My first step is to leave all my tools in their box and look for anything physical - burn marks on fuses, rubbed/pinched wires, etc. It's amazing how often the problem is staring me in the face. And it's fast. If there's nothing obvious, _then_ I go get a meter and maybe a couple of screwdrivers, etc. Had a friend complaining about his rear defroster not working. He'd played with the connections, pulled apart the dashboard to get at the switch (this being in ye olde days before cars had even a single computer.) I looked a little more closely at the rear window, and found he'd scratched a thin line through most (but not all) of the heating bars - probably from overloading the hatch when heading back to college, or some such. No damage to the glass, just a hair-thin line through the heating element bars. Since there was still one or two bars connected, his multimeter said he had continuity, which kinda messed up his diagnosis and resistance specs were nigh on impossible to get your hands on back then. But a good visual inspection can't be beat as a starter. And it doesn't cost any fancy tools except a Mk.1 eyeball and maybe a small mirror.
Love the IT reference. As someone who did this for years, I will say you're dead on! I will never forget the call I got from a student who just moved in, hooked their desktop up and it wouldn't power on. They wanted someone to come to check out the power supply, the motherboard, etc. I asked if it was plugged in. Student damn near flipped out on me. So I asked them to humor me, jiggle the power cable and ensure it was firmly seated in the back of the machine. When they did, the machine fired up without a hitch. So yeah I can see how it may help to take a step back and attack the problem from the basics first.
My rule is always work easy to hard and double check before moving to more involved procedure. Oh and document codes and check actual values before anything else.
I remember a friend of mine, who is a very experienced, talented mechanic with 30+ years of experience told me a story about him spending 8 hours of time to figure out a drivability problem only to discover one of the injectors had a broken ground wire. Book time paid 1hr... That day sucked !
Charles is an Awesome technician! If more techs were like him the automotive repair industry would be a million times better! Hes been an inspiration to me to do better and to share my 10 Years of Toyota repair experience! Never stop learning guys! Keep it up Charles Love the videos and podcasts!!
As cars getting more complex there will be less and less good techs out there. Nobody wants to pay them, car manufacturer nor dealers would ever spend any money on proper diagnoses. Good techs are extremely underappreciated and underpaid.
@@kentsimon2152 I hope that is sarcasm? Even if you go far enough to monitor every fuse you will still need brain power and expertise to find out reason behind fuse blowing out. Computer will never be able to tell that you got washer fluid wicked by level sensor wire and sent all the way to BCM.
That fuse being a different blue usually means it's cheaper, possibly weaker. But it had been replaced before... I'm not gonna be surprised if we end up with the heated seat diagnostic video in the future.
I was about to say same thing and i agree with you 100%. It drives me nuts when I see people replacing fuses saying "fuses keep blowing" like if the fuse was the root cause of the problem :-)
Yep. I had a xenon headlight fuse blow. I replaced it and the light started working. I thought maybe fuses just last 17 years. A month later the fuse blew again. And replacing it did not help. The headlight was leaking, the ballast was full of water. Had to get a new one, should have diagnosed the first time the fuse blew.
Dude, no kidding! This is so try! Get this, I live in Marathon Florida, in the keys right. None the less, it gets hot! So the AC goes out in my 2003 Dodge Ram 1500. It was just the blower fan that stopped working. No issues with the compressor. I spent the next 3 months driving around with the windows down, not wanting to change the fan. The brakes start to squeak so I decide to do the rotors and the calipers. While I'm doing that, it's time to change the fan. I buy the fan from advanced, do the brakes. Go to pull the blower fan for the AC, unplug it and realize that the plug was broken! Put a new end on it and the fan has been working ever since! Those hot 3 months for 5 minutes and a spade connecter, wow!
Not car related but I’m ready to tear the drywall out to trouble shoot a wall receptacle not working but found that the on-off switch was in the off position. Done the same on Naval Aircraft. Thanks we always need a reminder, enjoy your videos.
I’m that grumpy old man who always asks the struggling new guy with the fancy Snap On LED logic light if he checked the fuse. Of course he says he did but, in reality, he just poked at it with his expensive tool. Then I pull the fuse out and the connector is melted. As I’m walking away, I usually hear the smack of the fancy tool hitting the wall, coupled with some colorful language. I just smile and keep walking. I have a couple favorite saying. “The tools don’t make the craftsman,” and “common sense is a flower that doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden.”
Amen! So, so true.. any troubleshooting needs to be "zero based" any preconceived idea of what can or often more so cannot be wrong (e.g. reading the forums before investigating) can cause the basics to be overlooked. Number one for me is think of the "signal chain" I.E. after I turn the switch, where and through what other components does the "signal " go/pass through before the desired result happens (like a toasty seat).
Simple stuff gets you.....A friend and I were doing a stereo and amp install on his car. we finished, or so we thought, amp wouldn't turn on, started checking fuses, redoing wire connectors. We ran out of time and had to go do date night with the girlfriends. Have way to the restaurant, it dawns on both of us simultaneously, that while we checked the fuse in the power wire several times, we never hooked the damn thing up to the battery terminal. We felt dumb, but still laugh about it years later.
Seriously, check your fuses. Had someone bring me a car saying their wipers died in a rainstorm. They were freaking out thinking they would have to buy a new wiper motor or wiper linkage plus all the labor. First thing I did was look at the fuse. It was the old style 'pill' fuses and one of the ends cracked that you couldn't see unless you pulled it out and looked very close. Fixed for less than a $1.
In the mk4 tdi I picked up last year, I had no illumination on any of the dash -the actual check engine, high beam, that sort of stuff all worked, but there were no interior back lights for anything. i went through the fuse box twice, had to find a better detailed one online that specified it, but it was just missing the entire time. I replaced the little bulb in the back of the heat controls before i had confirmed a missing fuse. Great times lol
You're so right I just spent two days going crazy last week I was about to buy a new battery and starter for my car when it turns out the terminals were just damaged I didn't even think to check them until something told me why don't you replace the terminals before you get the new battery and starter so you have a little bit more wire to work with. Replace it and what do you know that was the problem all along. the car was sitting for 2 years and I didn't think that the problem could be that simple as just a bad terminal.
visual inspection! more often than not the problem will become obvious if the part or system in question is given a thorough and informed visual inspection
This one hit home for me - ~10 years ago my B5 passat 1.8T was stuck in limp mode. Checked EVERYTHING through wiring, n75 valve, etc... had a shop spend 2 hours of diagnostics on it, nothing. Their next step was quoted 6 hours of going through the wiring harness. I said no let me take it home. I checked fuses and found the 20A engine electronics fuse was blown. Threw one in and it was back to normal. Glad I tried to tackle it myself in this case and didn't go back to that shop...
