A control module is like a car’s computer for a specific job (like controlling certain systems). If you replace one, the car usually needs to be set up so it can recognize the new module and work properly.
Cloning means copying the settings/data from a good module onto a replacement one. That way, the replacement can act like the original and usually works with less hassle.
SJ Auto Solutions is mentioned as a company that helps with control-module replacement and setup. The host recommends them for support around programming used modules.
Tommy Oliva is mentioned as providing a cloning service for used control modules. The host also credits him with support from start to finish and tech support/resources for used control module programming.
“Plug and play” means you can install the part and it works without a lot of extra steps. For control modules, that typically requires the right data so the car can recognize it.
L1 Automotive Training is a company that provides training for car technicians. In this ad, they’re promoting courses on things like programming car computers and doing diagnostics.
Modern cars have computers that control things like the engine and transmission. Module programming means updating or setting up those computer modules with special tools so everything functions properly.
J2534 is a standard way to update a car’s computer using a special programming device. It helps shops program modules without having every brand’s expensive dealer tool.
EPROM work is about the car’s stored computer data—like a memory chip that holds software. Sometimes technicians need to read or rewrite that data to fix or update the car’s electronics.
The immobilizer is an anti-theft system that only lets the car start with the right key. “Key in a immobilizer” means programming the key so the car recognizes it.
Electrical diagnostics means figuring out why a car’s electrical system isn’t working right. A technician checks wiring and components to find things like broken connections or bad sensors.
Drivability diagnostics is troubleshooting problems you feel while driving, like rough running or hesitation. Technicians use scan tools and tests to find what’s causing the car to act wrong.
They’re talking about podcast stats—what apps people use to listen and which countries the listeners are in.
LIVE
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, 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.
Hey, what's going on Automotive World? Welcome to another episode of the Automotive
Diagnostic Podcast. My name is Sean Tipping and I will be your host once again this week for this
episode. And this one's a little different, a little special. We crossed, and I do say we
intentionally, an important threshold or just a cool threshold for the podcast. We hit a million
downloads this week in just the podcast form, right? So just audio, not including the YouTube
channel. I don't do video outside of the interviews. So the YouTube channel is just kind of audio in a
different format, but that doesn't count towards the download numbers. Anyways, through the actual,
like podcast hosting site that I use, we crossed a million downloads. Now, does that
really mean anything? Not necessarily. It doesn't change anything about the podcast.
It doesn't make me any more or less money. I don't really make that much money off of this podcast.
I basically make enough from the sponsors to cover my time to make the show, which is totally
fine with me because I get some other stuff out of it. But anyways, still really cool just to think
that a million downloads happened. Now, did every single one of those get listened to?
Probably not. But it peaked in people's interest enough to hit that little download
button to actually look into it. And podcast numbers are definitely different than straight
up YouTube numbers. And on top of that, this is a very niche audience that I am talking to.
If that's you listening to this, you're into this. And that's actually an advantage of something
like this, right? I'm not talking about sports, not talking about politics. And so those types of
even just audio shows are going to garner a way bigger group of people because a larger swath of
people care about sports, politics, food, travel, whatever, that applies to all kinds of people
where automotive diagnostics and some programming and key stuff, that is a very narrow focus.
But the people who are interested, hey, that's you, are really into it, right? If you are interested
enough about this topic to seek out a podcast that is audio only talking about the most technical
aspects of repairing vehicles, you're really into it, right? And so I consider that a really good
thing. The people that I have gotten to interact with from doing this podcast, people have reached
out to me through email or Facebook or that I've met at events, like, these are my people,
and they're really into it and really positive about it too. I can say like 99.999% of interactions
I've had via the podcast has been positive, which is also really cool because you put yourself out
there on the internet and obviously, there's assholes out there. That's just how the world
works and how the internet works. But the audience and the people that have connected
to the show and to me, it's all been really great. And why I keep doing this, right?
The people that listen, the people that get something out of it, that's why I continue
to do this week after week after week, right? I took a break in the beginning of last year
and we got Tommy on board and kind of reinvigorated things. But other than that, the reason I do this
every single week is because almost every single week, I get a message or email from someone
telling me what they're doing in the field and why they're excited about it and potentially
why the show either inspired them, helped them peak to their curiosity,
opened their eyes to something they weren't aware of, whatever it might be.
That's the thing that motivates me to keep doing this. So anyways, this episode is just kind of
a recap, a summary. Hey, we had a cool milestone of a million downloads and I'll just kind of give
you an update on myself, like how I got to where I'm at. Maybe you haven't been listening for that
long and where the show is going in the future. Just some cool stuff about the podcast. So real
quick, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time, but I started this in 2020 and this was January of
2020 and it was like right before COVID dropped. Yeah, it was not two months after I had began
the podcast that everything shut down that March of 2020 and the world was never the same.
