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I use purple cleaner as a degreaser. For what it costs, it’s the most effective product i have come across. Just ask for it at any auto parts store if you are not familiar with it. About $23 for a gallon jug. Also works great for cleaning around the shop or garage. http://www.clean-rite.com/purplepower_industrial_strength_cleaner_degreaser.html
I use a pressure washer to remove the bulk of the crud and then i apply the purple cleaner with a spray bottle. Let it work for a couple minutes and rinse it off.
Obviously don’t spray stuff that should not be sprayed. Blah blah blah. Damage to person and property. Fiery death. All that good stuff.
In my experience, the least effective products are the aerosol engine degreasers like the Gunk brand stuff. These are petroleum based and you are supposed to apply them to a warm engine. It leaves an oily slick everywhere without removing much grime and stinks for days as you can never rinse off all of it. It just adds to the mess and it’s awful for the environment.
For an extra step, i use Auto Magic 713 after the engine has been degreased with purple cleaner. It seems to have an additional effect of really thoroughly cleaning unpainted metal surfaces. I was out of purple cleaner and i used this stuff by itself today on a car with a nasty valve cover leak. The engine compartment looks new. http://www.automagicestore.com/713-special-cleaner.html
Whether or not flat rate is fair will depend on where you work and what you are working on. I’m a tech at an Audi dealership and lately flat rate has been fraying my nerves. Our vehicles have gone through platform updates starting in 2008 and that’s when things went very wrong for us. The new platforms are what i call the disposable razors of cars. They are made to barely get through the warranty period without failing and then become nightmares on wheels. Our labor rate is $175 an hour and parts are astronomically expensive so customers don’t want to keep these cars once the warranty expires. Most components are now large modules and are not serviceable. When something fails, we replace the whole thing. Customers just don’t want to pay for that and end up trading in the car. As a result of all of this, the vast majority of our work is warranty stuff.
Six years ago i could book 80 hours a week and now I’m happy if I break even. Labor rates have been cut across the board and diagnostic pay is a joke. We were always told that diagnostic techs are the most valuable and will receive the highest pay. That is just not true, or it’s not true anymore. As a diagnostic tech, i’m just the most exploited and underpaid for my efforts. We get paid 0.1 to road test a car whether it be a bad wheel bearing that will become apparent in 5min, or a rattle deep inside the dash that will consume half your day. Electrical diag has some potential to get you straight time, but the paperwork may consume more time than the repair itself.
Eric brought up a good point about factoring in everything that you are not being paid for. Disabled cars, paperwork, walking to and from the parts department, incorrect or damaged parts, parts department errors, waiting in the parts department, looking for shop equipment, waiting for approvals, inspecting vehicles, missing or damaged shop equipment, and all the hoop jumping that comes with the job. There is no runoff room. No room for a bad day or complications.
At my dealership, the documentation system is from the 70s. The days of ‘adjusted carburetor float, road tested, all ok’ are over. Some days i have to leave paperwork until next morning because my hand gets cramped from writing. The owner of the dealer chain insists on using ROs with 6, two inch wide lines per item. Sometimes i have to staple 3 additional blank ROs to the ticket just to write up a couple simple repairs. Audi is a bit gun shy since the unintended acceleration fiasco in the 80s so they have some seriously strict documentation guidelines. This stuff takes time to write up and implementing an electronic RO system reduce the time to write up a ticket to seconds. Manufacturers should be implementing requirements for streamlining these bottlenecks.
For some wishful thinking, manufacturers should require the dealers to pay the techs a fair wage. If you can’t pay your techs what they’re worth, than you shouldn’t be operating a dealership. A manufacturer should pride themselves not only in the product quality but also in the quality of life they are providing for their workers. Again, wishful thinking.
As cars change, the flat rate system will need to keep up. If it doesn’t, than no one in their right mind will want to work as a tech. The flat rate dealership tech will devolve into nothing more than what a fry cook is at burger joint. In the past it was something to worth studying for and working towards. Who will want to spend 25K on tech school, then another $25-50K on tools so they can work a job that pays worse than a janitor’s. I’m watching dealerships flood with untrained Pep Boys rejects.