Sounds so familiar! I had the same thing with my ‘01 Cadillac Seville.. My heated and adaptive seats didn’t work.. Drove a long time that way until I was determined to fix it.. Grabbed all my tools and Service Manual and upon checking the fuse, I could put everything back... Now I always check the fuses first. 😂
Been There... Done that... You are right .. something similar when working in mi mk4 Jetta.. ir was overheating ... I cleaned the fan fuse and the fan harnesses and bingo no more overheating
Same happened to me a few days ago. Battery voltage started to drop, power steering went out and after a while the car stopped running. Immediately thought of the alternator as its the original one with 140k miles. Almost bought a new one when a buddy of mine was like "You've checked the cables right", and I was 100% positive I had. Turned out to the ground cable, simple and free fix
Thank you. The heated seats in my '04 Impala quit working. I checked the seat fuses but hadn't thought to check the other fuses. Gonna pull the wire diagrams and see what else is involved...but if I need them, I have a test light, Power Probe and scan tool at the ready😉
I totally agree with you. One morning my B5.5 Passat refused to start. Turned out I blew the fuse for the comfort control module by replacing the convenience lights with LED bulbs, which kept the starter from turning.
I spent countless hours on a rough idle and the car dying at stop lights. Had a code for the maf, bought a brand new oem one, put it in and nothing changed. Then I started replacing vacuum hoses, intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets (v8 bmw so real pain in the ass), and I was about to change the O2 sensors but I decided maybe I got a bad MAF and ordered another one from a different supplier. Worked like a charm. Was driving with a foot on the gas pedal and brake to keep the rpm up at stops for probably 6 months. VERY similar story with my alternator as well. Received a bad one that tested good but wasnt communicating with the car (bmws...), spent almost a year just carrying a battery booster with me and boosting every day because I couldnt figure out the charging issue. But now I learned to use and trust INPA (free BMW specific diagnostic and coding software). Everyone working on a car needs the specific software for that car. I cant stress this enough. Average OBD scanners are garbage until the multi thousand dollar range and specialized software is usually free to under 100 bucks.
My "basic check" on any car help out with (not working as a mech) is the tires; pressure, visual condition (dry rotting), groove depth and torque. I might not have the torque spec but common sense is a good starting point for many things. And I also have a silly experience to share about a "blown fuse": My heater stopped working completely one morning when I ironically had just mentioned to my sister how reliable my cheap car had been so far. So I went to have a look at the fuse with a multimeter, beeped it for continuity and checked that it got 12V - so fuse was good. Then I turned my attention to the wiring behind the not-so-easy-to-remove heater controls to find no voltage on the 12V input! Having no wiring diagram for the I Googled around for a bit not really finding anything useful other than a mention of a burnt fuse box. To the fuse box once more it seemed, now finally taking out the heater fuse, and guess what? One of the feet had burned in half, disconnecting it from the other contact! Looking at this 40A fuse that didn't do its job I noticed that the fuse was 2 color - green AND brown. Which didn't make it a fuse, but a jumper for the infotainment screen language selection - which is located on the other fuse box. 2 hours of my time wasted because of my lack of attention to detail.
I did some job on my B5 Passat and had to unplug a number of things to get er done. Getting it all buttoned back up, I forgot to plug the MAF back in. About flipped my lid figuring out why it wouldnt run right. Check your work (plugs, bolts, etc) on the way out of a repair!
Same thing in IT using the OSI model: start at the physical layer and work up. Ashamed to say I once spent several hours digging in programming for an issue when it turned out a cable got nicked. That and it is a good idea to live by KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Applies to both design and troubleshooting.
Hey Charles. Speaking of heated seats, I've found the following for Mark 4 Jettas and Golfs. For the left side switch, if the back is green (1J0 963 563 B), it's for cloth seats. If it's red, it's for cloth seats (1J0 963 563 D) or leather seats (1J0 963 563 C). For the right side switch, if the back is brown (1J0 963 564 B), it's for cloth seats. If it's blue, it's for cloth seats (1J0 963 564 D) or leather seats (1J0 963 564 C). Have I got this right?
I Had a VW Something A customer Brought me. They Put in a AZ Fuel pump Assembly. Still No Start. I Remember It was a Newer car I Couldn't Imagine The FP being Bad. I Had no power to the FP. Ended up a Fuse In the Under Hood Fuse Box was Missing. That according to the Wiring Diagram That Fuse had nothing to do with the FP. Thank You Crazy Customer & Alldata
I know this exactly.. Two days ago a buddy asked for help with his Mk5 GTI. Has a CEL with Fault code for the Pressure regulation valve on the High Pressure FuelPump Short to Ground. He changed the HPE Pump three times and searched three weeks for the issue, error persists... I told him after a short check of wireing -> Please check Fuse 6 in the Enginebay... 10 Minutes later he called back. It was the Fuse ! The old Valve had burned the fuse for the Voltage that supports the valve :) New Fuse and Car is running fine now.
I had an 8A that wouldn't start. Spent a few days on it and found out it was a faulty door module. The ECU thought the door was open and the safety feature stopped it from starting. I love cars.
One of my most basic checks is to make sure the battery is fully charged and in good working order. just like a bad power or ground, a weak battery can cause all kinds of weird problems
I had a Golf in the shop before christmas with windshield heaters not working as the customer complain. I had replaced the windshield a couple of months ago, so I figured I had forgotten to connect the ground or either of the power connections to the windshield. Fuse was OK, ground was OK, resistance in the windshield was OK, relay was OK, turned it on, and voltage was OK.... I spent a good 30 minutes diagnosing a system that was working all the time, without first checking if it worked... At least I could give the customer a full report, rather than just writing "function check OK".
I done something like this the other day, my diagnostic on my sister's car was a alternator bearing, when it was the tensioner bearing. Luckily I hadn't brought anything but my sister was worried for a few hours!!!
Put headers on my truck a few months back. Install went perfect, got all the broken manifold bolts out without issue. Fired if up and went on a test drive. Misfires like crazy. The only code it threw was "random misfire." I spent hours looking for anything I may have dislodged or broken during the process to cause random misfires. Long story short turns out I had a cracked spark plug. Before pulling the plug wires off it must have just barely not been arcing. After pulling all the plug wires off and installing the headers it must have damaged it enough to kill the plug. Popped a new one in and problem solved. Should have started off pulling each plug 1x1 in the beginning. Live and learn.
this happened to me a few mouths ago when my blower motor fuse blow, thought i changed it. first cold day when their was frost out i went out and turned the heat on and but their was still not working , so i ended up taking the blower out testing it then trying a new resister and then thinking i should double check the fuse.. wasted about 2 hours. luckily i thought about it just before taking it in to get looked at.
