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317: Brendan Sorensen
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About this episode
Brendan Sorensen from Australia joins the podcast to discuss automotive diagnostics, programming used control modules, and the challenges of accessing manufacturer software. They explore the benefits of the TAT knowledge-sharing platform, including its AI tools that assist technicians. The conversation also touches on training events, cultural experiences in Australia and New Zealand, and the evolving automotive landscape with EVs and fuel cells. Brendan shares insights on workshop roles, diagnostic strategies, and the importance of humility and continuous learning in the trade.
Topics:
used control module programming
automotive diagnostics
TAT knowledge base and AI tools
training and teaching experiences
manufacturer software challenges
Australian automotive industry
EVs and hydrogen fuel cells
diagnostic strategies
workshop roles and mentoring
cross-cultural automotive insights
Brendan Sorensen joins Tomi and I on the show this week. Brendan is from Brisbane, Australia. He works for TAT- The Automotive Technician, a network of technicians sharing knowledge, information and experience. We chat about why Tim-Tams are Tomi's new favorite food, AI in automotive, and more. Check out their website below-
Website- https://autodiagpodcast.com/
Facebook Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/223994012068320/
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@automotivediagnosticpodcas8832
Email- [email protected]
Please make sure to check out our sponsors!
SJ Auto Solutions- https://sjautosolutions.com/
Automotive Seminars- https://automotiveseminars.com/
L1 Automotive Training- https://www.l1training.com/
Autorescue tools- https://autorescuetools.com/
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Ford Capri
"...nd work on the business, you know, listen to calm Capri Otto's remarkable results"
Select text to request an explanation
Welcome to the Automotive Diagnostic Podcast.
We're going to explore ways to sharpen our diagnostic skills, find learning resources, and hear from
experts in the automotive field.
Hey, what's going on, Automotive World, welcome to another episode of the Automotive Diagnostic
Podcast.
My name is Sean Tipping.
I'll be your host once again for this week's a little bit late episode.
Apologize about that.
I was out of town.
Just not able to get everything together on the regular Monday release, but it will
be next week.
Anyways, this episode won't disappoint.
We've got Brendan Sorensen on from Brisbane, Australia.
Tommy was recently down in Australia.
I was down there last year.
We've actually both worked with Brendan to do some online webinars for the Automotive
Technicians, the company that Brendan works for doing tech support and mediating between
us to get us on board doing some webinars for them.
If you're interested in that, there'll be links in the show notes as well.
I recommend checking out the site and everything they have to offer.
Brendan will talk a little bit about it in today's episode so you can hear some of the
stuff that they offer.
But either way, really great to talk with him.
I'm glad.
We finally were able to make our schedules work from across the world.
With all of that out of the way, let's jump into the episode.
Hey, have you ever been faced with the challenge of sourcing, installing and
programming a used control module in a vehicle?
I know a lot of us have.
It seems to be happening more and more often today with the volume of control modules on
vehicles, the cost of some new ones, or even the availability of new control modules.
In some cases, used may be the only option.
So what do you do here?
I strongly recommend checking out SJ Auto Solutions and Tommy Oliva.
Tommy offers a cloning service for used control modules to make these things plug and play for
the vehicle that you're working on.
In a lot of cases, he is also able to source the control modules if you're unable to locate
one for the vehicle that you're working on.
But once you get connected with Tommy, he's going to offer fantastic support from start
to finish to make sure that that control module is going to work in your application.
He's also got tech support that he offers through his website, along with some free resources
there as well on information about used control module programming.
So make sure to check out SJ Auto Solutions.
I can't recommend that enough.
Yeah, nothing.
We don't really have a plan, so we'll just riff it.
I'm sure we'll figure it out.
So the closest bear that we saw, we kept hearing people would be on the trails, and they'd be
like, oh, we just saw a bear down there, and they generally, they don't want to screw with
you.
Even the Grizzlies, they just want to do their own thing unless there's cubs around.
That's when you've got to be really concerned.
So we never actually saw any, but we have the bear spray.
But three quarters of a mile in the distance, you can see these little specks moving
against the grass, and some people had some like, monocular things where you actually see
them pretty close.
And it was a mom grizzly in her two cubs, and it was cool because you see the cubs
like wrestling around.
They were playing, and mom was like digging for something, like really aggressively digging,
and she pulled up like a ground squirrel or something, and they, you know, devoured
that thing.
It was, it was pretty crazy because the mom at one point was getting pissed off at the cubs.
They kept messing with her or something, and you could hear her like do the, from like
half a mile away, it was so loud, I would just poop my pants if that was right in front
of me.
Fuck you.
That's that, that's that white people shit I'd be talking to you about, man.
Yeah, like we went through, you know, Banff and did a bit of Canada is a great
trip, but because you're on those tourist trails, you know, me being a tourist as well,
but you see the ones that are like actively trying to search out the bears or, you know,
just the black bear on the side of the road, they pull the car up and they're getting out,
you know, trying to shake hands with it and stuff, you're like, what are you doing?
Black bears are big ass dogs from what I heard, like black bears, unless it's the
mom with cubs and yeah, fuck that, you don't want to piss off any bear with
cubs.
Yeah, it's like supposedly if it's black, fight back, if it's brown, lay down and if it's a
grizzly, just say your breakers.
Yeah, we're just leaving.
Yeah, yeah.
I hope you wrote it well.
At one point, one of the days we were hiking, you're, we're up in the mountains, so it
was cloudy.
Like, we had really good weather, but one day it was cloudy and you're literally
in the cloud and so I can see maybe 10 feet in front of me and that's about it.
And the park ranger walks by on the trail, we're on, they're like, yeah, we saw some grizzlies
out here earlier on this trail.
And so like the whole time I'm just like, like, I'm going to see one just pop out
of the mist at me and that we never did, but it definitely puts down alert.
Yeah, like, I think those are way worse, you know, Tommy's scared of these little
spiders and snakes coming down and stuff, you know, it's like, at least they're
going to kill you and you don't know about it.
Just happens.
And I can shoot that, bitch.
I'm going to shoot it with like a blow dart.
Just trying to put your shoe on and there's something in your shoe you're
like trying to kill you, like, come on.
Oh, that, those things gave me the fucking creeps.
I was at, so I went to Brisbane and we spent, like after the event, we went
exploring and they have this, like going through the city, go on like a
ferry, which was super cool.
And we made a stop at like a brewery and it was cool because you get to take
the elevator up to like, to the main road.
And so yeah, so that'll be felons brewery.
Yeah, I know that well.
That's exactly it.
So I go to the bathroom right and it was like, you know, I'm like,
dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, I open, I turn on the lights or whatever.
I'm like, Hey man, I'm like, looking around.
I'm like, Oh fuck, dude, it's like damp and fucking like no lights in
here. And it was just like, bro, I swear to God, dude, if I see
anything moving, it's getting Peter, it's gonna get fucking Peter.
Are you just, are you referring to what's in your pants as a weapon of
mass destruction?
Hey, man, you got to do what you got to do.
But, oh man, yeah, it was, but I, you know, it's funny.
I didn't see, I didn't see anything at all.
Like I didn't see not one spider and I want nothing.
I didn't see Jack.
Yeah, no, it's honestly, it's not that bad in the cities.
You know, I'm, I'm Brisbane based and I mean, sure, you don't
have to get too far out and you might have a snake or something,
but so they don't want anything to know about you either.
They, they just want to be left alone.
I think, I think these Australians just keep making fun
of us, Americans, because you guys don't want us there.
So I get it.
It's only the food and the guns that is going to get you in America.
Hey, at least the food tastes good.
Yeah, you guys really should have tossed the tea, man.
Maybe you guys could have came up with a better breakfast
than fucking beans and tomatoes.
Actually, it's just terrible fucking veggie.
Mike, that's not actually wasn't too bad.
It just tastes like somebody left soy, soy sauce on a fucking
burner for three weeks until it became the consistency of fucking
wheel bearing grease.
My dad loves it.
I brought a bunch back from him.
He's all about it.
I, I didn't get it.
I'm like, this is just like eating.
Yeah.
Okay.
So here's my take, right?
Like anytime that something is good for you, right?
I know it typically speaking, it doesn't, it isn't going to
attack, attract your taste buds.
That's just, yeah, like a grapefruit or something.
If you have to mix it with butter and ultra process fucking
bread, what the hell's the point of eating it?
Yeah, it's not, it's not like your peanut butter that
you're keeping next to the bed.
Yeah.
You'll have a little bit of it every now and then.
No, it needs, it needs accompaniments.
I'd rather just take some supplements.
Fucking eat the fucking assembly loop keeps you strong.
Yeah, it was, uh, yeah, the breakfast was not good.
I found some good ethnic food that Turkish place.
Man, yo, that was one of the best meals I've ever had.
Period.
Like even, even state side, that Turkish restaurant over by
the, by the river walk or the river area.
I suppose that's one thing we've got going for us.
There's a lot of multiculturalism.
So you get, you know, when there, when there's Indian, you
know, it's, it's good Indian and when there's Turkish, it's
good Turkish.
I said it before and I said it again, man, the damn
British colonized the world.
They sailed the seven seas to only season shit with salt
and pepper.
Like the fuck did you do with the rest of their
spices and shit that you treated for?
Did you treat it black people for?
You say on the seven seas and all you could come up with
this fucking sausage and poor people food for breakfast.
Crumpets.
You guys, you guys wouldn't have crumpets, right?
You don't, you know what a crumpet is.
What is a fucking crumpet?
I mean, think of it like, uh, almost like a waffle, right?
But it's got like holes.
So like a pancake, when you're cooking it, how it
kind of bubbles up.
So imagine like heaps of bubbles that open up.
So it's like this almost like a waffle, but with
all these holes.
And so you put honey in it and it fills it up.
But yeah, I think it's like only an Australian
and British thing.
No, I think that's a Spanish thing.
We do something similar.
They're called them, but not us Americans, um, in
Guatemala, we have something called Fuelas and
they, and they're kind of fried, right?
Are they fried?
Yeah, it's a, yeah.
I mean, you'd never cook one.
You, you buy them at the shop.
I wouldn't have no idea how they're made.
My grandma used to make those.
And yeah, we used to eat them with honey.
Yeah.
Let me see.
Anything that can hold honey is generally good.
It's just a device for holding the honey really.
These things look like some dried out pancakes.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Crumpet is a small griddle bread.
And it says become popular in Australia, Canada,
New Zealand and South Africa.
Yeah.
Sounds about it.
This is the type of stuff they, they put on
pirate ships that didn't go bad.
The last just six months on the ocean.
Oh, Lord, that looks terrible.
Yeah, that's, it's not the best.
Well, I'm glad you survived it.
You made it back.
Yeah.
Did you guys get to hang out together when you were down there, Tommy?
I was pretty busy that weekend.
So I sort of caught him.
Yeah.
I sort of caught him as he was walking.
I had like four sessions.
I think I was running that, that weekend.
So I was in and out running training sessions.
And then I remember we had a social event on the Saturday night.
I think it was for Asden.
And so, so that was good.
We're all at a bar.
You know, I didn't get the memo to dress up.
So I'm the only one there wearing my work shirt.
Everyone else is dressed up to the nines.
Yeah.
Right.
You didn't get the memo either.
And I remember, yeah, they were, yeah, they were giving
a little toast and say they're calling out Keith and
Brandon and Humble Tommy's at the back there.
I remember just sort of giving him a tap on the back and be like,
what are you doing, Tommy?
Like get up there, you know, as if you felt you didn't deserve it.
But no, you didn't know some job.
And, you know, you, you definitely held your own.
If not more against some of those big names.
I don't know, man.
I just, it's been embedded in me to stay humble or be humbled.
You know, like I just, I don't know.
I do it for the love of it, man.
I don't, I don't, I don't do well.
And that's probably one of my biggest weak points, honestly.
But I am not a big self promoter.
My, my, I may not have been, have a better business or I may
have a better name per se, but I just, I don't know.
I have a hard, hard time with, with accolades and stuff.
Dude, I just enjoy what I do.
Man, after our, so for those of you who don't know, I did,
uh, uh, Brandon asked me if we can do the, cause I mean,
obviously like training events can be difficult to get to.
