They’re talking about Ford Mustangs with a big 5.0-liter V8. They also say they were supercharged, which is a way to push more air into the engine for extra power.
Supercharged means the engine has a device that forces extra air in. That usually helps the engine make more power than it would normally.
Car
23 RAM 4500
This is a heavy-duty Ram truck (Ram brand). The "4500" means it’s built for heavier work, so it uses more robust systems and usually has different maintenance needs than a regular pickup.
Fuel filters clean the diesel before it goes to the engine. If the filter is the wrong type for the truck, the engine may run poorly or trigger warning lights.
The check engine light means the computer noticed a problem. It doesn’t tell you exactly what’s wrong, but it’s the signal that the truck needs diagnostics.
Traction control helps stop the wheels from spinning when the road is slippery. It can reduce engine power and/or brake one wheel to help the car keep moving in a straight line.
Scanning means plugging in a diagnostic tool to read error codes from the car. Those codes help you figure out what system is having the problem instead of guessing.
The car stores error codes when something goes wrong. The code mentioned here helps the technician narrow down the problem to a specific ABS fault so they can fix the right thing.
A Dodge dealer is an official shop that sells parts and does service for Dodge vehicles. If you need the exact part fast, the dealer can often get it quickly.
A road test is when the mechanic drives the car in a planned way to see the problem happen again. It helps them connect what they feel to what the car is reporting.
A drivability issue is when the car doesn’t feel right while driving—like it hesitates or jerks. The goal of a road test is to make it happen so the mechanic can diagnose it.
Wheel speed is just how fast the wheels are turning. The ABS uses that information to figure out when a wheel is about to stop spinning and then adjusts braking to keep traction.
A communication code means the car computers aren’t talking to each other properly. If the ABS and transmission computers can’t share the right information, you can get confusing warning codes that require deeper diagnosis.
The transmission control module is the computer that controls how the automatic transmission shifts. It can also “talk” to other car computers, like the ABS system, especially for diagnostics.
Concept
can of worms
Here, “can of worms” means the problem got more complicated after the first fix. Sometimes one bad part leads to other codes, so the real cause isn’t as simple as it first seemed.
A pinpoint test is a troubleshooting checklist. It’s how a technician methodically figures out what part is actually causing the problem, instead of guessing.
A short to positive means a wire is touching the car’s power supply when it shouldn’t. That can confuse the car’s electronics, so the technician checks it with a multimeter.
A short to ground means a wire is touching the car’s metal body (ground) when it shouldn’t. That can make sensors or modules act wrong, so you check it with a meter.
In modern cars, “communication issues” usually means the ABS module can’t reliably exchange data with other modules or with its sensors. That can be caused by wiring faults, connector corrosion/damage, or a failing module—not just a bad sensor.
Cloud-based programming is when the shop connects to the manufacturer’s online system to load the right software into a replaced computer. It helps the new module “learn” the car so the system works correctly.
A sealed connector is a protected electrical plug that keeps water and dirt out. If it’s glued shut, you can’t easily take the wires apart to test them, so repairs often require replacing the connector or harness.
A chassis harness is the big bundle of wires that runs along the truck’s frame. It has to be routed and clipped in the right places so it doesn’t get damaged or come loose.
Bulkhead connectors are plug-in electrical connections located at a divider/wall in the truck. If one is loose or damaged, it can cause the truck’s computer to detect an electrical problem.
Pin tension is how securely the electrical contacts are held inside the connector. If they’re not tight, they can lose contact and cause weird electrical faults.
“White tech” sounds like the computer tool the shop uses to read the truck’s error codes. They watch for it to beep when a problem shows up while they move the wiring.
They’re wiggling the wiring while watching the truck’s diagnostic tool. If the error appears when the wires move, it usually means the wiring connection is loose or damaged.
A “hard code” means the car’s computer is confident the problem is real and ongoing. If it won’t clear, the issue hasn’t been fixed yet—often it’s something like a loose wire or bad connection.
Term
reducton control module
A reduction control module is an emissions-related controller that manages components used to reduce exhaust pollutants. In many modern diesels, it coordinates systems like diesel exhaust fluid dosing and related sensors/actuators, so wiring faults can create cascading diagnostic issues.
Term
logic to the transmission
The transmission has its own computer, and it needs signals from the rest of the truck to shift correctly. If the wiring carrying those signals is disturbed, the transmission can throw codes too.
Sometimes one wiring problem can cause lots of different warning lights, because many systems share the same wiring. By moving the harness and watching the codes change, they can find the exact spot causing the issue.
Term
VOR
VOR sounds like an internal ordering workflow the parts vendor uses. It’s basically how the shop requests a part for a vehicle that can’t be driven yet, and sometimes it’s set up to ship fast once the supplier is ready.
Mopar is the name used for Chrysler’s official parts and service network. In this story, it’s mentioned because the ordering process for parts goes through their system.
Term
bank's heater grid upgrade
A heater grid is part of the car’s cold-weather heating system. Upgrading it can help the vehicle warm up better or avoid a recurring issue, especially when you’re already doing repairs.
On commercial trucks, once another company modifies the vehicle, some warranty coverage can shift. The engine might still be covered, but parts related to the modifications may not be.
Bosch is a big auto-parts and electronics company. They also have a support network where shops can look up past technical reports for a specific vehicle using its VIN.
A 75-pin connector is a huge electrical plug with lots of individual contacts. The host is saying it’s not worth trying to take it apart and rewire each contact one-by-one.
Programming here means using a computer tool to make the truck’s electronics “learn” or properly communicate after a repair. It’s often needed when wiring or modules are replaced.
“Read a signal” means checking the truck with a diagnostic computer to see what it’s sensing and reporting. If you can’t read any signal, it often points to an electrical/communication problem.
A magneto here means the sensor makes its own electrical signal as the wheel moves. Instead of needing a constant power feed to output a signal, it generates a small AC signal from the wheel’s motion.
An AC signal is an electrical signal that constantly changes up and down. The ABS needs the sensor to produce the right kind of changing signal so it can tell how fast the wheel is turning.
A scope is a tool that lets a technician “see” the electrical signal as a graph. It helps them confirm whether the sensor is producing the right pattern for the ABS to read.
Frequency is how fast the signal is repeating, and amplitude is how strong the signal is. If either one is off—or the signal is messy—the ABS may not read wheel speed correctly.
The brake caliper is the part that squeezes the brake pads to stop the car. When it’s removed, it can come off with other parts as a single unit, which is why the job is heavier and more involved.
Part
toning
“Toning” sounds like the metal disc/rotor area the brake clamps onto. The mechanic spots a worn shiny area, then measures how much the part wobbles or isn’t perfectly straight.
Electroplated coating is a protective metal layer put on the part to help it resist rust and wear. The mechanic is saying the shiny area looks like the protective layer got rubbed off.
In brake-related diagnostics, a sensor is used to detect a condition (often related to wear, wheel speed, or brake system status) and report it to the vehicle’s control system. The speaker notes the sensor is covered in rusty powder from brake wear and appears different from a new one, implying it may have been damaged or contaminated.
Run out means the part isn’t perfectly straight when it spins. If it wobbles, the brakes can feel shaky or uneven because the pads don’t contact the rotor consistently.
A “clean signal” means the car’s sensor data is coming through clearly and consistently. In this case, after putting everything back together, the sensor readings finally looked right, so they could see what one wheel was doing compared to the other.
