We chat with Keith Perkins of //www.l1diagnostics.com
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Car
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a really fast and fancy sports car made by Porsche in the late 1980s. It's special because it has cool technology that helps it grip the road better, and not many were made, which makes it a collector's item.
Company
L1 Automotive Diagnostics and Programming
L1 Automotive Diagnostics and Programming is a business that helps people fix cars by figuring out what's wrong with them and programming their systems.
Car
Nissan Titan
The Nissan Titan is a large truck that can carry heavy loads and is often used for work. It's known for being strong and having a lot of space inside.
Term
e-prom
An e-prom is a special type of computer chip that can be changed and reused. It's important in cars for storing information that helps the engine and other systems work properly.
Term
chip shortage
A chip shortage happens when there aren't enough tiny computer parts called chips that cars need to work. This can cause problems like delays in making new cars and higher prices.
Brand
Honda
Honda is a car company from Japan that makes many types of vehicles, including popular cars and motorcycles. They are known for making reliable and well-engineered vehicles.
Brand
Kia
Kia is another car company from South Korea that makes many affordable cars. They are known for offering good value and have a reputation for reliability.
Term
right to repair legislation
Right to repair legislation is a law that allows people to fix their own things, like cars, by making sure they can get the information and parts they need. It helps keep repair costs down and gives people more choices.
Car
Hyundai Genesis
The Hyundai Genesis is a nice, fancy car that Hyundai started making in 2008 to compete with other luxury brands. It's known for being comfortable and having a lot of features for the price, which makes it a good choice if you want a luxury car without spending too much.
Term
brake fluid
Brake fluid is a special liquid that helps your car's brakes work. When you press the brake pedal, this fluid helps push the brakes to stop the car.
Term
IATN
IATN is a website where car mechanics can connect with each other and share tips and solutions for fixing cars. It's like a community for car experts.
Term
ABS module
The ABS module is part of a car's braking system that helps keep the wheels from locking up when you brake hard. It makes sure you can steer while stopping quickly.
Company
Autel Ultra S2
The Autel Ultra S2 is a tool that helps mechanics check what's wrong with cars. It uses smart technology to make finding problems easier and faster.
Term
matte finish
A matte finish is a paint style that doesn't shine like regular paint. It looks flat and smooth, and many luxury cars use it to stand out, but it can be pricier and harder to keep looking nice.
Brand
BMW
BMW is a well-known car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars. They are famous for their sporty designs and high-quality performance.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is a famous car brand from Germany that makes luxury vehicles. They are known for their high-quality cars that often include the latest technology and safety features.
Car
BMW 850
The BMW 850 is a fancy sports car that was made in the 1990s. It's known for being stylish and fast.
Car
Ferrari Testarossa
The Ferrari Testarossa is a famous sports car from the 1980s. It's known for its unique look and speed.
Car
Mercedes-Benz GLK 350
The Mercedes-Benz GLK 350 is a small luxury SUV that offers a nice balance of comfort and performance. It's a good option if you're looking for a stylish and reliable vehicle.
Term
automatic transmission fluid
Automatic transmission fluid is a special oil used in cars with automatic gearboxes. It helps the car change gears smoothly and keeps the transmission parts clean and cool.
Term
CHF 1150
CHF 1150 is a special fluid used in some cars for their power steering systems. It helps the steering work smoothly and protects the parts inside.
Term
MB power steering fluid
MB power steering fluid is a type of fluid made for Mercedes-Benz cars. It's important to use the right fluid to keep the steering system working well.
Term
hydraulic oil
Hydraulic oil is a special fluid that helps machines and car parts move smoothly. It's used in things like the motors that open and close convertible tops and in the steering system to make it easier to turn the wheel.
Term
ABS brake system
ABS helps your car stop safely by preventing the wheels from locking up when you brake hard. If there is rust in the system, it can stop working properly.
Term
service position
The service position is a setting in some cars that lets you lift the windshield wipers off the glass. This is useful for changing the wipers or when it's snowy so they don't get stuck to the windshield.
Term
wiper motor
The wiper motor is what makes your windshield wipers move. If too much snow or ice is on the windshield and the wipers try to clear it, the motor can get damaged and stop working.
LIVE
W-A-T-D presents John Paul, the car doctor, All Things Automotive.
Have questions? Call or text 7-8-1-837-4900.
Now, here's John Paul, the car doctor.
And good Sunday morning everyone and welcome to another edition of the Car Doctor program on
award-winning 959 W-A-T-D where we have award-winning weather observance by Jesse Wilkins.
Great job, great job by the way, predicting the weather at all.
Well, it's cold in New England, it's going to snow.
People make foot of snow sound like there's a lot of snow, it's not that much snow.
Come on people, we can deal with it. We're in New England, well, most of us, not me, but the rest of us are.
I've got these big beefy snow tires now, I'm ready to rip it up out there.
There you go, that's all there is to it.
Well, with us on the phone is Keith Perkins, he's in Oklahoma where it never snows, right Keith?
It's beautiful weather there.
We get snow every, you know, sometimes it's once a year, sometimes it's every other year, but this is colossal by typical standards, yeah.
And it's a little chilly there too, right?
Oh yeah, it's like 20 degrees. I was out in my tractor yesterday plowing my drive and down the road, yeah.
Well, since we've talked about the weather, let's talk about you.
Tell us about you. First off, you know, looking at your profile and hearing about you, do you ever sleep?
I get that question a lot actually. You would be surprised that I'm fairly efficient at what I'm capable of doing in a period of time.
There are many, many times that I pull some all-nighters and I'm regularly known to my community that at 2 a.m. you might be able to notice that I'm active on the Internet and doing things on my website.
Yeah, I do function with a lower level of sleep than some people, yeah.
There you go. Well, tell us first off about your business and I'll tell you about how I kind of discovered you along the way.