I should stop before i talk myself into going back to school. It’s not all bad. Last week i booked 52 hours. Some dealers still pay high wages so if you don’t book 40, you will still get a nice check. Your skills and access to facilities reduces your transportation costs to just parts, fuel and insurance – this counters some of that lost time. Maybe you will never get rich, but you will never go hungry as long as your have your tools. After so many years, i have the qualifications and skills to move on to bigger and better things. Almost all exotic brands pay their techs hourly so that will be my next move. Once you survive flat rate, you can move up. Think of it as a learning experience.
Whether or not flat rate is fair will depend on where you work and what you are working on. I’m a tech at an Audi dealership and lately flat rate has been fraying my nerves. Our vehicles have gone through platform updates starting in 2008 and that’s when things went very wrong for us. The new platforms are what i call the disposable razors of cars. They are made to barely get through the warranty period without failing and then become nightmares on wheels. Our labor rate is $175 an hour and parts are astronomically expensive so customers don’t want to keep these cars once the warranty expires. Most components are now large modules and are not serviceable. When something fails, we replace the whole thing. Customers just don’t want to pay for that and end up trading in the car. As a result of all of this, the vast majority of our work is warranty stuff.
Six years ago i could book 80 hours a week and now I’m happy if I break even. Labor rates have been cut across the board and diagnostic pay is a joke. We were always told that diagnostic techs are the most valuable and will receive the highest pay. That is just not true, or it’s not true anymore. As a diagnostic tech, i’m just the most exploited and underpaid for my efforts. We get paid 0.1 to road test a car whether it be a bad wheel bearing that will become apparent in 5min, or a rattle deep inside the dash that will consume half your day. Electrical diag has some potential to get you straight time, but the paperwork may consume more time than the repair itself.
Eric brought up a good point about factoring in everything that you are not being paid for. Disabled cars, paperwork, walking to and from the parts department, incorrect or damaged parts, parts department errors, waiting in the parts department, looking for shop equipment, waiting for approvals, inspecting vehicles, missing or damaged shop equipment, and all the hoop jumping that comes with the job. There is no runoff room. No room for a bad day or complications.
At my dealership, the documentation system is from the 70s. The days of ‘adjusted carburetor float, road tested, all ok’ are over. Some days i have to leave paperwork until next morning because my hand gets cramped from writing. The owner of the dealer chain insists on using ROs with 6, two inch wide lines per item. Sometimes i have to staple 3 additional blank ROs to the ticket just to write up a couple simple repairs. Audi is a bit gun shy since the unintended acceleration fiasco in the 80s so they have some seriously strict documentation guidelines. This stuff takes time to write up and implementing an electronic RO system reduce the time to write up a ticket to seconds. Manufacturers should be implementing requirements for streamlining these bottlenecks.
For some wishful thinking, manufacturers should require the dealers to pay the techs a fair wage. If you can’t pay your techs what they’re worth, than you shouldn’t be operating a dealership. A manufacturer should pride themselves not only in the product quality but also in the quality of life they are providing for their workers. Again, wishful thinking.
As cars change, the flat rate system will need to keep up. If it doesn’t, than no one in their right mind will want to work as a tech. The flat rate dealership tech will devolve into nothing more than what a fry cook is at burger joint. In the past it was something to worth studying for and working towards. Who will want to spend 25K on tech school, then another $25-50K on tools so they can work a job that pays worse than a janitor’s. I’m watching dealerships flood with untrained Pep Boys rejects.
I should stop before i talk myself into going back to school. It’s not all bad. Last week i booked 52 hours. Some dealers still pay high wages so if you don’t book 40, you will still get a nice check. Your skills and access to facilities reduces your transportation costs to just parts, fuel and insurance – this counters some of that lost time. Maybe you will never get rich, but you will never go hungry as long as your have your tools. After so many years, i have the qualifications and skills to move on to bigger and better things. Almost all exotic brands pay their techs hourly so that will be my next move. Once you survive flat rate, you can move up. Think of it as a learning experience.
There is one canister filter, and the in-tank lift pump has a filter ‘sock’ on it to catch any large debris in the fuel tank. After reading your last post I’m not sure which pump you said is not flowing fuel. Figure out which pump is not working and why.
There is one canister filter, and the in-tank lift pump has a filter ‘sock’ on it to catch any large debris in the fuel tank. After reading your last post I’m not sure which pump you said is not flowing fuel. Figure out which pump is not working and why.