To think back to that point, which it's been a little over six years now since then,
and all that's happened in my life along with the podcast being a piece of it throughout the way.
I mean, I have been divorced. I've moved three different times. I quit my teaching job. I started,
well, no, I started the mobile business before the podcast, but I took my mobile business full
time. I hired four different employees. I got to travel to Australia to do teaching. It has been
an absolute crazy wild ride and the podcast has been that consistent almost every single week
sitting down to record an episode about what's going on in this specific area of my life.
And yeah, I took a few months off the beginning of last year just to reset and we got Tommy on
board and reinvigorated things. But otherwise, this has been a very consistent part of my life
and a very positive one as well. Again, because the people that have met the connections that I've
made and the things that I've learned along the way, you just don't realize how many incredibly
smart people are out there that are interested in this sort of stuff and their life experience and
what they bring to the table. And I feel lucky to be able to interact with a number of you
over the years, whether it be electronically or in person. When I started this show, I really
didn't know exactly where it was going to go or what form it was going to take. And I think at
certain points throughout the years, I had bigger dreams for the podcast and what exactly it would
be. And it's kind of just turned into a really strong companion for everything else that I do
and a means of connecting to a lot of other people out in the industry. And that specifically,
I'm actually really happy with. I'm happy that I get to sit down at the end of the week and just
kind of put my thoughts out there to everybody that is interested in learning about this stuff.
They have the same obsession or passion or interest that I do. And I can just mind dump
at the end of the week. And then people, they either learn from that, maybe it changes their
perspective, maybe they share something with me. That happens a lot. And I really appreciate it.
I'll put something out there and then somebody will message me and be like, Hey, that thing
that you said, well, here's the real solution, or here's what you missed, or here's what you
didn't know. That's a really cool thing that I feel very lucky to be able to do with a bunch of
professionals in the industry that I call home. But let's talk about kind of where the podcast
is. Let's give it some numbers, some context, stuff that you guys don't necessarily see or
know, maybe you do or don't care, I don't know, but I'm going to throw it out there and you do
with it what you will. So like I said, million downloads, really cool, right? So the hosting
site that I use, you can actually look at a lot of the different stats. And to be honest,
I haven't paid much attention to them. I've kind of been keeping an eye on that like total download
number. Why a million means anything. It doesn't really doesn't change anything about the podcast.
It's just a round hole number that adds another zero. So it's kind of cool. But
at that point, I dug a little deeper into the statistics and some things and there's some
stuff that's pretty interesting. So the top applications that the podcast listened to is
this episode is brought to you by L1 Automotive Training and Keith Perkins. If you're looking
for education on module programming, J2534, eProm work, key in a mobilizer, electrical
diagnostics or drivability diagnostics, Keith has a website L1training.com that's got over 60
hours of training videos on all those subjects and more. When I first started out doing mobile,
I utilized Keith's videos on module programming and J2534 in order to get my head wrapped around
what I would need for the tooling, the computers, the software setups, what kind of obstacles I
would be up against when I'm out there programming modules on cars. And it was a huge benefit to
me. And I continue to use the training videos that he has on his website. So I strongly recommend
checking out L1training.com. The link is in the show notes. Spotify and Apple podcasts, like by far
those are the number two that people are downloading the podcast on. And they're actually
like very close to one another and encompass most of the downloads that I have and like mobile
specifically, because you can see if it's a desktop versus mobile, that's 90%, which makes
sense. It's a podcast, you're generally not listening into it on a desktop or other device.
But Spotify, Apple podcasts, Spotify is in the lead, although that wasn't always the case for the
number of the first few years it was Apple and Spotify has kind of gained in the popularity.
But here's what's interesting. The iPhone actually has a significant amount of more
downloads than an Android phone. So even though people are using an iPhone more often to download
the podcast, they're using Spotify more often on the iPhone, I would assume. So interesting there.
But yeah, like I said, it's mostly mobile. The other interesting thing was where the downloads
are coming from. And this is another really like mind blowing thing about doing a podcast in,
you know, today's day and age is you can put it out there and people anywhere in the world can
listen to what you have to say, whether that be YouTube or podcast, but you can break it down by
continent and by where those downloads are actually going. And the bulk of them definitely
are North America. So out of a million downloads, 825,000 are North America. So, you know,
that and that makes sense. That's where I'm at. That's going to be my primary audience.
I talk about vehicles from here primarily. But it is not just that, of course, we have
almost 80,000 that are in Australia and then another 80,000 that are in the UK. So to my
listeners out there in Australia and UK, yeah, thank you for listening to a show
from some other guy from another country. And obviously, I have strong connections with people
in Australia. I've talked about that a ton on the podcast had people on. I've told you about my
adventures getting to go down there and teach amazing experience. And it's all thanks to doing
the podcast, like that's what all spawned that stuff and got that to happen that otherwise would,
I don't think there's a way that would happen in my life. So again, really cool. And then the rest
are smaller numbers between Asia, Africa, South America. They round up the rest of them.
