Man I love your content I wish there were more people like you when I was growing up! Education and entertaining. This is the kind of channel I admire the work that goes into!
It takes a good man to make a video to point out his own mistakes, it takes a bigger man to own up to them . Still a good trouble shooting diagnostic video with good content any way you slice it. Your time is your own time, you don't get paid for fixing it .., the upside.., you didn't have to pay to get it fixed. *hits the like button.*
So…. You are a regular customer,(not a real technician) , and you bring your vehicle to a dealership. They fire the parts cannon because they claim the data told them the modules lost connection. Thousands of dollars later, your vehicle still doesn’t run. The service writer apologizes for not fixing the problem and recommends you speak to sales and purchase a new vehicle. This hypothetical situation is becoming the reality to most vehicle owners. Wish there were more experienced technicians with ethics, like you Ray.
There is a video about that exactly scenario on Banks auto, another shop told to the costumer she need to buy a full new cluster and new dashboard components, when banks look in to it was a mouse eaten a cable!!
I had a new beetle in which groundhogs ate my "eco-friendly" cable sheathing and hoses. My mech patched everything up with stuff he had lying around for 80 bucks. I cried when he retired. Fortunately, I found another mechanic but he is also overworked and near retirement...dammit...the good ones are always snowed under a workload and a half and tend to retire. Small town where I used to live, the "awesome car dude" was working on cars into his 80s...so people were willing to give him time to "get around to it". He loved meching like Ray does...took his time but he was so awesome and it was small town life and speed so, nobody cared...LOL
Greetings: Ford is typical of that. Others not far behind. I find it is less expensive 2 refurb and upgrade der stuff and end up with better It has proven itself with time. Thx 4 the share. Bsafe.
That's the quality of techs they get on the cheap because they hire them straight out of tech school. They know how to use tools, but don't have any experience diagnosing issues.
"The person who never made a mistake never made anything" served me well for over 48 years as an aircraft engineer. Still makes one feel stupid though. Well done on the troubleshooting, had a few difficult ones in the past myself. Retired now but still miss the challenges.
Geez, All that hassle for a loose/missing nut... I can't imagine the look on Ray's face when he realized it was just a faulty ground that he had removed during his dash upgrade. But at least he didn't have to take the whole dash apart to fix it. Kudos to him to finally figure it all out.
Customer states I took the dash apart and when I reassembled it, I forgot to put something back together since rated all the work on his truck he forgot to put those ground back on
Having followed your channel since just about the beginning - dealership days- I am constantly impressed by your willingness to share even those experiences which others might not want to admit to. This is a sign of great character and the ability to grow. Hat's off to you, Sir. Back when I was in the electronics repair business, we would call this a TIF (Technician Induced Failure)... not that it ever happened. lol. Cheers guys. Great video, thanks for sharing!
Luckily these days the information is available online, where you can see the diagram and search for the location of the things you need in those situations. Back in my day...........
@@AstroBoyAU LMAO..... The 'Back in my day' line brought back some painful memories. At least we had a telephone. It was good to know the old guy with a photographic memory too!
I know the pain you feel when you just can't figure out a problem, and you search forever, and think you'll never find what you're looking for. I also know the pleasure from your laugh after getting it connected, when you find a very simple problem, that was even all your fault, but you're grateful that you can actually fix it!
I thought it would be a network open and the SCAN tool was bridging it, which it was, it was just bridging a ground not a data line. Kinda like where it looked Ray was going. But before he showed the scan tool made it work, my first thought was.. You had the whole dash out not long ago, probably a bad connection behind there.
There is great satisfaction when you find an electrical issue and you know you have the root cause!! I had a ground issue on my plane that took me 7 hours to fully track down and fix!
Electrical gremlins can be a PITA to diagnose but are SOOOO satisfying when you get them fixed!!! I had a customer in 2011 bring in a Ford chassis cab bus to the shop. It would randomly loose all throttle, would run extremely rough, and sometimes stall. Typically a restart would get it back up and running, but for an indefinite period of time. He had already spent $5k at 2 other shops trying to fix this issue. We were his last hope. The data scanner showed that the TPS would suddenly show zero throttle even when the ECM commanded throttle. All wires were in good shape and ohmed out good. After a couple of weeks of wracking our brains, we finally figured out what was going on. Ford engineers, in their infinite wisdom, changed the TPS sensor on the throttle body from a potentiometer type to a magnetic read type. Well, on the 5.4 and 6.8 motors, the alternator is RIGHT next to the TPS sensor on the throttle body. Those chassis buses also all utilize an aftermarket alternator to deal with the extra load from all of the lights and dual AC systems. Those alternators were around 250+ amps. With the new TPS in place, as soon as the alternator started putting out a lot of power, it turned into a giant electromagnet, which would scramble the TPS signal!!! So, our fix was to replace the new TPS sensor out to the old one. Problem solved!!! So, we went around to all of the local Ford dealerships and bought them all out of their old TPS sensor since we worked primarily on chassis cab buses.
It was Ray who changed whole dashboard when he modified interior, he forgot that ground connetor. Everything was out of cabin when he did that interior update.