So he asked me if I can do the, the TAT webinars for my,
um, my module programming class that I taught in, in, in Australia.
And of course, you know, I, it's a great opportunity and also
for more people to see my class.
And, uh, I got emails and I got messages on Facebook and thanking
me that it was a great class.
And I'm just like, man, I just, I just enjoy what I do.
I appreciate it, you know, but I, I really just, um, I
try not to let things get to my head.
I don't know.
Maybe it's a fault, but I, I feel the same.
You know, sometimes you feel embarrassed almost to pump your
entire is up.
So it's, it's a good trade.
I think every now and then realizing how, you know, I've
given yourself a pat on the back's good as well, but yeah, I
don't think there's any reason to wave it in people's faces.
Yeah, I think it's better than the other direction in my
opinion, you know, being a little humble and around people
who like, um, have this aura of importance and, uh, prestige
that probably not has not been like properly gained.
And yeah, those, those type of personalities, just they, they
annoy shit out of me, especially when I see them, you know,
one day they're like, you know, acting like they're
better than everybody else.
And then the next day they're messaging you like a side
shit.
Hey, Tommy, have you seen this?
Yeah, I've tried this.
Like, I mean, I'll always help people, but I'm just like,
I should save these because one day I'm going to use it against
you like, Oh, you remember that one time you asked me that
dumbass question?
Yeah.
Okay.
Don't forget.
Uh, for me, it's, uh, I think it helps me keep an open mind
on, you know, taking in new information to learn new stuff
is just, I, I am the same way.
I'm, I'm a bad self promoter.
I got kind of that imposter syndrome thing going, you know,
anytime I'm doing something, teaching, instructing,
leading, leading people, I'm like, Oh, I don't know all
this stuff that well, but it, it helps me keep an open mind
to learning new things, taking suggestions from people
trying new stuff that I don't know at all.
I'm like, I, I still got a lot to learn.
So I'd rather be in that position myself.
Yeah.
I, I agree.
Like, you know, that, that, that night was, that I was,
it was, was, was pretty cool.
That night we're, we're at that event.
I just was enjoying myself watching the, what a beautiful
view of this, of the, of the sky, of the skyline,
man. It's a, I was absolutely floored with how
beautiful Brisbane and Sydney are.
Honestly, two beautiful cities, man.
I can't wait to, I hope to get the opportunity to go
back. And if I don't, then I'm going to save my, my
pennies and go back on my own.
Cause I, yeah.
Well, um, you could make the 2000 and, uh, I
forget what year it is.
We've got the Olympics coming to Brisbane.
We'll have to look it up.
But I mean, if you get training now, you, you
might make it.
I don't know what your discipline is going to be.
Yeah.
What's your event, Tommy?
Shit talking.
I think it's 2032.
I'm pretty sure.
So you've got to run up.
I'll take a, I'll take a good silver medal and
making people feel stupid as fuck.
I think that's, I bet you, you could beat that
Australian break dancer from the last Olympics.
Yeah.
She probably, you know, she obviously made it on
the news over there for you to see it.
But yeah, she just got dragged through the mud
for a long time over here.
We're going, what is this that we sent over there to?
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I don't even know what break dancing is.
She's like, she's doing all right now though.
Cause she goes out and does, you know, like
motivational speaking and stuff like that out of it.
So I mean, if you looked at that shit, you
could live through anything.
Yeah.
Hey, we don't make fucking lemonade out of
some damn lemons.
Fuck.
You got a, yeah.
Yeah.
I don't remember any of the other break dancers.
So I guess there's something to that.
You know what, man?
You made a fucking good point.
She's the only one.
Yeah.
She's probably going to get a Nike sponsorship and she's set.
He's shit.
Well, um, yeah, hopefully you guys came over.
So hopefully I'll get over to there.
You know, I'd love to come to one of the, the
big expose, hopefully maybe make it to TST next year.
We'll see what we can put.
I was listening to Clayton and Vasco that you had on recently.
You know, Clayton's been over and he hopes to again.
So we might see if we can get a group together.
We're hoping he makes it out to STX, man.
So I'm hoping he's able to keep.
That was it.
So it's STX, not TST.
I think I said, yeah.
Yeah.
STX.
TST is like the, it's a smaller one day event in New York.
Um, STX is a big three day event.
And it's going to be in DC, in the operating land of DC,
Washington, DC.
So Clayton is that what we're going to do is I think he's coming
in to Chicago and we're going to road trip it there.
Cool.
Yeah.
And then I'll get to, we're going to go shoot some guns.
When is that next spring?
No, it's next August, actually.
Okay.
I've yet to go to STX.
So I wanted to last time I just wasn't able to spring.
You know, I have the, my life has been funny and my, my very
first training event that I taught was STX, just like here.
Hold that.
Um, classes were small, so that was great.
Um, but it was a very interesting experience.
And the operating land in Nashville is sorry, it's, it's
the Gaylord in the Gaylord hotel in DC and in Nashville, it's
called the Gaylord operating land.
That has to be the, I think, I think by far it's the biggest
resort in the United States.
It was 3000 steps or 2000 some steps from my hotel room to the
convention center floor.
Well, I was exhausted, dude.
And one day I forgot something in my room.
Oh man.
So yeah, you guys, um, if you can make it for STX, let
me know, man, we can coordinate something.
And yeah, that'd be awesome to have you over.
See what we can do.
Yeah.
I mean, that's a bigger event for you to start at.
That's, um, but there's a lot of cool stuff like that.
I see you guys are coming on, you know, the little sessions
that you can just get text to stand up and give input.
Whereas it sounds like you're doing something a bit more
structured back then, but big event to start at.
So yeah.
So I actually know that not I think about it the first
time I spoke at an event was that vision.
And that was me and you, Sean, me, you, Sean, Pedro,
and who else, Bryn, was it, no, was it Hans?
No, what the fuck was it?
I'm trying to think of what the other person was.
There was a fourth, right?
There was.
Yeah.
Matt Fanzlow, he did a, uh, a segment called tech talks
and pretty much, you know, regular Schmaggler
technicians just came up and we just did a, um, we
would do a, um, kind of like a case study ish or
something.
I think, uh, I think, uh, you did something on AI, right?
Yeah.
I forgot.
Pedro did something bigger.
I think he did something a little bit that, that took a
little longer.
He, well, he did like some general tips.
There was like 10 different tips that he had.
General tips.
I did my case study on, on global a transmissions
on, on GM transmissions.
Um, you did AI and man, who the heck was the other
gentleman?
Jesus, it's going to hit me like it.
Yeah.
It was like, it was two, it was 22.
I think that was, uh, I don't know, it's been,
but yeah, so, but yeah, so Fanzlow is the one that
came up with that and he's doing it again for
ASTA, I believe.
Pro.
Yeah.
I think that's also idea.
That was the first time I spoke publicly, um, and
then STX, then there are a couple of the tech fix
training events and then tools and then auto care.
Man, that was dope.
Yeah.
Auto care.
Yeah.
It was awesome.
No, it's getting good.
Yeah.
That's, you know, a pretty newish event really, um, that,
I think we discussed, you know, they, they do, uh, the
big expo every year and then they run auto care, the, the
off year and it's more focused on training and it's
just getting bigger and better.
Yeah.
It's awesome.
Yeah.
It was, it was really, it was really, we might, it
might have to see if we can take a page out of your
book and start to implement something like that where we
can give other people, you know, the chance to just
get up and start to say something.
Cause that's where it, where it comes from.
Yeah.
Like none of these, you know, you don't get into this
trade to become an instructor.
It's, you know, it's, it's, you just naturally sort
of progress there as you take these little steps.
One of the biggest issues I see here in the States is,
um, training kind of went a bit corporate for my taste,
which is it's kind of not, it's not all terrible and
they're not all bad instructors, but like the premise
behind it has kind of lost its focus.
And we keep going that route.
We're not going to get nobody young and innovative.
When are we going to get our next, you know, Scott
shot and our next, you know, John Thornton?
I mean, nobody's going to be John Thornton.
But what I'm saying is you need to grow the
opportunity to potentially get somebody that's up
there to, to harvest.
Cause the next generation is here already.
Yeah, it's exactly where, where I ended up.
I just got thrown into it.
Someone said, you know, come do something.
And I think they said, oh, do you want to get up and, you
know, speak for 20 minutes about common rail diesel.
We're just getting a few people together at a shop.
And I go, okay, sure.
Don't know much about it, but I'll give it a go.
And then I turn up and he goes, okay, great.
So we're going to break off into groups and you're
going to do an hour practical session with them as well.
And I'm like, thanks for the heads up.
You know, but yeah, it was, it was fine before
you know, it used to get the scope out.
Okay, let's have a look at a few things.
And it sort of naturally progressed from there where
after you've dipped your toes, you sort of like, okay,
I didn't die.
I came out of it and it was, it was actually pretty cool.
And everyone appreciated it.
So yeah, it's good.
It's exactly it is like a half hour session or whatever,
like the tech talks or like just get you up there.
You realize the, oh, okay, I made it.
Um, like nobody threw anything at me.
I, I didn't, you know, completely biff this.
I could actually do it or maybe you're like, I didn't like that.
That's not for me, but you didn't have to do, you know,
a four and eight hour class to figure that out.
Um, yeah, all the props to, to Matt, that was a great idea
that he came up with.
Yeah, that was fun.
Yeah.
I, that was my first per se teaching experience and I got
a lot of positive feedback that day.
I was shitting bricks.
I was nervous.
Um, I haven't been a big public speaker, honestly.
Um, but, uh, yeah, no, it's, it's, it feels now it just
feels good.
I've had big classes.
Um, so yeah, so I'm pretty thankful for all the opportunities
and I hope to be able to, to keep growing both here
and possible Australia, which is kind of odd.
Cause I assumed that because I like teaching stuff in Spanish
that that was going to be my, my, my, my new shape per se,
but I got more traction in English.
I was, I'm totally surprised.
I just, I assumed that was going to be Spanish.
I was wrong.
It's going to be an Australian superstar.
It's you're on the other side, but it's, yeah, it's like,
I got your buddy sorted the other night and Gary with the
trying to do some Subaru stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm hoping to see if I can establish a, I'm, I'm going to try
to see if I can, cause I have some of the, the Asden board
members, see who I can connect with, with Asra.
Um, I think what you guys need is more of a liaison or
somebody, I can't be, it can't be me cause of time zone,
but at least I can, uh, give them some guidance on terms
of like what, what, uh, what needs to be fixed and
addressed, but yeah, but Subaru is broken.
And I, I, when I was writing the class, it was broken.
I couldn't get, I, I could not gain access.
Yeah.
So for anyone listening, uh, I'm sure you've heard these guys
mentioned before, but Asra is like NASDAF over there.
And so, you know, it's, it's still finding its feet.
It gives us someone to talk to, but you know, by no
means are they experts in, in every manufacturer.
And so my friend, uh, Gary reached out.
He was trying to do something on a Subaru and you know,
I've never actually done Subaru stuff, but it sounds
like they make you set up a remote desktop and then
because of that, you can't install drivers for your J box.
And it's just, you know, some of these manufacturers,
it's probably only going to get worse with all these
Chinese vehicles that we've got coming in.
It's just, what are we doing here?
You know, like it's, this is 2025.
The issue respectfully that I've seen is that basically
the government said you got to do it, but they didn't
tell them the parameters of how they got to do it.
Then that needs to be addressed because at that point
they're just like, well, fuck you in a nutshell, right?
Cause that's just what, that's just what it is.
Cause we, we have, for example, like it's not all
peaches and sunshine over here either, but at least I
don't need a login to buy the software by the tools.
We can, we just need logins for security information
or security procedures.
Um, but the thing with Subaru is that instead of
giving them the software, they just basically said,
we're going to, we're going to let you remote in and
install a virtual machine or a remote desktop, right?
But the problem for Gary, I suspect is that they
never installed the, the connect.
So yeah, correct.
You're not going to use your, you use your USB
as like a port forwarding.
So I think that's where the disconnect was.
They never installed that software on this laptop.
When I was there, they actually installed that
software on my laptop, but they never, never program
never launched.
So it's kind of like, okay, but, uh, according to
the gentleman I spoke to at, at the event that
they're, they, they know there's an issue and
they were fixing it, but I mean, the, the will
just is never going to be there unless it's
forced, same as, as the United States.