You and your wife run the business together, right?
Yeah, yeah. So we have three distinct businesses that kind of have different purposes.
They'll intertwine and I'll make it as short as possible because it's a long menagerie of things.
But we essentially have three businesses. We have L1 Automotive Diagnostics and Programming.
It's a mouthful. My recommendation if you're going to make a business name is make it short.
So that is our mobile division that services other collision centers and professional repair shops along the Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Northwest Arkansas area.
We've got about 1700 unique shops that are our clients and we do things for them that you would typically, a typical shop would send to the dealer.
So any module programming keys and mobilizer stuff, ADOS calibrations, heavy diagnostics.
I would say about 40% of the mobile work we do is all diagnostics where something is radically difficult for a technician that doesn't live in the day-to-day diagnostics world.
A lot of network communication falls and such.
And then we have a shop of regular brick and mortar, tires, wheels, linemen, spray jobs.
We do head guests. It's just every kind of thing you would think of in a regular shop called L1 Automotive.
That's where our base of operations is out of and that's in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
And then we've got a training company, L1 Automotive Training, where I developed curriculum based on these thousands of unique cars we see every year
and kind of teach that all over the world at this point.
So I've got an online presence where there's some on-demand training available on my website.
And then I met pretty much every event you can imagine from SEMA to Auto Expo in Australia.
I met all of them doing training events there and just putting on classes.
And are some of the classes online too or are they all in person?
Yeah, we run on-demand video classes on our website.
We run with World Pack and with a bunch of other vendors, AVI, and anyone you can imagine.
Automotive seminars, we've got classes with them online.
And I'd be remiss if I don't say that to kind of wrap all that up of how do I sleep at night and all that is,
I want to let everyone know, I grossly underestimate how much work was done.
My wife, she runs the shop. She owns the shop. I am a technician there.
She owns the mobile company. I'm a back-up technician there. And I own the training company.
So she can fire you?
Yeah, everybody hears that and they think, oh, she's my wife so she has to own part of it.
If you come visit the shop or anyone comes visit the shop, they will immediately recognize that Liz is the day-to-day operations manager.
She is the one doing all that, making decisions, building a schedule, deciding what...
I come up with what tooling should we get next? What can I help with when somebody's stuck with something?
Or, hey, here's a cool... I'll build a piece of software for our inventory system we developed.
But she's running the operations. So that's part of why I'm capable of having all those monikers and really getting it all done.
Now, your business was founded about eight years ago. Where did you come from before that?
What was your background before you started your own business?
So my early background was actually I went to school for internet network security and cyber security and I worked in that field for a little bit.
And then I also went to school to get my bachelor's in criminal justice. I worked in law enforcement for a little bit.
But all the while, I never left the automotive industry. I either moonlighted at a shop.
I worked at a place that used to rent bays out and I was just a technical guy.
So when a person who's trying to work on their own car would get stuck, insurance said we would work on it for them.
But I had to kind of walk them through that stuff. And then I worked in park stores. I managed park stores.
I went to become a tech. Again, I'm a fourth generation technician.
My great-great-grandfather had a shop and then kind of going down from there.
And it skipped a couple of generations when it came to the side of my family did that.
I actually never worked in the shop with my family.
I have two family members on both sides of my family that work in automotive repair shops that are just clients of ours.
Never worked with them ever my whole life.
Well, I was working in shops since about 2012.
And then in 2017, I actually got fired.
I'm unhirable. At a certain point in your career, you kind of realize that it frustrates you when you see things being done the wrong way.
And everyone thinks that they're God's gift to automotive industry and that they know everything.
And I was dumb and thought the same thing.
But I had some real concerns at the time.
And I was let go. And then I kind of just packed up all my dyag tools in my Nissan Titan,
locked my toolbox up, said, hey, I'll send a tow truck from my toolbox tomorrow.
And then I left and I kind of pulled up to the first shop down the road and thought, all right, do I want to go in here and get a job?
Or do I want to make a little bit of cash so like if this place isn't that great looking, I don't want to work here.
Would I rather just go in and ask them if they got any cards they haven't been able to fix, diagnose it or make some cash and move to the next shop
and do the same thing until I find a good place to land.
And I never found a good place to land and it was rather successful from day one.
And what do you find is the most challenging thing for other shop owners besides probably picking up the phone and calling you,
which can sometimes be a little bit of an ego issue when you think you can fix everything, but sometimes you can't.
Yeah.
So there's two ends of that. The hardest thing in the philosophical form is that most shop owners are not good business people.
They were really great technicians and then decided I'm going to open a shop so I can keep a larger piece of this pie for myself.
And then in the car aspect, the hardest thing is that the vast majority of technicians, shop owners and everyone that I meet in the high 90th percentile of the industry
are under trained and under tooled due to multiple reasons.
A lot of them don't even realize that the education and the tooling is available to them.
And for the vast majority of it, most businesses in the automotive industry are not centric around creating training as a primary foundation of everything being successful.
So they don't make the time to go and learn those things.
Yeah, I can see how that would be an issue.
I was fortunate even when I kind of worked for a living, when I worked at independent shops, one of the ones I worked for always was sending you to training.
It was always something that, whether it was a local training company, whether it was the GM training center, whatever the case was, you were going there pretty frequently.
And they were smart enough, and I think smart enough, to send you during the day on company time where it was your job to learn new things.
And I think that was really, really, really important.
And like you said, some shops don't realize that there is training available in a variety of different ways.
But you mentioned tooling, and here in Massachusetts, we were probably one of the leaders in the right to repair legislation, trying to be able to get information available to everyone.
And at the end of the day, I don't know if we did, you know, there was a memorandum of understanding and all that stuff.
You know, still kind of the bottom line was, we want to have the same information available to independent techs as there is to dealerships.