A “signal problem” means one of the car’s sensors isn’t sending the right information. When the truck detects that, it may shut down certain driving features and limit power to keep things safe.
It’s the signal the car uses to understand how hard you’re pressing the gas pedal. In this case, the problem only shows up when that gas-pedal signal is above a certain level (55% or more).
Term
shuttle hunt condition
A “shuttle hunt” condition is a drivability problem where the engine/vehicle repeatedly surges or hunts between states instead of responding smoothly. In diesel truck diagnostics, it’s often tied to unstable sensor inputs or control signals (like throttle/pedal position), which can make the engine control system chase the “right” fueling/response.
They’re talking about one wire carrying an electrical signal that somehow ends up affecting another wire. That can make the gas-pedal sensor signal look wrong to the computer.
APPS is a sensor that tells the computer how much you’re asking for with the gas pedal. Here, the speaker thinks another wire is interfering with that sensor’s signal, so the computer gets the wrong information.
If two wires rub and the insulation gets damaged, they can start interfering with each other. That can make the sensor signal act wrong, especially when the wiring moves.
The alternator makes electricity for the truck. If a wire carrying alternator-related signals runs too close or shares routing with a sensor wire, it can interfere and make the sensor read the wrong thing.
A rewire means changing the wiring path or replacing wires. It’s often done to stop electrical interference so sensors and computers get clean signals.
A reflash is when the truck’s computer software is updated. It can fix some problems, but if the issue is bad wiring or a sensor signal getting corrupted, software updates won’t help much.
Concept
electrical systems weren't what they are now
Older trucks had fewer electronics talking to each other. As cars added more computers and sensors, the wiring has to be cleaner and better protected so signals don’t get mixed up.
Term
body on
“Body on” is the point in factory assembly where the body gets put onto the chassis. The idea here is that if that process was rushed, wiring could be routed incorrectly and cause problems later.
Shielded wires are designed to reduce electrical “noise” that can get picked up from other wires. That helps sensors and computers receive a clean signal.
The body harness is the main set of wires that runs through the truck’s body to connect all the electronics. If wires are routed wrong, one system can interfere with another.
“Octopus harness” is a nickname for a big bundle of wires under the hood that connects to lots of systems. If different circuits aren’t kept properly separated, they can interfere with each other.
The fuel tank is where the truck stores its fuel. The problem here was that a wire/hose was left sitting on top of it, so it could rub and get damaged.
A test drive is when you drive the vehicle after a repair to make sure the problem is really gone. It’s the real-world check that the fix holds up while driving.
An invoice is the bill for the work done on the vehicle. The host is saying the customer also loses money when the truck is out of service.
Concept
in service
“Back in service” means the vehicle is working again and can be used. For a working crew, losing the truck even briefly can hurt their ability to do the job.
Concept
mothball fleet
A “mothball fleet” is a set of backup vehicles kept in storage for emergencies. The host is saying they didn’t have spare trucks ready, so getting this one fixed quickly mattered.
Older diesel trucks used mostly mechanical parts to control things like fuel. Newer trucks use computers and sensors, so diagnosing problems often involves reading codes and checking electronic signals.
DFC Diesel is a company that rebuilds diesel engines for trucks. They’re sponsoring the podcast and talking about their rebuilt-engine quality and warranty.
A remanufactured engine is an older engine that gets taken apart, checked, and rebuilt with new or refurbished parts. The goal is for it to work like a properly rebuilt “new” engine, not just a used one.
ISO 9001 is a quality-management certification. It means the company follows standardized procedures to keep their rebuilding process consistent and controlled.
Tow/Haul mode is a setting that helps the truck when you’re towing. It changes how the transmission and engine respond so the truck stays more controlled on hills and under heavy load.
Term
speed of air series
“Speed of air” sounds like a special engine build category from the sponsor. It’s probably meant for a certain kind of driving or performance goal, but the exact meaning depends on their specific options.
Pistons are the moving parts inside the cylinders that help create compression and power. If you’re pushing the engine harder, piston choice can matter for how long it lasts.
Fuel economy means how far you can drive on a given amount of fuel. If combustion and lubrication are better, the engine may waste less energy and use less fuel.
The valve train controls when the engine’s valves open and close. Upgrades can help the engine breathe better and handle more power without wearing out as quickly.
Rods are part of the engine that connect the pistons to the crankshaft. If you’re building an engine for more power, stronger rods can help it survive the extra stress.
The crankshaft is the main rotating part that turns the engine’s motion into usable power. For performance builds, the crankshaft may be upgraded so it can handle extra load.
They talk about additives you add to diesel fuel to help the engine run better and avoid expensive problems. The focus is on things like injector cleanliness and fuel “slipperiness.”
Lubricity is how “slippery” diesel fuel is to the fuel system parts. If the fuel doesn’t lubricate well enough, those parts can wear out sooner and cause costly problems.
Hot Shot Secret is a company that makes diesel fuel additives. They’re saying their product helps protect the fuel system and improve how the diesel burns.
“Hot Shot’s EDT” is a diesel additive product. The claim is that it helps keep injectors clean and improves fuel properties that affect starting and wear.
Cetane is a number that describes how easily diesel fuel lights off in the engine. Better cetane can help the engine run smoother and start more easily.
Lemon law is a rule that helps you if a car has a serious problem that keeps coming back and the shop can’t fix it. It can force the company to replace the car or refund you.
Signal distortion is when an electrical message from a sensor gets messed up on the way to the computer. The computer may read it wrong and cause weird behavior.
Term
magnetic resistance
This is describing how magnet-related behavior can change what kind of electrical signal a sensor sends. If that signal changes, the car’s computer may read it as a problem.
Concept
communication signal
Cars have computers that talk to each other through wires. If the message doesn’t get through correctly, the car can think something is wrong even when the hardware isn’t obviously broken.
Diagnostics are how a mechanic figures out what’s actually wrong with a car. Instead of guessing, they use the car’s computer data and tests to find the real cause.
When a problem is “not under warranty,” the manufacturer may refuse to cover diagnosis and repairs, even if the issue is related to vehicle systems or dealer-identified faults. That can shift the burden to the owner to pay for extended troubleshooting time.
The Sprinter is a Mercedes-Benz van used for work. Because it’s packed with computers, one electrical problem can cause lots of strange warnings and behavior.
The Ford Flex is a larger family vehicle with a lot of space inside, kind of like a crossover wagon. If the exhaust system has a leak at a joint, hot exhaust gases can escape and sometimes even cause flames. That’s why someone might talk about an exhaust leak on one.
If a flexible part of the exhaust starts leaking, hot exhaust can escape where it shouldn’t. That heat can damage wiring and cause electrical problems.
A heat shield is a metal cover that protects nearby parts from extreme exhaust heat. Here, it hid what was wrong, but the wiring still got hot enough to melt.
A wire harness is the vehicle’s main bundle of wires that carries signals to sensors and modules. If it’s loose or routed wrong, it can get damaged by heat and cause electrical faults.
DPF means diesel particulate filter. It’s a part that catches soot from a diesel’s exhaust, and it has sensors and wiring that help the truck manage cleaning it out.
Communication wires are the “data lines” that let different computers in the truck share information. If they’re damaged, the truck may throw codes and act like sensors or modules aren’t working.
Term
not in park
“Not in park” is a warning that the truck thinks the shifter isn’t in Park. If wiring or sensors are damaged, it can show up even when you’re actually in Park.