Our problem is they, they set up parameters,
which is awesome, but they didn't set up like the
availability of it, right?
Mercedes is $37,000 four year minimum lease up front.
Like, who really has a, what type of small business
has 30 K sitting around?
And it has to be a shop credit card.
What if you're new?
Yeah, you have that 30 grand on one card.
Like, like who's even going to get a $30,000
credit card when your business is less than
four years old, not a lot of people.
One, two, if you're on a hot, you have to have
a dedicated hotspot for a century.
If you share one and you're connected to an
auto, they'll shut your shit down.
Right.
And, and you have a chance of losing your
subscription.
So then it's just like, but then you go to
BMW and it's 40 bucks a day and the device
is $800.
So it's kind of like, well, which one,
which one is it?
Like, like you go from one extreme to
the other.
So, um, yeah, it's walled, isn't it?
The jump between some of these things.
At least the structure, right?
Like, like 2018, right to repair all the
manufacturers had to work with Jay.
And for the most part, there are exceptions.
It works fine.
Like most of these 2018 and aboves work
fine with Jay.
Um, some of the older ones work fine with Jay.
It kind of started going that way.
So the manufacturers started ramping
their, their programs up and changing them a
bit, but then at the same time they
gave us the finger, just GM.
GM used to cost us, what, 900 bucks a year
for a year for SPS.
And then they just said, F you, we're going
to roll everything and, and to add value.
And then it was $4,500 for a whole year.
Yeah.
Or 45 bucks a pop.
Kia Hyundai, what, what is there?
It's like 7,500 for those tablets.
If you want to get that set up.
Kia Hyundai used to be free.
So what do you guys do with, with
your business, you know, do you sit there
at the end of the year and sort of see what
you're seeing most of and to try and weigh
up, you know, what, what am I going to
yearly or how do I, how do I budget this?
I, I try to keep track, like we break it
down in our, you know, accounting
software of like, you know, GM programming
forward, whatever.
So we can tally it up.
Um, but then if we're getting requests
for stuff that we can't do, we keep track
of it and okay, we're getting more and
more of these requests that makes sense
to buy this.
Um, but yeah, there's a few Mercedes
is one, I don't have the factory tool.
We just, I don't have enough for it to
make sense for me right now.
Like those few jobs that I turned down.
It's just what it is.
If the demand ever gets there, you
know, we start getting enough volume
then, then I'll make that, that call.
But yeah, we got to try and see some
ROI.
I can't say I always do that with all
my tools, but it makes it super
difficult for, you know, these smaller
operators, you know, if you want to
be a one man band, you know, how are
you sustaining subscriptions?
You sort of can't, you have to have
stuff to share it through really.
Especially if you're not like just
doing programming, that's one advantage
that like my business has.
That's primarily what we do is
programming.
If you're a repair shop and you're
adding that on top of all your other
hoists and air compressors and all
that other stuff, that is a wild
expense that you might use once
every three months.
And then they wonder why people go
pirate versions and stuff, you know?
Well, I mean, I
kind of got blessed to be able to, I
got a lot of help sharing scripts
for a while, but this last
year, dude, they, all the
manufacturers went to like double
two factors.
So it's kind of like we were, we
kind of just got, you know, we
couldn't share anything anymore.
Like we had to go, you know,
everything legit, which, you know,
to the point that I get it, but
it's just, again, like the
unfairness is my problem, right?
The unfairness of the D ones
is my problem.
The unfairness of price points.
Like you go to rural America,
they're charged, the crisis
charging a hundred and fifty bucks
to program anything.
You don't need an ID.
You don't need a D one.
Dude, we have to pay what?
It's a hundred and fifty bucks
basically for the scripts
and a flash token, right?
But if you're doing a RFH hub,
right on a, on a, let's say
a Jeep or something, then you
don't need a, you don't need
a flash token, but you need
to buy the pin code.
It's 30 bucks and you have to
fill out a D one for them.
So in order to make it worth it,
you got to charge 300, 350 bucks.
But they can just, at that
point, it's probably cheaper
for them to tow it to the
dealer and have them do it.
If they're charging a hundred
and fifty bucks, I got guys,
I got dealer guys around me
who moonlight after hours
and go to shops and do
programings for 50 bucks,
80 bucks.
And I can't compete and I'm not
going to.
No, not for that.
Yeah, it's difficult, but I mean,
it's the world we're in.
So like always, we're
navigating our way through
somehow, some way.
And I suppose, you know, it's
lots of sharing to help
help each other out to say
you're not wasting your money
on stuff you don't need.
The worst part, the
thing I feel bad about Australia
is the service information.
I don't know how you guys
have been doing it, man.
Your service information sucks.
Yeah. So there's hopefully
going to be some reform.
So when we got this
this law that was passed, you
know, that allowed us to get
OE, they completely
missed out a lot for
data aggregators.
So that's why, you know, we
we don't have all data over
here. We have very limited.
We listen to some of the stuff
on this podcast and it sounds
like a wonderful dreamland.
Look up there.
We're lucky if we get like an
engine wiring diagram, there
might be an ABS wiring diagram,
no connector locations, all
that kind of stuff, you know.
Obviously, we can go in and get
it OE now, but hopefully
we'll get some reform happening
in this next round where they
going to look to update the
law and focus on data
aggregators so that we can
get more of that.
Because, you know, like we
said, it does not make sense
to be buying all these
subscriptions to OE information
for basic things.
You know, it's not like
we're doing some in-depth
diag.
You know, you just want to get
some talk specs or something,
right?
Yeah, I poured through.
Man, what's the name of the most
popular one?
Probably would have been
Autodata.
That one, Autodata.
Yeah, and even that, it's
different to what they get in
Europe.
And you know, it's a big company,
but what we get in Australia
is not the same.
Which is kind of like
it's kind of dumb to me that,
you know, at the end of the day,
it's still a business.
I want to provide information.
So what's stopping them from
actually providing good service
information?
Yeah, it's, you know, that's
beyond my pay grade, these
laws and whatnot.
I imagine, you know, that's
where luckily, with TAP,
you know, we're very different
to that where we don't get
into wiring diagrams or
actual OE information
because that's a whole
minefield world of, you know,
what you are allowed to do,
what you're not allowed to do,
redrawns and all that kind of
thing.
You know, we're very different
where we're really about
workshops sharing their
knowledge together.
And so it's a knowledge base
that's built by
everybody.
And it's it's got nothing to do
with the OEs really.
So luckily, I don't have to step
into that world.
Yeah, man, the TAT
website is is pretty
pretty sweet, man.
It's impressive
what they have.
Yeah, just a couple of guys
got together over a decade
ago now and decided, you know
what, I'm sick of calling you
to say, have you seen this
before? So they started to
go, OK, well, let's let's start
to database this just like we
all do, you know, a lot
of us, I know Sean's got
his notebook that he keeps
everything in, you know, any
good diag tech is doing
that.
And so why not pull them all
together?
It doesn't hurt me that you
over in Chicago get
to touch in a
file code or, you know, see
that this test is what I got
this result for.
And it's helping each other
really. So there's enough
work for everyone.
Agreed.
Yeah, why don't you share with
everybody listening if they're
not familiar, like what your
role is with them,
what you do and then anything
else about the site or
anything that somebody would
want to know if they're
unfamiliar.
Yeah, so, you know, I'm
definitely not in the sales
department. So don't worry,
it won't be a sales pitch,
but to give you a bit of an
idea of what it is,
we'll have a free trial
going up soon.
I don't quite have that set
up yet, but that'll be
handy so you guys can go
check it out.
But on the website,
www.tat.net.au,
you can watch a quick video on
there that shows you a bit
about what it is.
But the the crux of it is,
like I say, you know, main
things, we have repair
solutions, which, you know,
think of that as like your
identification type thing.
So it's just one small part
of what we do. But yes,
you know, there is that
silver bullet type aspect to
it, where it's member
driven. So, you know, if
you have a problem vehicle,
you find the fix to it,
you put it in there and we
format it so it all looks the
same. You know, very similar to
if you're familiar with DDTSB.
So they run a similar model,
but over in Europe.
But then probably one of our
biggest assets is the good
scan and scope data.
So we've got tens of thousands
of captures of good
module captures.
So again, it's member driven.
You know, there's no way I
could go and rent all of
these vehicles or whatever and
try and capture them.
And it's just, look, that
car comes in. It's just
there for an oil change.
It's got 30,000 kilometers or
whatever that is in freedom
miles. And take just
take a capture of it, you
know, so just doing
the reset with your scan tool
anyway, it's plugged in. Why
not go into the modules?
Just press save on a lot of
the the newest scan
tools. It's very easy to just
press print to PDF and then
we upload them there. So it's
as good as having a known
good vehicle out in the in
the car park when you're
sort of going, you know, what
should this fuel pump duty
cycle be at idle and all
those kinds of things? If
anything, it's way easier than
trying to dig through service
information because you're not
trying to read through theory
of operation or whatever, you're
just going, well, here's a
good one and this is what
it's doing. You know, so
um, so yeah, heaps, heaps
there, we do have a lot
of oscilloscope captures as
well. But you know, that's
a market where there's heaps
of other places like that,
the Pico Waveform library and
things like that. So I think
the one that really stands
out is our scan tool
captures. And then where I
have been frequenting quite
a lot lately is in the
technical assistance. So it
is just as it sounds, you
know, when you've got a problem
car, the membership gets in
there and we've got guys all
around Australia at the
moment that we're still
fairly Oceania based
Australia, New Zealand. And
they're top guys in their
field. So whether it be
transmissions, diesel,
hybrid, whatever it is, you
put in a problem vehicle and
we work through it with you
to try and get to the end
and that obviously helps us
because that builds our
database of fixes when we
help you fix the car. So
yeah, it's a really big
organized way of sharing
information. And one of
the the latest things that
we've been working on is our
AI tech Tina, which is super
exciting. I'm definitely a
you know, a guy that's
starting to get pretty
excited about AI and what it
can do and dabbling in all
those areas of how it can
help in the workshop. And
so we've been we've introduced
a model that we built
instructions for and she's
got access to everything in
the database. And that's the
thing with AI, you know, if
you want it to work, you
have to feed it really good
information or else it's
just going to go try and
look on, you know, Yelp.com
or whatever for how to fix
a car. It's not going to
work. Whereas I'm like
that. Yeah, that's it.
You know, so the
benefit that we've got, I
think it's going to be
really strong going forward
is, well, she's got all this
good data here. So she sort of
becomes this researcher for
you to be able to go through
all that. And as that
evolves, I think that's going
to be the new way that we
start to connect with
these kinds of databases.
You know, we get
something else AI to go and
do the research. And as
long as you're a reasonable
level, just a professional
technician, that's where you
get the best out of it.
It's not kind of throwing a
prompt into something and
just going car run bad.
What is it? You know, if
you can start to talk to it
about fuel trims and say,
oh, this is what happens
when I do this or I just did
this test and the voltage
drop is this voltage and
give it specifics, then you
can riff back and forward
with it. You know, we don't
have to call Tommy anymore.
I mean, you can shut down
his chat hotline.
Sweet.
So that'll be super good.
Can we make an AI, Tommy?
Well, it might fit.
So we've got we've got
Tina, Tina and Tony.
So Tina's Tina's
the researcher. Tony's in
the technical assistance.
So when you put a technical
assistance case in, Tech
Tony chimes in there.
And yeah, we might have to
have Tech Tommy as well.
It'll be be sort of like
you can roast you after
you fix the car.
Yeah, like our musk has
got with his grok.
You know, you can change
different personalities.
So do you want to talk
to Tech Tommy?
I'm worse with the with
the Mexicans around here,
like my Mexican mechanic
buddies that ask me for
help. Oh, man, I'm
absolutely brutal with them
because it's just like
because it also gets like
helping is one thing, right?
Like helping somebody
or in a jam or whatever.
But it's always like that old
adage, man, teach a man a
fish, right? Or or feed him
for a day.
But man, I guess they get
it gets too comfortable.
Like, hey, what do you think
about this? What have you
done? I don't know.
Well, what the fuck
you calling me for?
