Broken wires can be some of the hardest things to diagnose. Especially if its not completely broken but randomly just doesn't work.

@evenflo75

Жыл бұрын

the intermittent ones that are broken but make frequent contact are shitty.

@davidhenderson3400

Жыл бұрын

@@evenflo75 They are beyond shitty.

@toyorover1313

Жыл бұрын

Yup. Overlay to the rescue.

@Underskore

Жыл бұрын

so you mean my car? turn fan onto speed 1, ciggarrete lighter dies and the stereo makes a massive static noise through it.. turns out the ground wire broke.

@bananajones9396

Жыл бұрын

God, don't get me started on partly broken wires lol

That's why I hate electrical issues finding it can be extremely difficult but the repair is the fastest part of the job.

I used to do auto electrical. I used to have this little round gauge, that kind of looks like an old speedometer, that had magnets in it. I forget what it was called. You could turn on the ignition and then run it over a wire harness, and it would detect a break in the wires using magnetic frequency. The needle would oscillate back and forth and vibrate as you ran it over the wire harness. It would detect a break in the wires and the needle would start flipping out. It was great. Love that tool!.

@fredflintstone8048

Жыл бұрын

I have something similar to that, it's a toner.. It's made up of two parts. It has a transmitter that puts a signal on a wire, and a probe for following the wire. Of course you have to choose the wire you're looking to trace which will take a certain amount of time after you figure out which wire it is, and that it is in fact broken.

@vernonbosshard9317

7 ай бұрын

Like a growler for motor windings.

@JohnSmith-xu7ev

3 ай бұрын

I know what you are talking about, but cant remember the name. I think lisle makes it

1 dollar to fix the wire, 499 to figure out where it's broken at.

@austin702

Жыл бұрын

I’ve heard something similar with software engineers: $1 to copy and paste code from Stack Overflow, $1,000 to figure out WHAT code to copy

@russellbishop2140

7 ай бұрын

^^definitely true with software, also to fix it on the fly when the original code inevitably fails. It’s harder with video-games because if you want to make it unique by adding some new mechanic, there probably isn’t any existing work done, and as far as patch updates go that’s a whole ball of wax on its own.

I’ve watched this guy go to great lengths toFIX the problem and not just throw parts at the problem many times. Not all techs are worth their diag time but this man is worth the money!!!!!

Time and knowledge of how to find the problem and fix it is priceless.... The newer that harder....

The customer should be happy that we were able to find and fix the problem in the first place.

@desiraeandchrisrichardson5977

Жыл бұрын

Yes they should be but kind hard wen the shops look at a book an it says 2 hours to change brakes at 105 a hour wen it only takes 30mins

@tylerrobbins9126

Жыл бұрын

@@desiraeandchrisrichardson5977 they go by book times

@victormendoza871

Жыл бұрын

​@@desiraeandchrisrichardson5977 if you feel that way give it a shot doing it yourself. Brake pads are no big deal. But if your not a experienced mechanic you wont know to clean all the moving parts well and grease them. Sure you can watch a KZread video. But you wont have that muscle memory needed to know how the feeling of bolts being removed. A experiences guy will know when hes about to break something and hot to fix it. Will you ? And if it happens will you have the skill and tools on hand to fix it? Sometimes that huge mechanic bill is 100 percent worth it. Remeber time is money. How do you want to spend your time ? As the guy suffering getting hurt, scratched,filthy and smashed or the person enjoying the working vehicle cuz remeber with out that all you have is the heel toe Express

@fredflintstone8048

Жыл бұрын

It's true, a lot of shops will pass on these kinds of problem calling them a 'no fix'..

@jameskirk3

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, but if you didn't fix anything at all, would you still bill the customer? GM, Ultimate GMC actually, did exactly that to me, then claimed that they don't typically work on "old" cars. (2010 Traverse) so the fact that they didn't actually fix anything, or even give me any answers ad to what I can rule out, didn't set well with me, when they billed me for over $360 and I still had to tow my car out of there, after they told me it would be fixed and driving.