My basic check is a ground check I attached a wire are from The ground terminal in the battery to the car's frame and check to see if the problem is still there. Well that is after checking my fuse box
Definitely.. It reminds me when my lighter and 12v jack when bad.... I use it all the time to charge the phone, sometimes when cracking the fuse can go bad if something like a charge is plugged. I always keep one extra in the glove box so i can charge my phone hehehehe
Charles speaking of basics do you have a video out on basic VW wiring? Explaining their color codes and how to find locations of connections or junctions on the vehicle from the wiring diagram?.
one time i replaced a soldered relay in a lighting control module of my grand marquis to fix some intermittent headlight issue. turns out it was a faulty circuit breaker in the fuse box that failed when it got a lil warm.
I have so many stories like this. Car Dx by a State agency with a locked up engine. Main ground was loose. Dx bad trans, missing fuse for trans solenoids power seat inop, they put a circuit breaker in the fuse box and burned up the fuse block at that point. Short at actual seat w power wire. Can Network down. Owner gave up on it. Ground supplying cluster was rusted off at kick panel taking down Network Dodge dealer could not figure out why 02 heaters inop, they replaced pcm. Blew the skim module fuse with the swap. Could not reprogram due to this, gave up. No start, dx bad fuel pump. It was out of gas. One I just fixed today, a tough one. dead miss at idle, had a ton of new parts. Everything checked out perfectly, compression and all. Had a rounded off cam lobe.
I work in a trailer repair shop and i have seen more than once, people rewire there trailer cause they think the wiring is bad but it was a blown fuse in the truck.
The best case I've had that's similar to this was a broken auxiliary heater. After a couple hours trying to figure out why the wiring diagrams I had didn't match with what I found in the car, I decided to check the options list for the vehicle. Guess what, it didn't have an auxiliary heater. the previous owner told the customer it did, but it didn't work.
I have a 20th mk4 k04 with silicone hoses... couple of days after I bought the car I was happy and having lots of fun,yea,it was my first turbo and I was on my way home when all of a sudden I couldn't go pass 2500 rpms so the first thing came to my mind for some reason was limp mode. It was dark...I went home,i opened the hood,took a quick look and nothing..next day I scanned the car,check fuses and nothing... I felt like 💩 and I didn't drive it for the rest of the week waiting for a mechanic to come and check it... the weekend finally here and he canceled on me...I was mad,pissed,sad. Etc... I went back inside the garage,I opened the hood and believe it or not the first thing I noticed was that the turbo intlet hose came out loose because of a cheap water hose clamp...that was it ... I felt so stupid because I could just take a better look from the beginning.😂
Ford really wants to make sure that you verify the concern, make sure the heated seat really don't work or if it was customer error. I graduated from tech school today.
Some fuses do more than their names imply. I usually take my test light and check every fuse for power on both sides, or no power on both sides. Of course, that doesn't help if the fuse is completely missing ...
Guy came in with his Tahoe and his power windows and seats weren't working. He took out the circuit breaker for the power seats and forgot to plug in the master window switch when he took the door panel off.
LIKE #666. I am immensely honored. Great videos, thanks so much for these. By the way, in my MK4 TDI Jetta sedan with the OEM MONSOON stereo and a line output converter spliced into the rear speakers I was getting no sound from my single 10" subwoofer. I checked the power to the amp, gain settings, swapped out the amp for anther swapped out the subwoofer for another, changed RCA cables, speaker wires, EVERYTHING. i quite literally changed out every single component except for the main power lead running under the side sill plastics. Then in the insane super hot and humid baking heat of the Ohio 2017 summer I painstakingly removed the crimp splice connectors of my RED/BLACK RCA cable line output converter and installed another L.O.C. using the same crimp splice connectors in the exact same spot. On my back. Upside down. Out in the sun. Pouring with sweat. Stuffed into my filthy parts hauling trunk. Even with a black mover's blanket what a total nightmare. Same result: no sound from subwoofer. The cone was very minimally oscillating. Absolutely exasperated beyond belief I started fiddling with the knobs on the stereo only to find I had the FADER KNOB set all the way +9 to FRONT SPEAKERS! Hahahaha, no wonder I wasn't getting any output to the rear sub, the line output converters were tied into the rear speaker wires as I usually have the FADER set to -3 REAR when driving alone. It was my Japanese wife that always bitches at me for my stereo 煩い/URUSAI that prompted me to set the fader to front speakers during our drive home a few days earlier and I had completely forgotten I left it there. All I had to do was literally turn a simple knob and I could have saved myself 2+ hours swapping out the sound system, sweat drenched clothing and IMMENSE FRUSTRATION! Now I have a perfectly good line output converter (just as I did before this shit show of stupidity) to use on a future stereo install. K.I.S.S. INDEED!
Just did a battery replacement on Monday because it was cold and the other battery was too old for the weather, and had an odd no-start where I started to crank, and the whole car went dead mid-key turn. Freaked out, trying to get to work on time, popped the hood, looked at the terminals I'd just attached, wiggled them to be sure they were tight, and the car started. That evening, work is done, still cold, get in, try to crank... cluster goes out, all lights out, dead. Pop the hood, and by phone-flash light, check the cables again that I checked before ... the positive terminal wiggled. :| Check the basics, and ideally, don't succumb to "I gotta get to X on time" pressures behind it. Thanking my lucky stars that the terminal didn't wiggle or go loose enough while driving!
I had a MK3 and the blower stopped working, I pulled half the dash apart trying to fix it before I thought to check the fuse. Another one was my MK4 was having weird power surges on full throttle I spent 6 months looking for the problem and it was just a dirty MAF, it didn't throw a code so I never checked it.
My GF hit a concrete pole and ripped her mirror right out along with dented door, dented fender and broken blinker. Also her blower motor stopped working along with pretty much everything related to the mirrors/heat/AC/seat heaters etc. It was just a blown fuse due to the now exposed wires of the mirror touching.
At work one day we had a polymer pump go down. It's not at all easy to work on. After about an hour or so of troubleshooting (and taking things apart) we realized it was just a fuse. Needless to say a 2 minute job turned into about 3 hours!
The heated seats in my old Passat did not work since I've bought it. So one day I decided to diagnose the problem. I've started with passenger side and boom! The plug under the seat wasn't connected properly - I've reattached it and the seat was warm in a minute. After this success I went for a driver's seat. And again, I've instantly knew what the problem was... someone had changed the seat for the non-heated one :(
I forgot to follow this just yesterday. Spent over an hour trying to fix an indicator on my 76 Courier. Turned out it was just a corroded connector on the bulb, so I didn't even need to replace it, just clean it. Felt like such an idiot.