And I wanted to reword it and say, I want to have the same level of information available to independent techs and dealers that's available to the manufacturers.
But I kind of lost that argument.
Yeah, we all did.
There's a lot of information available from a manufacturer that a dealer tech doesn't have access to.
As much as I understand that sentiment, I mean, at this point, I'm happy to have just what the dealers have, which is levels the playing field, at least from a dealership to us.
There's nothing with exception of a few couple little cars, and there's a few automakers that are really, really pushing the boundary of what can they get away with without drawing too much attention.
That for the vast majority of situations, there is almost nothing that I can't do that a dealership can do with exception of performing a warranty repair for free.
Right.
Right.
And that's kind of, there's some legal stuff in there that was even, like I'm heavily involved in right to repair.
I actually serve as a treasurer and secretary for NASDAF, the National Automotive Service Task Force, and our primary mission and vision is to fill service gaps.
And we do that by running this service information request program where if any technician, especially anyone listening today is the technician that believes that they should have access to something because of the MOU or the actual right to repair legislation or EPA or service information regulations for California
or any of those things they're supposed to have, your first line of defense is to go file the service information request with NASDAF.
So you could go to our website, NASDAF.org, you file the SIR, we get in touch with our liaison with that manufacturer and get that resolved.
And to date, of every SIR that's filed, our average percentage of repair fixed or SIR resolution is about 97% in fixing the problem.
And that, do you still run into shops that just don't have any technical information available to them, that for one reason or another they opt not to subscribe to some of the online services,
whether it's, you know, Mitchell on demand or whether it's all data or motors or something in between all of that?
How do you fix a car without knowing the theory and operation of it?
You make a lot of guesses that cost the client money.
You know, at the end of the day, that flat rate mindset of just changing more parts till he fixed the car only benefits, it benefits everyone but the vehicle owner, right?
The flat rate tech makes more money because he put more parts on and did more labor.
The shop makes more money because they get a piece of the parts and the labor.
Everyone makes more money.
The only person who loses there is the vehicle owner.
And that's the most important person in the situation is the one who owns the vehicle.
So, yeah, the vast majority of them decide not to get service info.
And here's the excuse, the number one excuse right here, I can't afford it.
And then I talk to them about, okay, what, you know, business wise, how are we looking?
What is your effective labor rate?
What do we start talking about some KPIs and they don't have answers.
So it's really just what goes back to that, you know, man, you're a great technician, you need to hire a business coach or something.
Because if you can't afford service information, I don't know how you're fixing cars without just guessing.
Yeah, it continues to amaze me when I hear that and I always find that interesting because that, you know, as somebody who doesn't work in a shop anymore,
I live and die on service data.
I need to see it.
I need to know how stuff works.
Have to, absolutely have to.
That is our, of every diet we do is a typical procedure.
We got a whole class built around building a diagnostic process.
And it's, okay, I need to go confirm the concern.
So does this concern exactly what it was explained to me.
And then I immediately do a full system scan just to get a baseline of what does it look like with what monitors are set, what codes are there.
And then look at some basic data, you know, if it's drivability problem, look at some, you know, individual data pins.
And then from there, I got to go back to the service information and plug in my symptoms and understand the theory and operation of the system that has a problem and start looking at the data pieces and the code set.
Well, what is the code set criteria?
What are, and start building a test plan and it's all based off of, you know, 60% of that time is spent looking at service information to decide what is my first test or where do I need to go?
So what data do I need to look at to confirm why the code is setting or whatever direction I have to go?
And, you know, kind of following that same bit of logic a little bit, part of it too is visual observation, right?
You know, I don't pretend to know the weather in Oklahoma, but I know living in New England, we get a lot of bad wires, crunchy wires, rodent eating wires.
And as important as it is to run the system scan, it's also equally important to give the car a good look, right?
Oh, yeah, that's a big part of the, it's funny because I got a series of slides in that class that talks about the importance of a visual inspection.
And there's tons of pictures where I've diagnosed thousands of cars with just taking a good look.
And the thing is, again, it's always, for me, I always equate it back to that flat rate mentality that worked for years.
That isn't conducive to inspecting a vehicle for the purpose of determining where a fault is or what could be a potential problem.
It was always taught to me, like when you do an inspection, hit these 36 points, right, or whatever.
And I started getting into a diagnostic mindset.
I really started looking at where has somebody else been, what looks out of place, what's been touched, what's been...
So you start finding things like harnesses and are clipped back and then they start rubbing on cylinder heads and causing the problem.
And you find it's repeat issues. It's almost always human induced or nature induced, like you said, mice or whatever.
So the smells under the hood. Does it smell like an animal has been under here?
Is there pieces of the insulation that are wadded up in places?
Then you start looking at the common things you've seen.
You start looking in air boxes for nests.
You look in little crevices and holes if there's ever been evidence.
I mean, it's all the smells, the looks, everything.
Yeah, I find that too that it really is.
You need to use everything that's available to you, including all of your senses.
Like you said, smell, look at things. I wouldn't recommend tasting everything, but yeah.
No, no. Put your hands on it though.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, I probably watch too much YouTube when I decide I'm going to watch TV and I was watching Eric at South Main Auto.
And he brings up your name frequently as a resource.
Yeah, we talk probably daily almost.
I mean, if we look to our text message threads, it's not work stuff.
It's he sends me a picture of a deer his oldest just got this season.
And, you know, I sent a picture of some ribs that I made the other day on the Smoker.
And we just talk.
He's one of the only people I talk to daily.
We don't get to see each other very often. He's afraid of airplanes, so we just talk a lot.
And yeah, he calls me and bounce the stuff off me and same with him.
I call him every once in a while, bounce stuff off of him.
It's another resource, right?
It's that networking within the industry people are close with.
And that's I've built that network over going to these training events and being active on these online resources all the way back to the ITN days today with Diagnostic Network.