You are one of the BEST MECHANICS I'VE EVER KNOWN. COME ON OVER TO TENNESSEE AND YOU WON'T HAVE TO FOOL WITH ALL THOSE RUST BUCKETS!

At my shop when I repaired vehicle wiring I told the customer “ I’ll fix the wire for free, you just pay for me to find it”. They understood much better then.

As good as you are Mike you deserve every penny for your diagnostic skills brother

Time taken to diagnose a problem never bothered me. It’s shops and dealerships that bill you 7 hours of labour for two scans while your vehicle has been at the shop for a total of three hours is what got me.

"fancy scan tool!" **Scotty Kilmer jazz hands **

@michaelkitchen6000

Жыл бұрын

Yep!

Very well explained! I’m a former mechanic/technician and I couldn’t have said it better

Well said! All the customer hears is it was a broken wire & was fixed. Everything else was not heard. Selective hearing, WOMEN are famous for this!!!

A broken wire in any harness is a pain to find sometimes. I’ve been a diesel/gas tech for 38 years and it doesn’t get any easier in finding them. Have a great week mike and God bless.

@fredflintstone8048

Жыл бұрын

It's often helpful to look for where the harness has been rubbing, or there was damage to it from a wreck that got repaired. Usually isn't near or at a connector.. Green crusties can be a clue.

Absolutely correct. I had a ecm harness rub a hole in a valve cover. So the dealership replaced the cover, but I was adamant about having a family member employed at the dealership do the work and he checked the loom and found damage jackets on conductors. I'm sure anyone else would've just swapped the cover and gave it back. 😁👍

@mph5896

Ай бұрын

I have seen that countless times in which the harness is not reseated properly after a repair.

As an electronics technician I can confirm that. And the hardest ones to find are the technician induced problems.

@kingpuff10

Жыл бұрын

Yah those turn into detective work

@wheels-n-tires1846

Жыл бұрын

Although the Operator Errors help make up for those...😂

@benjurqunov

Жыл бұрын

That's just another good reason we don't hire technicians.

A good seasoned mechanic that knows what he is looking for is worth every penny. You’re not just paying for the fix, but the experience and man hours and tools. Great videos!!

There’s nothing worse than an intermittent electrical problem. You can only hope that the problem occurs while you’re diagnosing the darn thing. When a wire breaks, it can keep a closed circuit until you hit a bump in the road, and then an open circuit happens and codes are created by the control unit, and after the bump in the road, the circuit closes again. The codes are still there but the problem is gone. Good times.

I diagnosed my own wire issue, but couldn't find the part. I asked a shop to replace the pigtail with the issue, but he told me it would be $75 per hour to diagnose. I told him all I wanted was the pigtail replaced. I'm an electronics technician with 30 years experience, and 2 years experience in small engine repair. He refused, so I walked away. Turns out the pigtail is not available. I found out at Ford, the only way to replace it would be to replace the entire headlamp assembly. I removed the connector and soldered each of the 3 wires directly to each other. Never had another issue with the turn signal again.

I appreciate that you take the time to explain things like this and then post it. You are the face and voice our industry needs. Thank you and God Bless!

I tell them my shop prices aren’t based on your income!!!

@AlphaandOmega0237

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like something an asshole would say. 1000% would never deal with you.

@williamgreen3316

Жыл бұрын

I say... Labor rate is not proportionate to the value of your vehicle.

@ProleDaddy

Жыл бұрын

Should charge rich folks more though.

@motorman111jld

Жыл бұрын

​@@ProleDaddy And why? Why should a "rich person" be punished for doing good for themselves? The repair is not income based. It based on repair time and shop Labor rates. If a rich person wants a loaf of bread, do they get charged more just because they are rich? No. They get charged the same... Before you assume or ask, no, I'm not rich. But I do know that the rich people own businesses and hire people to work for them. If they get hit with more taxes on their business, then they cut costs and usually that means downsizing and consolidation of employees. Honestly I do look at that as penalizing the rich for doing good and making good investments.