A DPF got clogged up on a Toyota Hiace. My workmatre spent hours trying to diagnose the issue. We sent the van away to an auto electrician who couldn't find an issue with any of the electronics. W e then sent the van to Toyota who found that the oil was overfilled causing the ECU to disable DPF burn off
I'll tell you another story that may shock you, a friend came to me saying that his car didn't want to run on gasoline, it runs only on propane, so he told me that the fuel pump died so I unplugged the pipe that was feeding the injectors and turned the ignition on and really there was no fuel, i asked him if he filled some in the tank because the arrow on the dash was on empty and he said that the arrow is broken and always stays there but he had filled half a tank. So presuming that there is fuel in the tank I started disassembling the tank cover and taking out the pump, after I took it out SURPRISE there was not a single drop of fuel in the tank, it was dry as a dessert. I assembled everything back, pored some fuel and everything worked even the arrow on the dash. My friend forgot to mention that he filled half a tank more than 2 months ago, so I know how you feel about the fuse. The car was a 98' Seat Cordoba.
Diagnostics 101: Customer - "My car just died! I had to tow it in from the side of the freeway! I'm late!! I hate this manufacturer!! And I hate you!!" Technician - " That'll be a grand total of $145.00 Ma'am. One hour shop labor for diagnostics, and $20.00 for gasoline. You ran out of fuel. You're good to go!" Always start with the basics...
2005 VW Jetta 2.5 Ecu won't read and car won't start. Please help been changing relays but all fuses work except fuel pump which has been replaced properly
I did this once on my '68 Ford Galaxie... Brake-lights quit working... Clearly it must be the brake-pedal switch... Ordered a new switch, put it in... Brake lights still weren't working. WTF?!! Yeah... Both bulbs were blown. LOL. Did I even bother to check the bulbs at all? Nope. I immediately diagnosed it as a bad brake-light switch, because "how could both brake-light bulbs possibly blow at the same time? It's gotta be the switch." Duh... Luckily the brake-pedal switches for those things are only about $10 or so, and it's only about a 30 minute job to R&R, so it wasn't a huge waste of money or time. Lesson learned though -- *always* start with the most basic stuff, no matter what you might think the problem is.
I never trust it when it's just a blown fuse. There must be a short somewhere... It's probably very hard to find if it happens occasionally, so the best thing to do is wait until it blows again, and hopefully the short is still there when you're back in the workshop.
I had a 91 Merc Cougar that had the electronic dash stop working. I checked the fuses and couldn't find the issue. I took it to the local dealership and it turned out it was a blown bulb in the dash. It was a poor design that allowed the bulb to be a key part to the circuit for the dash. The dealership contacted corporate and I was refunded the cost of the repair due to it being a design flaw. I was called by the dealership a few weeks later and they replaced the electronic dash with an updated version. It turned out that the entire batch from the manufacturer was faulty. They never did a recall but I was told that any other cars that had the same issue would get the replacement display.
I have a question when I’m inside my 2008 Jetta all the locks show their locked except behind the drivers door rear left . It shows locked , but the light shows amber orange color. The other locks show red. What does this mean is this a fuse issue ?
just like do not skip spark plugs when having a misfire. i swapped my plugs and 500km later it would not start and misfired like hell. swapped coils and converted to cop coils before i realized oil and water had shorted out the plugs.... all of them was firing straight back up to the head... so a 25$ fix costed me 25$ + 250$ in coils... check the basic shit first xD
Literally had that with a guy last week. "Your battery is toast." "Can't be. I just bought it not that long ago." - show him battery is marked June of 2011- "Oh... That can't be right. I had it put in it at (name of dealership)." "Sir, that place has been closed for 6 years."
What about the basics of working with electronics period - remove rings, watches, jewelry. Sure, more so for higher voltages, but it doesn't take much to make a spark.
My first rule is to ask "what were you doing before the problem occured"... most of the time I get the truth, but the car does tell me if it is a lie..
Drivers window stopped working, pulled half the wiring loom out of it to go through it, after the switch turned out to be fine. Then I remembered I unplugged a connector at the A pillar a while back. Yeah, fuck. xD
Why would the color of the fuse be a factor?? Wouldn’t you check the fuse in that slot regardless of color ? Might I ask y u even noted the color? Am I missing something?
HumbleMechanic That interesting...I’d hv thought all fuses of like ratings would b designed to hold a given load over a given amount of time...regardless of manufacturer
The fact that it’s a different shade of blue is a good indication that it’s been replaced before. A fuse does not blow by accident so I very much doubt a new one will last very long. Looks like you be making that video after all Charles.
It’s been about a month and still not blown again. From the TH-cam video standpoint, I hope it does. From the “my butt likes to be warm” and “I don’t want to have to buy any parts” I hope she lasts forever 😂
I have been caught by this! I ripped out half a dash replacing a blower motor, swap in the new motor, and it did not work either. End up being a fuse and the motor was fine... 2 hours of my life I will not get back.
need help dose any one know how impotent the one way breather is on vacuum pipe on the break servo . had to cut mine off coz of a spilt and car has develop a stutter,, and dose any one know if a fuel mixture problem can make the engine stutter
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You can start with the fuse box but never end at the fuse box. Fuses blow for a reason.
Yep. I’ve actually written an outline for the follow up to this video talking about that exact thing
@@HumbleMechanic ever find out what caused the fuse to blow? The same deity that tangles our meter leads steals our 10mm sockets?
The circuit starts at the fuse
My first step is to leave all my tools in their box and look for anything physical - burn marks on fuses, rubbed/pinched wires, etc. It's amazing how often the problem is staring me in the face. And it's fast. If there's nothing obvious, _then_ I go get a meter and maybe a couple of screwdrivers, etc.
Had a friend complaining about his rear defroster not working. He'd played with the connections, pulled apart the dashboard to get at the switch (this being in ye olde days before cars had even a single computer.) I looked a little more closely at the rear window, and found he'd scratched a thin line through most (but not all) of the heating bars - probably from overloading the hatch when heading back to college, or some such. No damage to the glass, just a hair-thin line through the heating element bars. Since there was still one or two bars connected, his multimeter said he had continuity, which kinda messed up his diagnosis and resistance specs were nigh on impossible to get your hands on back then. But a good visual inspection can't be beat as a starter. And it doesn't cost any fancy tools except a Mk.1 eyeball and maybe a small mirror.
Love the IT reference. As someone who did this for years, I will say you're dead on!
I will never forget the call I got from a student who just moved in, hooked their desktop up and it wouldn't power on. They wanted someone to come to check out the power supply, the motherboard, etc. I asked if it was plugged in. Student damn near flipped out on me. So I asked them to humor me, jiggle the power cable and ensure it was firmly seated in the back of the machine. When they did, the machine fired up without a hitch.
So yeah I can see how it may help to take a step back and attack the problem from the basics first.
Hahahahha.