All the Facebook groups that are available.
Yeah, I mean, you got to you got to use your network.
But yeah, I talked to Eric quite often.
Yeah, and it's it's it's interesting you say that I remember I was asked to go talk to a group of high school tech kids.
And one of the things I said to them and I'm sort of dating myself a lot here by said, you know, build a Rolodex of the people in your class, because you're going to find out over the years that they can help you and you can help them.
And that's a relationship you never want to lose.
Yeah.
Yeah, when we run our classes at our shop, because we do in person classes that we do a two day hands on over a weekend, probably about eight times a year.
We have a whole like calendar of what events and it's always the stuff that we do.
So it's like module programming.
We just did one last week weekend for last.
And it was last.
Yeah, the 17th and 18th.
And it was a e-prom and cloning class.
This is pulling modules open to repair them and clone the data because some manufacturers make the modules be a one time use.
And it's for a, they say it's in the guys of security.
We think it's in the guys of selling parts.
But then, you know, because of what happened in 2018 and 19, we had, there was a huge influx of unavailability of parts because of all the lack of people working.
So it was a chip shortage and all those things.
And so we had to find ways to make use modules work in those cars.
And so we had a class of that.
And every time we run a two day class like that, we take all of the students that came and we cap it at 20.
So it's a group of 20 almost each time.
And then we put them in a private group.
We have a private Facebook Messenger group for each class.
So like our module programming one has like 400 people in it.
And these are all people that took the same two day hands on course and then went off to their own respective parts of the world.
We get people from Puerto Rico, Canada, from Haiti, from Australia, we get people from all over the world that come to these classes.
And so now you've got this network of people that are doing that regularly that have invested.
We all meet that minimum standard now.
They've all invested to come spend two days to learn this craft and they've all got this base level of knowledge.
So no one's asking a question that is, I hate to say there's bad questions, but no one's asking that question that is foundational, right?
They're all out there.
They've got this huge, big brain power of all these people that have a base level of knowledge and have gone and really extended it by doing this work every day.
And it creates a network of people that is just amazingly smart.
They go off to be fantastic technicians in these areas.
So it's super powerful having those groups available.
Do you find, you mentioned, you know, people from other countries, do you find that in some countries outside of the United States, they're more resourceful?
Oh, yeah, yeah, because they don't have access to things like we have.
Right.
You know, I was talking to, and I hate to like name drop hardcore, I was talking to Sherwood Cook and Royalty out of the other day.
Another person I talked to pretty regularly on the phone.
Yeah, I was actually a little disappointed.
I was, I was driving from Massachusetts to Florida, and I stopped in the town that his shop is in and I'm like, I want to go over and meet him.
And just, you know, the next day I left Georgia at five in the morning and didn't do that.
But he runs a very interesting YouTube channel and just a great guy to watch.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And Sherwood's great to talk to.
And I was talking to him the other day about quite a few different things.
And that's one of those situations where he's another person to kind of bounce things off of, but I actually almost forgot where we were going with that conversation.
I apologize.
Oh, fixing things that people don't, you know, outside of the United States where maybe they're a bit more resourceful.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So Sherwood and I were talking about that.
And he recently started talking to some people from other countries too.
And we realized together while communicating that he said he was better off before the right to repair stuff because everything was cheaper.
We had Honda, Hyundai, Kia, or well, Genesis wasn't a thing back then, but Honda, Hyundai and Kia were all free service information and Honda was free to do module programming.
Right.
And then because of the right to repair legislation, they were legislated into making this resource more widely available, publicizing it, and then having to support this huge network of people that hadn't got training on it yet.
And their prices all shot up literally within a year.
All the service information, all the programming software, all of it was shot up.
Now it did solve some problems with some hero manufacturers that were just telling us to go, you know, lack of better turn, go pound sand, you know, no, we're not going to give it to you.
So that was nice.
But those cars that we dealt with every day, the prices of all of that software and stuff shot up quite a bit.
And Sherwood reminded me of that.
And that was kind of, you know, I agree.
But realistically, because we had that access, that legislation that we kind of got lazy as an industry, right?
It was just attended to us.
We go, we log onto a website, pay $19 to GM, get access to factory service information the same as dealership technician has for three days for 19 bucks.
So it's right there for us.
These other countries, they don't have that access.
So, you know, necessity is the mother of all invention.
And when you're setting there in a country that doesn't have any access to any of this information, any programming, there are people there that are resourceful, that are going to manufacture away.
They're going to build these tools, they're going to build software, they're going to find a way around.
So you can find a plethora of YouTube videos of three guys in Africa that get a car running that was left abandoned on the side of the road because it broke down.
And they'll get it fixed with two rocks, twigs and mud.
And with no service information, no wiring diagrams and drive it down the road.
Yeah.
No, I continue to be amazed by that.
I remember years ago I was watching a program about cars in Cuba and the big concern was fluids.
They didn't have oil.
They didn't have transmission fluid.
They didn't have brake fluid that we use in shampoo for brake fluid, which is something I guess that if I was by the side of the road, I'd never think, oh, I can't get brake fluid, but I can try shampoo.
And that could get me to where I need to go.
I mean, it was kind of amazing how they put parts and pieces together to make stuff work.
Before I let you go, a couple other quick questions.
Yeah.
Things like IATN, the International Automotive Technicians Network and similar databases of fixes like that.
Is that cheating or is that just another tool?
Oh, no.
It's another resource.
Right.
I mean, I completely believe it to be a terrible idea to read a code and go on to one of those resource fixes like Identifix or ITN and go, hey, 2019 Chevy truck, this code and it goes, oh, well, you know, 90% of them are fixed with this part and you go throw that part on there.
That's a problem.
Don't do that.
Definitely go look if you're not familiar with the platform.
Go look at that code.