Oh, just in case you've
seen something I have.
But for fuck's sake,
go do something, man.
Like, you know, go check
at least check I'm present.
All codes you have.
OK, let me get on a little
magic ball here and guess
what kind of codes you have.
Yeah, that's that's the biggest
thing, you know, like at least
put a bit of effort in.
And it's the same with AI as
well. You know, talk to it
like you're talking to another
technician.
I don't don't think that it's
going to have a magic ball
either. It needs some
some input so that it can
give good output.
So I'm a big
believer of I heard the
saying that AI
doesn't suck your prompts just
do.
Yeah, that's
I think that's the two biggest
things is the prompts and then
the data that it has access
to. So like, we're working
on something internally, you
know, to link it with our
database so that it's pulling
from, you know, specific
information that we built.
And that changes the output.
And then, like you say, you
give it the context, like give
it as much context as you can
talk to it, like you say,
and blab about every detail
and it'll take it and into
account.
And then on top of that, like,
I think we're in the best spot,
like our generation, our age
because we've done this for so
long without a tool like
that. We've got experience.
We've got the knowledge
about this stuff.
So then the stuff that it
spits out, like, I feel like
we're in a good position to
call bullshit on some of this
stuff. And that happens, like
sometimes you get something
like, OK, that doesn't make
any sense.
But I don't know.
Maybe for somebody new, it's
a little tougher because then
they don't know, like, is
this really the way I should go,
you know, testing this stuff
because you're relying on it
too much.
And I mean, maybe that's
what's going to happen with
us too down the road, too,
is leaning on it too much.
But it is a really helpful
tool in the meantime.
Yeah, the strongest way
that it works is when you've
got a professional in that
field working with it, you
know, like out of our field
because they're using AI in
absolutely everything, every
business now, you know, they
maybe they think it's the IT
guys. They've got IT and Bob
sort of setting up these these
AI systems and agents
and things. And that's that's
not the way it works.
Like, you know, Bob in IT
doesn't understand how
that specific
speciality of yours works.
So if we can if we can
harness what we already do know
and really you're just trying
to having someone there that
you can talk back and
forward with. And I find that
that's the best thing
about it is, you know, you're
getting that when you've been
at a car for that one or two
hours, whatever, and you start
hitting that wall and you're
going, you know, what am I
missing here? There's got to be
something and you're running
out of ideas of what to do
sort of thing.
That's when you sort of talk
to it and you go, why didn't
I even think of that?
You know, it's not I'm not
looking for an answer.
I'm just looking for someone
that can stir up
my creative juices to go,
OK, that's that's a good
test plan. I should have
thought of going down that
path.
Yeah, well, and that's the
thing you say, hey, give me
10 things, you know, on this
situation that I haven't thought
about doing, and you'll be
like, give me 10 more, give
me 10 more, and it'll
keep going, it'll keep going.
It's, you know, it's not
going to tell you to fuck off
like Tommy will if you call
him too many times.
Yeah, I did that once, man,
because I was fucking hot, dude.
I'm just like, dude, you call
me three weeks ago about the
same fucking shit, dude.
I'm not on your payroll.
You don't pay me a fucking
monthly subscription and they're
fucking right the shit down
or figure it the fuck out.
He never called me again.
I'm rethinking setting up tech
told me on the tat side.
I need to set up a separate
separate complaints hotline.
Hey, man, you know, it's like
the people at Tech Fix, man,
they, um, they love me
to death, but Jesus Christ, man,
I get into so much fucking
trouble.
Because everybody's so like
straight and straight and arrow
and I just come in with
like a sledgehammer.
It's understandable.
And it grinds on you, you know,
and just like you say, there's
some guys that put the effort
in and there's some that they
give you nothing.
And here's the thing, like when
I go to these these training
events and I'm trying to be
like super professional, but
you know what, man, I play
around too much. I'm trying to
be professional.
Everybody asked me if I'm OK.
Everybody asked me, what's
wrong with you? So quiet.
So obviously you're telling
you're not OK.
I mean, like I just shake my
head. Then I start talking shit.
They're like, yeah, you're right.
Well, interesting how
with the AI thing, how they were
saying that when they changed
to chat GPT five, you know, so
many people were using four
O is their as their therapist
and stuff like that.
Dude, what's funny is
I, um,
I there's
something we didn't realize in the
automotive industry, right?
We kept talking about how he
can help us fix cars and blah,
blah, blah.
You have no idea how many customers
come in sending me articles
from chat GPT to help me fix their
cars.
Yeah. Yeah.
We got it.
It was Google. Now it's yeah.
It's on steroids.
Yeah.
We got this email just yesterday
from it was a guy.
I thought it was from
a repair shop because
like it was it looked
professional. It looked like
somebody who knew what they were
doing wrote this out as far as a
request for their vehicle.
So I call this number up.
It's just Joe Schmoe with
his Cadillac Escalade.
And I didn't
straight up ask him, but
I don't know. I inferred it by
talking to this guy. I'm like,
this guy didn't write this email
like and it's detailed to
his car.
So it's not like you just copied
it from Google. I'm like, this
dude definitely wrote this up
with chat GPT based on what he
had going on with this Escalade.
And I was like, I had not
seen that before.
Yeah.
You're lucky it wasn't an
AI phone agent that you're talking
to as well.
It's the next.
That's next.
But a lady had
had given my guy a hard
time over like the
expectations of chat GPT
like chat.
But you know what's funny is we
made more money because I mean
it's it's a. All right, man.
Let's just be realistic here.
It's a Camry.
I'm sorry. It was a Lexus.
A Lexus Camry basically
with a misfire, single
cylinder misfire.
I don't care what type of scope
genius you have, man.
It's
90 percent probability that
he needs a coil.
And the Denso coils are so good,
the 90 percent probability
it'll need the other three within
one month.
They're so good that when one
fails, they're like they fail
exactly after.
You know, you know, Josh, you
know, like listening, you know,
like she's like, no, no, I want
you to clean the throttle body
first. He's like, OK, but just
let me know what will perform
that as maintenance. But that
will probably not fix your problem.
She's like, no, no, just do that.
OK, we did it.
She took the car, calls back.
She's like, no, it's not fixed. OK,
you guys, um,
just change the spark plugs.
We're like, we're like, man,
we really recommend diagnosing
it because we're going to pull
this intake and it was
similar number five.
It's under the intake.
She's like, no, I want you to
pull the spark plugs,
pull the spark plugs.
And she's like, I want you to
check and advise.
And Josh is like, check them
for like, for like, he doesn't want
to tell her like, what?
How do you want us to check these
things? Right? Because we're supposed
to know how to check them, right?
But like, we we just
don't want to tell her, dude, you
just need a fucking coil.
We want her to pay us for
what us to tell her.
So she keeps fighting this on us,
right? So I tell Josh, you know
what, man, tell her we found all
three back ones back,
right? And then let's put the
back three coils in the front.
And so we did that, right?
Because we originally quoted her all
six coils and all six spark
plugs. And she was just like, no,
no, no, that's way too much
money. Blah, blah, blah.
No, listen, no, this is no
rigmarole.
So we do that, right?
And so we sell her three spark
plugs, move them for
the back close to the front.
And then but when the misfire
changes, she's like, well,
Josh is like, hey, good news.
We diagnosed it for free.
You need another coil.
Do you still want to change all
three of them?
And she was like, no, just
change the bad one.
So she paid us to change the
bad one, basically.
So, you know, like
in the grand scheme of things,
right? She she thinks she saved
money, but she really didn't
because now you have a potential
three bad coils, you
know, waiting to go bad in the
back.
Right. So like those
are the the nuances that you're
not going to know about chat
GPT. It's that's more about
building a relationship with
your with your shop, right?
Does your shop have your best
interest and before its own
profitability? And that's kind
of where like I
tend to like to shine a bit
because I some of my customers
were we're saving your money
here.
Like we're not charging you any
more labor, but you know, that
number next to its neighbor is
going to go out. And when it
does, you have to you're going
to pay us to pull pull the
planet back up.
But, you know, going back to
it, chat GPT is
only a sum of its of its
equations, right? Like it's
only going to spew out the
answers that it knows.
And so for people who have
faith in it right now, it's
another disadvantage that we
have technicians have because
now we have to listen to this
answers.
Yeah, it's it's good to, you
know, be pre armed with a
little bit of information.
But, you know, by no means
does that mean the overriding
professionals in that area,
you know, like I could go to
the doctor and I could be more
informed or they're giving me
you know, something about my
symptoms or a diagnosis.
And it's great to be able to
go, oh, I understand a bit
more than they were just
telling me, but I'm not going
to decide that amputation
is the right thing to do just
based on what chat GPT has
told me, you know, like you
still need to leave the
professionals do their job a
little bit as well.
Yeah. And at least at this
point in time, and I think
at least for the foreseeable
future, like the experts
in whatever field it is are
still that and you're
still going to you're going
to be the best person to solve
that problem that you're an
expert in, right?
Like I can't just let
my guys just, hey, use chat
GPT and you don't have to call
me anymore for anything.
Like we're not we're not even
close to that yet.
Maybe 10, 20 years down
the road, but that will be a
great time to retire.
Until then, like the
the real experts in whatever
field you're in, I think
you're in a really good spot
because then you can use it
as a tool to, you know,
increase your productivity,
like we do with a number of
different things where it's
not it's not necessarily
knowledge or solving a
problem. Even it's just
like getting more stuff done
or eliminating.
Like I've explained it on the
the podcast before I use it
to rewrite invoices for me.
I'll just blab in here's what
I did on the car. Here's the
details and then it spits it
out in a real nice
grammatically correct
formatted version that I can
put on the invoice and then
we have all the detail looks
great and it's a fraction of
the time it would have taken
me to write down.
So like you find those little
tools, man, that's
fantastic.
And I mean I'm probably
single-handedly killing the
planet with energy use and
things like that and data
storage. But you know, things
that I played around with like
just leaving it on recording
mode. And you know, I'm a big
one for writing things down
while I'm diagnosing. You
know, you always got to be
writing down what that that
voltage was or whatever. You
never know when it's going to
help. But you know, the
game changer there of just
leaving it recording and you
just talk to it and you go,
OK, found this and and it's
translating it. I'd hate to
think like, you know, when
that becomes mainstream and a
billion people are doing that
like the amount of energy and
daughter and stuff involved.
I mean, that's the way we're
hitting, isn't it?
Invest in data centers, that's
for sure. But
yeah, talking is the way to go.
I mean, I've never been a
real fast typer. But I think
even if I was like just
talking to it, it just
seems to be the way to go
because I can just ramble
on with detail and context.
And it's not like too
much. Like I will bore you
guys with the details of
the the car that I
worked on and just like stop,
I don't care anymore.
But you can just feed all that
in there, all the context you
want. And it just makes for
better output.
Well, we're still we're still
useful. Well, I'm still got
some years left in us.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, a couple, especially
like within our own
generation, these these
punk ass kids growing up, I
don't know, they're they're
they're definitely going to
be different. Their
experiences are definitely
going to be different than
ours, man. Yeah.
Yeah, like like Sean said, we
were in that that golden era,
wasn't it? You know, the way
you still had to put the
effort in, get your butt
kicked. And that's how you
you learn those lessons.
And then you can utilize
that that knowledge with
these, you know, newer
technologies, or as you
know, just trying to go at
it without putting in that
that effort behind the scenes
you're not going to end up
with the same results.
Yeah, that's that's a danger
for sure for kids.
I mean, just young kids in
general, but people coming
into this field as a small,
you know, piece of that where
this starts being really
helpful. I mean, I I
can't imagine how much easier
my life would have been as
a beginning tech, if I
would have had this in my
pocket, like worlds
different, just just to point
me in the right direction and
get me knowledge on stuff.
Holy crap. And I mean, there
wasn't even YouTube or
Facebook back then when I
started.
I say that a lot, right?
Like, oh, man, I could
have been a better tech or
more efficient or blah, blah,
blah. I mean, you really
don't know, right? But, you
know, growing, growing up
in the time I did and how
I had to learn and how
quickly I had to learn is
why I am where I'm
where I'm at right now.
100%. So I I
don't know. I mean, it's
it's it's it's it's really
difficult to sit here and
make the comparisons, but
it's human nature to
thrive. Like, look at that.