My rule is always work easy to hard and double check before moving to more involved procedure. Oh and document codes and check actual values before anything else.
I remember a friend of mine, who is a very experienced, talented mechanic with 30+ years of experience told me a story about him spending 8 hours of time to figure out a drivability problem only to discover one of the injectors had a broken ground wire.
Book time paid 1hr...
That day sucked !
Some days you’re the bug and some days you’re the windshield.
Paul E
Well stated !
Bad grounds are as bad as bad genetics. Believe me, I know!
Charles is an Awesome technician! If more techs were like him the automotive repair industry would be a million times better! Hes been an inspiration to me to do better and to share my 10 Years of Toyota repair experience! Never stop learning guys! Keep it up Charles Love the videos and podcasts!!
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
As cars getting more complex there will be less and less good techs out there. Nobody wants to pay them, car manufacturer nor dealers would ever spend any money on proper diagnoses.
Good techs are extremely underappreciated and underpaid.
Senco it’s very true! To be a good tech you have to have a love for being a tech not a love for the money.
Don't worry the scan tool will tell them which fuse to replace. Computer programmers will save the world!
@@kentsimon2152 I hope that is sarcasm? Even if you go far enough to monitor every fuse you will still need brain power and expertise to find out reason behind fuse blowing out.
Computer will never be able to tell that you got washer fluid wicked by level sensor wire and sent all the way to BCM.
A blown fuse usually indicates electrical problems. If it blows again then you will need to go full diagnosis.
100% yes.
That fuse being a different blue usually means it's cheaper, possibly weaker. But it had been replaced before... I'm not gonna be surprised if we end up with the heated seat diagnostic video in the future.
I was about to say same thing and i agree with you 100%. It drives me nuts when I see people replacing fuses saying "fuses keep blowing" like if the fuse was the root cause of the problem :-)
Yep. I had a xenon headlight fuse blow. I replaced it and the light started working. I thought maybe fuses just last 17 years. A month later the fuse blew again. And replacing it did not help. The headlight was leaking, the ballast was full of water. Had to get a new one, should have diagnosed the first time the fuse blew.
Dude, no kidding! This is so try! Get this, I live in Marathon Florida, in the keys right. None the less, it gets hot! So the AC goes out in my 2003 Dodge Ram 1500. It was just the blower fan that stopped working. No issues with the compressor. I spent the next 3 months driving around with the windows down, not wanting to change the fan.
The brakes start to squeak so I decide to do the rotors and the calipers. While I'm doing that, it's time to change the fan. I buy the fan from advanced, do the brakes. Go to pull the blower fan for the AC, unplug it and realize that the plug was broken!
Put a new end on it and the fan has been working ever since! Those hot 3 months for 5 minutes and a spade connecter, wow!
Not car related but I’m ready to tear the drywall out to trouble shoot a wall receptacle not working but found that the on-off switch was in the off position. Done the same on Naval Aircraft. Thanks we always need a reminder, enjoy your videos.
I’m that grumpy old man who always asks the struggling new guy with the fancy Snap On LED logic light if he checked the fuse. Of course he says he did but, in reality, he just poked at it with his expensive tool. Then I pull the fuse out and the connector is melted. As I’m walking away, I usually hear the smack of the fancy tool hitting the wall, coupled with some colorful language. I just smile and keep walking.
I have a couple favorite saying. “The tools don’t make the craftsman,” and “common sense is a flower that doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden.”
I have a lot of diagnostic tools. First thing I do is pull up wiring diagram then check EVERY fuse then for missing fuses.
@Ronald Martin. I have plenty of diagnostic tools too, but my most important one is between my ears. 😎
Amen! So, so true.. any troubleshooting needs to be "zero based" any preconceived idea of what can or often more so cannot be wrong (e.g. reading the forums before investigating) can cause the basics to be overlooked.
Number one for me is think of the "signal chain" I.E. after I turn the switch, where and through what other components does the "signal " go/pass through before the desired result happens (like a toasty seat).
Simple stuff gets you.....A friend and I were doing a stereo and amp install on his car. we finished, or so we thought, amp wouldn't turn on, started checking fuses, redoing wire connectors. We ran out of time and had to go do date night with the girlfriends. Have way to the restaurant, it dawns on both of us simultaneously, that while we checked the fuse in the power wire several times, we never hooked the damn thing up to the battery terminal. We felt dumb, but still laugh about it years later.
Matt lastname here I’m guilty as well
DO WHAT THIS MAN SAYS!!! HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH!!!
I'm not a fan of VW's, I'm a Hyundai guy but your videos are still informative and great to watch!!
Seriously, check your fuses. Had someone bring me a car saying their wipers died in a rainstorm. They were freaking out thinking they would have to buy a new wiper motor or wiper linkage plus all the labor. First thing I did was look at the fuse. It was the old style 'pill' fuses and one of the ends cracked that you couldn't see unless you pulled it out and looked very close. Fixed for less than a $1.
But did you bother to diagnose the reason why the fuse blew.
@@danielwarren6845 Yes, it was old. The car is a 1983.
This spoke to my soul
In the mk4 tdi I picked up last year, I had no illumination on any of the dash -the actual check engine, high beam, that sort of stuff all worked, but there were no interior back lights for anything. i went through the fuse box twice, had to find a better detailed one online that specified it, but it was just missing the entire time. I replaced the little bulb in the back of the heat controls before i had confirmed a missing fuse. Great times lol
You're so right I just spent two days going crazy last week I was about to buy a new battery and starter for my car when it turns out the terminals were just damaged I didn't even think to check them until something told me why don't you replace the terminals before you get the new battery and starter so you have a little bit more wire to work with. Replace it and what do you know that was the problem all along. the car was sitting for 2 years and I didn't think that the problem could be that simple as just a bad terminal.
visual inspection! more often than not the problem will become obvious if the part or system in question is given a thorough and informed visual inspection
This one hit home for me - ~10 years ago my B5 passat 1.8T was stuck in limp mode. Checked EVERYTHING through wiring, n75 valve, etc... had a shop spend 2 hours of diagnostics on it, nothing. Their next step was quoted 6 hours of going through the wiring harness. I said no let me take it home. I checked fuses and found the 20A engine electronics fuse was blown. Threw one in and it was back to normal. Glad I tried to tackle it myself in this case and didn't go back to that shop...
Sounds so familiar! I had the same thing with my ‘01 Cadillac Seville.. My heated and adaptive seats didn’t work.. Drove a long time that way until I was determined to fix it.. Grabbed all my tools and Service Manual and upon checking the fuse, I could put everything back...