…and that’s where things start to get complicated. In an ideal situation the vehicle would shut off all power consumers when the ignition is off but things often don’t work out that way. Your battery is either worn out, or it was discharged because there are other issues. The BEM will do whatever it can do maintain enough amperage in the battery to start the car but it is not always successful. I constantly deal with no start issues despite the presence of a BEM. The BEM helps, but it doesn’t make your car immune to low battery charge.
Batteries fail and the BEM can’t reserve a start up charge if there is nothing to store it in. Some fail of old age, and some fail prematurely. The BEM can only predict a battery failure if the battery is working as designed – that means you may or may not get an early warning. We just had a large batch of Moll brand batteries that would barely last a year. In the case of a premature battery failure, the BEM will continue to draw from the battery as though it was healthy. The solution here is simple. Replace the battery and adapt it to the manager so it can begin calculating its condition.
The other type of low charge issue is more complex. The BEM can send requests to other modules to shut off functions or to go into sleep mode so they are not drawing power. Low battery charge issues arise when these modules refuse the requests because of hardware or software issues. They will stay awake and draw power, sometimes intermittently. These types of concerns can be extremely difficult to diagnose and costly to repair.
Hopefully your car just needed a new battery. If you continue to have battery draw issues, it’s time to visit a dealer or other qualified repair facility.
…and that’s where things start to get complicated. In an ideal situation the vehicle would shut off all power consumers when the ignition is off but things often don’t work out that way. Your battery is either worn out, or it was discharged because there are other issues. The BEM will do whatever it can do maintain enough amperage in the battery to start the car but it is not always successful. I constantly deal with no start issues despite the presence of a BEM. The BEM helps, but it doesn’t make your car immune to low battery charge.
Batteries fail and the BEM can’t reserve a start up charge if there is nothing to store it in. Some fail of old age, and some fail prematurely. The BEM can only predict a battery failure if the battery is working as designed – that means you may or may not get an early warning. We just had a large batch of Moll brand batteries that would barely last a year. In the case of a premature battery failure, the BEM will continue to draw from the battery as though it was healthy. The solution here is simple. Replace the battery and adapt it to the manager so it can begin calculating its condition.
The other type of low charge issue is more complex. The BEM can send requests to other modules to shut off functions or to go into sleep mode so they are not drawing power. Low battery charge issues arise when these modules refuse the requests because of hardware or software issues. They will stay awake and draw power, sometimes intermittently. These types of concerns can be extremely difficult to diagnose and costly to repair.
Hopefully your car just needed a new battery. If you continue to have battery draw issues, it’s time to visit a dealer or other qualified repair facility.
Are the injectors being activated when cranking? Hard handled screwdriver – one end against an injector and the other against your ear. Crank engine. Do you hear clicking? If so, injectors are activating. If they are, check fuel pressure when cranking.
Are the injectors being activated when cranking? Hard handled screwdriver – one end against an injector and the other against your ear. Crank engine. Do you hear clicking? If so, injectors are activating. If they are, check fuel pressure when cranking.
If it runs on a combustible spray like starting fluid or carb cleaner than you have a fuel supply issue. Next logical step would be to perform a couple quick checks. Disconnect the fuel supply line at the engine and route it to a container to catch fuel in. Crank the engine and observe if fuel is being delivered at a good rate. If not, diagnose fuel supply issue. If there is fuel flow, check the injectors by listening to them using a hard handled screwdriver. If you can’t hear them tick than figure out why the injectors are not being activated. If there is fuel flow and injectors are firing, it’s time for more serious diag and to install a fuel pressure gauge to determine delivery rate and pressure while cranking.
I hate guessing at parts, but it sounds a lot like a fuel pump issue. Insufficient power supply to pump or pump itself. If i was diagnosing the vehicle, that’s the direction i would choose to go in.
If it runs on a combustible spray like starting fluid or carb cleaner than you have a fuel supply issue. Next logical step would be to perform a couple quick checks. Disconnect the fuel supply line at the engine and route it to a container to catch fuel in. Crank the engine and observe if fuel is being delivered at a good rate. If not, diagnose fuel supply issue. If there is fuel flow, check the injectors by listening to them using a hard handled screwdriver. If you can’t hear them tick than figure out why the injectors are not being activated. If there is fuel flow and injectors are firing, it’s time for more serious diag and to install a fuel pressure gauge to determine delivery rate and pressure while cranking.