Just look at T.A.T.
If if if they would have
had access to what we have all
data, Mitchell and everything
else, right, you know, forced
by the government, they
wouldn't exist.
Yeah, it could be very
different. Yeah, or it
would be something to like
what we did here.
Like, if you remember I
T.N. I T.N. was in
its glory days, man. I T.N.
was the shit.
And then it got bought out.
And then after that, it
went to shit. Like, you
know, the really Facebook
groups have become a sort
of unofficial replacement.
But there's no cohesiveness.
There's no symmetry.
There's just everybody.
Yeah, there's no data basing
all that. Yeah.
No, it's like you type in a
search and if somebody had
this issue, but it's like
all the data is accurate.
Do I trust this gentleman that
he actually did his diet?
I mean, if I see if I see
Sean do something Pedro
Pleasanton or a couple of
the solid guys have posted
over the years, and you know,
I know I can trust their
information hands down, but
it's some Joe Schmo from
Mississippi or wherever he's
from, I don't know.
I've had I've had no good
waveforms that I found on
Facebook to be bad.
So yeah, right.
That's that's that's annoying.
Yeah, it came cranks where
they got the VVT active and
stuff like this and you're
like, come on, take a
damn relative compression.
Like, what the hell's wrong
with you people?
Yeah, quality of Dati, you
know, that's that's the
thing. And all these systems
that they're only as good
as the data that's going into
them. So well, you've done well
staying awake. You're saying
how hard a day you had, Tommy.
So yeah, you haven't passed
out on us yet.
I told you, man, I
I just work, man, like I told
you about doing the classes
after DST.
I don't care, man. If I got
to wake up another hour
earlier, my name is Sean, man.
I don't care.
Whatever I'll be up to, I'll
be texting you.
What time is it there now?
Is it the next day?
No, we're 10 30 a.m.
on Wednesday, whereas you're
Wednesday afternoon.
Is that correct? No, you're
Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday, Tuesday night.
Yeah, Tuesday night.
I am in the future.
Send me some lottery tickets.
I can tell you, yeah, nothing's
good happening tomorrow. Don't
even go all the way.
All right, I'm staying home.
That's just wild, man.
It was really it was it was
the heart. No, the interesting
part was coming coming back
man, like getting there.
I was I was killer.
And here's the thing.
Here's the worst part for me,
right?
So I got stuck in LAX,
but I didn't really realize
this, right? But when I got
stuck in LAX,
I I have what I get.
I went to the gym that day,
right? So I wake up at 4 a.m.
to go to the gym.
So I got up at 4 a.m.
Went to the gym. I did my
date completely, got home a
little early so I can pack or
whatever.
But we have been pretty
prepared for this trip.
My flight left 6 30 central
time.
We got to Los Angeles
four hours later.
So that's 8 30 flight
left was supposed to leave like
at 11 and some change.
They were they were digging us
around till about
12 30.
Pacific time.
Right. So I made it to the
room because they canceled my
flight. So I made it to my
room in Los Angeles
at 2 45 close to 3
in the morning.
Well, think about it.
That's 5 a.m. Central time.
So I fell asleep and I
didn't know why I woke up at
like I woke up so early.
I only slept for like three
four hours. I woke up like at
6 something.
Now it's your body knows what's
going on. The body clock is
real.
I didn't really like process
it until like I got back from
this trip. I'm like, dude,
why couldn't I sleep like well
because it's you know, it's
9 a.m. back home.
So so then like
again, we go through the go
through the day, hang out with
my buddy Caesar.
The flight was leaving at like
midnight or 11 45
and in Pacific time in Los
Angeles.
So the flight arrives at 7
in the morning Monday.
This is Saturday. So it arrives
7 in the morning Monday.
So I didn't I can't sleep on
planes, man. So I think I
nodded off watching a couple
movies a couple times.
So I may have slept for like
an hour in the total
15 hours that I was on this
plane or maybe more.
I don't know. I don't recall.
Yeah, I don't see.
I just couldn't get there.
And I'm like like it was
brisk that day.
Right. So it was pretty much the
weather I left back home.
So I was fine. I was in my
t-shirt.
The guy picked us up for Josh.
I kept making fun of him because
he's in a heated Milwaukee
jacket.
He's like, man, it's cold this
morning. I'm like, dude, this
feels great.
Like it was it was just a nice
nice brisk morning
and I'm up the whole day,
dude. Like I didn't buy
7 38 o'clock that night.
I'm just like.
Yeah.
I'm just like.
Slaping yourself like doing the
tea or doing the weevil wobble.
And I'm really sorry, dude, but
I got to get that.
So the next two days, yeah, about
7 38.
I was like, oh, shit, I'm
dying.
I didn't get used to the time
change until about a week.
And I was in like New Zealand
when I really kind of got used
to it.
And I got back home and the first
day I was.
I got home.
It worked out because we get home,
which is like always so surreal,
right? I left that eight
some and some change.
Wednesday night and I got home
at 9 30.
Wednesday night.
Yeah, that was crazy.
We do the same thing.
We took off like Friday morning,
landed Friday morning, like
16 hours.
Fucking wild.
Yeah, dude, like the days after I
landed, I was kind of like.
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What the hell is going on?
I was like, buddy, gets just
enough time to adjust.
Yeah, I was like, is it dinner
time right now? Like I'm
hungry in the middle of the
night and weird shit like
that. It took me like about a
week to get back to normal.
Yeah, I literally like, I didn't
have those like, like, like,
like that per se, but
I definitely fell off for
almost.
I get it. I get pretty bad jet
lag. Like, oh, my not just
the sleep patterns, which are
obviously terrible, but my
stomach doesn't know what's
going on either. So it's like,
why? Why are we eating?
You know, it's 2 a.m. in the
morning. And yeah, I can get,
I can feel pretty sick for the
first couple of days.
Just as it's sorry.
Yeah.
I had that going down there,
like, I don't know if it was
the airline food or just
the travel in general.
But my digestive
system was wrecked for the first
like three days.
I was in Australia and
I felt I felt really bad.
So I actually I never told
anybody like about this
because they took us out like
really nice dinners and stuff.
And one of them I went to
like, I was just dying.
Like I was like something's
going to come out of some
and it is not good.
But I'm going to go and it
was such a nice dinner.
And I'm just like, I kept
eating. I kept eating as soon
as I went back to the hotel.
Just I went to the
the bathroom and just rulfed.
I couldn't I couldn't hold
anymore. But I didn't tell
anybody because it was such a
nice dinner. I'm like, I feel
bad.
I don't do well in like like
upscale and like like bougie
restaurants. I'm not a I'm
not a big fan, dude.
I'm the type of guy who like
I'll find some street food.
I'll sniff out some food on
like I don't care.
Like I just I don't know.
I'm just a simple dude, man.
Like I I I
and it's like my cousins or
their college graduates from
back homes. But when they take
me to Guatemala, they take me
out. I'm just like, they'll
take me to American chain
joints. I'm just like, dude,
it sucks back home.
What makes you think it's going
to be better here?
You're just passing a guy on
the street trying to grill
some meat on a stick between
two two blocks of cement.
This is good.
And you're going to get sick.
I'm just like, yeah, like
you're not going to get sick
eating this bullshit ass
Tony Romo fucking like
just bullshit chain American
spots is where they take me
and my cousin, man, bless
this old dude. I know he tried,
bro, but he took me to go eat
Chicago style pizza in
Guatemala, bro.
That should have hot dogs in
the dude. I almost threw it
at him.
I'm just like, what the fuck
is this?
And I just I he was just like,
oh, what do you think?
I was like, oh, yeah, it's
great. I'm just like, whoa,
I wouldn't feed this to my
dog, man.
This is disgusting.
It tasted like the sauce
tasted like ketchup. It was
gross.
I'm just like, dude, I just I
want to eat something that I
can't get back home.
And that's that's literally all
I all I all I asked
for, like, you know, but, man,
let me tell you something, though.
Those motherfucking Tim Tams,
Jack, whoof.
Yo, yeah.
This is a recurring theme now.
You bring it up on every podcast.
You're addicted.
Man, what is it?
Tim Tams.
Tim Tams.
You missed out. Did you even
come to Australia?
So Scott, Scott Hicks was
there via top down a couple
weeks back. And I'm just like,
dude, bring me back some Tim
Tams. He's like, I'll pay you.
He's like, what are these?
I said, listen, man, you like
snackies and stuff like Oreos
and stuff. He's like, oh, hell
yeah. I said, don't open them.
I'll be back in just 10 seconds.
Yep. Twenty minutes later,
he fucking messages me.
He said, you fucking asshole.
I ate the whole fucking pack.
They're like, they're like
little chocolate wafers.
They're like little biscuits.
OK.
Think of a chocolate Oreo, but
instead of a circle.
I'm just going to have me a little
snack.
It's going to have me a little
snack here, Tommy.
Do some do some ASMR now.
I hope you get the runs.
Yeah. It's a good time.
Chocolate. I'm eating once once
every week.
I blazed through the first pack
and then the second one.
I'm going to take my time with this
one.
Set up a little romance with it.
You know, get some candles going
and open the pack real slow.
Glass of wine.
And then and then like
they there's like a wall of them
right all different flavors and
shit. And then just looking at
a mom just like, man,
New Zealand has some really good
chocolate, though.
Whitties, whitties or
maybe whitties.
I don't know exactly.
But it starts with a W.
But man, that chocolate was really
good. I brought some back to give
out to some friends and stuff.
And it was just phenomenal
that the snackies
in the United States just fucking
suck, dude.
Yeah. Yeah.
We'll bring you over a care
package. If we can get over next
year, you'll you'll know all the
Australian guys at STX.
If anyone sees someone sleeping,
you know what's going on.
I talk cleaning for as much as
they do. They're expensive as shit
here. I checked on Amazon and
they want twenty five bucks of a
pop.
Yeah. So I'm like, yeah, it's hard
with Amazon because you're sort of
like, you know, I see that
you're giving me prime free
shipping, but you've also
inflated the price of the thing
three times to obviously
include the shipping.
What's the name of that chocolate
from Wellington's?
Or it starts with a W, man.
But I think I saw it in Australia,
but I saw more in New Zealand.
I'm sure they got frigging
tariffs on your chocolates,
too.
Yeah, because yeah, I know them.
Yeah. Yeah, that's really
that's some good chocolate right
there, man. And the thing is, like,
it didn't make me feel like shit.
I felt like a fat ass, but I didn't
feel like shit.
No, we go OK for just a bunch of
convicts that got left
on an island.
We've got a few things going for
it. I liked about the Australians
I tried making them uncomfortable
and nothing, nothing really worked.
They even hit them with a penal
joke. I said a couple of dumb
stuff and that's
it. Is that all you got?
No, that's that's that's the
main thing. You know, we're sort of
known for pretty easy going,
like taking the piss out of each
other, you know, just giving
elbow jabs all the time.
And that's that's what keeps us
going.
I still think Mike set me up,
though, man. He really didn't.
He might have the state of
origin.
Yeah, he might as well have put
me in fucking New York with a
Red Sox jersey on.
Oh, yeah.
Like, that's that's that's the
equivalent of what they fucking
did to us and the fucking people
yelling at us. And I'm just like,
the fuck are they talking about?
Is that for the football or is
that rugby game?
The rugby game.
I got to go to the Red Sox game
when I was over there.
So we went to the last time,
went to the States was Boston
and went to Craig Van Batenburg
at the ACDC
hybrid training center,
which, yeah, that we finally got
to, you know, because he's a
little bit out. He's, you know,
an hour, hour and a half or so out
of Boston at Worcester
and we didn't
went over one time before
and it was just in and out, you
know, because we had to get back
to make things work back here in
Australia. So I, yeah, I went to
Boston, not really, you know, I
sort of got there, got on a train,
went out to Worcester. But yeah,
this time I got to go into the
city, got to get a Red Sox
game.
It was it was interesting.
Yes, you know, it's a good
game. I've never seen baseball,
but we thought we were
absolutely done, you know, it was
like four, four home runs
down. And then before you know it,
you know, someone hits and
those bases loaded and you're
like, we're back in this, you
know, it's good to go again.