@ProleDaddy

Жыл бұрын

@@motorman111jldProfit is the expropriation of labor value from workers oppressed and exploited by a capitalist. Earnings and profit are distinctly different things, before you go down that path. Earnings are earned, profit is stolen.

AWESOME vid. I don't know how many times I went through this with customers. I also quit a few jobs that wanted me to do diagnosis for free because the owner was afraid to charge the customer.

Exactly! My dad had an 84 dodge with the slant 6. Spent 3 hours tracking down the fusible link in it and another hour getting the part and fixing it. Can’t imagine how AWFUL it is on newer cars. Doing auto electric is truly the lords work.

"Colt Ford - Working on" in the background... Damn, I always liked ya Mike, but now you got my heart 😂❤

I was once told by fellow technician, “they don’t pay for how quickly I was able to fix it, they pay for the education and experience I have to be able to fix it that quickly”.

@corythomas4427

Жыл бұрын

That fellow tech is a smart person. Ever had to have that conversation with a service writer or shop owner? If not, I hope you never have to. If they want to discount the customer, that's between them and the customer. Not you and your paycheck.

@jimmulone2422

Жыл бұрын

@@corythomas4427 I have had that conversation or a similar one. And I agree with what you said. It’s on them not on my check. Now I work on big trucks for a big company and they pay hourly. I put in an honest effort they put out an honest paycheck, and life goes on.

@MikeHudson-px2gc

Жыл бұрын

Remember that when you get a medical bill as well.

"It's probably a short" 😂 thanks buddy, glad you were here to help me out

I don't know if they are still around, but there was a shop in Indy that specialized in automotive electrical issues. Their advertising pitch was "You won't lose your pants when we trace your shorts."

Amen brother. I've got about 32 years experience in the auto repair business and I know where you're coming from on that. I've spent days looking for wiring problems. Of course that was a few hours a day but it all adds up into hours of labor.

No shop gives an estimate for electrical issues, like you said, 20 minutes or 20 hours. I'd rather be lucky than just good....at electrical

@fredflintstone8048

Жыл бұрын

Luck doesn't get you too far these days.. Look at the schematics for cars made in the last 10 years. thousands of wires. It takes knowledge, and skill to do this work day in and day out.

Yes I agree with you 100%, it takes time to find the problem and fix it.

I really appreciate the work to find/fix the problem on vehicles. I do much of my own but when I can't find the problem I take it to the pros. My heart drops when I see the hourly rate upwards of $100 per hour. The technician does not receive that much. Dealerships rip off the workers and the customer. The independent shops can be: a) very expensive, b) very overbooked, c) great at fixing but sloppy at putting things back the way they were or as I have seen too lazy to put the bolt back in the bracket and rely on the world's strongest ziptie. I know several good people who do damn fine work. They are not cheap and they are not quick. They are in high demand. What upsets me are the mediocre mechanics who charge top rates and do not stand behind their work.

Exactly. It's your time and Experience that everyone is Paying for and If I was in your area and Couldn't fix it myself I'd definitely be heading to your shop Bro Because I see how Easy going Honest and hard amazing mechanic you are and there's not many like you out there. Thanks for all the Content you've posted and More to come. Keep up the great work man. Every video is always helpful not just to me but Many many others I'm sure 💯

I have a 2010 T110 Bobcat track loader. Started overheating, called mobile mechanic out, $1300, fans bad. Installed new new fans, still overheating. Took Bobcat to dealer, 2 hrs to find bad ground. Worth every penny.

What drives me cra z y is the 3 days I spent trying to find the problem. Then the real mechanic finds it in 5 minutes

Cost of parts to repair broken wire: $10 Cost of having the knowledge to find the broken wire: $490

Thank you very much Mike great honest work you definitely one of the best. You tell the truth and you tell it like it is. The real deal. That will always keep us all blessed and making that living. take care brother

I like this guy, he gets it. Oh, and don't forget about the cost of the subscription to service information!