Go look at the code set criteria and as part of your research, use one of those resources and go, wow.
This ABS module is extremely high failure rate.
Maybe go look at that data next and then prove it out with your normal diagnostic process that that is the fault.
I don't think it's cheating, but it's bad.
It's bad to do to just throw the part at it.
You don't learn anything.
You don't learn anything that way.
Right.
Right.
And when you determine that part, the Dutch fail often is failed.
Go look at the data, snapshot all the data before and after code sets, voltages, everything, change the part after you've confirmed that's the part.
And then go back and look at the same data and come up with a plan to be able to test that same problem faster next time.
And that's how I've built that diagnostic business and that process is based upon that.
Learning what all this stuff means and how quickly can we diagnose this problem to get everyone back on the road and taken care of.
Right.
Right.
And do you this?
This is like asking if you have a favorite kid.
Do you have a favorite scan tool?
Oh, yeah.
So for OEM scan tools, my favorite tool to use, I'm going to go both.
My favorite tool to use is, unfortunately, Stalantis, Chrysler, Fiat, whatever you want to call it this week.
Stalantis has put, you know, Pugio Citroen owns them now.
So it's the Y-Tech scan tool.
It's by far the nicest user interface and it's wireless and it's a website.
So you plug in a dongle, pull out your cell phone and you've got the factory scan tool in your hands.
For aftermarket scan tool, my current favorite is for traditional aftermarket scan tools like the Autel Ultra S2.
I got it recently.
The AI stuff built in the S2 is awesome.
And then when we go specialty aftermarket, I've got to say it's an eye between like the iScan and the Drive Pro Plus 2.
Those are two different worlds of it.
It's hard to pick one favorite.
It is, but I got like sectors of it.
I got a favorite OEM, a favorite traditional aftermarket.
Then we get to that specialty aftermarket stuff in the Euro world.
Those two tools are awesome, but they're so different.
One's really a tool, one's a platform.
Right.
The, you know, the tools and, you know, like you said, you know, if you can have a favorite tool.
And, but when you're putting it all together and trying to make it all work, I think it's important to get comfortable.
You know, whether you're using an Autel, Snap-on, you know, Icon T10, X-Tool topped on, you need to just be able to use it.
You need to be comfortable using it, right?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
You've got to get training on it.
You've got to understand what all the buttonology is, understand the difference between programming, coding, initializing, all those things.
Learn what the limitation is so you know what you're capable of and what you need to get something else for.
Yeah.
You mentioned a scan tool with built-in AI and one of my favorite videos that Sherwood did was where he used AI to diagnose a no-start issue in a Honda.
And it was pretty good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're using AI every day.
Yeah.
All across the board.
We use AI note takers.
I've got a plot that I wear often.
I'm not wearing it now, but normally during some kind of conversation where I want to go back and recant what was said or understand what was said or bring it back up and go, hey, hold on.
I think I've misheard what was said.
I can go back and listen to that.
It's awesome.
It summarizes everything.
We're using tools for our technicians to talk into, to summarize their diagnostic notes.
We've built software because AI has made that in, like, I spent some time learning how to code for years and years and years ago and built little pieces here and there.
But ever since AI, it's jump started our capabilities.
We've got internal software for looking at our tickets and building almost a fixed database.
We can search this car, this code, and if we've ever seen it before, we're going to bring up our notes.
And it's pretty awesome.
There's AI into the tool that should be leveraged.
Yeah, I agree.
And it's kind of funny.
Years and years ago, I was a certified auto damage appraiser.
I thought it'd be a nice little sideline business to get into.
I decided after a while I didn't.
But someone sent me a picture of a crashed car a couple of weeks ago.
And, you know, I looked at it and I kind of, you know, they wanted to know what it would cost to fix it.
I'm like, you know, a little hard from pictures, but they supplied a bunch of pictures.
And, you know, I kind of went back to my old resources and took a guess at it.
But I also used one of Gronk or chat or one of those, put the year make model, provided all the pictures.
I want to say we were within a couple hundred dollars of each other.
Yeah.
It was pretty amazing that a, you know, database could come up with that based on pictures.
I was just, first off, fascinated it even worked, but also amazed at how well it worked.
Yeah, and that's, I mean, the collision history is using that today.
All the ADOS tools that are out there, ADOS Think and Rev and all of them are using tools to scrub pictures.
And then to pull up vehicle build data and then areas of damage and then what associated repairs are required around that type of damage.
It's, you know, AI is going to make more millionaires and I'm quoting Gary B here.
I didn't come with this on my own, but AI will make AI will make more millionaires in the next five years and what the internet did in the last 30.
Yeah.
No, pretty amazing.
Keith, if people want to, and first off, I want to thank you for taking time out of your day and joining us being as busy as you are.
If people want to find out more information about you, your business, your training, how to get in touch with your training, what's the best way to do that?
Our website, L1training.com, and that's the letter L, the number one, the word training.com.
There's an events tab with all the events we hold at our shop.
There's a link to our YouTube stuff there.
There's a ton of resources.
Yeah, it's a subscription based model.
So to log in and see all the videos, but there's about 210 hours of video on there now and we add a little bit extra every week.
So every Monday evening, for the most part, I do one hour of training live.
So if you're a member, you can log in and watch the training.
It's 25 bucks a month.
It's one of those things.
It's built out to the point where if you're a shop or even a technician, it's extremely affordable.
Skip Starbucks for three days in a row and you've paid for the subscription.
I was going to say beer and pizza, but either way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There you go.
There you go.
Keith, again, thank you for taking some time out of your Sunday joining us, helping educate us, talking to my audience and letting them know about some of the challenges that you face in the automotive industry and also some of the tools that help make it maybe a little bit easier for both repair shop owners and the consumers who own those cars.
Absolutely.
Thanks, John.
Appreciate it.
All right.