The driver’s door module is a small computer in the driver’s door that controls door features like locks and related sensors. If wiring problems affect it, you can get warning codes even if the engine still runs.
This is the beeping warning that tells you the seat belt isn’t buckled (or that the seat belt system has a fault). Electrical shorts can make it warn incorrectly.
An aftermarket turbo is a turbocharger you add or replace with a non-factory part. More boost can mean more strain on the engine, and it usually needs the rest of the setup (fuel and tuning) to match.
They’re saying the problem isn’t only the parts—it can also be how the work was done. For fuel-injector repairs, small mistakes during installation can cause major issues later.
“Common rail” is how many modern diesels feed fuel to the injectors. Fuel is kept under high pressure in one main line, and the engine controls when each injector sprays. If parts are wrong or installed sloppily, the engine can’t meter fuel correctly.
The fuel injection system is what controls how much diesel gets sprayed into the engine and when. If it’s not working right, the engine can run rough or not start correctly.
They’re saying the injector parts should be from Bosch. With diesel fuel injectors, using the right-quality parts matters a lot because cheap or mismatched injectors can cause big problems.
They’re describing a situation where someone replaces only one or two injectors instead of doing it as a complete, matched set. With diesel injectors, mixing parts can cause uneven performance.
Aftermarket parts are replacement parts made by other companies, not the original car maker. They can be great—or really bad—so it matters who makes them and how they’re installed.
“Black box” here means a mystery electronic part—something you can’t really verify or understand. If it’s not well made or not properly matched, it can cause problems that are tough to figure out.
Concept
dynamic gets upset
They’re basically saying a truck works best when everything is set up the way it was designed to work. If something gets changed or put back wrong, it can cause trouble later.
Part
washer
A “washer” is a small metal or rubber piece used to help a bolt or connection seal and fit correctly. Putting it back in the right spot matters because it can prevent leaks or looseness over time.
They’re saying diesel truck ownership is about more than just driving—it’s about catching problems early. If a shop can spot what’s likely to fail soon, it helps you avoid expensive surprises.
LIVE
Welcome to the diesel podcast presented by DFC diesel.
Chris, welcome back to diesel podcast.
How you been since the last time we chatted?
Uh, just getting, uh, getting more time in the industry.
We're hitting 30 years at this point.
Uh, time flies, man.
Oh yeah, it definitely does.
Like, I, uh, I think I was going through some of our old episodes.
I think we've talked two or three times on the podcast and, uh, I've known you
for a really long time and in one of the diesel shops in the U.S.
where I have a question about something or I need to know something.
You guys were one of the first that I reach out to, but people may not know
about you and auto works diesel.
So I thought it'd be great before we jump into this truck and this problem
that had in diagnosing it, um, just to get a bit of background for some of
our new subscribers and listeners about yourself and the diesel shop.
All right.
So, uh, my name is Chris Tomajko.
I work at auto works diesel.
I've been there since 1997, which, you know, we're in our, at this point,
our 30th year, um, it's been a long, long road because we've been there
before there was a diesel performance industry.
Diesel performance was done with wrenches back in the day.
Now it's done with computers.
Um, I've evolved with every iteration of the engines and they were all new
in showroom back in those days.
And it was a rarity to see another diesel truck on the road when you're
driving and not like today where you could be, you know, three trucks
deep all the same vehicle.
So, um, I've been doing it for a long time and I've seen some really weird
stuff and the one we're going to talk about today was one of a few
that came in during the same time with weird problems.
I generally don't get problems that are easy to fix nine times out of 10.
They've been to 10 other shops.
Um, and there's something really strange for some reason.
I just don't get the easy ones.
You know, they, they end up going to, you know, Joe's garage or whatever.
When you mentioned it, it got me excited because people love to, I think, well,
when they find like the podcast, they're especially like on YouTube and
they're searching titles or something.
They're trying to find a solution to a problem and I love to be able to follow
a story from like the time the customer drops off a truck to the challenges
and struggles that might exist in diagnosing it.
And I just know a little bit about it from what you told me, but I'm going
to be learning right alongside everyone that's watching or listening to this.
So tell me, tell me about the truck, why the customer came in, what kind
of issue was he having?
So originally he called saying that he needed to bring a truck in for service.
Now I'm going to just do a quick segue and tell you, you're going to learn a
lot about me that you didn't know from this segue.
Um, this customer I have known for probably close to 40 years.
Life before auto works diesel in the diesel world was five liter Mustangs.
And he and I both had supercharged five liter Mustangs and we used to both
frequent a hot rod shop called car and custom.
Anybody in New Jersey that remembers car and custom, they were where you went
with your nineties hot rod.
So, um, I knew him from there and he was starting up a landscaping business at
the time and back then people didn't have landscapers like they do now.
This was a new thing and he became a very prominent landscaping contractor in
the area and then, you know, the hot rod thing kind of went one way.
I went into diesel and we found each other again through the shop.
So he trusts me for the knowledge that he's known that I've had and he's a
fantastic person and bad things really shouldn't happen, happen to great people,
but once in a great while they do.
So he called and said, Oh, I got to bring a truck in for service.
And I said, okay.
And he drops it off and I go to bring it inside and it was a 23 RAM 4500.
So I had to order up some filters because the newer trucks take a little
different fuel filters and, uh, you know, I generally get them as I need
because I don't want to have something sitting on the shelf forever.
So I called.
I got everything.
They got dropped off and I went to bring the truck into work on it.
And when I did, I saw a check engine light on.
So I called him and I said, Hey, you got a check engine light on.
Is there something else going on?
Whether he goes, Oh yeah.
You know, when I make a right turn, uh, it does all sorts of weird stuff.
Uh, and he started saying like, you know, traction control, four wheel drive
light comes on, uh, ABS, all sorts of stuff happens.
So I thought it was kind of odd.
So I scanned it and it had codes for right rear ABS sensor.
And, uh, it had two of them and I don't ever like just throwing parts at a problem.
So I looked up in the heavy duty section, the pinpoint test for it.
And basically it starts with, does it have code C double Oh three A and C double Oh
three A dash two F and it was one of those things where it's like, okay.
Yes, it does.
Okay.
Replace ABS sensor.
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So I call the local Dodge dealer and they had one, they shipped it over the next day.
I did all the service I had to do in the meantime and I put the sensor in and it
was like, end of the day, the yard was jammed up.
So I had to wait until the next morning and it happened to be one of those days
we had a little snowfall too.
So it was kind of like best off, you know, don't go messing around with somebody's
10,000 mile old vehicle when the roads aren't perfect and that's rush hour in New Jersey
and, you know, we know how things get.
So the next day I started my day off by bringing it outside, getting it out to the
street and I went to take off and the truck didn't give me the throttle pedal multiple
times, very sporadically and very erratically and very violently it would pull the throttle away
and I'm like, okay, this is new.
I didn't feel this when I moved it around the yard and brought it into the shop.
This is all very new.
So I'm like, okay, something's wrong.
So I finally get, play around with it enough to get it to go up and down the road
and it really wigged out on me on the way back to the shop.
We have this typical road test that we do, it's three miles round trip
and it involves going down the road, the road curves bends, goes up and down hills,
basically kind of all the stuff you want to have when you're trying to pinpoint a problem
or a drivability issue or something like that.
So I get back to the shop after it totally freaks and I mean like nothing I've seen before.
I said, okay, this one's gonna, this one's either gonna really hurt or it's gonna be
something so simple, it's stupid.