Yep. I spent 2 weeks last year tracing down a short to ground in my daughters car. I untaped almost every harness in the car even with full schematics. It was a nightmare. I can’t imagine what it would’ve cost for a pro to find it.

I'm an HVAC/R and commercial kitchen equipment tech and believe me I feel for you I spend huge chunks of my day looking at wiring schematics and tracing wires to find a loose connection on a safety switch buried in the bowels of some machine.

Yes!! The hard part is proper, accurate troubleshooting!!!

Troubleshooting is tough. I was working MD-80 and when I came to work there were blueprints with different colored markers tracing the circuits. They had 16 hours with several tech's. A relay was on order and they were waiting for it. Crew chief asked me to look. The speakers in the aft lavatories would not mute or go to a lower volume. I pulled the panels with the speakers. There are 3 terminals with different levels. They were on the lowest level therefore all I did was move the wire to another. Presto! I learned from my father to look at simple things first.

Bmw e39 M sport 2001 crank no start.. checked fuses, relays, fuel pump, pipes, key.. No petroleum at the rail (no not out of fuel) watched many of utubes none had the answer but they did help me and it was the last one i watched which fired up the brain cells & took me to more fuses, relays, Dmc/ecu. Pulled relays, pulled fuses, pulled plugs from ecu... Aha ~ green pins, missing pins & a few hot wires later,, she’s running 👍 #Savedmeloadsadollar..

👍 couldn't agree more. Alot of times, the worst people are the ones who have no problem spending $500 on a pair of shoes, while the guy wearing destroyed $80 boots, spent hours or days to fix a safety issue or repair a vehicle that won't even move without the repair. I can't understand that.

@Anthony-wj6xb

Жыл бұрын

To add to that, all your diagnostic tools may cost a small fortune.

They never even try to understand that you have tools, insurance, rent, and other overhead all while trying to put food in the table.

@davidf644rock

Жыл бұрын

Did YOU ever stop to consider that the customer has ALL of the exact same expenses while also trying to pay for an emergency repair? Car manufacturers make it so impossible to repair your own car that most people are forced to use highly inflated services just to get to work the next day. I don't know where I'd be without a skytrak. My job saved me thousands in car repairs. I was one of the lucky ones. Are you?

@mikebing1230

Жыл бұрын

@@davidf644rock that’s the cost of owning a car moron. Do you want repair shops to be a fuckin charity? Give me a break. You are the kind of customer that’s never thinking of anyone but yourself.

@rickygervaissgyno4081

Жыл бұрын

@@davidf644rock buy an older model you can work on yourself

@chicken29843

Жыл бұрын

Miss me with this bullshit, act like y'all don't have hella volume paying your guys a pittance of what you charge for "labor". Then turn around and try to rip off any customer you know that doesn't know any better. Upselling people on shit they don't need. Y'all have earned your reputation

@metallboy25

10 ай бұрын

Oh no, the technician who charges 3x as much per hour, as the customer earns, is complaining about how hard it is to have food on the table. 🤡

Fucks me off so much when people try and get out of paying a diagnostic fee, like dude you’re paying me for my experience and knowledge

Can remember a time as a young apprentice when your greatest diagnostic tool was your brain, cars had no computers, and your specialty tools were a globe with some wires soldered to it ok you had a multimeter but you also had a timing light, vacuum and compression gauge as well as a dwell meter and if you worked on bikes you had a fuel vacuum tool for syncing the carburettors. I’m miss the good old days.

You have 10 miles of wire, 100's of connectors just to start with. And anywhere along that line you could have a wire to wire short inside the harness or a broke wire inside the harness. And some times just one DMM is not enough. You end up going Frankenstein and have several DMMs and test lights all hooked up at the same time just to find a short or broke wire that only acts up on a Tuesday at 9:02 AM during a rain storm during an solar eclipse.

As an ex mechanic, I witnessed a lot of young qualified people, not only not knowing what they’re doing, but causing more damage to the vehicle. It is critical that you give your car to somebody who knows what they’re doing even the big dealerships I like that, depending on how severe the problem is in the value of the car will determine that decision. I watch the guy blow up a computer cause he didn’t know he was doing.