Now I always check the fuses first. 😂
Been There... Done that... You are right .. something similar when working in mi mk4 Jetta.. ir was overheating ... I cleaned the fan fuse and the fan harnesses and bingo no more overheating
Same happened to me a few days ago. Battery voltage started to drop, power steering went out and after a while the car stopped running. Immediately thought of the alternator as its the original one with 140k miles. Almost bought a new one when a buddy of mine was like "You've checked the cables right", and I was 100% positive I had. Turned out to the ground cable, simple and free fix
Seen that exact thing happen to atech
Thank you. The heated seats in my '04 Impala quit working. I checked the seat fuses but hadn't thought to check the other fuses. Gonna pull the wire diagrams and see what else is involved...but if I need them, I have a test light, Power Probe and scan tool at the ready😉
I totally agree with you. One morning my B5.5 Passat refused to start. Turned out I blew the fuse for the comfort control module by replacing the convenience lights with LED bulbs, which kept the starter from turning.
Great vid. Use quality fuse(s) to replace suspect ones. Cheers.
I spent countless hours on a rough idle and the car dying at stop lights. Had a code for the maf, bought a brand new oem one, put it in and nothing changed. Then I started replacing vacuum hoses, intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets (v8 bmw so real pain in the ass), and I was about to change the O2 sensors but I decided maybe I got a bad MAF and ordered another one from a different supplier. Worked like a charm. Was driving with a foot on the gas pedal and brake to keep the rpm up at stops for probably 6 months. VERY similar story with my alternator as well. Received a bad one that tested good but wasnt communicating with the car (bmws...), spent almost a year just carrying a battery booster with me and boosting every day because I couldnt figure out the charging issue. But now I learned to use and trust INPA (free BMW specific diagnostic and coding software). Everyone working on a car needs the specific software for that car. I cant stress this enough. Average OBD scanners are garbage until the multi thousand dollar range and specialized software is usually free to under 100 bucks.
My "basic check" on any car help out with (not working as a mech) is the tires; pressure, visual condition (dry rotting), groove depth and torque. I might not have the torque spec but common sense is a good starting point for many things.
And I also have a silly experience to share about a "blown fuse":
My heater stopped working completely one morning when I ironically had just mentioned to my sister how reliable my cheap car had been so far. So I went to have a look at the fuse with a multimeter, beeped it for continuity and checked that it got 12V - so fuse was good. Then I turned my attention to the wiring behind the not-so-easy-to-remove heater controls to find no voltage on the 12V input! Having no wiring diagram for the I Googled around for a bit not really finding anything useful other than a mention of a burnt fuse box.
To the fuse box once more it seemed, now finally taking out the heater fuse, and guess what? One of the feet had burned in half, disconnecting it from the other contact! Looking at this 40A fuse that didn't do its job I noticed that the fuse was 2 color - green AND brown. Which didn't make it a fuse, but a jumper for the infotainment screen language selection - which is located on the other fuse box. 2 hours of my time wasted because of my lack of attention to detail.
I did some job on my B5 Passat and had to unplug a number of things to get er done. Getting it all buttoned back up, I forgot to plug the MAF back in. About flipped my lid figuring out why it wouldnt run right. Check your work (plugs, bolts, etc) on the way out of a repair!
Same thing in IT using the OSI model: start at the physical layer and work up. Ashamed to say I once spent several hours digging in programming for an issue when it turned out a cable got nicked.
That and it is a good idea to live by KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Applies to both design and troubleshooting.
Good post sir. My wife's car overheated, i first bought a thermostat. I was looking and looking for a leak. Turned out to be the radiator cap
Hey Charles. Speaking of heated seats, I've found the following for Mark 4 Jettas and Golfs. For the left side switch, if the back is green (1J0 963 563 B), it's for cloth seats. If it's red, it's for cloth seats (1J0 963 563 D) or leather seats (1J0 963 563 C). For the right side switch, if the back is brown (1J0 963 564 B), it's for cloth seats. If it's blue, it's for cloth seats (1J0 963 564 D) or leather seats (1J0 963 564 C). Have I got this right?
I Had a VW Something A customer Brought me. They Put in a AZ Fuel pump Assembly. Still No Start. I Remember It was a Newer car I Couldn't Imagine The FP being Bad. I Had no power to the FP. Ended up a Fuse In the Under Hood Fuse Box was Missing. That according to the Wiring Diagram That Fuse had nothing to do with the FP. Thank You Crazy Customer & Alldata
I know this exactly.. Two days ago a buddy asked for help with his Mk5 GTI. Has a CEL with Fault code for the Pressure regulation valve on the High Pressure FuelPump Short to Ground. He changed the HPE Pump three times and searched three weeks for the issue, error persists... I told him after a short check of wireing -> Please check Fuse 6 in the Enginebay... 10 Minutes later he called back. It was the Fuse ! The old Valve had burned the fuse for the Voltage that supports the valve :) New Fuse and Car is running fine now.
I had an 8A that wouldn't start. Spent a few days on it and found out it was a faulty door module. The ECU thought the door was open and the safety feature stopped it from starting. I love cars.
So true.
One of my most basic checks is to make sure the battery is fully charged and in good working order. just like a bad power or ground, a weak battery can cause all kinds of weird problems
I'm an electrician this is very true in my trade too.
Reckon it's outa gas.....Slingblade quote great movie by the way
I had a Golf in the shop before christmas with windshield heaters not working as the customer complain.
I had replaced the windshield a couple of months ago, so I figured I had forgotten to connect the ground or either of the power connections to the windshield.
Fuse was OK, ground was OK, resistance in the windshield was OK, relay was OK, turned it on, and voltage was OK....
I spent a good 30 minutes diagnosing a system that was working all the time, without first checking if it worked...
At least I could give the customer a full report, rather than just writing "function check OK".
I done something like this the other day, my diagnostic on my sister's car was a alternator bearing, when it was the tensioner bearing. Luckily I hadn't brought anything but my sister was worried for a few hours!!!
Put headers on my truck a few months back. Install went perfect, got all the broken manifold bolts out without issue. Fired if up and went on a test drive. Misfires like crazy. The only code it threw was "random misfire." I spent hours looking for anything I may have dislodged or broken during the process to cause random misfires. Long story short turns out I had a cracked spark plug. Before pulling the plug wires off it must have just barely not been arcing. After pulling all the plug wires off and installing the headers it must have damaged it enough to kill the plug. Popped a new one in and problem solved. Should have started off pulling each plug 1x1 in the beginning. Live and learn.
Hi Carl , thanks for the tips, really great knowledge
this happened to me a few mouths ago when my blower motor fuse blow, thought i changed it. first cold day when their was frost out i went out and turned the heat on and but their was still not working , so i ended up taking the blower out testing it then trying a new resister and then thinking i should double check the fuse.. wasted about 2 hours. luckily i thought about it just before taking it in to get looked at.