And I don't know if I cursed myself by saying that, but you know, so I get into it and I break
out the scan tools and I start looking and it's got more codes.
It's got like an erratic signal code for the wheel speed.
It's got a communication code now from the transmission control module to the ABS module,
all sorts of weird stuff that wasn't there before.
And I'm sitting there going, boy, you know, replacing an ABS sensor kind of really
opened up a can of worms here.
So at this point, I call him and I say, hey, you know, something's really weird going on,
putting the new ABS sensor actually upset it.
And this is before I had to get into dealing with calling.
There's some numbers that you can call for engineering and somebody will call you back
and generally they really only want to talk to their own, which is, you know,
Mopar dealers, Fiat Chrysler dealers.
But over the years, I've made some friends and I managed to get somebody to call back
and talk to me and say, okay, well, here's the deal.
That truck has some really strange things and a lot of it goes through the ABS control modules
and the pinpoint test and I'm reading this pinpoint test while he's telling me about it.
And he's like, okay, at this point, you know, if you've had all this, this communication stuff,
you really should replace the ABS module.
And here I am.
I'm looking at a truck that's a year and a half old and it's got 10,000 miles on it.
And I mean, I get it, man, space shuttles have crashed, right?
New things break.
We get broken parts out of the box.
Anything can happen.
So the ABS control module is available and it's relatively cheap and we're talking 300 bucks.
I mean, you know, an hour's labor is two thirds of that at my shop.
So the ABS control module is the next step the pinpoint test makes you take.
And it's funny how they write it because they first write, you know, replace the sensor.
Did the sensor fix your problem?
Yes or no?
If no, move on to the next step.
Okay, perform some some short to positive short to ground tests.
Use your own meter, look for a couple of different things.
And then when you're through with that, and of course, it's going to pass because, you know,
it's not going to act up unless you're on the road.
So we found out later, it tells you to replace the ABS control module because you're having
all these communication issues.
So the ABS control module gets done.
And I had to bring in because of its age, I had to bring in somebody that actually has
access to cloud based programming through the white tech system.
So I bring him in and I've worked with him before and he's a fantastic set of brains on a guy who,
you know, generally is a programming guy.
And he's also very knowledgeable with electricity, 12 volt and all the weird parts of like,
you know, vehicles when they get in crashes, he gets assigned to make things work again.
So he's there and I'm looking at this thing and I'm like, okay, he's like, well, how about
we try and switch right and left side sensors?
And the weird thing is you can't really unpin anything because everything is in a sealed
connector that's like, glued together now.
It's not like the old days where you used to be able to pull the pin out and switch connectors
and, you know, check and see.
So that was out.
Next thing we looked at was, okay, maybe we got a problem because it is a commercial truck
and somebody else put a body on it.
And we start looking down by down the chassis and everything.
And the entire chassis harness is not in its happy place where it's supposed to be clicked
in with all its Christmas trees.
The body harness is routed all around it kind of like a boa constrictor.
It's wrapping around the chassis harness, which is all displaced.
And on top of the body harness, somebody has run a solter harness.
And I sent you some pictures of how they really murdered the rear side of the harness that's
backed by the fuel tank when they put the body on, all of which was just laying there and
displaced the entire, you know, from the rear of the front most cab mount back.
Everything is displaced and moved.
So at this point, we start looking at bulkhead connectors, things that could have been disconnected,
not finding any kind of problem, you know, like if a connector was disconnected, sometimes people
will plug something in and a pin will be bent.
We're not finding any of that.
I've also got a nice collection of pins from the years that I've done, you know,
pigtail connectors and we're looking to check pin tension, see if something's loosey-goosey.
And we are not finding any of it.
So at this point, we got the white tech hooked up and we're going back and forth with it.
And this goes over a couple of days.
He comes back because, you know, he only has so much time for an appointment.
So this goes for a couple of days and he's got the white tech hooked up.
And when you get a code that shows up, white tech beeps.
So he's underneath the vehicle and I'm under the hood and we're moving harnesses around.
And I get off the stool to go grab a phone call.
And as I grab the phone, I hear the white tech beep.
He goes, I got something.
I was like, all right, I finished with what I was doing.
I walked back over.
He's like, you're not going to like it because I'm wiggling the chassis harness
where it was moved off of its factory mounting.
And now we're getting a left side wheel speed sensor code.
And it's a hard code and it won't clear.
So now we're dealing with the harness pretty far in between two connectors.
And we're moving it around and we're going to get the right one to trigger.
And then we wiggle it around and massage the harness.
We could get the left one to clear and it's in the harness.
Now it's a pretty big harness and there's a lot of connection,
a lot of different connections that go to, it goes to the reducton control module.
It goes to the fuel filter.
There is a connector that goes for logic to the transmission.
So now you've got communication wires that are going through it.
And we still haven't talked to engineering about the oddness of these 4,500 ABS sensors
because they're yet another aspect of this strange puzzle.
But at this point, we figure out that something's wrong in this harness.
And it's a relatively new truck.
So I call and check out and see what the deal is with the harnesses.
And given that it's as new as it is, there are none in the country, zero.
Like none, none at any dealer, none in any of the warehouses.
It's ordered by vendor as vehicle off-road.
Like Mopar has this way of doing a VOR.
And basically you say the end, the vehicle's down.
It's stuck.
They don't like doing it for independent shops.
They are more happy doing it for their own.
But I managed to get a harness ordered.
And so, you know, we went from like the week before Thanksgiving,
and now we've got holidays coming up, and we're into like, you know,
the second week of December at this point, and the harness is on order.
And they can't tell me when.
All they're saying it's high priority VOR next day air once the vendor makes it,
but they got to make it.
So I had to pull the tag number off and give an engineering and a tag number to them,
and they order the harness.
February 15th it comes in.
So it was down for a bit.
Now during this time, the customer is very wise about the vehicle,
and he chooses to do the bank's heater grid upgrade to get rid of a problem.
Because at this point, when these trucks, these commercial trucks,
especially when they leave the dealership and go to a body manufacturer,
and then go here and go there, there's a lot of warranty stuff that kind of
doesn't apply anymore because somebody else has had their hands in the cookie jar.
So, you know, like your engine is going to have a warranty, but
things like what we're dealing with at this point have been displaced by somebody else's hands.
So a dealership, if there's one that'll even work on the heavier trucks,
will look at it and say,
the clock starts ticking here, buddy, by the hour until we find it.
And that's the way it goes.
And it was a sad story because I reached out to every friend I made
since I started working.
I went so far as to talk to some of the big manufacturers, you know, like ATS,
and Bosch has a technical service network where you can give in the VIN number,
and they could look back at things that technicians that are on the Bosch network
have reported back, and it gets pretty crazy.
So anyways, the harness comes in, and it's not an easy one to change
because you do have to unbolt the cab from all of its mounts on one side
and lift the cab to get the bulkhead connector to go over the frame,
because it has to jump over the frame, obviously, you know,
you're not going to deep pin like a 75 pin connector and try and re-pin it all again.
It just doesn't make sense when you can unbolt the cab and lift it.
So you do.
So I did, and we cleared everything.
And I ended up getting another call from my programming friend,
and he came by and he said, well, you know, let's go for a ride with it and hook up to it.
And we went for a ride, and it was like a 30 minute long ride.
And I mean, like, it's not acting up.
And we got pretty far away, and I'm going to tell you that this whole event,
we ended up putting 80 miles on the truck driving it.
