By Jim Linder
Working in this industry for more than 30 years has had its good and bad sides from time to time. One of the biggest issues has always been getting proper, timely information on servicing each new make and model of vehicle. I still have my old Automotive Service Encyclopedia from the '70s (and even today, use it more than I ever thought I would) along with many original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service shop manuals from years of automotive service.
The first fact of life we, as automotive service people, must accept is the simple reality of “it won't ever be like it was.” One of my industry friends recently told me, “Jim, we are no longer in the business of technician training,” referring to my problems trying to find service information on a late-model General Motors Corp. (GM) product with no results. Now, that hurt! How could one of the industry giants just quit providing us with great training classes and good service information, which included some of the best pictures and drawings of actual components? Why have most OEMs closed their area training centers that once enabled us to attend factory-provided schools to see and touch the latest and greatest new products?
I won't even attempt to answer these complex questions with any other answer but to say, “Business is business and money is money.”
With that said, what are we (as aftermarket service groups) going to do from now on?
This question I will attempt to answer!
The answer is Electronic Service Information (ESI).
This new type of technician service information must be approached and embraced right away. Many remember the early '80s when the computer-controlled carburetor first hit the streets. There were two schools of thought at that point:
- I will just wait and see what this brings.
- I will get on this bus and gear up right away.
The difference in these two thoughts was a “dollars-and-cents” separation from one to the other. The shops that stepped up early got a large portion of the service work and the shops that didn't turned them away. All in all, it was a good deal for those who stepped up early.
ESI won't be any different from anything we have encountered in the past, but it will require a different mindset from both shop owners and technicians. Service groups like the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and others must work together to make these new programs work for all. In Indianapolis, I have started a work group consisting of 26 service technicians and shop owners (some meet in the daytime, some in the evening). At this time, we have started a one-year, approximately 50-hour class session on ESI. With only a couple of class sessions behind us, the results are amazing. Many service-related issues have surfaced and I believe many more will come. The class started earlier this year with a discussion concerning basic e-mail and information availability.
ESI Problem No.1:
- Many service technicians don't have e-mail.
- Those who do don't answer it with any regularity.
- Very few could access and answer their e-mail at work.
OK, I can't say I didn't expect that, but let's sit down and work to fix the problem.
- Step 1: If you don't have e-mail, get it.
- Step 2: If you can't get your e-mail at work, or at the very least access a personal computer (PC) for online information, then we need to fix that issue as well.
- Step 3: If you can't do any of the above, you need to be in another class!
Note: Many shop owners stated they didn't want their service technicians to have Internet access at work based on possible poor productivity and misuse of the computer. This is a management problem and has nothing to do with ESI issues!
I am very pleased to say that after two months, everyone in our ESI group now has e-mail and they answer it usually within 24 hours! A few of the shops have installed PC workstations in the service area for the technicians to use and some have even installed a high-speed Internet connection on this PC.
Why would a service shop ever need such a tool in the service bay? Let's use a couple of recent examples:
Case No. 1: Technician use of e-mail
Our shop had a particular problem vehicle come in (1998 Ford Windstar with a 3.8 L V-6 engine). A shop down the street sent this one to us for an analysis. Some basic repairs had been performed trying to fix an illuminated MIL lamp with DTC Code PO304. After some exploration, our analysis found that this is a somewhat common problem with this engine, but not an easy one to find quickly unless you had done one before.
The problem begins when the technician finds a technical service bulletin (TSB) for this particular condition, which instructs them to do all kinds of services (including a PCM reflash) prior to getting down to the basic problem. The basic problem is that the EGR ports (six of them, one per cylinder) clog up until five of the six are totally stopped up. This leaves only the passage to Cylinder No. 4 open. When the EGR turns on and starts flow, all EGR flow goes to the No. 4 cylinder, causing a misfire. The fix is fairly straightforward: Remove the upper plenum, unclog the ports (using a pick), reinstall the plenum, clear the codes and away you go. A fairly easy repair and also quite profitable when you can find it early in the analysis process.
Many have seen this problem, but many have not and will suffer through the first one they find! Our solution was to snap a couple of pictures, write a short explanation and e-mail it to the group! WOW, what a response! One shop called and had this exact vehicle come in the morning after the case study was e-mailed to the shops. They explained to the customer the e-mail example of the problem (including pictures) and fixed the vehicle quickly the first time. An excellent example of information being shared via e-mail!
