- This topic has 7 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 4 months ago by
.
- Topic
- Replies
Highly agree. On these newer cars I myself have been stranded along side the highway all over a battery that went bad while driving and have seen others in the same spot as well. Now I will say having a background in industrial electrical systems once you get to know how everything works tracking down most issues becomes easier and easier as long as you have a diagram but there will always be that wild card. My only undiagnosed electrical issue is on a 92′ C1500 ended up having to leave it go (my first pickup!).
I think the word you are looking for is deterministic. 🙂
You are right on making sure you have a solid ground and a good battery. Given the relatively low voltage swings on some of the sensors, a shaky ground or battery can give the appearance of a failed sensor.
Good video, as an EE I appreciated it!
I think where a lot of Americans get their distrust from electronics are the early systems from the late 70’s and early 80’s. My 81′ El Camino has the first CCC (Computer Command Control) system Chevrolet offered. It’s a little silly, I think. It didn’t do much for economy and power (on the 267 V8 models) dropped 10 horsepower to 115. One thing I do have to say is that the truck has survived with the original drive train in tact for over 200K miles, but I’m not sure the primitive electronics have much to do with that. That’s where I think a lot of the mistrust comes from. The early systems were indeed poor. See also early electronic fuel injection systems. (Bosch is an early example, I think.)
I feel like one of my teachers from the tech school possessed Eric just long enough to make this video. Juan Antonio used to say pretty much the exact same thing about computers in his classes.
Whether or not you think computers/electronics are stupid, they’re abundant in today’s vehicles. I think that abundance combined with the outrageous prices to replace some of those components is going to open up a market for local electronics repairs. The TV repair man is going to make a comeback in your dash board when your backup camera kills itself. I’ve been trying to dabble in vehicle electronics repairs when I can and it’s made me some good money on occasion. It’s easier for me to sell two hours labor and 20¢ worth of resistors to fix a Buick gauge cluster than it is to sell nearly the same labor just for R&R along with $350 part cost for a replacement cluster. I saved thousands soldering in $13 worth of relays into Ford LCM’s that used to cost $400 to replace. For all the electronics going into cars these days, I think there’s some potential for shops to someday hire a technician who will specialize just in repairing those electronic components.
I’m actually quite skilled with electricity, more well versed than most due to my background of having an uncle as a master electrician. However, when it comes to electronics..while I understand them I find most totally unnecessary. We’ve had this discussion here on the forum before and the most agreed on computer in the car that was pointless was the BCM(body control module). You don’t need a computer to control windows, A/C, seats, etc. It just over-complicates things for no reason at all when you can run simple wires to simple components. Some cars even have a separate climate control computer. CAN Bus is so inter-wired while faster and more efficient for modules to communicate, it is a PITA sometimes as well.
Dig into the service manual and if you are lucky you will find a section labeled criteria. This section describes what will cause the computer to set a code. So while the names for the codes the scanner presents might throw you into thinking something other than what is actually wrong is wrong, looking at the criteria provides the entire view of possibilities.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.