It's not sort of like soccer
where you're like three down,
you're like, why are we still
here? Like, there's no way
we're getting three goals.
Yeah, baseball is an
interesting sport.
That's actually the first time
I saw a rugby match ever,
like I'd never I've heard
about it. I just never had an
interest in it.
Yeah, I'd never been to a game,
but I don't I don't know
that it's played around here
unless it's some guys out in a
field, maybe just messing
around.
What is it?
What's funny is that it's
fucking popular here, man.
The wife was thinking about
going to see the what's the
name of these?
The All Blacks.
They're playing here against
Ireland.
Yeah, so that's rugby, rugby
Union, which is slightly
different to the rugby league
that you saw.
Isn't that the countries,
yeah, so well, no, rugby Union
can be played just at club
level.
Yeah, it's a similar game, but
some pretty fundamental
differences that
could make it not not as
you know, I had to pass it
forward, like and put big
shoulder pads on like what you
guys are calling football.
But yeah, you still still
have some of the fundamentals,
but a completely different game.
If you came down here and
just called them both rugby,
people would be going, what
are you talking about?
Like rugby Union and rugby
League are two different
sports.
But yeah, the All Blacks, that's
an awesome spectacle to see.
I thought the All Blacks was a
nickname for the New Zealand
national team.
Yeah, New Zealand National
Rugby Union team,
whereas the Australian one is
the Wallabies.
I heard they suck.
Yeah, the Wallabies, they
have ups and downs.
So, you know, it will be
it's like the cricket team as
well. They're either, you
know, world champions or
they're absolutely stinking.
You're like, can we just get
some consistency?
I was watching cricket one time
and it was just like, I
felt like I was watching
somebody write Chinese,
dude, I didn't understand shit.
Like, there is nothing about
that game that interests me at
all.
There's a bunch of guys who
play cricket in
like, there's like a baseball
field near where my girlfriend
lives. And yeah, I've watched
it. I was like, I've never
played it. I don't know
anything about it. I'm trying
to figure out what they're
doing. And I'm like, I don't
get it.
Yeah.
So rugby was interesting
for me.
Because I played football, not
I mean, just fucking just
regular, like playing with
friends or playing high school
ball or whatever.
So like,
what's funny is like, like
the amount of people who in
Australia were just like, oh,
yeah, rugby is like 10 times
harder.
Unless I don't understand the
game, I physically, I think
it is physically harder for
sure. There's no denying it.
But I don't know if there's
a lot more.
I don't understand the strategy
of it to say that, you
know, the the
objective, right? Because
obviously the objectives are
similar. But what I'm saying
is that American football
needs to be more coordinated
within the team.
Because yeah, there's so much
strategy in it. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's kind of where
I'm just like, well, it's
not as physically hard, but
it doesn't make it easier
or harder per se.
It's just depending on what
you're good at, right?
Reading, reading plays and
reading defenses, rugby just
to me, just I can never play
this. So I don't. So for me, it
just kind of seemed like you
were just trying to ram this
ball down. Yeah, yeah.
That's a little bit like
obviously, you know, when you
get into the nuances of it,
there's a lot of strategy
there, but I completely get
what you're saying, you know,
it's kind of if you're the
tougher person and you run
through, you're going to
get there. Whereas with, you
know, what we we tend to
call your NFL over here
gridiron, American
football.
Yeah, it blows my mind
the amount of memorized
plays that go into that.
And, you know, I don't know
how they do it these days,
you know, but you see them,
it's all written down on their
arm or they they got the
earpiece into the coach and
stuff like that. And it just
seems like, wow, this is like
more of a choreographed
dance.
Yeah. And also, like
the amount of like
again, like
the hits, I don't know,
man, like I'm this I might
get a lot of shit for this
dude. But some of these
football hits, dude, they're
a lot harder than the rugby
ones. Because these guys
get cracked. And rugby seemed
to be like, you're aiming
at it like, like again,
because I don't want I'm not
saying that it's difficult.
I just never played it to
tell you. But looking
looking at it, right, like
you're kind of just getting
to you're getting tackled.
Yeah. And both players are
kind of prepared for the
collision. Whereas, you
know, if you're getting
sacked as a quarterback and
you're not even looking
at me, man. So it's like it's
kind of like one of those were
just like, I don't think one
is I think they all have
their their their strengths
and weaknesses. But
definitely, man, running
into some big ass, some moan
dude with no helmet is not
fucking my idea of fucking
fun. That's for sure.
That was the thing. And we
were watching some of it on
TV while we were there.
And like, they don't have
much for pads and
protection on in that game.
Right. That's that was the
part that got me as I'm
like, they're just going
for it with no
no padding of any sort.
That that's that to me was
like, that's that's crazy.
Like your your career length
in that sport must be a few
years at best.
Yeah. And then there's all
these guys that are playing
in the amateur leagues on
the weekend. Like that's the
last thing I could think of
wanting to do after working
on cars all week and then
being like, you know what,
like, let's just go out and
just run it.
200 kilogram men.
Yeah. I like I play
rec hockey and
like all the pads,
helmets and we don't play.
We don't check like it's a
non-checking league, but
that's because like, yeah, I
have to go to work the next
day.
You know who I make fun of
all the time?
The Mexicans around here,
they play full contact soccer
here.
Right. And even though like
it's not like you're not
tackling right, but you're
still you're still a sort of
tackling dribbling, right?
Like so.
Yeah, you're still tearing
ACL that way.
Bro, what the fuck are you
doing? He's like, oh, he's like
playing. I'm just like.
That's for when you're like
21 years old.
Dude, you're 40 years old, man.
Like you're going to fuck your
shit up, dude.
Yeah. I never blow your knee
cap for what a cheap plastic
trophy at the end of the year.
Mm hmm.
Paul Dan is into his hockey
as well. He was playing in a
wreckly. You have to set up
like a technician, all-star
game, right?
So we always try to do that.
Gee, I'm going to be team
fucking refer, not even a
referee. I'm going to be the
fucking sportscaster.
We'll put you in a suit and
you can be the mascot.
Oh, I can do that too.
I ain't skating shit, man.
We were poor, man. So we I
played hockey as a kid
actually, but we were
poor though. So we played
floor hockey.
OK.
Well, like we played boot
hockey, you know, early on
before we couldn't afford
all the skates and stuff
like that. So you're just
literally running on the ice
chasing the frigging ball.
It's ridiculous.
And we were just in the fucking
gym with fucking hockey nuts
and just fucking just in
sneakers and shit.
But bro, those fucking pucks
still fucking hurt.
Yeah, they do.
She fucking hurts.
Pucks are through pads.
If you don't have pads.
No, man.
Getting cracked with a fucking
hockey puck, like especially
like in this area.
And then I would just so
happen. There's there's like
always like these little
spots and stuff that you
don't get protected on.
Bro, that's I religiously
used to get hit like right here
like my I had my armpit one
time that I thought I was dying.
That should fucking hurt.
The worst is, yeah, the puck
always finds that little spot.
There's like a little bit on
your ankle where skate doesn't
quite come up in your shingar.
It isn't quite there.
I got cracked a couple of times
right there. I thought I
broke my ankle one time.
It sucks.
Yeah, like blown up in
purple.
I fucking played forward.
Was it for is it?
Yeah, I think it was for one
time to feel like to fill in.
And I got hit.
But like, like it might work
my Achilles, like the end of
it, like right there, like.
I was just like, you know what,
man, I don't get paid enough
to be playing this bullshit.
Man, this shit fucking hurt.
Yeah, we're too old for that
kind of stuff now.
Recovery. Recovery is a long
time.
It's all I can do to stop
from hurting just living my
normal life.
So yeah.
Right.
Yeah. So watching
rugby.
So if the next time I go out
there, I really want to check
out Gold Coast.
I want to check out Gold Coast
and we watch who do we
want? And another I would like
to watch another league game, not
a league game. It's.
Yeah, it's rugby league, right?
So we watched.
Yeah, rugby league Broncos
versus.
Man, fuck, who the hell
do we watch?
One of those teams from like the
middle of Australia, I forgot
the name of it.
I got to look it back up.
But yeah. So we watch.
Well, it was a beautiful stadium,
man. Holy shit.
That was a nice stadium.
Yeah. Yeah, Brisbane's pretty
good. You know, we were lucky.
So in Queensland, Brisbane,
that's where I'm from.
And rugby league is
was predominantly a New
South Wales sport.
So that's the state below
us. So while they would have
a team like every
few kilometers, we just
had Brisbane, Brisbane Broncos.
So like all the resources of the
city got thrown into it.
And so, you know, it was really
good.
Yeah, we've got a few few Queensland
teams now because of the
success.
Gold Coast is still a good place
to go. It's, you know, the best
equivalent is it's like
Miami.
So that's kind of our Miami.
But it's, you know, with
that comes the fact that,
yeah, it's it's a little
bit of a decline, I'd say.
But it's still amazing to go
to. It's just, you know, compared
to what it what it was.
It's that's that's what happens,
isn't it?
Yeah, but like, um, like
what, is it a tourist or
foreigners?
Yeah, yeah. Tourist, you know,
and then crime comes in and all
that kind of stuff.
It's, you know, from 20
is I didn't see anything
or I never felt.
So no, it's not.
It's not it's not risky.
You know, I never felt safe
either in Brisbane or like
or you're you're from Chicago.
You're going to feel safe everywhere.
That's how I know where someplace
ain't safe though, sir.
Yeah, the hood over here
just means like Starbucks isn't
close by.
I thought you guys don't have
Starbucks.
Yeah, we got Starbucks over here.
Yeah, we don't don't have like
Tom Hortons and a few of those
ones. But I'm sure Starbucks is
still here. I don't really go to
it. But.
Yeah, I am.
But Auckland, man,
I hope you don't have any fans
in New Zealand. But Auckland just
did not feel nice to me, man.
Yeah, Auckland is like more of a
city centre, I'd say.
So yeah, I know you steered away
from heading south in New Zealand
because you didn't want to get cold.
But for me, that's where it's like
it's really it's.
Yeah, it's interesting because I've
been to Scandinavia and
I've been to New Zealand and they're
like the similar area
on opposite poles of the world.
So like for us as Australians,
like, yeah, you could fly that far
and go to like Finland
or you could like go
a few hours and go to the south
of New Zealand. And it's it's really
similar to rain.
And I will
never go back in the in the winter
to New Zealand, though, man.
All my plans were busted for the
shit weather. And like,
it just didn't.
There was nothing that I saw there
that I was just like, oh, man,
except for like the Lord of the Ring
stuff that I was really looking
forward to seeing.
But just the weather, man, we went
up north, man.
And it's beautiful.
But just the weather, the weather
just didn't help at all.
Because I can do that.
I could do it for anywhere, I
suppose. So I'll stick up for our
New Zealand members at TAT.
And it's it's not all bad.
I'm just saying I will go back in
the winter. Like I just didn't get
anything. I didn't get to do
anything, honestly.
Yeah. Come come here in June, not
January.
Come here in January.
You'll hate it.
Yeah, that's it.
And then you're just talking about
how terrible a place it is the
whole time. It's like, yeah, you
came at the wrong time.
Yeah. But you Minnesotans are
some weirdos because you talk about
how how rugged and rough you guys
are. But everybody and everywhere
had there's heated everything,
fucking heated garages, heated
fucking car parks, heated
walkways.
Jacket.
Yeah, everything like you guys are
just a bunch of punks, man.
Just a facade that's sitting
inside, warm as drinking
cocoa.
Yep.
When I went we went up to the
top of the mountain, there's a
melting glacier and I jumped
in the water.
So.
That's.
No, thank you.
After you do that, you let me know.
First of all, I'm not walking up
any fucking mountain.
You got me fucked up, like I said,
dude, my idea of our ideas
of vacations are fucking totally
different, dude. I don't want to
I don't even want to have my phone
on. Matter of fact, dude, I just
leave it in my hotel room and I
just want to go post up, get
some bad ass food.
That was the best part is there
was zero reception if you were in
the park.
Nothing. I love that.
It was great.
That was like the true highlight of
my Australian trip, dude, because
every event that I've gone to, I
have to consistently check my phone
for like a phone call or whatever.
Everybody's asleep.
Yeah. Yeah.
