ETCG-Lite

[jeffrey]

I thought of something that might facilitate ‘making hay’ every day a lot easier. A big repair video can be a major undertaking. Lots of ‘stay dirty’ work and lots of video production. I can tell a lot of times its too much to dive into, but to stay in the mix and on camera you fill in with talking philosophy for 15 minutes. That’s great, I love it, could listen all day, but the Mass Market has a very short attention span.

Sooo here’s whatcha do. A series of quick, concise one or two minute videos on the more esoteric mysteries of what’s inside an engine.
Example:
“Here’s a MAF sensor. Here’s what it does. Here’s where it goes and what they cost/should cost to replace.”
“There’s where your heater core is going to be. Your mechanic is charging you a fortune because he has to work his tail off ripping out your dash to get to it, so no, he’s not ripping you off.”
“Here’s your ERG valve. Here’s your ERG valve on drugs. If your car’s doing this there’s a good chance its your ERG valve. Any questions?”
…etc.
You could crank out a whole battlechest of these in a very short time and get them out there ‘making hay’ while you work on the extended Masterpieces.
Make them the length of a commercial so that when our moms and girlfriends want to know a little about what’s going on they can get the info they’re after before they have to take the Barbie Dream Car into Bubba the mechanic. (us guys would use them too but its a guy-thing the never admit ignorance on an automotive issue.)
Anyway, seems to me you could crank out four or five of these to your one extended repair videos, show up four or five times more often in the Youtube search…more viewers could get in and out with the info they need more quickly, four or five more times the hits and advertising, and a whole new following of viewers.
By all means keep making the big repair videos and talking philosophy. I couldn’t live without’em. But I thought I would throw this out there as a way to maybe better work the Youtube system thats less labor intensive and maybe more productive? Then again, this is just me talking philosophy too…lol

Topic

[Edwin]

While I understand your reasoning for this matter, I feel most topics should be covered to their necessary extent.

This will provide more knowledge to viewers, and help address most questions and concerns a viewer has.

Just my opinion.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Thanks for the suggestion but that’s not really my style nor is it that simple. I get email and comments all the time stating how they appreciate the ‘detail’ offered in my videos. Believe it or not they are actually much longer than what you see on YouTube, in fact Premium Members get to see these ‘long cuts’. Many times I cut out entire sections that never get seen just to save time. I guess what I’m driving at is that videos like that would require a different level of production that I’m not able to implement at the moment. You’d be surprised at how much more effort it would take to cram information into a shorter time span and still make sense. It’s not just a question of cutting them shorter, it’s also a question of adjusting production to accommodate the shorter time frame.

I hear where you’re coming from and it’s not a bad idea however you must realize that at this time I’m a one man operation and I have to keep things as ‘automated’ as possible so that I can keep up. With 3 shows a week already and one day to edit them all it makes it difficult to extend the edit time not to mention adjusting production. In fact I’ve been considering taking time off to work on production and catch my breath rather than keep the schedule that I’ve been keeping, to be honest it’s crazy and allows me next to no free time at all, remember I also often spend entire DAYS here on the forum and answering email as well.

You really can’t put ANY detail into something that short without a lot of effort, actually that’s the reason I haven’t worked on the electrical series in a while, I’ve had no time to plan those out. For me my videos have to meet some pretty high standards, if I don’t like it I can’t expect you to. If I were to make shorter videos it would require me to make a lot of adjustments to do so and at this time I don’t see that happening. Besides I do have an over arching plan for ETCG, all I have to say abut that is wait and see.

Thank you for the suggestion, I’ll continue to consider it.

[jeffrey]

Of course I don’t have the level of understanding that you would as to what it takes to get the job done. I was just trying to shoot a perspective from a viewer on a need that the ‘how to’s are missing.
A thousand times I’ve just wanted someone to throw open a hood, point at a “PCV valve”,etc, (…fill in esoteric here), say that’s what it is, that’s where it is, they cost about four bucks and your mechanic shouldn’t be charging you $500 bucks to replace it. I’ve watched a lot of backyard hillbillies drink beer and tear down rust buckets to finally get to that information on Youtube. (not talking about you but just do a search)
Of course the real shop guys can’t get enough of the ‘in depth’ stuff…I can’t either. But there are a lot more of the ‘other folks’ than there are of the dedicated gearheads. I’m just thinking that there’s a lot more profitability to including the 50 thousand of them as opposed to exclusively catering to the 500 of us. Just my thoughts on maybe not missing any opportunities outside the box.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Yea I get where you’re coming from. Thing is auto repair is NEVER cut and dried, hence the reason my channel is so popular despite the sometimes long runtime. The type of video you propose really does the viewer a disservice in my opinion because it doesn’t address the real issue which is a lack of understanding. There are no silver bullets in auto repair thats why we technicians spend a lot of time and money getting our educations not to mention thousands of dollars in tools just to do what we do. For me to distill that down into a 5 min video is a slap in the face to that effort in my eyes.

I’m not saying what you want is not doable, nor that you are wrong for asking but the truth is that auto repair is a complex topic and should be treated as such. Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for life is what I like to live by.

Thanks again for your suggestion.

[alan dunham]

Eric, do you look at other guy’s auto videos, and do you try to take away anything from them with respect to how you present your own? I look at RealfixesRealfast, BriansMobile1, robinson auto, ScannerDanner, Spelunkerd, etc. Each has value with fair to good production detail. There are so many others on the Tube that are just junk (but, perhaps, well intentioned).
I find your work very good across the board and I’m sure the other guys have been watching you.
Frankly, I don’t know how you do it bending over into an engine bay, and laying under a car to do what you do. It must have something to do with “youth”. I hope Santa brings you a hydraulic lift for Xmas!
I started watching/learning/gaining confidence watching you and “Nate” on Expert Village a couple years back. I’ve had some “moments” but also done some good, too. Thanks for all you do, its making a difference out here.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I’m familiar with all the channels you mentioned and they all do great work. There was a time where I did watch other repair channels not so much to get ideas but to check out the ‘competition’ and learn about the video DIY auto repair market. These days producing 3 shows a week and keeping up with this forum is about all I have time for so I don’t normally watch other repair videos unless someone sends me a direct link. I’m actually more interested in what my viewers want to see more of or less of in my videos so I spend a lot of time interacting with them to learn more about their needs and wants. Hence the reason for the ‘Suggestion Box’.

As for the lift I’ve answered to that so many times. In fact you can find the best explanation here.

Thanks very much for your comments.

[Author]

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