Which model year is easier to service: the 2011 or the 2016? I started my career as a motorcycle mechanic in the late 1960s. The local Honda shop needed a helper. After a day, I was hooked. I worked for…

Armed with smartphones, Google and Amazon.com, customers are repairing their own rides. Sometimes, experience-based information systems can help diagnose a vehicle. I said sometimes because these systems can lead a technician down the wrong diagnostic path. As independent repair professionals,…

Curious tech sinks his teeth into a start-stop problem with a Prius hybrid. My check engine light came on in my Prius,” one of my customers told me. “Is it OK to drive it home?” “Is it running OK?” I…

How easy, or hard, is it to service the Gen III vehicle? For more than 15 years, Prius has been known as the quintessential hybrid. Sales have been so strong that at one time there was a waiting list, and…

When fuses get “smoked,” don’t go bonkers. Instead, do a deep diagnostic dig. With vehicles staying on the roads longer than ever before, we’re seeing more age-related issues with our customers’ cars. With age comes the increasing probability for human…

The speedometer drops off,” my friend Lee told me when he brought in a Jeep Grand Cherokee he wanted fixed. “Then the gauges quit and all the warning lights come on. This thing has been acting crazy on and off…

Let’s take a look at Kia. Is it easy to service? Kia was a poorly made car when this Korean car company brought its 1994 Sephia to America. Kia made cars for Ford/Mazda prior to 1994, but most people had…

More issues call for more diagnostic ‘what-ifs’ With the average age of vehicles on the road hitting an all-time high of 11.4 years, I continue to revise my path of diagnostic “what ifs?” The preponderance of age-related issues creates the…

Honda makes great small cars. How does the new Fit stack up? Hondas are a favorite of mine. So being critical of Honda is not easy for me. This month, we will examine the 2015 Honda Fit and see what…

It’s fun to revisit old friends. In a service and repair world filled with CAN/BUS systems, scan tool diagnoses, and iATN archives, I found a recent repair interesting due to its lack of these technical needs. My customer arrived with…

It’s your best approach to tracking down the problem(s). Problem description: Check electrical system. The battery goes dead after sitting a couple days. “Oh, yeah,” the customer said, “there was a lightning strike in the parking lot where I work…

Did Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mullaly do anything to improve the serviceability of his products? This month we will examine the Lincoln MKZ. Two years after I closed my shop to pursue my career full time in hybrid technical…

It brings adventures, like solving this Explorer’s problem. One of the great joys of being an automotive technician is the thrill each day brings. I know: That may be a much too cheerful interpretation…

Troubleshooting hybrids takes knowledge and a great deal of hands-on experience, yet the payoff is worth it It’s been a busy time for hybrids in my shop. The training schedule has been hectic and the buying and selling is starting…

Toyota is gaining speed again … is it on the right track? Once again we will examine a new model that has just been re-engineered. Is fixing and maintaining a 2014 Toyota Highlander less difficult than fixing and maintaining the…

With no vehicle history whatsoever, a clunker gets revived I recently had a customer begin our conversation with seven terrifying words: “I got this great deal on Craigslist!” I cringed a bit. How do you react to this situation? [caption…

Troubleshooting transmission on ’96 Chevy truck gets complicated with circuits. Winter in the Midwest brings in some real humdinger problems for us here at CRT Electronics. The one I’m currently working on is, of course, a rush job because the…