You can look at the city. Now, there is something to the city part of it that it depends. Like,
a lot of times I'll download stuff on my iPhone and says I'm in Chicago. I'm not. So I take that
with a grain of salt. But so Chicago is the number one for downloads. But the second one is
actually Sydney, Australia. So even though North America has the most, by city,
Australia takes not only the number two spot, but the number three spot in Melbourne as well.
And I'm probably saying Melbourne wrong, because I said it wrong the whole time I was there. But
it is number three. Number four is my hometown, Minneapolis. And then we do Los Angeles, Denver,
Toronto, so Canada, Houston, Seattle, and Atlanta. And that's that rounds out the top cities
that actually download the podcast. So if you're in one of those cities, thank you. I mean, thank
you to everybody for listening. But it's cool to see it broken down there. And it's cool because
you can actually look at like all of the cities and you can see these random places like, again,
you can look at the Asia downloads and see all these random places that someone's downloading
and listening to your podcast. So I thought I'd just share that because it's interesting to see
and not everybody gets to see that sort of thing as far as when you're listening to this on a week
to week basis. And I don't always think about it. Sometimes I'm on here and I'm just rambling and I'm
not really conscious of like, hey, somebody on the other side of the world could be listening
to this content and, you know, absorbing it from one reason or another. And as far as the future,
the show goes, I'm going to keep on rolling with this. I'm committed. I'm going to keep doing it.
There's, again, been so many people that reached out over the years where they've told me how this
has benefited them or what they got out of it. You know, even if it's just a small piece, I've
always said like, even if you change someone's trajectory by 1%, it ends up being a large
amount over an extended period of time. And so it's worth doing, right? If you can positively
impact someone in some way, let's do it. You know, it's a little bit of my time in order to do that.
So I'm going to keep on rolling with it and keep doing it. It's been a little lack on the
guests lately. I haven't put a whole lot of effort into that. I might get back at that, but I also
do just like, I like diving into the technical content. And I think a lot of people that listen
to the same thing, that's why they're here is the technical content. And occasionally,
we can hear from the people who are really the pioneers of that technical content. But
I'm going to kind of bring front and center of what I'm dealing with on a day-to-day basis
in my, you know, work life like I always do. And of course, I've been dumping the AI stuff
in here quite a bit recently as well. But I do think that's just, it's such a big thing that's
going to affect all of us in this industry and outside, but that we can't, we can't ignore it.
And it's been such a big piece of what I've been doing lately that, yeah,
I obviously just can't stop talking about it. But really, where I want to wrap this one up,
I'm not going to yammer on forever about just the show. I just want to thank everybody out
there for listening. And thank people for reaching out and sharing, you know, if this has helped you
in some way or another, if it has done something positive for you. I think I've mentioned on the
show before, I've gotten messages from people that are incarcerated. And through no effort of my own,
the show got put into rotations at, I'm assuming, multiple different, you know, incarceration
facilities where it is educational content. And those people consume, you know, the podcast,
and then they're able to send me messages. I have had a few technical difficulties getting
back to some of the people because you have to do it through a third party application.
So if for some reason that's you and you didn't end up getting my message, I do apologize. I've
tried for every one, but I did have a couple issues on some of them. Anyways,
irregardless just getting that information and, you know, what those people are gaining out of
the information that I'm sharing with something completely unexpected, never something that
I thought would be the case when I was putting this information out there. But again, if it's
benefiting someone and changing a trajectory of your career, or what you're doing on a day-to-day
basis, I'm going to keep on doing this. So that's really where it's at. And I guess,
if you have something to share, I've said this before over the years, too, if you've got something
that you're passionate about, that you just can't stop talking about or can't stop thinking about
whatever it might be, maybe it's within the automotive realm, maybe it's outside of,
I encourage you to share it in one form or another. It doesn't have to be a podcast,
it could be a YouTube, it could be teaching of some sort or another. There's so many different
outlets and opportunities that you have today in today's digital world, where if you've got
information, you've got knowledge, you've got passion about something, go share it, go put it
out there in one way or another. And not only is someone else going to benefit from it,
you'll end up benefiting from it as well, too. So that's where I'm going to wrap this one up.
We'll get back to the technical content next week. But thank you, thank you, thank you.
One million downloads, pretty freaking cool. With that all out of the way, let's get out there,
start fixing the world one car at a time.
About this episode
The host marks a major download milestone and reflects on how the show has grown since launching in January 2020, just before COVID. He frames the audience as highly specialized, then digs into the numbers behind where listeners come from, which platforms they use, and how the podcast has fit through major personal and professional changes. The episode closes with gratitude and a clear commitment to keep producing technical automotive content.
This week on the show is slightly different, as we hit 1,000,000 downloads for the podcast this past week! I share my thoughts on the journey up to this point.