Another member of the ESI group called our shop asking a question concerning a multispeed fuel pump circuit on a 1999 Ford product. Traditional methods of information did not explain what the scanner parameter identification (pid) was showing. Was this number an “on” or an “off” signal? Lacking the answer, I remembered one of our guru school instructors had written a small paper on this subject. I retrieved the document and e-mailed the 12-page discussion to the technician for review. He printed the handout at his shop and then reviewed the system with another tech, who in this case is also the shop owner.
Note: You need to understand that I took very little of my day to make this happen! The car was fixed, and they now know how this system works in detail. This will also be sent to all shops in the group as a homework document for class discussion. Wow! Two in less than a couple of weeks!
During this exercise of sending e-mails, checking response times and sharing documents, problem No. 2 has surfaced.
ESI Problem No. 2:
- Assuming the service technician of today has e-mail, answers it on time, and has service bay Internet access, we do not know how much or how little computer skills they have.
- Can they open an e-mail and retrieve a document from the Internet?
- Can they cut and paste a picture for later study?
- Do they have MS-Office (a suite of tools needed for some of these operations)?
Probably not. Many are still using all their brain cells trying to get their latest scope or scanner up to speed and working on all the vehicles they are required to service each day or trying to figure out why a MIL lamp is lit on the latest OBD-II vehicle. They just don't have the time available in their daily routine to spend the hours of computer time required to learn these basic skills.
OK, let's discuss these issues! At this point I am assuming the technician DOES have Internet access at work (by the way, many do) and uses the PC to acquire information, wiring diagrams, service information, etc. Why would we ever need more skills? Why would I ever need MS-Office in a repair shop environment?
Let's begin by looking at some of the options using service.gm.com as a working example. This is a GM technician Web site presently available to anyone. This site, although geared for the GM service tech, is full of service information to the aftermarket. It has a multitude of offerings including access to GM service materials that may be purchased, PCM calibrations per vehicle given at no charge and my favorite, “Tech Link Magazine.” Now, back to my point. When the technician gets to this site some things need to happen. One example I use: Let's say a “Tech Link” article is found that interests the shop or technician. It may be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat reader for storage, printing and/or reading at a later time. Just the word “Adobe” frightens some PC owners, as they really don't understand what it can do for them. Adobe reader is available free from many sources and once installed allows you to read Adobe PDF files on your PC. We placed this on our Web site at www.lindertech.com and all of our newsletters are available from this site in Adobe format free of charge. It can also be downloaded from the ASA Web site.
Case No. 2: Use of Adobe Document
Using the service.gm.com Web site under the “Tech Link newsletter” for February 2002, the technician is given the oil life reset procedures for light trucks. Cars are also given in another month's issue.
Example:
2001 Yukon, Reset Oil Life Lamp
- Key On/Engine off
- Slowly push accelerator pedal to floor three times in 5 seconds
- Change Oil Soon Lamp should flash, showing reset.
- If not, repeat.
Invaluable information? You bet!
Now, if the service technician or anyone else in the shop would wish to use this information - today or in the future - they would need to have the skills to save the document and organize it in a folder for future viewing.
Some of my guys printed this newsletter in color, plastic-coated it, and hung it in the service shop. This is a basic Windows operation that we are discussing here. The ability to mark this Web site (ex: calid.gm.com) as a favorite in a folder would also require a certain amount of training, etc. All the ESI in the world will not help if a technician can't get to it!
Case No. 3: Cut and Paste Operations
When a particular topic is viewed on the Web site, can the technician cut and paste it somewhere (using MS-Word, in this case), so it can be reused, printed or studied later?
Example shown is from the LTS Web site and pasted into MS -Word.
KNOWN TEST PARAMETERS:
CURRENT DRAW:
Current draw will increase with load and decrease with lack of load. Also poor brush contact will lower current draw. Brush spring tension is critical to the motor operation! For some reason, the negative (ground) brush always is the first to fail. This spring will be the one to show heat, burnt brush and loss of spring tension of every failure we have seen and inspected to date.
Text was selected with the mouse. A right click on the mouse gives us the “copy” function tool. Text is copied to the “clipboard” (another Windows function) and “pasted” (control v) to this document. Just another example from the list of new skills needed for “today's” service technician.
Case No. 4: Why do we need additional software?
There is a need for many different universal software applications, based on the skill levels and support groups. By this, I mean you shouldn't buy a product you don't know how to use unless someone (maybe a friend) can help push-start you toward learning the software. Many shops are full of good software no one ever learned to use. MS-Office would be one of these application software packages. I know many will say they use something different, but I recommend that we establish a standard for viewing this new ESI data and use it to the fullest. I feel it not only offers the service technician some needed tools, but also provides the actual repair shop office many useful functions as well. MS-Office will supply the service shop with another tool for communication that is needed for ESI.