Wire toner also. Used for telephones and cable. Emits a tone and makes tracing and finding a break much easier.

I had a dealership try charging me $600 for electric diagnostic because the scanner couldn't find any code causing the check engine light which theu charged me $200 to just scan it. I took my car to another shop and he plugged in his scanner and right away the code came up for some sensor and he only charged me for the sensor. He said they were either trying to rip me off or weren't using the right scanner. I trust most mechanics but there's some bad ones and that's why people feel the way they do. You just don't know who is trying to screw you over and who is honest.

Definitely agree i do electric for a living and people always wanna get a discount or think its too expensive we charge just for a diagnostic and some people dont wanna pay for it cus other shops give free diagnostics which is just putting the scan tool on the car and reading codes lol

You are exactly why I prefer to use private shops as opposed to corporate chains that rip you off. I would rather pay you $500 to chase a wire than a corporate company $1500-2000 to find the same wire. I believe in paying someone their worth, an honest days work for an honest days pay.

It's imperative to communicate what was done for that money. Can't charge hundreds for "found broken wire", have to elaborate like he was saying. I detail in a digital report that the customer gets every single test, result, possible next step, avenues for exploration, and opinion based on substantial experience. More than once I've had a customer call to say they were going to be pissed about how much we charged, but then read the report we sent and were astonished at what they were actually getting for the money.

Yay my mechanic spent a lot of time with I believe it was a short. Cost me four hundred dollars. Sometimes it takes time finding it, can’t remember where he found it but was in weird difficult spot. I was glad he didn’t have to replace whole harness!!!!!

in 1990 I had Ford van I needed to find the door lock relays, no info, no book, no internet, no luck looking, I got a 9 volt batt and disconnected the car batt, isolated the relay wires at the door switch, click click click follow the sound, it worked.

That's why it's so important to get a mechanic you trust fully. Then you just pay them whatever they ask no questions. I promise, a non honest guy would have always charged you more throwing parts at or wrong diag, etc..

Before I could afford to have someone fix my car for me, I would do the work myself. The number of headaches and cracked knuckles I've gone through reminds me of why professionals get to charge so much for what they do.

Definitely agree with you Mike!

Electrical issues are always the most frustrating and expensive repairs and I’ve gone without whatever needed the electrical diagnosis for just that reason, finding it is the biggest pain in the ass there is!!!

A wire hunt in the harness & fixed for 500-i$h deal, great deal!

We get a lot of folks that don't want to pay for diagnostics. People tend to think it's as simple as scanning the vehicle. We do do that but 9 out of 10 times. We've gotta dig deeper.

I spent three days on a trans harness that someone tried to repair themselves. I had to remove the harness, undo that they did, run diag, rewire and repin, test then reinstall. They didn't like the bill.

Bought a vehicle out of the city once, driving it home found it didn't have much pull for acceleration, after some normal servicing of filters and such sure to no codes, and searching over a week, finally found someone had put the throttle body spacer in backwards after changing the thermostat which I was told that was done just before I bought it, who would've guessed and who knows how much that would've cost in diagnostic bills depending on the garage...

Wanted to share a broken wire story. Neighbor had a 96 dodge dakota sport he inherited from his dad. The truck sat for 4 years in the same spot in his driveway. Probably once a week he would be outside working on ot trying to get it to start. I offered him $300 for it and he said he would sell it to me only if I offered to sell it back to him if I got it running. Because it was the only thing he got when his dad passed. I agreed. Needless to say I got it running in about 3 hours. Broken wires under the hood 4 inches before they went into the ECM. He was outside when he heard the truck start up. He came running over shocked that I got it running. I had $500 in the truck after buying a $200 battery from napa. Told him that I thought $800 was a fair price since I had time in running to town getting a battery plus 3 hours of labor, electrical connectors, solder , tape , and wire loom. He was so pissed. He offered me $50 and said I could keep the new battery. Needless to say I told him he'll no! I put new rear wheel cylinders on and all new brake lines, a complete tune up, new rear shocks, new used tires, fixed more broken wires at the transmission, rewired the brake lights and turn signals, changed the oil, fixed all the rust (very little) and painted the truck flat black. I've been offered $3k for the truck but decided to keep it. He came back 2 months later knowing all the work I done to it and offered me $800. Saying the deal was I would sell it back to him. I told him $2800 and he could have it back. Now I'm the bad guy! Lol