In the beginning, we couldn't even read a signal
because of what I'm about to next reveal is the ABS sensors in the rear, at least,
because that's what we dealt with.
We ended up talking to people in engineering and the description.
I actually sent you a picture of the description of how the system works,
and it could be one of two different things.
And this one happens to be what they call a magneto.
And it transmits 12 volts of DC power into an AC signal that's extremely small.
So we had to actually scale and find a way to pin into the system
on this more modern wiring system.
We had to get into the backside of a connector and read with a scope.
And then you've got to dial the scope in for frequency and amplitude
until you could get just the right AC signal to show up.
Now, the trouble is the AC signal is all over the place, noisy as can be.
And it's not the kind of thing that's intermittent.
It had a pattern and we're spinning it first by hand and we're not seeing it yet.
And then we start spinning it on jack stands at idle speed.
And at idle speed, the pattern starts to reveal itself that it's got these weird spikes and drops
and spikes and drops and they were pretty
in agreement with wheel speed.
So he looked at me.
He goes, well, I'm kind of timing out again for what I can do today.
But I think our next maneuver is you got to get this wheel assembly off.
Here we are.
This is a 4500 chassis.
It's a duly.
It's heavy.
And getting that thing apart, you've got to get the both wheels off.
The brake caliper comes with the hub.
It's heavy.
You got to use a jack to pull it off carefully and bolted to the back of that whole thing is a toning.
And that toning has an issue because now that we've got it apart, you can see that
there's a shiny spot that goes almost halfway around the toning.
And the rest of it is the factory coating that was on it, you know, because they put
some kind of a painted or electroplated coating on it.
So now I dig out the old sensor and I'm looking at the sensor and, you know, the sensors are
always covered with like a rusty powder from brake wear and stuff.
And if you look closely enough at the sensor, and I'm talking microscopic at this point,
you could see the sensor looks a little different than the new one I took back out of the truck
to compare it to.
And it looks like it had made some sort of contact and we're talking we're splitting hairs at this point.
So I unbolt the toning and I put it on a true steel bench.
And I start to measure run out on the the toning and the toning is 20 to 50 thousands out
where it's at its lowest to its highest.
And it's kind of weird because it shouldn't be how it got that way.
I can't tell you the customer swears it never had any work done.
And when I looked at the Vin through the Mopar network, the Mopar network only showed that it
was prepped.
So I don't know if this was something that happened when they manufactured it and it was
good for a while and then it got upset.
But anyway, we checked to see if a toning was available because I'm not going to put a warped
toning back on and one was available and it came.
And I I did run out tests on that also installed to the back of the rotor on both of them.
And the new one was true, maybe 2000s difference amongst all the teeth.
Whereas the other one was between 20 and 50 thousands out.
And then this is talking to people in the engineering side.
They're like, well, that's huge with a magneto.
OK, put it back together.
And this is where we're starting to get towards the end of the story now.
So now that we put it back together, we get to the point where I was I got a clean signal
and I was able to get that picture.
I sent you where one wheel was at 212 miles an hour and the other ones at 30.
Yeah.
Now, mind you, this is the reason why we're investigating this so much.
If you turn traction control off manually,
it will take away ABS four wheel drive and a whole bunch of other things come up on the screen.
It goes so fast, but ABS lights on the accelerator pedal still gets taken away from you anytime
it has a signal problem.
So that's not an option.
And at this point, it's like, why is a commercial truck this smart?
It doesn't need to be this smart.
It needs to haul a trailer and equipment and a load of dirt in the bed
and go from job site to job site.
And it needs to be reliable.
Yeah.
So the taking the throttle pedal away is like at this point I'm talking to the guy
from Fiat Chrysler on the phone and he's like, you got yourself a unicorn.
Good luck, buddy.
And I am like, why do they always come here?
You know, I mean, I wanted to marry a unicorn.
I wanted to marry the girl that nobody else had, the perfect girl.
I didn't need that to come to my shop and be unfixable.
And at this point, it's like, as much as I try to tout that I don't believe in lemons,
I'm sitting there going, okay, something's majorly screwed up with this truck.
So anyway, now that I can see a clean signal,
I again lose my friend because he can only stay so long.
He has to earn a living too.
So I'm watching it on my own screen now because I could see an actual clear picture of what's
going on.
And I take it for another 40 minute ride and I record the whole thing.
And every time that an instance happens, I can hit a trigger button and it will record
a few seconds before and a few seconds later.
So I basically had timestamps so I could find the picture I sent you.
And I, of course, couldn't see anything as to what it was doing speed wise,
aside from the fact that the speedo was jumping around 50 when I know I was doing 25 to 30.
But that's what the speedo was saying.
And you know, the more you drive, notice.
So at this point, it's like, okay,
I got to try and figure out now what this has in common with everything.
And it took a bit more driving to do because you're like, you know, you're trying to figure
this out in your head.
Like there is something in common with all of this.
And I finally figured out that, because, you know, I'm picking up parameters and putting
them on screen to see if something, if there's something that's stepping out of line.
And it wasn't that it was stepping out of line.
It was a condition that had to be met that I had to finally notice.
55% or more throttle input is when the condition would occur.
So that became big.
So I went back to the shop and I had to, you know, put my head into work and think about
things while I worked because, you know, the trucks don't talk and gotta think, right?
So I'm back at the shop and I'm thinking like,
I started thinking back to, and this is one of the things that we talked about when I did my
ATS training the first time we were out there.
We talked about the old 24 valve trucks that had the shuttle hunt condition.
And they were getting a signal that was jumping from a voltage wire into a wire that was carrying
a signal from the APPS.
And I started thinking about that and I said, okay, something weird is going on and it's got
to be something like this because I am pinpointing still wires are perfect.
Everything is like unheard of.
And I am not the kind of guy who likes to start digging into harnesses.
Although I did cut apart the old harness and found that they had,
I gotta mute this stupid window that just popped up because I can't see it.
Now I can see you again.
I had to take the old harness apart and look for things because I started to see things like,
okay, I found two wires that rubbed together in the harness when they moved it around perhaps.
And then I figured out that, okay, so now we are at APPS signal is affecting this.
And I said, well, it's kind of funny because the old ISB engines used to have the APPS signal
get corrupted by an alternator voltage signal wire.
And by putting a rewire in place, we used to solve that.
And I mean, there were trucks that went for reflashes and there were trucks that got
harnesses and that didn't get fixed back in those days.
And that was the early days, you know, electrical systems weren't what they are now.
People like to say, especially some of these YouTube guys that like to be from Canada and
say bad words and stuff and, you know, go by the name of Peg, I'm going to call him out,
likes to say the Dodgers have second hand or electrical problems.
So they do and the newer trucks are not immune apparently.
So it looks like when they did the body, they really were hurrying to get things done and
they weren't doing a good job.
I rerouted all of this and fixed it all and got it where it needed to be.
But in the end, what I did to fix it was I ran shielded wires, twisted pair shielded
from the ABS control module to new pins coming out of it to the bulkhead connector behind the
body harness and took those wires out of what I call the octopus harness that's under the hood.
Because that octopus harness talks to all the modules and what I can deduce from it.
And I don't think anybody wanted to pay me to go any further because taking that apart,
taking it out, digging through it to find out that in messing around with a body harness
getting in, I think what they did was they moved wires in a harness that were meant to be separated.