Thanks, Keith.
All right.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Keith Perkins, L1 Diagnostics, Level 1 Diagnostics.
Check out his website.
Check out everything he has to offer.
I've seen him come up a few times on different things.
When I hear his name mentioned on other people's YouTube channels, that's kind of how I found him.
Obviously, a very knowledgeable guy.
Check it all out, whether you're a DIYer, whether you're a shop that's listening today or listening later on the Internet either way.
Check it all out.
Great stuff there.
We need to take a break.
We're running way behind here.
You're listening to the Car Docs program on 959WATD.
We'll be right back.
Find that with great rates on insurance, hotel, gas and buying savings, and discounts on 8,700 brands.
And you're covered on and off the road.
Get a special membership offer today at aaa.com slash joy.
That's aaa.com slash joy.
We've got you covered live at 5 every Sunday night.
Have a question for our host, Miss Last Week Show, or just want to share a great sports story, you can find us on Twitter at Essie on WATD.
But remember, mark your calendar, folks, and we'll see you Sunday night at 5 for the sports exchange on 959WATD.
Make an appointment Sunday morning at 11 for John Paul, the Car Doctor, on 959WATD.
Now, back to the Car Doctor.
And welcome back to the Car Docs program on 959WATD.
What a smart guy.
You know, I feel smarter just listening to him.
If you want to join us on phone number 7818374900, 7818374900, or you can text us if we remember how to do the texty thing.
Jesse, you still remember how to do the text message thing?
Oh, definitely.
Oh, okay. Just checking.
You know, let's talk to Robert and Tings about it.
Good morning, John.
Long time no speak.
Yeah, well, take advantage of the storm at Cancel Church because they're the same time you are.
Unfortunately, I have to listen to the podcast.
Well, hopefully you're Christmas and we're pleasant.
Well, you know, where I'm spending part of my life in Florida these days, we had my nephew, his wife, and his three kids coming to visit.
And we spent, and we wanted to make them feel a little like New England.
So we had, and it sounds kind of like a lot, but it really wasn't.
We had lobster rolls on the beach on Christmas Day.
Sounds good.
And there's a local shop here who had, they were running us, you know, big surprise for people to know me.
They were running a sale on lobster rolls, so they were actually pretty inexpensive.
And there were New England lobster rolls, with New England style hot dog rolls.
So it was great.
Yeah, that's all really good.
I have a question as far as luxury cars, you know, luxuses and BMWs, these matte and flat finishes that they pay a lot extra for.
Do you think that's a fed and if so, or if it isn't, what's the value of those cars and isn't it limited to the amount of customers that might want one?
Yeah, I mean, it's just like anything like that, it's, you know, it's going to appeal to certain amounts of people.
I remember the first time I saw Mercedes with the flat finish.
I thought something was wrong with it.
I'm like, why would you want this?
Prima.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And you're right, it was a flat gray.
And I was like, I just don't get it.
But it's one of those things that, like all things, I think it really, it's somewhat cyclical.
It's like, oh, let's try this, you know, it'll be popular with the, you know, percentage of people.
And then all of a sudden the novelty will wear off and people want shiny paint again.
I mean, the same thing right now.
Some of the odd colors of cars, you know, some of the weird, like, I mean, shiny finishes, but like weird green, gray.
And I've had people look at, I was driving a Toyota over the summertime and it was in that sort of weird battleship gray color.
And two different women walked by the house and said, oh, I love the color of that car.
And I'm like, really?
Really?
But they, but, you know, but you look back, you know, you know, back in the 80s, you know, look at some of the, you know, fancy cars in the 80s.
BMW 850, Ferrari Testerosa, those cars now look like, you know, 80s hairstyles.
They just, you know, it's like, what, what were we thinking?
Why did we think that was a good looking car?
And I think it's going to be, my guess is it's going to be the same thing with, with these paint finishes on some of these cars.
And in a few years, people say, I wonder why that was popular, but I could be completely wrong.
You know, I mean, when you're paying $1,500 to make your car look worse by some people's expectations.
I mean, I grew up in the 50s and 50s.
We had cars that were prime because the guys couldn't afford a paint job.
Right.
Spray can primary.
Oh yeah.
And, and, you know, primer, primer back then was cheap.
You could, you could prime a car pretty inexpensively.
So yeah.
No.
I agree with you 100%.
I remember the, the first time I, you know, one of the first times I had one of those flat color cars.
I'm like, I wonder if I can take it home and wax it, you know, make it shiny.
And you do it.
And actually you have to put the same amount of effort into it to keep it clean.
You know, you still need to, you still need to polish it because if you don't, that flat finish just gets affected by the environment.
So it's not like, it's not like you can look at it and say, oh, it's just, you know, I never have to do anything.
No, you have to do a lot.
Yeah.
I would imagine the pours collect a lot more dirt than the glass.
Yeah.
I mean, it's still paint.
At the end of the day, it's still paint.
So, so you still have to take care of it.
But yeah.
Yeah.
Well, great talking to you again.
All right, Robert.
We'll see you when the next time will be.
All right.
All right.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Let's go over to Ken in Toppsfield.
And good morning to you, John.
Good morning.
How are you?
I'm well.
Thank you.
And just like you spoke to a smart guy earlier, I'm going to speak to a smart guy now and
get your opinion on top of it.
Well, you know, talk to, talk to Jesse then.
He's a smart guy.
My friend.
I'll see if I can find one.
A 2011 GLK Mercedes GLK 350 and the power steering.
The fluid seems to be down just a little.
It's original fluid.
I don't think it's ever been added.
We've had the power for six years and 150,000.
It's great.
So I was going to put in, well, it ain't like the old days, just grab automatic transmission
fluid.
It's like everything.
I better check.
So I went online and that's like, that can be a mistake because, you know, it's like,
if you go for a helping, they can say you've had a cold or cancer.
