do it every time…
Amazing how water intrusion finds it's way with a sealed connection….
Experience allows you to take guesses
Only if you have “Money to burn”
The Goal is supposed to be “One and Done”
Comebacks = Less profit & Parts cannons are expensive to feed and often destroy perfectly good replacement parts .
you not guess…. you know thats the issue because you measured it one time and the speedsensor faIled
it save the costumer money and time and he has a good repair
works for me and is nog blind guessing
Why in the Name of GOD is the connector in that spot???? How freaking STUPID! It's probably gonna be FIXED!
I just want to make sure I am clear when I say that as a general rule I DO NOT condone "guessing," if you will. There are rare instances when there is an intermittent problem in front of me that I can not duplicate I may elect to use an educated guess providing it is cost effective and most importantly understood by the customer as nothing more than an educated guess. Was I clear in the video and is there any questions when I think it may be appropriate or inappropriate for that matter?
-Eric O.