And if they pushed it hard enough with who knows what, a stick, a pry bar, a baseball bat,
God knows what these guys work with when they're hurrying up to get a body on.
I mean they paint over grease fittings to the point where you can grease them so
you know it could be anything.
In the rear when they put it on, they just left the whole rear part of the body harness that
was sitting there or chassis harness that was sitting there.
They left it just sitting there on top of the fuel tank and it was bobbling around every time
the guy hit bumps and made turns and you know half of the conduit that's applied to it from
the factory was rubbed through and there were no bare wires but I mean you know it was just
waiting for a problem.
I fixed that too.
So when I did do the rewire to it and I did it in a specific manner, I did new pins and I went
from connector to connector and I didn't because you know these these magnetos apparently don't
like to be cut into and soldered to either so you know you have to basically make a new wire
and digging into the octopus was just not going to be financially responsible.
So I did that and I took it for a ride and I'm out for an hour and this thing is cherry
and I am giving it all I got, something I've never been able to do to the truck
and you know I got my foot through the floor and it is cherry and I come back from the test drive
and I'm finally like breathe a sigh of relief because here's a guy that I've known for all
these years and I've never let him down before and I felt for a few times that man I was going
to have to make this ugly phone call all for the first time in my life to a guy that I've
known the longest and say hey look man all the kings men and all the all the kings horses all
the kings men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again but um but my god I found it
and uh and actually he came back um just came back to pick up a couple air filters and he's like
when he he said and this was the thing that really did me the greatest because like you know
when you finish with a customer and you hand them an invoice for what we went through and the hell
we went through and the time that he's been without his truck and his season was just starting up
and he needed it back in service you know without that truck that's a crew that can't work
and nobody has spares right we don't have the mothball fleet waiting in the wings for when
something breaks so we got him back on the road in time and he came to pick up air filters
for his two trucks that are running s and b's and he goes he goes uh I gotta tell you Chris you
know I was nervous about it but let me tell you man nobody else but you have been able to fix stuff
like this and I don't think anybody would have been able to find it and uh I said well you know
Michael coming from you that means the world because it's not getting any easier and I'm thankful
that I have been there for every growth of progress these trucks have had from fully mechanical to
fully computerized and you know you get a kid who comes out of school it has to learn all of that
yeah I did it over 30 years these kids got to do this in you know a few weeks of getting up to
speed there's some some shops that are on youtube that post about you know that I gotta give a guy
90 days to get up to speed and that's like my god I don't know if I could get that I don't know if I
could break somebody in and bring them up to speed 90 days you know it's gonna take years
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off your order well this is one of those problems like i'm sure you've gotten a way
way more than i've seen it but sometimes i'll see maybe a conversation on like one of the truck
groups on facebook or something like that or the forums used to be really big for it and it's like
you read through the problem the person has and you just think where would you even start with
this you know somebody who doesn't work in that field you think where would you start it seems
like so many so many problems and issues and i always found this fascinating because very rarely
would you ever hear a a solution to it either they get rid of the truck and sell it or if it's
you know new enough it's lemon laud they you know get something else or or something like that but
this is a it's a real problem in in the sense of that's somebody's livelihood like you mentioned
so they're using it for work to make money and i'm sure the way that it timed itself you know
between Thanksgiving and you know the winter kind of ending was probably the best time it could go
down versus in the summer yeah spring summer you know something like that but i mean at the
to make sure i understand like the the old the end solution was it because of the way that the
harness was put together or routed by the body shop or was it also a condition like you had
mentioned with the second gens and the apps signal where it was just a distortion in a signal what
was a combination of both or what was the ultimate culprit so i don't ever like to believe that there's
more than one thing going on but this truck happened to have it um there's always a problem
that could occur in a wiring harness from the factory there's always a problem with a fleet of
things that come through i mean heck you know Boeing builds airplanes and they had a harness
problem that affected an entire batch of airplanes they were building years ago where something wasn't
right and that could always be something waiting in the wings but this truck happened to have a
thing going on like you know i don't know how somebody ended up having a warp tonering on
there but that was affecting finding the problem now could it have once everything was cherry and
and the way it should be could it have lived with that warp tonering maybe the engineering people
i talked to said no but if that's the case how did it get to 10 000 miles like that right so it
would have had to be okay because he wouldn't have put up with it for that long or was it a problem
that was there waiting in the background getting worse as things happened now a magneto builds
magnetic resistance and creates a different kind of signal in the wires and a communication signal
is also being interpreted through that so is that getting worse as it's getting older i don't know
yet because it's so new you know generally i don't see vehicles as new with these kind of problems
because these are the kind of problems that end up going back to the dealer but nobody wants to work
on the commercial end of it and they're like well the one guy that i deal with he's like yeah we got
a guy but uh he's only been here for like six months he doesn't know much about that stuff
so it's like it's like back in the old days you know when a diesel would come into the dealer
with a problem half the guys that knew what they were doing would go out to lunch and let the new
guy end up with the problem and uh it's my job to be that guy that finds that problem and uh you
know the the rotten part about it is yeah i think the body manufacturer caused all of this by messing
around with something that was already delicate kind of like you know kind of like the broken glass
that all you got to do is touch it the wrong way for it to break the rest of the way yeah
it i guess this step back for a second because this is really a fascinating part of this as well
is the diagnostics and he did a great job like walking me through all the different steps that
you took to be able to figure out why this is happening and then you had mentioned in the
conversation he said why is a commercial truck this smart it needs to work go point
a to point b and it seems like as far as how these trucks are built they're going to continue on that
path of all sensors the logic all the all the intelligence that it has and
how would i well i could see having that truck and taking it to the dealer and then going well
some people altered it messed with it did something with it will fix it but it's not under warranty
and how could you find a how could you find a solution to this like this was five months
or so that you yeah to go through it that's a lot of work and i mean if you if you take the
holiday stuff away you lose a month of time out of that but still you know it's like it's a lot of
time a lot of work and a lot of patience now i could sit here having been through it and say okay
well hey man i could have just jumped right to what i did to fix it but how would i know that
that's where i was gonna find it you know that's the thing is like i know when i listen to other
guys from shops do like their youtube shows and they they talk about something and that's what
the guy's gonna go like oh this is where the armchair quarterbacks are all gonna post in but
it's like there are hundreds of wires and hundreds of different signals that are all being
interpreted where do you start you start with the way the rules were written for engineering
they make pinpoint tests for a reason 99% of the time they are correct in leading you down the
right path once in a great while you get a unicorn and you got to think outside the box because you
try exhausting the possibilities of what they give you first and when exhausting those possibilities
not only doesn't it fix but it makes it worse then you know you got something else going on and
that's where the part of i don't believe there are two things going on at once goes out the window
and then it's like this at this point man you just start with like this would be the part of my life
where when if we had a big whiteboard on wheels and you just start writing things down and you
stare at it and you stare at it until you figure it out and uh you know thinking my way through
problems has always been the way i've dealt with them and this one had to be part of that because
i had to find that one condition that was actually finally making it upset after we got rid of all
the other things that were causing noise in the system to the point where i could see a spike
that's at 212 miles an hour and that wheel speed is not able to be produced by the reference voltage
and the signal voltage that the vehicle can actually produce without more voltage jumping
from one thing to another or being corrupt or a signal being corrupted once it's created