Yup, been there and done that. I ran out of knowledge and turned it over to my local shop. They were pretty sheepish about charging me for the time spent finding it, but I said "Hey, I never would have found it, so it's all good. Hit me!"

On the surface, a broken wire doesn't sound like much. But like you said. The hardest part is finding that broken wire to fix it

I'm about to take my truck in for a possible wiring issue. I'm dreading the potential cost, but I'm paying for the experience, tools, and the patience that I don't have to fix the problem, rather than throwing the parts cannon at it, which will likely be more expensive.

It also takes into account the time you have spent learning and honing your craft.

Spent three days on a New Holland T8 broken-ish wire to find it was right at the pin inside a connector that had roughly 50 wires in it. Still cheaper than a new 400k tractor.

So when customers ask me, "Why did it cost so much for a broken wire?" my response is this. Did you know the wire was broken and its function? they normally reply with a no, then I tell them , well neither did I, and the process for how we arrived at said problem is really what you're paying is a diagnosis.

You are soo right. What a pain wiring fixes can be

The cost increase is easy to explain. Beyond labor costs, a mechanic is also now a computer engineer and they have to pay for the equipment

My wife’s Honda hit a deer, in the right front nose of the car. The fender wasn’t damaged but the front bumper was. I had a body shop do the repair/paint the front bumper and all was good. Six weeks later, the brake lights and front headlights were having some fuse issues. This was also intermittent, I was baffled. I took the front bumper cover off and found the reinforcement bar was squashed into the wiring harness and 3 of the wires were pinched through and shorting out. I pulled back the reinforcement bar, repaired the wires, waterproofed them. Put everything back together, checked the fuse and the repair was done. My wife never had another problem with her lights. I never went back to that shop again…..thanks….Jim PS…..this repair was not easy, diagnostic time and frustration time was a lot, would it have been worth it for me to pay the bodyman an extra $100 to repair if he had called me and told me about it? Yes, I would have paid it, without even thinking about it. PPS: Have I ever done a repair after a diagnosis and not have the repair done, yes. A friend had a problem with his car and we had diagnosed a problem with the O2 sensor. It was winter and I told him we would have to inspect the O2 sensor, he didn’t want to do it, it was cold. We Went to the dealer, they changed a $90 diagnostic fee, got the same readout we did, inspected the sensor and found the wire insulation was nicked and recommended that the O2 sensor be changed. They wanted $215 to replace it, but it would take 2 weeks to get the part. We ordered part ourselves for $65 and it took 5 minutes to replace the part. The part came In 5 days.

I remember a guy came in for a warranty wiring problem in a brand new Nissan Altima. The tech had to take the entire interior dash and trunk lining out. He ended up breaking like $300 of retaining clips and when he found the faulty connector the part wasn't available yet so they had to take another brand new Altima off the lot and tear that down to bits just to get the connector. The guy bought the car new and drove it for 3 days then it was in the shop for a month.

Don’t forget the price is not just off of the job that was done but all the time and experience and knowledge it took you to be able to perform said repair, you didn’t learn how to fix cars in 10 mins, it takes time, education and experience of which they are also paying you for!

It's the truth. Well said.

This reminds me of a weird saying I used to hear " the little problem is easier than the big problem only if you know exactly what the little problem is "

I don't mind paying a diag fee, however, I take exception with a shop that throws the least experienced tech at the task and where an experienced tech might find problem in an hour, the novice tech takes six hours! I guess this is why you need to find a reliable mechanic that paying a little more on routine things, pays off on the more complicated things.