I have a friend that like 25 years ago replaced the engine in his car when all that was wrong with it was a cracked distributor cap.
My basic check is a ground check I attached a wire are from The ground terminal in the battery to the car's frame and check to see if the problem is still there. Well that is after checking my fuse box
Definitely.. It reminds me when my lighter and 12v jack when bad.... I use it all the time to charge the phone, sometimes when cracking the fuse can go bad if something like a charge is plugged. I always keep one extra in the glove box so i can charge my phone hehehehe
Charles speaking of basics do you have a video out on basic VW wiring? Explaining their color codes and how to find locations of connections or junctions on the vehicle from the wiring diagram?.
Great idea!
one time i replaced a soldered relay in a lighting control module of my grand marquis to fix some intermittent headlight issue. turns out it was a faulty circuit breaker in the fuse box that failed when it got a lil warm.
Back to the basics turned nightmare jobs into success...cheers dude.
Btw that thumbs down is annoying...😠😠😠😠
When testing electronic circuits, I always make sure that the battery is good. A weak battery can cause some really weird problems.
I have so many stories like this.
Car Dx by a State agency with a locked up engine. Main ground was loose.
Dx bad trans, missing fuse for trans solenoids
power seat inop, they put a circuit breaker in the fuse box and burned up the fuse block at that point. Short at actual seat w power wire.
Can Network down. Owner gave up on it. Ground supplying cluster was rusted off at kick panel taking down Network
Dodge dealer could not figure out why 02 heaters inop, they replaced pcm. Blew the skim module fuse with the swap. Could not reprogram due to this, gave up.
No start, dx bad fuel pump. It was out of gas.
One I just fixed today, a tough one. dead miss at idle, had a ton of new parts. Everything checked out perfectly, compression and all. Had a rounded off cam lobe.
I work in a trailer repair shop and i have seen more than once, people rewire there trailer cause they think the wiring is bad but it was a blown fuse in the truck.
Great video. Very informative.......
The best case I've had that's similar to this was a broken auxiliary heater. After a couple hours trying to figure out why the wiring diagrams I had didn't match with what I found in the car, I decided to check the options list for the vehicle. Guess what, it didn't have an auxiliary heater. the previous owner told the customer it did, but it didn't work.
I have a 20th mk4 k04 with silicone hoses... couple of days after I bought the car I was happy and having lots of fun,yea,it was my first turbo and I was on my way home when all of a sudden I couldn't go pass 2500 rpms so the first thing came to my mind for some reason was limp mode.
It was dark...I went home,i opened the hood,took a quick look and nothing..next day I scanned the car,check fuses and nothing... I felt like 💩 and I didn't drive it for the rest of the week waiting for a mechanic to come and check it... the weekend finally here and he canceled on me...I was mad,pissed,sad. Etc... I went back inside the garage,I opened the hood and believe it or not the first thing I noticed was that the turbo intlet hose came out loose because of a cheap water hose clamp...that was it ... I felt so stupid because I could just take a better look from the beginning.😂
Ford really wants to make sure that you verify the concern, make sure the heated seat really don't work or if it was customer error. I graduated from tech school today.
Your videos are the best
Thank you!
Some fuses do more than their names imply. I usually take my test light and check every fuse for power on both sides, or no power on both sides. Of course, that doesn't help if the fuse is completely missing ...
I’m glad I’m not the only one.
Guy came in with his Tahoe and his power windows and seats weren't working. He took out the circuit breaker for the power seats and forgot to plug in the master window switch when he took the door panel off.
LIKE #666. I am immensely honored. Great videos, thanks so much for these. By the way, in my MK4 TDI Jetta sedan with the OEM MONSOON stereo and a line output converter spliced into the rear speakers I was getting no sound from my single 10" subwoofer. I checked the power to the amp, gain settings, swapped out the amp for anther swapped out the subwoofer for another, changed RCA cables, speaker wires, EVERYTHING. i quite literally changed out every single component except for the main power lead running under the side sill plastics. Then in the insane super hot and humid baking heat of the Ohio 2017 summer I painstakingly removed the crimp splice connectors of my RED/BLACK RCA cable line output converter and installed another L.O.C. using the same crimp splice connectors in the exact same spot. On my back. Upside down. Out in the sun. Pouring with sweat. Stuffed into my filthy parts hauling trunk. Even with a black mover's blanket what a total nightmare. Same result: no sound from subwoofer. The cone was very minimally oscillating. Absolutely exasperated beyond belief I started fiddling with the knobs on the stereo only to find I had the FADER KNOB set all the way +9 to FRONT SPEAKERS! Hahahaha, no wonder I wasn't getting any output to the rear sub, the line output converters were tied into the rear speaker wires as I usually have the FADER set to -3 REAR when driving alone. It was my Japanese wife that always bitches at me for my stereo 煩い/URUSAI that prompted me to set the fader to front speakers during our drive home a few days earlier and I had completely forgotten I left it there. All I had to do was literally turn a simple knob and I could have saved myself 2+ hours swapping out the sound system, sweat drenched clothing and IMMENSE FRUSTRATION! Now I have a perfectly good line output converter (just as I did before this shit show of stupidity) to use on a future stereo install. K.I.S.S. INDEED!
Just did a battery replacement on Monday because it was cold and the other battery was too old for the weather, and had an odd no-start where I started to crank, and the whole car went dead mid-key turn. Freaked out, trying to get to work on time, popped the hood, looked at the terminals I'd just attached, wiggled them to be sure they were tight, and the car started. That evening, work is done, still cold, get in, try to crank... cluster goes out, all lights out, dead.
Pop the hood, and by phone-flash light, check the cables again that I checked before ... the positive terminal wiggled. :| Check the basics, and ideally, don't succumb to "I gotta get to X on time" pressures behind it. Thanking my lucky stars that the terminal didn't wiggle or go loose enough while driving!
I had a MK3 and the blower stopped working, I pulled half the dash apart trying to fix it before I thought to check the fuse. Another one was my MK4 was having weird power surges on full throttle I spent 6 months looking for the problem and it was just a dirty MAF, it didn't throw a code so I never checked it.
Happy new year buddy!!!
You too man!!! Hope you are doing well.
My GF hit a concrete pole and ripped her mirror right out along with dented door, dented fender and broken blinker. Also her blower motor stopped working along with pretty much everything related to the mirrors/heat/AC/seat heaters etc. It was just a blown fuse due to the now exposed wires of the mirror touching.
At work one day we had a polymer pump go down. It's not at all easy to work on. After about an hour or so of troubleshooting (and taking things apart) we realized it was just a fuse. Needless to say a 2 minute job turned into about 3 hours!