I hate guessing at parts, but it sounds a lot like a fuel pump issue. Insufficient power supply to pump or pump itself. If i was diagnosing the vehicle, that’s the direction i would choose to go in.
The sensor is actually a module that contains a temperature sensor and an inductive sensor. It can in no way determine that a battery is actually bad. For example a faulty cell, or low capacity. Think of it as a service reminder for your battery. The inductive sensor measures amperage flowing in and out of a battery, and the temperature sensor measures, yep, the temperature of the battery. Using the total amperage throughput and temperature over time, the module will estimate the condition of the battery’s chemistry. The module does not perform a capacity test or anything of that sort. It is just an estimate based on those two values.
This module is a ‘self preservation’ module and it exists to make sure that when you get in your car in the morning, the vehicle will start. It will ask other modules to not draw power because the battery is weak and that amperage will be needed to start the car. The effects will be implemented in stages based on the assumed condition of the battery. For example, a shut off stage may disable your radio when the engine is not running. The other feature of the module is to provide a low battery warning when you are using power consumers with the engine off and it will ask you to start the engine or else it will start turning things off.
By adapting the new battery you basically reset the service reminder. If you don’t do this, the vehicle will assume that the old worn out battery is still installed. It will not prevent the vehicle from starting.
When you go to your dealer or BMW repair shop, bring with you the battery information. That is the brand, rated amperage in Ah, and there should be a BEM code on the battery.
The sensor is actually a module that contains a temperature sensor and an inductive sensor. It can in no way determine that a battery is actually bad. For example a faulty cell, or low capacity. Think of it as a service reminder for your battery. The inductive sensor measures amperage flowing in and out of a battery, and the temperature sensor measures, yep, the temperature of the battery. Using the total amperage throughput and temperature over time, the module will estimate the condition of the battery’s chemistry. The module does not perform a capacity test or anything of that sort. It is just an estimate based on those two values.
This module is a ‘self preservation’ module and it exists to make sure that when you get in your car in the morning, the vehicle will start. It will ask other modules to not draw power because the battery is weak and that amperage will be needed to start the car. The effects will be implemented in stages based on the assumed condition of the battery. For example, a shut off stage may disable your radio when the engine is not running. The other feature of the module is to provide a low battery warning when you are using power consumers with the engine off and it will ask you to start the engine or else it will start turning things off.
By adapting the new battery you basically reset the service reminder. If you don’t do this, the vehicle will assume that the old worn out battery is still installed. It will not prevent the vehicle from starting.
When you go to your dealer or BMW repair shop, bring with you the battery information. That is the brand, rated amperage in Ah, and there should be a BEM code on the battery.
Shops need lube techs so the real techs are not bothered with menial tasks. I worked at a place that required a 4 year apprenticeship before going flat rate. Some were apprentices for 5 years. Most apprentices don’t need that much time to gain the minimum required skills, but the shop needed hourly techs to take care of certain jobs. Someone needs to do the oil top offs, change light bulbs, inflate tires and sweep the floors, and it sure won’t be the flat rate techs. It wasn’t until a position became available that the possibility of going flat rate opened up.
Your service manager already told you no. At least you got a clear answer out of him. Once you go flat rate, your service advisor should gauge your skill level and assign work accordingly. Even so, you will probably lose your *** at least the first year and make little more than you did as a lube tech. It takes hard years to get good so don’t think you should be able to run with the big boys as soon as you go flat rate.
Shops need lube techs so the real techs are not bothered with menial tasks. I worked at a place that required a 4 year apprenticeship before going flat rate. Some were apprentices for 5 years. Most apprentices don’t need that much time to gain the minimum required skills, but the shop needed hourly techs to take care of certain jobs. Someone needs to do the oil top offs, change light bulbs, inflate tires and sweep the floors, and it sure won’t be the flat rate techs. It wasn’t until a position became available that the possibility of going flat rate opened up.
Your service manager already told you no. At least you got a clear answer out of him. Once you go flat rate, your service advisor should gauge your skill level and assign work accordingly. Even so, you will probably lose your *** at least the first year and make little more than you did as a lube tech. It takes hard years to get good so don’t think you should be able to run with the big boys as soon as you go flat rate.