Well, you have to use certain stuff and it said CHF 1150 specialized thing.
So I went in the owner's manual and it said MB power steering fluid or approved on three
ATF.
I went, hmm, okay.
And then I thought, can I mix the two or, and if I don't know if you can.
So what I should use and be is power steering fluid like brake fluid, which you had a great
idea about the drumstick, the sticker to bin and help power.
That's a great idea.
I do it now with all my cars.
What do I do with power steering fluid?
What should I use?
Yeah, it, you know, it is, you know, it is kind of funny.
It is, you know, it's, it's a certain kind of power steering fluid.
Is it, is it really different?
I, you know, is it really just automatic transmission fluid?
There is, there's a, the worst part is that no real, they don't even agree.
I mean, you know, if I went to look up, you know, power steering, you know, gear oils, there's
like they, even they have, even Mercedes has two different listings on it, you know,
which, which makes it more difficult.
And I saw the CHF, you know, there's an 11S and there's a 616.
And I mean, it's very expensive.
It's like $40 for a court maybe.
Yeah, I think, and they're, you know, they have something, you know, it's, I can't even,
I can't, I got to think back to what it was.
It's like pentason or something like that.
It's a hydraulic oil that, that they use in convertible top motors, power steering, all that kind of stuff.
That's probably, I would probably, you know, is there an equivalent to that?
I don't, I don't know.
You'd keep it what, if you didn't know, you'd go to the either the Mercedes dealer and tell them what you got
and tell them to give you what you should, because I don't want to mix the wrong thing.
Right.
Because they may not mix.
Yeah.
So I think I'm going to.
Yeah.
And, and all I remember about the, if that's how it's even pronounced, pentason, all I remember,
because I was looking at it in, it's a, it's, it's a mineral oil based stuff.
And all I remember it was green.
Yep.
It was kind of a green color.
And I would just, you know, I would just, I would probably, now that I, now that I took a guess at trying to spell it.
Yeah.
One quart metal container, it's a lot of it comes in a metal container at O'Reilly's is $45.
Yeah.
That's why I wanted to want to, I don't want to screw things up.
No.
No.
And I, I hate to say it, but I would probably bite the bullet and spend the 45 bucks to top it off.
Would you, would you top it off or would you suck them out?
I would.
Well, if I spent $45 on one liter of this stuff, I'd probably suck some out and put some fresh stuff in there because I had it because chances are you're probably never going to use it again.
So you might as well use what you got.
Well, and should that be changed periodically just like brake fluid?
You know, brake fluid, brake fluid attracts moisture.
Moisture makes rust.
Rust is what is the enemy of the ABS brake system.
Hydraulic fluid like this mineral oils, hydraulic fluid doesn't attract moisture the same way.
It doesn't cause the same issues that brake fluid does.
Should you change it periodically?
You know, I've, I've drained out power steering fluid that looked like mud and replaced it with fresh fluid and the car actually, you know, went down the road better, felt better.
If the fluid, if the fluid looks reasonably good, I don't think I'd worry too much about it.
But, you know, you know, if you want to suck out a few ounces of it and put in a few new ounces to top it off, I don't see any problem with doing that.
Well, for $40, I might as well get something bang for my buck.
That's right. That's right.
Hey, you're the best. I certainly appreciate that. And I hope you don't have to shovel in Florida.
Not so far, although I, you know, for, I know this sounds not bad, but the next week or 10 days coming, I don't think it's going to get out of the 60s and it might actually get down to the high 30s.
So it's going to be a little, it's going to be a little chilly and the Florida people here will have their uggs on in their puffy winter jackets on. So.
Okay. All right.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Take care. All right. Take care. Bye-bye. Let's talk to Mike and Bridgewater. Michael.
Michael.
Morning, John.
Good morning.
Morning, sir. Well, I don't know if you feel this might be a good day for you, even maybe a lucky day.
First of all, Patriots are playing for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.
That's good.
Yeah. And second of all, you're in Florida and the gentleman said, yeah, I hope you don't have to shovel. Yeah.
But we've got up to two feet of snow.
Yeah.
So question is, wouldn't you wipe a blade up or down?
I'm a down guy. I'm not an up guy.
And I will say, and I will say, here's, here's why, and maybe it's not a good answer, but I have never, I read a lot of owner's manuals.
You know, when we were talking to Keith Perkins earlier from L1 Diagnostics, you know, we're talking about all data on Michelin motors and all that stuff.
And then sometimes I actually go to the owner's manual and, you know, somebody will say to me, well, the dealer says I need to do this, this and this or how often.
And I look and I go, well, page 621 of the owner's manual says you should do this.
So I read a lot of owners manuals.
I don't, I've never read an actual book, but I've, I read a lot of owners manuals and I, and I've never seen an owner's manual say in the event of a winter storm, put the windshield wipers in the up position.
I've never seen that, never seen that anywhere.
And that's sometimes in some cars, it's called the service position where if you're going to change a wiper blade, you start the wipers, put them partly up, flip them up like that.
But I've never seen a manufacturer say in the event of a winter storm, put the wipers up like that.
So because of that, I say no.
The other part of it is, and people say, well, the windshield wipers are going to freeze in the windshield.
Yeah, okay, they probably will.
But chances are you're also going to go out there and, you know, start the car up and put it onto frost and throw the window out anyway.
The only good thing, probably not the only good thing.
The only good thing, though, about putting the windshield wipers up is it reminds you to shut them off too often.
I run into issues where people pull in in a snowy day, just shut the car off and walk away.
And then they get out the next day, they go to start the car and the wipers are trying to move a foot of snow off the windshield.
And if you're lucky, you know, it moves the snow.
If you're unlucky, it pops a fuse.
If you're really unlucky, it burns out a wiper motor.