The heated seats in my old Passat did not work since I've bought it. So one day I decided to diagnose the problem. I've started with passenger side and boom! The plug under the seat wasn't connected properly - I've reattached it and the seat was warm in a minute. After this success I went for a driver's seat. And again, I've instantly knew what the problem was... someone had changed the seat for the non-heated one :(
One of my techs did it today LOL. 👍🏻
I forgot to follow this just yesterday. Spent over an hour trying to fix an indicator on my 76 Courier. Turned out it was just a corroded connector on the bulb, so I didn't even need to replace it, just clean it. Felt like such an idiot.
I have no heat on my mk5 GTI, could it be a fuse? I was thinking it might be that my heater core is clogged
Even in commercial nuclear power the focus is on operations training is fundamentals.
A DPF got clogged up on a Toyota Hiace. My workmatre spent hours trying to diagnose the issue. We sent the van away to an auto electrician who couldn't find an issue with any of the electronics. W e then sent the van to Toyota who found that the oil was overfilled causing the ECU to disable DPF burn off
Wow.
Check the washer fluid
I'll tell you another story that may shock you, a friend came to me saying that his car didn't want to run on gasoline, it runs only on propane, so he told me that the fuel pump died so I unplugged the pipe that was feeding the injectors and turned the ignition on and really there was no fuel, i asked him if he filled some in the tank because the arrow on the dash was on empty and he said that the arrow is broken and always stays there but he had filled half a tank. So presuming that there is fuel in the tank I started disassembling the tank cover and taking out the pump, after I took it out SURPRISE there was not a single drop of fuel in the tank, it was dry as a dessert. I assembled everything back, pored some fuel and everything worked even the arrow on the dash. My friend forgot to mention that he filled half a tank more than 2 months ago, so I know how you feel about the fuse. The car was a 98' Seat Cordoba.
Good thing you didn't need new covers. They're NLA according to VW after my fiasco with getting new leather.
Diagnostics 101:
Customer - "My car just died! I had to tow it in from the side of the freeway! I'm late!! I hate this manufacturer!! And I hate you!!"
Technician - " That'll be a grand total of $145.00 Ma'am. One hour shop labor for diagnostics, and $20.00 for gasoline. You ran out of fuel. You're good to go!"
Always start with the basics...
I had that problem didn't know the abs module would sut down the whole car
Like your channel.
First thing to check, the emblem on the front
2005 VW Jetta 2.5 Ecu won't read and car won't start. Please help been changing relays but all fuses work except fuel pump which has been replaced properly
I did this once on my '68 Ford Galaxie... Brake-lights quit working... Clearly it must be the brake-pedal switch... Ordered a new switch, put it in... Brake lights still weren't working. WTF?!!
Yeah... Both bulbs were blown. LOL. Did I even bother to check the bulbs at all? Nope. I immediately diagnosed it as a bad brake-light switch, because "how could both brake-light bulbs possibly blow at the same time? It's gotta be the switch." Duh...
Luckily the brake-pedal switches for those things are only about $10 or so, and it's only about a 30 minute job to R&R, so it wasn't a huge waste of money or time. Lesson learned though -- *always* start with the most basic stuff, no matter what you might think the problem is.
I never trust it when it's just a blown fuse. There must be a short somewhere... It's probably very hard to find if it happens occasionally, so the best thing to do is wait until it blows again, and hopefully the short is still there when you're back in the workshop.
I had a 91 Merc Cougar that had the electronic dash stop working. I checked the fuses and couldn't find the issue. I took it to the local dealership and it turned out it was a blown bulb in the dash. It was a poor design that allowed the bulb to be a key part to the circuit for the dash. The dealership contacted corporate and I was refunded the cost of the repair due to it being a design flaw. I was called by the dealership a few weeks later and they replaced the electronic dash with an updated version. It turned out that the entire batch from the manufacturer was faulty. They never did a recall but I was told that any other cars that had the same issue would get the replacement display.
Love it! KISS = "keep it simple stupid"
I have a question when I’m inside my 2008 Jetta all the locks show their locked except behind the drivers door rear left . It shows locked , but the light shows amber orange color. The other locks show red. What does this mean is this a fuse issue ?
just like do not skip spark plugs when having a misfire. i swapped my plugs and 500km later it would not start and misfired like hell. swapped coils and converted to cop coils before i realized oil and water had shorted out the plugs.... all of them was firing straight back up to the head... so a 25$ fix costed me 25$ + 250$ in coils... check the basic shit first xD
Fuses are literally made to break lol
Have you had the battery tested? Which usually gets the response: "It can't be the battery, it is new."
So many times.
And “new” is two years old.
Literally had that with a guy last week.
"Your battery is toast."
"Can't be. I just bought it not that long ago."
- show him battery is marked June of 2011-
"Oh... That can't be right. I had it put in it at (name of dealership)."
"Sir, that place has been closed for 6 years."
New dont mean good
As an engineer once told me, " never assume anything," smart but he did assume that smoking wouldn't hurt him.
Fuel ,spark compression. People seem to forget about with the computers nowadays.
yep gotta have that signal.
What about the basics of working with electronics period - remove rings, watches, jewelry. Sure, more so for higher voltages, but it doesn't take much to make a spark.
My first rule is to ask "what were you doing before the problem occured"... most of the time I get the truth, but the car does tell me if it is a lie..
Hello from siberya
The basics ... I check engine oil and coolant levels regularly -- like every other gas fill up.
Drivers window stopped working, pulled half the wiring loom out of it to go through it, after the switch turned out to be fine. Then I remembered I unplugged a connector at the A pillar a while back. Yeah, fuck. xD
Why would the color of the fuse be a factor??
Wouldn’t you check the fuse in that slot regardless of color ?
Might I ask y u even noted the color?
Am I missing something?
It’s not so much the the color, but it was different from the other fuses. I think it’s a different pop time than the OEM fuses.
Even if the fuse was the same color, checking it is an early step
HumbleMechanic
That interesting...I’d hv thought all fuses of like ratings would b designed to hold a given load over a given amount of time...regardless of manufacturer
The fact that it’s a different shade of blue is a good indication that it’s been replaced before. A fuse does not blow by accident so I very much doubt a new one will last very long. Looks like you be making that video after all Charles.
It’s been about a month and still not blown again. From the TH-cam video standpoint, I hope it does. From the “my butt likes to be warm” and “I don’t want to have to buy any parts” I hope she lasts forever 😂
I have been caught by this! I ripped out half a dash replacing a blower motor, swap in the new motor, and it did not work either. End up being a fuse and the motor was fine... 2 hours of my life I will not get back.
If someone here is a diesel technician can u tell me where you work at what salary is like
need help dose any one know how impotent the one way breather is on vacuum pipe on the break servo . had to cut mine off coz of a spilt and car has develop a stutter,, and dose any one know if a fuel mixture problem can make the engine stutter