Just like, dude, the amount of
love piece that I got, like
the reason like I know the
wife would not she want we
OK, I want to go back to New
Zealand. It just has to be
in the summer.
It has to be the summer. Like I
want to go exploring in the
summer.
We were in Bay of Islands.
We rented an Airbnb with a view of
the bay and we didn't see
shit.
Like a little hours at a time and
then it was windy and cold and
rainy.
But I was just inside the Airbnb
with my legs up, just watching
air Netflix.
Honestly, that's what I did all
day. We bought food and we
just, you know, we just just
chilled and she's like, we
should be hiking. We should be
this. We should be done.
I'm just like, I don't want to
hike when it's nice. I ain't
fucking hiking in this shit.
Crazy. Yeah, it's hard when
you're when you're on vacation
is the way you like force
yourself to do something and
you're like, this is terrible.
What am I doing?
And she's like, how are you so
happy? I'm just like, you
hear this?
She's like, no, fucking
exactly. Fuck this phone.
Fucking the world.
I just want to like decompress,
dude. I just want to sit here
and just enjoy.
I just breathe in.
I said it's it's it's what
it is, man. It's like, you
know, you got to do that.
You got to do it.
I'm beyond blessed and I'm
totally grateful for everything,
but it gets it gets
overwhelming.
Mm hmm.
Yeah, it's hard running the
shop and now you had your guy
away today and music
still got to happen, doesn't
it? Got to keep the world's
wheels turning.
Yesterday with him, it was
just me and my my nephew
and my manager, but we
still banded out. We had a
great day.
Sometimes it can help, you know,
because it really it focused
you in. You sort of know, OK,
someone's going to be away.
So like right from the start of
the day, you're just you don't
whereas you turn up on a regular
day. And sometimes it's like a
monotonous.
It's just a day you drudge along
a little bit.
I think that's what me and Sean
enjoy about this industry, man,
because not even two repairs are
the same.
But I guess you're never bored.
No, no, never, never.
It's always you.
You feel like you go through
those highs and lows.
You know, sometimes you're sort of
like, man, I'm so sick of coils
and you just sort of waiting like
something's coming.
And you know, then it does.
And then three of them come at
the same time. And you know, why
would anyone do this job?
But this is a ridiculous
profession.
And then you go back down to
the low where you're like, I'm
bored, like throw something at
me.
What what what what do you do in
your workshop, Brandon, like,
what is your position?
So I mean, I'm in a pretty
odd transition state at the
moment. So for 20 years, I was at
the family workshop and it's a
general workshop. So we do mainly
Asian is pretty much what a lot
of workshops do around Australia.
So when you say domestic for us,
like, well, yes, I heard you
discuss it with Clayton and
Vasco. We've got Holden, GM
and Ford, which are
similar. But but yeah, we
see a lot of Asian around my
area and a lot. So we were an
all makes all models.
You know, after a while, I got
to the point where I'd start to
step into the office a bit more.
And so sure, I'm not banging
out struts or anything.
And then you know, the guys that
were out on the the floor, some
of them would just walk all over
me as far as, you know, that's
their niche, but you give them a
multi meter and they go, what is
this thing? What do I do with
this? Right. So we sort of found
out niches.
I was OK with customer service.
I was good with Diag.
So I would sort of try
and work on the business, you
know, listen to calm Capri
Otto's remarkable results
podcast, try and implement some
of that kind of stuff to get the
family business going better.
And then, you know, when there's
Diag stuff, you'd jump
in. But then that becomes a
difficult task as well, because
you go, well, look, I can't
just be taking this and going
through it. How are the other
guys learning? How are they
progressing? You know, so you
almost move into this other
role where you're sort of
trying to facilitate them
diagnosing stuff as well and
just being a bit of a guide
for them.
And so that's where now I've
as I moved into TAT over the
last, you know, it's been five
years or so now I started in the
technical assistance area as
just a regular member and I would
just jump in like some members
do. And I'd be helping out
where I could.
No real affiliation to TAT and
then through, you know, a few
mentors that I'll throw some
names out that are, you know,
similar to the Harvey Chans
and stuff of the U.S.
But there's a Morris Donovan
got me involved with TAT.
He was just another member and
said, look, you should start
coming to some training and
things like that. And as I got
more and more involved and I
started doing YouTube videos
for the family workshop and
stuff like that, they sort of
saw that I could bring a little
bit of that. And fast forward,
I'm now one of the four
directors at TAT and spend a
lot of my time putting
together training courses or
helping in technical assistance,
which is similar to the role
in the workshop where you're
kind of you're trying to
guide someone through a
diagnostic. You know, you're
not just there to throw
silver bullets at them. And so,
you know, show me your
camcrank correlation, you know,
I might be able to tease
something out of it that you
didn't, you know, you look at
it and go, well, it looks in
time. Yeah, but look at the
amplitude of that, you know,
is it really reaching a
solid ground? You know, maybe
you didn't see that. So just
having someone I quite like
it. I'm enjoying that, you
know, that that time of
analysis. I think that's my
favorite part of a diag where
you it's all good grabbing
something, but, you know,
waiting for an intermittent
problem or something like
that. That's that's no fun.
So I sort of get to see
the gathered data and then
try and tease out what you
can from it to to try and
give some direction, which
I really like.
Yeah, it's a whole nother
animal trying to figure the
stuff out remotely.
And I'm doing that on a
very small scale within my
business when I'm trying to
help out the other guys and
I'm not there. It's like how
much I can I get when I'm
not at the car. And like
sometimes there's like the
disconnect of I can't
see that they don't have the
ground for their scope or
their meter connected
correctly. And so the
information they're feeding
me is, you know, wrong or
you just stuff like that.
Like they didn't hit the
button on the the am meter
correctly or whatever.
And it's amazing looking at
like a scan tool recording
and the difference of like you
took it. You were in the
seat. You sort of knew that
at that point it gave like a
little stutter or something.
Or as you look at it on a
graph and you're like,
that's a different it's
different.
Yep, yep. So yeah, guys
that do that full time and
yourself a lot of credit
there because that is it's
a whole nother challenge, a
whole nother challenge if
you're not the one.
There's been so many cars
where and I'm not this
isn't like a boast for me.
This is saying like I have
skills to improve, but
that I'll be trying to help
them out over the phone.
We just we reach what we
can do like, OK, just move
on. And then I'll come to
the car and I'll figure it
out like relatively
quickly. And again, not
because I'm so much better,
but it's like those things
that I noticed when I'm on the
car. I can't see away from
the car. And I'm so I'm like
trying to build that skill
set to it's like
AI. Like I got to prompt
them with the right
the right prompt.
Like it's my prompts
that suck with them.
So I got to figure that out
to get more info
and you still get that good
feeling that we all chase
as technicians. You know
there's something totally
sick in all of our heads
to be doing this and
to, you know, excel
at it. It's a lifestyle,
not just a job really.
And, you know, we're chasing
that high of when you you fix
that problem car, you go,
yeah, I nailed that one.
And so I still get to have
that when there's quirky
things and, you know, get
to the bottom of it. And you
you just like, yeah, it
doesn't even have to be a
big one. Like a recent one I
had was a some Nissan
and it it was
was doing it was not
accelerating at all. So it was
not accepting any throttle
response. It would run runs
beautifully. Just no throttle
response. And he's given me
scan data and we're looking
at it. And it's like, OK, here's
your throttle or your
accelerator, your APP, and
that's going up, you know,
your load isn't going up
and the commanded throttle
is not going up. The things
not bring up any warning
lights or anything. It's not,
you know, forcing talk
limitation. And you just
sort of thinking back
through things. I go, why
don't you, you know, let's
think of this from a
different angle, like go
into your other modules.
And this was actually from
your parasitic draw class.
We've done that recently, the
webinar, and I was sort of
thinking on different angles
like, let's just go into
other modules and just
have a look at, you know,
things that can be switched
and, you know, does
anything stand out? And
lo and behold, the brake
pedal switches on. Obviously
you're not standing on the
brakes, but there you go.
And then yeah, they get to
the back and they find that
there's aftermarket LED
taillights to it, which
weren't a problem to start
with. But now that the
center brake bulb has blown
that, you know, that circuit
must be all messed up
because of these taillights.
And so it thinks the brake
switches on and it
represents as a no-throttle
situation. You sort of get
something like that. And you
just like, yes, nailed it.
That's cool. We may need to
let Tommy get to bed. Hey, I
think you've done pretty
good.
Whatever. I'm just feeling
some text messages for my
California people, but still
six o'clock there.
Yeah.
What's the time difference
you have over there? So from
coast to coast?
Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. So two hours, two
hours behind me and me and
Sean are both central time.
So it's eight p.m. So it's
six p.m. in California.
But it'd be three from
east to west.
Yeah. It's three from east
to west. So east coast is
an hour ahead of me.
And then there's a there's
a time zone that doesn't
do daylight savings time,
right? Or part of the
country that doesn't do.
So then then the difference
changes.
Hawaii is not Pacific
standard time, but I think
Pacific Island or something
like that.
Daylight savings time.
I thought where Cody was
applied to that.
That's just because fucking
Arizona said, fuck your
couch.
Yeah, but I think it's just
Arizona as a state doesn't
doesn't do.
Okay, that's what it is.
So it depends on the time of
year, the difference in of
time. Yeah, it gets
confusing.
So if they could just get rid
of that daylight savings time
already, that would be
fantastic.
Just give me that extra hour
of light.
Their time is called Hawaiian
standard time, the illusion
time zone.
Okay.
Yeah, and they do not observe
daylight savings time, but
Arizona, I think is
I think they're mountain time,
aren't they?
Yeah, they're mountain
standard time.
Yeah, they're mountain standard
time.
So they're basically on
Colorado time.
I'm on who knows what time at
the moment, because we've got a
three year old baby boy.
So I'm on his time.
It's just everything's a blur.
Yeah, the state of Arizona is
on mountain standard time, but
with the exception of Navajo
Nation does not observe
daylight savings, that must be
fucking goofy so that the
Indians observe it and they
don't. Interesting.
We've got like a town where
you're saying you want to
go to the Gold Coast, so that
gets quite close to the
border of Queensland and New
South Wales.
And there's, you know, the town
that literally it's as
good as it spans over it, you
know, like technically it stops
there, but you know, you can be
at the hamburger shop on one
part of the street, but then
you're a little bit further
down the street and they're on
completely different time because
they're in New South Wales.
And so it's like you could leave
for work and time zone changes
before you get there.
I was always wondering about
that because there's
definitely places in the US
where you're that close, like
you might drive from your house
to work and be in a different
time zone and how goddamn
confusing that would be.
So you guys have different, like
I thought all the East Coast
wasn't the same time.
It's when the daylight savings
kicks in. So New South Wales
observes daylight savings
Queensland doesn't.
So yeah, it's yeah, it's
telling me that it was kind of
weird.
Yeah. Yeah. So when we're
trying to set up our webinars
because I'm trying to get a
decent live viewership across
Australia for you and that
in itself changes at different
times during the year for some
states, it still works, whereas
some states they go, man, it's
like 10 o'clock at night now.
Like I'm not I'm not getting up
for no webinar.
Yeah. No, I understand it.
OK, so I just thought the
entire East Coast, most of the
most of the country population
is on the East Coast.
I thought it was all the same
times or honestly.
Yeah, yeah. We're definitely
right over on the coast.
So over Western Australia
has a little bit as well,
but definitely the majority of
us are on the East Coast
and pretty close to the coast
as well. So different to
USA, where you sort of populate
the whole country.
We're just like that red dirt.
Leave it for the snakes.
Yeah. And then Perth is what?
Two hours behind East
Sydney time.
Yeah, depending, you know, if
it's daily savings and that
kind of thing. But right now,
it is two hours behind.
So yeah, we have that
little bit of similar thing
with tech assistants or what not.
Or you go to call someone and
don't realize what the time is
there. And oops, sorry.
I honestly think daylight savings
times is utterly useless.
Yeah, it's it needs to go.
And they keep talking about it.
Every year they're going to ax it
and it doesn't happen.
And what was it that the
but which tribe said that some
some Indian chief said that
the white man thinks that cutting
a blanket on the bottom and sewing
on the top is going to give you
a longer blanket.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
I just I just want my
extra hour of light in the
winter. So I'm not so depressed.