MS-Office offers: Word (documents), Excel (numbers/graphs), Outlook (time, calendar management), Powerpoint (presentation viewing), Publisher (flyers, service topics), and other tools as well.
Note: By no means is this intended to be a MS-Office training session. Each application will require hours of actual hands-on PC use from each person. We just spent approximately three hours in class doing and discussing basic WORD functions for the repair shops. Everyone attending walked out with a new perspective of how this could be used to help them service today's vehicles.
Now, onward with our discussion concerning ESI and technician utilization. We will assume the technician not only has a PC in the service area, but also that the computer has a high-speed Internet service running on it and the technician has good basic computer skills.
Now, the technician must know when to use this new ESI data and where to find it when needed. At this particular point another snag or problem is found.
ESI Problem No. 3
- When does a technician need information?
- Where does the technician get this information?
- How much does this information cost?
Case No. 5: When does a technician need this information?
This question is a hard one to answer, but in reality the technician may need this information every minute he or she is working on a vehicle. With so many makes and models serviced in today's repair shops, you can't just rely on memory anymore. The vehicles are just too complex.
A recent GM document discussed the different controllers running various systems on their particular cars: PCM, BCM, SDM, TCS, EBCM, IPC, HVAC and RFA. Not only do we need to know what each of these systems are, we also need to know the Class 2 Bus ID number for each controller (015,064,040,041,096,153 and 176). Does this show the need for more information than ever? Remember: there are 480 minutes in a day and we must make each one count!
Case No. 6: Where does a technician get this information?
A good place to start is to use a few traditional information suppliers. I would suggest Mitchell and ALLDATA (to include Motor/ALLDATA), as most are accustomed to using this information. Both also have an Internet hookup in place. One advantage to using high-speed Internet information is the lack of CD-ROMs. Also, multiple computers may access the data at the same time. Example: A tech could be viewing a wiring diagram while someone in the front office was reviewing a repair procedure with a customer and yet another tech could be looking at specifications.
The only problem I see today with this information is there are many offerings in every description available. Many do not know where these great sources of information are, much less the fact that they even exist. In this article, we are only scratching the surface of availability.
International Automotive Technician Network (iATN) is an Internet workplace with forums for discussions, tips, past fixes and even online help methods. When hanging out with 39,000 service technicians, there is a lot of information available. Many shops use this resource to live chat each workday with friends across the United States as they work on vehicles in their service bays. It's like having an entire group of friends help you look over the vehicle.
OEM service data is available using the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF). NASTF is a cooperative effort among the automotive service industry, the equipment and tool industry, and automotive manufacturers to ensure automotive service professionals have the information, training and tools needed to properly diagnose and repair today's high-tech vehicles.
NASTF was established in the fall of 2000 as a national successor to a pilot program in Arizona during 1999 and 2000. In the pilot program, these groups learned they shared the common objective of ensuring swift and proper repair of customer vehicles, and the best way to improve current information gaps was to work constructively to improve delivery systems. Today's rapidly advancing and changing technologies compound the information problems that automotive service professionals face; however, the Internet and other technology advancements offer opportunities today to address these problems.
One of the first projects taken on by this group of volunteers is the Vehicle Manufacturer Service Information Matrix, which can be found on the task force's Web site (www.nastf.org); the iATN Web site (www.iatn.net); and ASA's Web site (www.asashop.org). A printed version is available from the collision and mechanical divisions of ASA. Also, the original Automobile Manufacturers Letter of Intent may be found at www.asashop.org.
This Letter of Intent from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is expressing their intent to “make available to independent technicians the same diagnostic and repair capability and available diagnostic tools ... they currently make available to their franchised dealerships for all 1996 and newer cars and light trucks.”
The NASTF Matrix is a detailed document showing what information is available directly from each car manufacturer, including contact phone numbers and Web sites where available. This document is continuously updated as new information and resources become available.
Part II of this article will focus entirely on the NASTF Service Information Matrix. We will explore its important role in our industry and the data it offers, including information from DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Co. and GM.
Part II of Jim Linder's “An Automotive Technician's Journey Through the ESI Jungle” will run in the August 2002 issue. For more on information availability and the Matrix, see “Information Availability: A Collision Repairer's Crisis” in the June 2002 issue of AutoInc. If you don't have a copy of the magazine, you may access it at www.autoinc.org.
| Jim Linder is owner of Linder Technical Services, an automotive technician support facility in Indianapolis. He can be reached at (317) 487-9460 or (toll-free outside of Indiana) (888) 809-3835. Or, e-mail him at info@lindertech.com or visit his Web site at www.lindertech.com.
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