So the one good thing about leaving the wipers in the up position, to do that, you have to remember to shut the wipers off.
So because of that, that's an advantage.
You know, AAA was in the auto glass business for a bunch of years on some really windy days where we had kind of ice storms.
We ended up replacing some windshields for people because they had the wipers up.
The wind caught the ice filled wiper, smacked it on the glass and ended up breaking the windshield.
So that's not good.
And the other thing is if you routinely put your wipers up and down, you stretch that spring that holds tension, that holds the wiper to the glass.
That's a good point. That was kind of my next question. Does it affect the spring at all?
Because the springs really meant to hold the wiper on the glass.
It's not meant to pull all the way up and then stretch all the way back.
You know, it's meant to do that once a year when you go to change the wiper blades, but that's really all.
So, you know, because of that, all those reasons, but you know, even one of my coworkers, and for some reason, a couple of years ago, I did an interview about wipers up, wipers down.
And in the last week or so, a bunch of outlets have reused that.
And I saw one in Tennessee and another one in Ohio that says, John Paul, the AAA car doctor says, keep your wipers down for all these reasons.
But even myself and the PR guy for our New York office, Robert Sinclair, we don't agree. He's a Mr. Wiper's up guy.
But my argument goes back to, one day, I'm going to open up a car owner's manual and just going to say, if it's going to snow, put your wipers up, put them in the wiper service position.
But I haven't seen that happen yet. So, wipers down.
Okay, so according to the John Paul owner's manual, wipers down on page 653.
All right, I got it.
And make sure you shut the wipers off.
Shut them off first, shut off first, read letters and all that.
All right.
All right, John, thank you.
All right, thanks. Why don't we take another quick break and when we come back, we'll talk to John and Melrose.
My name's John Paul. This is the car doctor program. You'll be listening on 959 WATD. We'll be right back.
You're buying that with great rates of insurance, hotel, gas and buying savings and discounts on 8,700 brands and you're covered on and off the road.
Get a special membership offer today at aaa.com slash join. That's aaa.com slash join.
Make an appointment Sunday morning at 11 for John Paul, the car doctor on 959 WATD. Now back to the car doctor.
And welcome back to the car doctor program. We've got about five minutes left, but let's talk to John and Melrose.
John, good morning.
Good morning, Mr. John Paul. This is another John Paul calling from Melrose. My question is, the new license plate from Massachusetts, the blue ones, have you seen them?
Oh yeah, the ones that look like they belong on a car from Tennessee.
Yeah, right. My question is, I want to buy a frame that goes around the license plate, but I want a shield on the front of it.
Now they have two different shields, one you can see through and the one that's kind of smoked a bit. Does it make a difference according to the police or the registry or when you get a sticker or whatever, if that one that smoked makes a difference?
So they want that removed or what do you know?
They just changed the law and the law used to be, you couldn't have anything on the license plate to cover up any of the numbers, the state name, the sticker or any of that kind of stuff.
Okay.
I would personally, I wouldn't probably go with anything but a clear cover only because you're not going to, I don't think you're going to offend anybody that way.
But still, it's really about the reflectivity. I think the clear cover does that, but all the law says is the plate's got to be clearly visible and readable from 60 feet away.
And if the cover's tinted enough that it's sort of, you can't read the plate from 60, 90, 100 feet, whatever it is away, you potentially could get pulled over.
Yeah.
So I would just to keep, you know, yeah, yeah. So I would, I would, if I was going to do anything because I wanted to preserve the finish on the plate, I would just do a clear cover.
That's what I might do. My other question is the sticker on the rear plate that you put on the top.
Now, with the cover on the covering the plate now, so from year to year, you've got to change that number that's on the plate.
Do they actually want that on your plate or could that be on that cover?
You know, personally, I would take the cover off every two years and stick a new sticker on it.
Yeah, I only because, first off, I think it's going to look weird if you do it on the outside. I don't know. I would just, I would take it off and just do that.
I would, you know, every, every two years is a good excuse to take the license plate off and clean under it where it collects all the dirt and garbage anyway.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Okay.
Have a good day.
You as well. Stay dry.
All right now.
All right now.
Let's see.
Well, we were talking.
I looked it up and I said, well, not explicitly banned if the cover is tinted enough to hinder identification.
Police can pull you over for an obstructed plate.
Yeah, these rules, they really lightened up these rules.
I remember for a while, they were talking about trailer hitch balls, bicycle racks, anything that blocked the plate was, was, was illegal.
And I remember talking to Bernie Schipoletti, caught from Burlington, Mass.
And he said to me, I said, what do you do when you see this thing goes, they're not criminals.
They're just families going on vacation.
So good enough.
Well, that music means it's time for us to go.
Jesse wrote this song in, in like 13 seconds.
Very talented.
I think I want more upbeat.
Okay.
All right.
Next time.
There we go.
All right.
You'll listen to the car doctor program in 959 WATD until next week.
Make sure you're wearing seatbelts.
Drive safely.
Be good to your car.
And if you do see an emergency vehicle by the side of the road, slow down or move over.
It saves lives.
Talk to you next week.
Bye bye.
Bye.
About this episode
Keith Perkins of L1 Diagnostics shares insights into his multifaceted automotive business, which includes mobile diagnostics, a brick-and-mortar shop, and training programs. He discusses the challenges faced by shop owners, the importance of ongoing education and proper tooling, and the impact of right-to-repair legislation. Perkins emphasizes the need for technicians to utilize available resources and the role of AI in modern diagnostics. The conversation also touches on the significance of visual inspections and networking within the automotive community.
Original notes
On this snowy Sunday in Massachusetts, we chat with Keith Perkins of L1 Diagnostics. Keith is not just a repair shop owner but an automotive instructor, mobile repair/diagnostic and social media personality. We also talk with our listener family
The Car Doctor Podcast
John Paul
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56:55