because the the vehicle can't produce 200 i think from engineering they said something like 108
point something was the top speed the vehicle should be able to produce through that sensor
so we doubled that basically yeah
the
like would you say this is one of the tougher ones the tougher unicorns you've had in your career
this one made hairs go gray yeah this one definitely did
how
i guess from like a shop perspective i could see a lot of shops looking at that and being like i
i don't i'm not going to dedicate the time to this i can't do it i nope can't help you
send them down the road and do the easy stuff right how does it how does tackling trucks like
this one and trucks like it help help the the the business the shop
with your your customers like i think one yeah people might be upset their trucks down for a while
but it's cheaper than going out and trying to buy another buy a second truck to run that shift
or do something like that but i think in general maybe a lot of shops would shy away from it but
you guys didn't and i'm curious what that what that helps ought to works with
so what it helps with is actually during this time i ended up with a few other electrical
problems that came in and one of them was somebody who knew this customer
and he's like look i got this sprinter it's messed up it's doing such weird things i got no idea what's
going on and this guy's having to be and here's where i get to the point of my story too because
this helps tell it generally most problems that happen to vehicles happen because of something
that had been done before uh like i why i want to hang the the guys who messed with the body stuff
because everything they touched they messed with something that was in a place for a reason
and it caused problems to happen later well this sprinter was no different this sprinter came in
with a problem customers saying it's doing all sorts of weird things and he was not lying when i
scanned that it had 41 diagnostic codes well yeah so i'd seen one in the past and i thought back
because i i i do remember a lot about stuff i've dealt with and in the past i saw one that had
an exhaust leak at a flex joint that was basically like fireballing the electrical harness now this
is a more modern truck and it doesn't have that harness there but it reminded me of it so i said
before i said you know mike and i were talking in the shop about it and i said before i start
really digging into like pinpoint testing this it reminds me of that sprinter we had many years
ago that had the harness problem i'm going to get underneath it and just look around
and i look around and i see an aftermarket def nozzle installed and i said okay well it looks pretty
new so let me fish around this area and i look and lo and behold there's a heat shield that blocks you
from seeing it but there's a wire harness that's not in its clips where it should be and it's now
laying on the dpf
and there was about a dozen wires that were melted together
so i had to remove that harness about six feet of wiring and i had to run now some of them are
communication wires and on a sprinter they're really thin so i had to use a specific type of wire
and it had to be shielded and it had to be a twisted pair and then i had to run all the other
sensor wires that were running to it because they also run to other things like the transmission
which is showing that it's not in park sometimes and it's all part of that out of those 41 codes i
was able to clear 38 by fixing that and the other three were problems in like the driver's door
module stuff from like stupid things and a shorted seat belt um seat belt buzzer warning uh
sensor so nothing that affected running but i fixed that during that time too and that customer
was grateful and the thing is they leave and they tell a friend or two the guys that leave that
don't get fixed which i don't believe in ever doing i always fix things i don't i don't like i
don't send things somewhere else um but the guys that have been somewhere 10 shops before they got
to me they're the guys that are gonna tell 100 friends not to go to that shop but once their
truck is fixed they may tell one or two or three because it's like they're they're so happy that
they're back to work they don't have time to think about the problem that they just overcame
but if they have a problem that's still a problem they're gonna make it their dying wish
to tell people that they're having a problem and another question for you i was just thinking about
and it's it's in this same same sort of family of of these of these issues and you said most of
time when something comes in here it's having a problem it's because something that was done
right before it and i thought okay well what about the difference between like a repair
and an aftermarket part is it in your experience is it previous work done somewhere else that just
isn't good the the details weren't paid attention to that's like i don't know what percentage it
would be 80 to 90 percent of the problem versus i'm sure you get trucks in there where they've
got an aftermarket turbo and injectors and tuning and transmission that kind of stuff
and i think that's what a listener would be curious about is like you know is chris talking
about like performance upgrades like are those causing these issues or is it the quality or
lack of quality in work that places are doing so it's probably a 50 50 or 60 40 situation with that
and i will explain what i mean by that um there are parts out there that are garbage that are
being sold at your general auto parts stores and they are problems and i had last summer a dodge
59 common rail come in with nobody could get it right and uh when we started figuring it
out it's the fuel injection system was all over the place now this is a good truck to explain why
it's why i can see it both ways because this truck happened to be both ways um the shop who
did the work was not a specialized shop like us where we're you know we won't mess around if we're
gonna do fuel injector work it's got to be bosh stuff because that's who makes them we are not
gonna buy fuel injectors from an auto parts store we also don't really like to do onesy or two z
repairs and this truck violated all those rules and uh somebody had done onesy two z injectors from
different auto parts stores and they were garbage and then the quality of workmanship was just as
poor you know because if the guy who's doing the work doesn't care enough to do the right stuff
as far as doing the parts he also probably doesn't care enough to do the job the right way
and i mean i'm fine and like bolts missing um bolts that now you've got to remember i've
been in this industry long enough to tell you where a bolt came from i you were there when
you saw me put a six liter cab back down back in the day i can tell you where a bolt came from how
it belongs how the wires are supposed to be routed and when i see something all so wrong
it's like okay this is a pattern of lack of care uh there used to be a sign that i saw up in uh in
one of the the places that that was a machine shop and there was like it was like the dirty dozen and
it was like lack of communication lack of care lack of resources this was a hundred percent lack of
care and um yes there are a ton of bad aftermarket parts out there there were also a ton of really
good aftermarket parts out there stuff from well-known names so generally the auto parts stores
are going to be dealing with the more chinese parts and stuff that is like you know black box
special oh look at this here's a common rail Cummins injector for a hundred dollars not happening
just not happening at all but um you know i think that seriously it depends on the
hands that worked on it as well as the parts that were done in it and i've seen really good
hands put really crappy parts and things and i've seen really good parts get put in by the wrong
set of hands too because i've been doing it a long time man you know and i've had a lot of people
come and go in my shop too i don't stand for lousy workmanship uh and i tell people that from
the start when they come to work for me and i am i'm gonna tell you i'm not an easy person to work
for people who have worked for me will say it they'll attest but they'll also say that things i taught
them is are things that and if you're listening right now young man i know you're not in the
industry anymore but um you had said that i taught you how to do something and you took that through
the rest of your career until you left the uh the diesel industry to do something different
and i respect that because that i i i love teaching people to do things the right way i was taught
the right way to do it so the problem in this world right now is i got a feeling this is a dying
breed of people who have the knowledge that want to teach and don't have the pupils to learn
so you think that's a difference in the could be in the future between a shop that lasts
one to five years and one that's around for 30 plus years and the sustainability of of of how
you how you knowledge transfer and take that experience and how you in part what you learned
to somebody who's younger who's they're gonna have they're gonna be able to take that information
gather their own through their career and then be able to to pass it on
absolutely i uh i really see new shops come and i mean you know there's an old saying that says
if you stand by the river long enough you'll see the bodies of your enemies float by something from
from you know war but like when you're looking at like shops that that come and they they hit
the ground running and they're you know they got sparks flying out of their butt and they're all over
the internet and they're this and they're that and and then soon enough it's like where'd they go
but you know it's it's hard to get somebody who has three decades of experience
inability especially as a startup because that knowledge comes with a price
and i'm lucky enough to have me where i am with 30 years and then i've got Mike who's got another
you know five to seven on top of me and between the two of us
we're around from the dinosaur era so and we're both teachers he he taught me well
as to like i came in with skills and he honed those skills to work the way he wanted his shop to be