I don't want to be dark at four
o'clock.
Yeah. Uh huh.
Yeah.
Well, the cold and
the dark at four o'clock,
you know, after Christmas time,
then I'm just kind of like, OK,
can it be April already?
Yeah, same.
Especially since I hate the
winter, I hate the cold.
I hate everything about it.
I'm I'm good until Christmas,
like everything's cool and the
snow is great.
And then after that, I'm done.
I get I get the snowbird thing
more and more every year.
Yeah, maybe we'll buy some
property in Australia if I hit
the lottery.
There you go.
I thought property here was bad.
Jeez.
Yeah, it's getting getting pretty
outrageous. We have a housing
crisis.
Yeah, everyone just wants to be
close to these centers, you
know. So like I say, there's
not much that's happening
outside of these main ones.
And it's just basic
economics. There's only so many
to go around and everyone wants
to be close to those centers that
just going up and up and up.
So they got to do something about
it. But I notice you guys really
don't build it.
You build up as much as some other
cities who are on property
constraints, like like the Chinese
right, the Chinese that are like
Hong Kong, for example, right?
So many people live there, but
they just build upwards and you
guys kind of just are expanding
outwards.
Yeah, yeah, we definitely don't
have what you would call
traditional skyscrapers, like
sure they're big buildings.
But then you go to other countries,
you're like, oh, that's, you know,
there's a hundred floors.
So.
So it's it was interesting
even when I went over to
Worcester, you know, that
would be close to, you know, it
wouldn't be the city center in
in Australia. It wouldn't be
Brisbane or Sydney, but you know,
it'd be much closer to there,
whereas, you know, there you
you're almost two hours out of
the city center and it's a it's
quite a large thing.
You know, there was a hospital.
It was a size of a suburb for us.
Yeah.
Shit, my fucking high school was
the size of a hospital.
My old high school was 4,500
students.
Holy crap.
Yeah. So now I get it, man,
like cities here are we built
ours. Like we like in the States
we we have a metric
fuck ton of people here.
Yeah. Well, hopefully we'll get
over to see it again.
I'll have to chat to the
guys and see what we can sort
out and see
see if we can get into this clown
car with you for the road trip.
Oh, no, man, we're in America, man.
We drive we drive gas,
guzzling, you know, dinosaurs
eight miles to the galley.
Yeah.
You put me in the in the bed of
the pickup truck. I'll sit back
there with the shotgun and a piece
of hay in my mouth.
You be in the back of my escalate.
I'll give you my AR
that way you can take you can
feel freedom.
Yeah, that's all we had when I
was going to the airport last
time we were in an escalade and I'm
just sitting back there like this is
a lounge room.
This is crazy.
I was talking.
I was like, we're going to roach.
Well, it depends.
But yeah, I was like, we'll roach
with my escalate down there.
You can see America and see what
freedom really feels like
burning fucking dinosaurs.
Yeah. Yeah, that's our next
frontier here. Like it's the
it's the worst country really
for EVs.
But yeah, the government
is looking to
show how great
they are by bringing in all these
Chinese EVs that
is in these things.
I was reading about your
electricity stuff and I'm just like.
That makes no fucking sense to me.
We're good that we have a lot of
solar. So solar is super
common over here. You know, it's
really rare to see houses
that don't have solar. So we're
good there. But it's just, you
know, it's a pretty large
country. So when you're out of
the cities, you know, it's it's
the kind of thing where people can
be doing hundreds of kilometers a
day. And that's not really EV
territory. But in the city
centers and suburbs, it makes
sense. And we've got solar.
It's just, yeah, where
where your, you know, orange
fearless leader in Trump
is keeping the Chinese ones
out. Our government seems to
be more like, yeah, bring it
in. We'll take it, you know,
like, so all along
me now the highway, there's
Zika and D-Pang
and Cherry and all these
manufacturers I've never heard
of.
We are going to make the pieces
of crap that we
exactly. We're not going to have
some Chinese fucking Shang
Wang or Ding-a-ling come in
and fucking tell us how to build
cars. Yeah.
But then I mean, you see some
of them. And you know, some of
these B Y D's and stuff. And I
mean, they're, they're
impressive, impressive
cars. You know, so there is a
range there. It's like some of
them are absolutely
terrible. And you're like, who
wrote this, you know, their
service information? Oh, he is
like a poorly translated
cookbook. And then there's, you
know, quite good ones that
you're like, wow, this is
actually a pretty sweet car.
Number three is not angry.
The fuck?
Yeah, that's it, right?
It's what's what was funny
for me is, though, like, I
think if I, if I took 10
Ubers in Sydney, I think eight
of them were EVs.
I hopped in Polestar's and
Tesla's and even like
Korean EVs and she like
Hyundai EVs. And I'm just
like, is there a reason why
everybody's using EVs for
Uber here? Like, that's
fucking well. It was kind of
weird to me.
Yeah. Yeah. For a long time,
the taxi cabs have been
pretty much all Toyota Camry
hybrids. You know, that was
the the main one.
And yeah, they just get
massive savings, fuel economy,
never changing brake pads, all
that kind of stuff.
That's right. I'm like, man,
they were they brought the
shit here before they they
were out.
We have to use salt here.
Yeah. So that was that was an
interesting one. But yeah,
I was reading that you guys
actually like don't
really want to use coal, even
though that's like one of your
top producing.
I wouldn't say that we as
the public don't want to.
But yeah, yeah, the
powers, the powers that be
that are much smarter than
us, obviously.
So what we do, it's a really
smart system, I'll tell you.
So we we have heaps of coal
and we've got all these great
minds of it. And so we dig
it up. But because it's so
dirty to run power plants
on coal, we've got this great
scheme where we sell it
to China for a very low
amount. And then they burn it
and it goes up into the
atmosphere anyway. And then we
buy the goods back off them at
a very elevated amount.
So we're we're
absolutely shooting
ourselves in the foot, but at
least we're really green about
it. And I forgot that we
send it over there on giant
boats as well. So you've got
it. You better burning coal.
Yeah, we got to get it
tossed, which is kind of
stupid because I think what
was it like China was the
number one producer coal?
Like they have the most coal
deposits.
I mean, I'm not I'm not all
over that. But we've got heaps,
you know, it's a it's a massive
industry. We've got heaps of it.
And we just
yeah, we were using heaps of it
for ages, but it got a little
bit on the nose as far as
policy makers and everyone's
deciding they're doing their
green thing. But yeah,
I try and stay out of that.
I got enough problems trying to
fix cars.
Politics is not my thing.
Let me see here yet.
China, I'd say it's all to do
with we've probably got quite
high quality and things like
that as well.
So you know, the minerals that
we get, which is
the one vast thing we've got in
Australia.
We produce more than you guys
actually.
Yeah, right. I suppose per
capita and the size of us,
it's a big it's a big thing
for us, tonnage.
Yeah.
Yeah, the tonnage produce more.
We're a huge, huge
land mass, but you know, not
a huge population.
And so we probably don't pull a
lot out. But in relation
to how many of us it is, it's a
it's a pretty massive industry.
I mean, I don't care what roles
in the Bay, you know, they can
make what policies they want.
And I'll try and learn how to
fix it. And we'll do our best
to try and keep up as long as
they don't. Oh man, their fuel
cells, like I haven't had to
put on my propeller
scientific cap yet and try
and learn about fuel cells.
But I'm actually looking forward
to fuel cells.
I always I always suspected that
hydrogen fuel cells was going to
be the best move in terms
of like market
because at the end of the day,
like there's always a
feel to it, right? Like I don't
like how EVs feel.
I feel like I'm driving a
fucking golf cart.
Like I just I don't like how
they feel.
And hydrogen fuel cells gives
you that opportunity to still
have what we consider a vehicle
right or the traditional feel
of a vehicle with like with
the emissions, without the
emissions.
And the technology is relatively
still simplified, right?
It's aside from the combustion.
Yeah, the good thing is it's
still a still an EV.
So, you know, this this
training in that we're
putting that we're
putting our time into and we're
investing in to learn
about it. It still translates over.
It's just, you know, rather than
carting around this big heavy
battery, we've got this science
lab that will
take around with us.
Mm hmm.
Somebody told me one time, what
are you worried about hydrogen
fuel cells?
Like either you're still
driving around a combustible
liquid or a battery.
You're hitting the hard enough.
It's going to blow up anyway.
So either you
blow up a little bit, you get
burned alive or you get blown
up to 100 pieces.
What's the difference?
You're still dead.
I mean, the way things are
going, you know, I can imagine
the parts catalog. It's just
going to be like one part
called fuel cell.
Maybe like, yeah, that needs a
fuel cell. You're like, man, I'm
trying to fix this thing.
Like, come on.
What do you mean it needs a $20,000
one? Just give me the resistor.
Come on.
Yeah.
That says it does that already.
So that's all right.
My battery died.
Well, you guys want to
wrap it here?
Yeah. No, I think that's a
that's probably enough for us.
That's where we're getting late
for you, but I really
appreciate it. And I'd love
to come back and shoot the
shit with you again some other
time. So yeah.
Well, anytime and
yeah, like you say, hopefully
well, one of us will get
down there, you'll get up here,
see everybody. That'd be cool.
I hope so.
Shit, I want to go back.
I'm just too poor.
Yeah. No, it feels feels good,
you know, this last few years
has been good momentum.
We're starting to see it all
around the world now with,
you know, a lot of people
connecting.
And it's only
a good thing for our industry,
the more that we sort of
connect and see the things that
are the same and the same
struggles, whether you're in
Italy, USA, Australia,
you know, it's it's great.
Real quick, did you want to
mention the class or
yeah, so.
No, no, no, I don't know how
long you guys wait until
you put these out after
recording, but from
it'll be early October
will have Tommy back at
Tatt to be doing his Ford
Mazda programming.
So he just ran his GM
programming and it was it was
awesome.
And yeah, we're going to utilize
all the effort he put into putting
Australian content together
to have him in early October
doing his Ford Mazda and
looking forward to having you back,
man.
Yeah.
That's actually the class that I
was like the most
proud of. There's a lot of goodies
in that class. So I'm hoping
you guys sign up
and, you know, spend
a couple of hours with me, even
though he went over.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're very,
very gracious with your time.
Yeah. I was just like, hey, man,
like we can get more stuff.
But I just I thought I just only
had two hours, but I didn't care.
Like, I'll fucking I'll go over.
Yeah. No. It's a cross.
I'm happy.
Yeah, it's great.
And yeah, we really appreciate
that you did a few live
programings there for us as well.
And yeah,
I think people got a lot from it
and it's great that there's a
recording there.
So, you know, they can go back
and those error codes that were
coming up stuff like that.
People are going to run into that
one day. And it's it's very
different to doing a programing
course where you're sort of like,
this is what should happen
and go for it.
You know, I think you gave a lot
of light. This is what's going to
happen.
And this is, you know, a little
bit of tips to get around
it. So that's what we want.
Yeah. And that's that's actually
when I started teaching or
developing the classes, I wanted
something that I wanted that extra
mile.
All the books that I did for
like STX or anything else that
I've done, they're actually not
just books or manuals, too.
So if you go through my book,
you will learn how to you can
program a card by following my
steps.
Very nice. Very good.
Well, we'll see you soon for it.
So, yeah, thanks very much for
having me, guys.
Yeah. Thank you for spending
the time.
Appreciate it.
All right. That is going to do
it for today's episode.
Thank you so much, Brandon,
for spending the time with us
this morning, this evening,
whichever way you want to look
at it and all the hard work
that he puts in.
Great guy to know.
Also like to thank everybody else
out there for listening feedback
on the show. Emails I get
interactions I have with
everyone.
If I don't get back to right
away, please trust me, not
ignoring you. Just busy
and sometimes messages or
emails slip through.
But I do try to get back to
everybody. So keep it coming.
If you got ideas for the show,
you want to be on the show.
You want to hear from a
specific person or about a
specific topic.
Shoot it over and we'll see
what we can do.
But as for next week,
we'll be back on the regular
release schedule.
So sorry about the little late
episode. But with that all
out of the way, let's get
out there, start fixing the
world one car at a time.
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