The Importance of Being Able to Methodically Diagnose

[gerryvz]

I subscribe to this YouTube channel because this mechanic, who owns an independent Lexus/Toyota shop in the Chicago area, is really an excellent guy. I love his videos and how he approaches things, and how he does business.

This was an interesting saga of how he diagnosed and found an issue that confounded Lexus dealers and so-called “experts.”

It’s really worth watching this entire video (use 1.5x playback speed) to have the shop owner tell you how they solved this very difficult to find issue that came down to ….. a cheap aftermarket crank position sensor. Essentially the Lexus equivalent of “URO” parts….

 

[emerydc8]

Wow, this guy offered to put the old parts back on the customer’s car at no charge and eat the cost of the new parts because the old ones turned out to be good? That’s above-and-beyond service. Excellent lesson on fake parts.

 

[gerryvz]

He really is an honest and very old-school mechanic. He does what is right for his customers. I love how he explains stuff. I started watching him because he talks a lot about Lexus topics, including quite a number of videos that are very relevant to our Lexus ownership.

His persistence in this case was admirable.

 

[gsxr]

Great story. I am curious what dealer installed counterfeit plugs & coils.

Key points here were having another of the same vehicle to compare data with, to spot the incorrect waveform. And, he had to know the minutiae about a weak battery causing a false crank sensor fault code, to understand when & why the original crank sensor was replaced with a cheap counterfeit.

Nice to see there are still good shops out there! Need more MB techs like this (coughKlinkcough).

 

[gerryvz]

That knowledge about the false crank sensor code and weak battery is institutional knowledge that only a dedicated and experienced mechanic would know, who is very familiar with the marque.

Exactly the sort of knowledge that exists here on this forum.

One example: the M119 KE and LH distributor cap moisture issue. How many shops has this problem confounded? Dozens? Hundreds? Replacing the caps and rotors fixes the problem. Temporarily. But only the institutional knowledge here actually pinpointed the problem, and created a fix for it.

 

[bclifton]

Ahmed is amazing - he's done a lot of great videos. One of my favorite semi-recent ones has been the "How AC compressors work"

Thanks for sharing (didn't see this one yet)

 

[gsxr]

This guy is Japanese Klink! Great video on the compressor designs. MB also switched to variable displacement compressors, I think circa 2000 or so.

He's 100% right, if your AC is working well, leave it alone. I didn't realize there were people who think a working AC system needs any kind of service or maintenance... or, that unscrupulous shops would take their money for an unnecessary service. (I bet some just take their money and do nothing after confirming the system is working normally.)

 

[Jlaa]

I subscribe to this YouTube channel because this mechanic, who owns an independent Lexus/Toyota shop in the Chicago area, is really an excellent guy. I love his videos and how he approaches things, and how he does business.

This was an interesting saga of how he diagnosed and found an issue that confounded Lexus dealers and so-called “experts.”

It’s really worth watching this entire video (use 1.5x playback speed) to have the shop owner tell you how they solved this very difficult to find issue that came down to ….. a cheap aftermarket crank position sensor. Essentially the Lexus equivalent of “URO” parts….

Ohhhhh thanks! I watch this guy too!!! I love the fact that he is so straightforward with no hype / no hysterics. In particular I like how he analyzes new Toyotas and looks at all the components and talks about how much commonality there is within the TNGA platform and comments on how easy / hard the car would be to fix.

I looooooove the fact that he takes the time and effort to establish a pattern to the CEL for this Lexus to determine the root cause. Almost no one has this kind of patience anymore .... everyone just brings out the parts cannon!

 

[gsxr]

I looooooove the fact that he takes the time and effort to establish a pattern to the CEL for this Lexus to determine the root cause. Almost no one has this kind of patience anymore .... everyone just brings out the parts cannon!

The 1st video was fascinating because there WAS NO MISFIRE. Only a Check Engine light, and codes reporting misfires, but no actual misfiring was observed. Yet, the parts cannon was loaded with hundreds of dollars of coils, plugs, and sensors... to no avail.

 

[gerryvz]

Great story. I am curious what dealer installed counterfeit plugs & coils.

I think he said that his theory was that a battery shop / quick change operation replaced the CKP when they changed the battery with an Interstate, because the car had thrown a CKP code at that time, due to the weak battery. And of course, no battery / quick change shop would know that a weak battery would trigger a CKP code as a by-product. Only a Toyota/Lexus specialist would know something like that, in that instance. Hell, the dealer didn't even know that !!

 

[ABM_]

Hi Gerryvz,

I've been following Ahmed since he was filming in his garage, back before he even had his own shop set up. He is fantastic.

If you’re into methodical diagnostics, you’re going to love this channel.
Sending it your way in case you haven't seen it yet.

DiagnoseDan

My name is DiagnoseDan and this is my channel. I try to fix everything, but my daily job is fixing cars and i'll try to make you a better mechanic. So if you want to learn more about fixing cars stay tuned to my channel. check out my website 👇 https://www.diagnosedan.com/ For questions and...

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