and uh then we went and we trained together and we worked with making those skills better and
as vehicle technology changed and improved we did too
when it comes to the newer trucks like once they're out of warranty so that would be like what
anywhere from three to five years you know so older than that what would you say as a
having been in the industry for 30 years what would you say are some of the best practices
for somebody with their truck if they're looking to keep it running and running well is it
like the quality parts that you mentioned is it you know i'm sure maintenance is going to be
part of that but in your experience what are like three things people can do to keep their trucks
on the road running avoiding that unicorn scenario like you mentioned or any of the other
ones you've seen in your three decades of doing this so my most successful customers are my most
reliable customers who i could almost set my calendar to that they're going to come in for
the next service um they don't mess around with trying to you know throw pennies after dollars
to to save on something because you know they can save something here or there
they come to me because they
they know that when i do routine maintenance that there's not going to be a
harness that's rerouted or something anything that could cause a problem in the future
any kind of like there's a reason why if you look at every vehicle that comes off the assembly line
there's specific things that are a certain way and only that way because they have decided that
when they built that vehicle that was the way it needed to be and that's the way it was happiest
to stay and the biggest problems happen when that dynamic gets upset so um i mean you know i'll
think to our first podcast together when uh you said that uh you know that when you uh when you
saw me finish that that six liter you took a look under the truck and had you not been there to see
the cab off the truck you would never guess that it was off the truck by looking at every even where
every every shadow of uh where a washer goes i i made it my job to make sure that that went back
the way it was and it's kind of like just being absolutely anal retentive about everything and
that's why i've got a 23 year old truck sitting in the driveway that needs a paint job but i mean
it's mint otherwise yeah well it's something like when you maybe take something and you
have somebody else do the work and maybe it's not necessarily just a truck it could be something else
and so if you get it back and there's a scratch on it or a scuff or something's not tight then it just
kind of erodes your confidence in what you paid for and then who you trust so then if i think about
a vehicle like i remember that that truck that you had in the shop and there's tons of wires
tons of hardware there's all these things and it was just so pristine that um you know i thought
okay that that would be that would give me the confidence to come back it would give me the
confidence to just like when i leave schedule me for the next one because i know you're gonna look for
maybe something that's coming up maybe you notice something when you're in there that hey this is
gonna pop up on your truck the next few thousand miles i think that's really key to the ownership
aspect of diesel trucks like i'm sure you've known lots of people where they just have a nightmare
with a truck and they sell it and they never drive a diesel again they just go get a gas truck or
something else and it's because of the experience that they had and well there are more diesel
trucks on the road than like when you started in 97 i wish there were more i wish it was more
more people had diesel vehicles it would create a louder voice for the aftermarket it would create
more opportunity it would um more people would call auto works more people would listen to this
podcast the more diesel vehicles that are out there so i think that's really key to
the future ownership uh is being able to go to shops like yours or have someone like you
wherever they're at in the country to fix and diagnose their truck it keeps them in in that
vehicle or that platform longer oh yeah and and the thing is like the people i've met in this
industry those that really struck with me i mean like like coming to meet you and and clint and
mike at ats i mean the the base of knowledge from who i've talked to was immense and you know
when you find a bunch of people that do the things the way you do them you know that you
yourself in the shop is not the thing that's the unicorn out there um but there are many out there
but you do have to find the right relationship make and keep it and
you know the relationship works both ways like you said a customer could get disenchanted
divorce themselves from it and never buy another one again and go back to the way life was before
he got into that thing that was so complicated but it really isn't that complicated if you just
kind of like like with anything in life you follow a strict set of rules i mean you know somebody who
ends up needing to exercise because they they have a a genetic predilection to have a weight
problem they either go that route and do it to maintain health or they fall apart so the vehicle
is kind of like that too it's like a relationship um and like i said it works both ways it's the
person who's in control of it and it's theirs and then it's my job when it's in my shop and it's mine
and when it's in my shop it's like it's mine until it goes back in their hands and that's where my
pride comes in and that's something that that's impressive it's something to be proud of you
know there's a lot of guys out there that when the day is over they get in their vehicle and go home
they don't give a damn about what's in their shop and that is the wrong attitude to have
i lost sleep over that truck that had that problem for a long time so and there's a
reason for that because i care because we care yeah well there's that personal side of it too
because that that job reflects on you and you know because of the i wouldn't even say it's
necessary because of the personal relationship i think any customer that goes in there you have
responsibility to and that that's another important aspect too is i think the personal
personal connection that when somebody leaves they go i'm glad those guys fixed my truck i'm
happy i go make money or i can go on this trip or it's running better than it's ever ran that's
very personal and that's the part of trucks that i love and i think why like doing a podcast is
like the personal aspect to it whether it's like a restoration a race build this like i'm sure that
situation for that guy was really stressful because of how he used that truck for his business
and he needed it to get back up and running and then how you approached it from the technician side
of i want you know i wanted to be able to have this truck back it all it all kind of fits together
i really appreciate you reaching out to me with this because i love i love to go down these
like to go down the path of what was going on with this truck and how did it get fixed
in case somebody else listens or hears about it i mean i think you mentioned that engineer said
you've got a unicorn well this is something documented that could somebody might listen to
next week five years from now it might be able to help direct them but i know a lot of our listeners
when they listen to the podcast or they watch it on youtube they like to be able to connect to the
guests and so i wanted to have an opportunity here as we're wrapping up if people want to connect
with you or the shop maybe they're local to coldwell new jersey maybe they're not maybe it's
another shop that's out there maybe it's a young person who lives all the way across the
country but he's like i like what chris talked about that's how i want my career to go is there
a way for me to contact them or reach out what is the best way to get get in contact with you
and then auto works diesel so the best way honestly is to to try and shoot us an email
the shop's email address is a long one it's sales at auto works diesel dot com and it's
spelled in a unique way so it's a u to w u r k s d i e s e l and like i said sales at auto
works diesel dot com emails come in i look at every one of them every morning and yeah i mean
shoot man we can uh we can make a difference in this world and that's what we do every day
very cool chris i appreciate you taking the time to chat with me today sharing this story with me
if you get any other ones in the future make sure and shoot me a message let me know and and uh
we can talk about some other hopefully unicorns that weren't as stressful but maybe some other
problems or things that are happening and and solutions you're finding for them my pleasure
don't forget diesel fans make sure and head on over to kershaw dot k a i us a dot com use code 20
td 8 fr 26 to get 20 off your order kershaw's got a whole lineup of knives to meet any budget
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50 so we really appreciate them offering that discount code just for diesel podcast listeners
also want to give a shout out to some of our patreon supporters robert john tsw diesel all
of our other patreon supporters all of you who follow us on social media we appreciate all your
support here in your 10 of the diesel podcast and look forward to bringing you more of the content
that you want to hear in 2026 till next time keep the shiny side up
you
About this episode
A 2023 Ram 4500 rolls in with a check engine light and a problem that’s already been through “10 other shops.” After scanning, the team starts with ABS right-rear sensor codes, then hits a bigger issue: communication faults and erratic throttle behavior. Road tests, pinpoint tests, and wiring-harness detective work lead to an ABS module replacement and, ultimately, a harness routing problem tied to a body installation. The episode also covers why modern diagnostics can turn “unfixable” cases into solvable ones.
A diesel shop reached out to us with failure on a Ram truck nobody had
heard of. They guide us through the issue and how it took tons of time,
ingenuity, and help to uncover what made the truck undrivable.
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