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What Would You Do? Part 2 - The Fix

What would you do?
Part 2 - The Fix 

What Would You Do?  Part 2 - The Fix   

 

The Story . . . .
A customer brought in his minivan with about 70,000 miles and the transmission would not shift and was stuck in limp mode. The transmission repair shop did their initial diagnosis (I assume) and then removed the transmission to be rebuilt. After the rebuild was complete and the transmission reinstalled it still would not shift. The shop owner decided to take the vehicle to another transmission repair shop for their help since there was a technician at that shop who had a "fix it" reputation. It seems both shop owners were good friends and helped each other out from time to time. The make and model of the vehicle does not have any particular bearing on this story and the ultimate fix. Let's consider this a family (generic) minivan with a transmission that fails to shift problem.

The owner of the second shop told the R&R tech to pull the transmission and take it to "Mr. Fix-it" in the back, by the name of Larry (not his real name but I want to keep him humble). Larry took charge of the situation and moved the vehicle to the back area and told the group in the waiting room to hold on a few minutes. If you were Larry, a great tranny rebuilder by the way, what would you do? 

 


The Fix . . . . . . 

Larry had been using the electrical flip-chart FIRST THINGS FIRST on a few vehicles so he had confidence in doing these simple electrical checks first which only takes a few minutes. When he got to Test Step 7, measuring the voltage drop of the voltage side of the charging system (between B+ terminal on the generator and battery positive post at the right time) he was looking for normal reading of no more than 0.20V. He found this vehicle was reading 0.60V and that was too much.

He visually inspected the cable and connections. He noticed the connection at the generator's B+ terminal was not assembled correctly. He turned the ignition key off and disassembled the B+ terminal wire, washer and lock nut and properly reconnected the cable and hardware to ensure a good electrical connection. Then he checked the voltage drop again and got a correct reading of 0.20V.

 

He decided to test drive the vehicle and found the transmission now shifted normally. He had been working on the vehicle less than 15 minutes. He said the look on everyone's faces when he brought the vehicle around to the front and dropped the keys on the front counter with a short "it's fixed" comment was a hoot to behold.  Without another word Larry returned to the back where he was rebuilding a tranny.

 

 

The Real Satisfaction Comes Later . . . . . .

Larry told me a few days later the owner of the vehicle stopped by and wanted to shake his hand. The other shop had told the owner they took his car to another shop where Larry worked. The owner told Larry that he had bought the vehicle brand new. During the warranty period he had taken the vehicle back to the dealership on three different occasions complaining that the vehicle just didn't seem right. He said it just didn't run like a new car. The engine did not run smooth and shift gears easily. When turning on electrical accessories it always seemed to create more performance issues.  As the mileage increased the problems got worse. Each time he took it to the dealership they told him there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and he would leave the dealership frustrated. With 65,000 miles the transmission stopped shifting and now the car was out of warranty so he took his car to a local transmission shop.

The owner told Larry: "I don't know what you did to fix my car but it has never run so good and everything works like a new car. I just want to shake your hand and personally thank you."

 

 

How You Can Too!

Because we work in an industry that changes so dramatically every model year with the all new innovations presenting new service issues we may not have  encountered before, we tend to become so focused on the new technology we forget the vehicle's essential electrical system that ensures the vehicle performs properly. If a problem develops in the essential electrical system, what do I check and how do I check it? What readings should I get with the DMM and what do I do if a DMM reading is too high or too low? How long will it take to run the tests?

Image removed by sender.FIRST THINGS FIRST shows you what circuit to test - what order to test each circuit - what condition the vehicle should be in to perform each test step - what the correct DMM reading should be - and what to do if a DMM reading is too high or too low. There are 14 test steps that most techs can complete in less than 5 minutes with a little practice.

This is why you need a copy of  FIRST THINGS FIRST. It shows you how to quickly discover electrical problems most techs overlook. A technician in this picture is testing the voltage drop of the voltage side of the charging system where "Larry" found the problem. FIRST THINGS FIRST is printed as a flip-chart on laminated cardboard pages so it will last a long time in heavy shop use.

Read our web page describing FIRST THINGS FIRST HERE.

There are two versions.
FIRST THINGS FIRST Pro
covers a 14V electrical system with a single battery for $79.00 per copy plus shipping $7.00 to US Zip codes. (Price increases May 1st) Buy The Single Battery Version

FIRST THINGS FIRST-2 covers a 14V electrical system with two batteries because there are 4 additional steps for the second battery circuit. Priced at $99.00 per copy plus shipping $7.00 to US Zip codes. (Price increases May 1st)  
Buy The Dual Battery Version

Watch for "What Would You Do - Part 3" It's a doozie!!!

 

Vince Fischelli  /  Director of Training
Veejer Enterprises Inc. Garland Texas, USA
Phone: 972.276.9642  /  Fax:  972.276.8122 
Email: sales@veejer.com

 

Main Web site: www.veejer.com

60 Lesson Web Site: 

http://training.veejer.com

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Posted: Apr 11, 2016,
Categories: Fire Mechanics,
Comments: 0,
Author: Jessi.Souza
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