One thing I learned from my mistakes is, always take your time when doing electrical. As someone who had to gut a car twice. not FUN.

Techs usually take a loss just because someone usually looks at it an tries to make it "reasonable" for the customer. That's why techs don't live in big fancy houses.

Service Electrician for over 35 years. Industrial institutional, Commercial and Healthcare. "Did ya' find the problem yet?" On the job maybe 15 minutes. No I did not. It's a screwdriver not a wand. The customer does not seem to understand that unless the problem is so obvious that Ray Charles could see it. It takes a lot of time. Not always but generally speaking.

My dad used to ask me what was wrong with something I was working on and every time I told him what it was. He would say, "is that all". Then he would normally say after that, "well, the computer tells you what's wrong with it". Some people just won't understand.

A more interesting conversation to talk about is when you take it in, get charged diag, and the tech notes are. “Could not duplicate issue” and so you take your car that isn’t showing symptoms currently but then a mile down the road it messes up

If it was so simple why doesn’t every fix there own car😂

@ADHDcisGinger

Жыл бұрын

I do.😊

@benjurqunov

Жыл бұрын

Even if it were simple most people still wouldn't have a clue or desire.

I had a beautiful and clean 96 F350 diesel, 5sp, 4x4 crew cab that I sold just for this reason. I wouldn’t charge the battery below something like 35degrees. Figured there wasn’t a chance in hell of finding that problem. That truck was showroom new clean too, sold it in 2014

Yup as a plumber this is why I don't do flat rate it's 75hr no matter what but I will break hour down to the minute so if hr and a half would be $112.50 but first hour if I'm there 5min it's still $75 don't do breakdown till after first house cause it's a service call

Yup get that so often Especially when someone charge big money before and never find the problem 😅🇯🇲

Most people think that the wire is just about 5-10cm long (as much as they can see it) but dont know its sometimes few meters of wire that needs to be changed trough all that gapes underneath all of the plastic trims and other

I am a mechanic myself and I can tell you that hands down, without a doubt, wiring issues and solving them, is the least enjoyable and loathed aspect of the profession. So much so that I hired a second guy who is fantastic at it, and he does general maintenance and repairs but only if he doesn't have electrical work to do.

Electrical fixes are never simple. Those gremlins don’t always reveal themselves, no matter how hard you look.

He is spot on!!!!

I remember an audi TT with a water leak that turned out to be a gasket missing from the firewall where the ac box enters the passenger compartment... yes this car was new and thankfully the warranty covered it. Took a week to diag and 2 day to fix and replace everything that was removed.

If you can isolate the circuit, I found an insulation tester can really help in finding a broken wire

Maybe now all those customers won't ask why anymore... as if. Lol. Thanks Mike

It's like the factory that had a shutdown that kept repeating. They would reset and start again, but it would repeat. The owner called in a man who was known for solving issues like this. He met him, explained his problem and showed the guy. All the workers had to stop every time the assembly line would stop. The man inspected things, ran things, found an issue, and remade a gear, installed it, and went home. A few weeks passed without contact. He made a bill for the factory owner. He sent the bill. The factory owner, who was wise and very tight with money, read the bill and exclaimed, 10,000 dollars for a gear? He asked the repairman for an explanation. The repairman said, the gear was $10 the knowledge and ability to fix it and have it stay fixed was $ 9990. Henry Ford had to pay the man. It's not just elapsed time you pay for with a good mechanic, snd there's other people and costs involved. First, the mechanic has to find it, if he knows, he can make a profit. If he doesn't, it costs more and there's little or no profit.

I hate doing electrical, other stuff I’m okay with as long as I know how, but I will happily pay for a shop to fix electrical problems

If finding that, “It was just a broken wire!” is so simple, save your money and find it yourself.

True, but some mechanics will jack up the diagnostic time when the fix turns out to be not so expensive. So even if they found it in 15 minutes, they'll probably say 2 hours.

The time, the cost of the tools and the experience needed to find it all factor into the cost.