While working at chevy dealer in body shop ,heavy collision had almost same problem because the same ground wasnt tightened by me when i had to install new dash but it was intermiten problem.9 hours later found problem almost lost my mind again while customer yelled and bitched,My thoughts go out to you because most dont know how much stress this problem causes .Great diag GO RAY GO
Baffling real world mistakes like that happen to most of us who have ever tinkered with vehicle electrics, and would often take days to fix reliably. Your faith in a proper diagnostic process got to it logically and quicker than I'd have thought. So well done Ray!
Spot on. I recently had ECT sensor 1 and O2 sensor DTCs after a muffler installation...forgot I also deleted the symposer and never plugged the ECT back in. I was too focused on the O2 sensor. Fail!
Oh wow. So I had a 2011 tahoe. Had a couple gremlins. Turned out that the ground up in the dash had sealant from the windshield install in the connection. 🤦🏻♂️ You brought back the horrible memory of finding that.
Meanwhile the rest of the world would buy a Wal-Mart code scanner, plug it in and tuck it up behind the dash... (ducking to dodge flying tools and chairs) I am eating this video up, this is the stuff that makes you bang your head against the wall and Ray is just cool and calm going through all the steps.
I have a suspected ground issue that's causing all sorts of dramas on my 27 year old land rover that I can't seem to pinpoint. It is amazing how such a simple issue can cause so much of a headache. I'm happy that you managed to find and fix the issue on your truck. I love your videos and have learnt so much from them.
This was/is a great video! Phenomenal diagnosis and repair. It's almost always the simple things. Reminds me of a proverb (I paraphrased to make it fit this scenario): For want of a nut the ground was lost; For want of the ground the circuit was lost; For want of a circuit the power was lost; For the failure of the power the Silverado was lost- All for the want of a 10mm nut.
Brilliant detective work again Ray! I invested in an OBD2 breakout box which makes testing pins a breeze. I'm well past the point in my life where putting my head under a dashboard works. Glad that you're back in your trusty steed!
1:07 when I first moved to Tampa FL years ago, my dash looked just like that. Except mine did because I parked my car to go to work one day, when I came back at 4pm, someone had helped themselves to my stereo equipment and everything else inside my car....
We all saw the mess it was when you re-did the interior so it's no wonder how you missed that ground. That's gonna make you wonder if their could be anything else you might have missed. I guess if their was anything else it will pop up sooner or later. 😁😁 you're still a grade A tech 😁😁👍👍 That was good troubleshooting skills though. 👍👍👍👍
Electrical issues has never been my forte. Watching your channel has helped me understand more, especially in the modern high tech vehicles. Modules, talking, network, etc., I can follow, but seeing your diag of this issue with your Silveryrado was fun. Glad that you found the ground problem. Not surprising that with all you did modifying it during your mods that a ground escaped being connected. Sorta glad you were able to find it was "just" that and not some other weird problem. When I saw your dash apart in the parking lot I was scratching my head, and there's not much hair left up there nowadays. Thanks for taking us along on this. Amazing what a loss of ground did. 😊
When you plugged in the scanner and it was alive, I immediately said: "Bad Ground". The scanner ties the two grounds together when plugged in. Seen that a few times myself.
That's awesome it was just something simple, crazy how we can do all that high end swapping and upgrading and miss one little ground wire that throws it all into total chaos. Great find!!
To quote Scottie on Star Trek, "The more they overthink to plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." The more complex electronic systems get, the more vulnerable they are to simple faults. Glad you found the problem, at least you know who to punish for the oversight.
That is a true remark. We need more simple things in life, not this electronic shit in every bit there is. Bling-bling is for girlies, men need raw and robust!
Rainman Ray.. I was thinking you probably missed a ground or didn't get one quite tight enough when you had the dash out. Glad it was a simple no money & no parts needed repair.
Great Find! I too have created my own problems while working on stuff. Sometimes you have to slow down to go fast and trouble free. I really enjoy your Movie Clips when addressing some issues. It adds humor to an otherwise frustrating situation. Keep up the good work, we really enjoy it.
Really thorough job of troubleshooting. Reminds me of when my analog cell phone in my truck failed intermittently. The service guy ended up completely uninstalling it and finally found a wire that SOMETIMES opened if I happened to put my foot on a particular spot on the floor of the driver's area. (Meaning THAT hard to nail down). Excellent!!!!!
You've always harped on the ground and how rusty cars and connections can cause problems great video and showing how something so small can be huge. Love your honesty and channel ❤
Gotta love the terrible redundancy built into the electrical system that a single ground can take down the entire network. That's quality engineering there!
@@Viracocha785 "AS CHEAP AS POSSIBLE" forget that a single ground took out the entire network. What if his vehicle stalled while making a left-turn against traffic and a truck couldn't stop and hit the guy. Like would a dedicated ground wire in the harness instead of relying on a chassis ground alone, be too much to ask? But that one olive they don't put in a million jars is a lot of money saved is their attitude.
I am a retired Electronics Engineer. I agree that a single ground node missing that can trash an entire communication system is darn foolish. Sometimes chassis ground-loops can become difficult to engineer around. I expect it was one of those. The biggest problem with CAN bus is that while it is a differential 2-wire system, it also has a specific relationship to vehicle chassis in terms of levels and common-mode limits. This is never good. Ethernet avoids all these issues by isolating the communication cable from all transmitter, receiver and transceiver modules connected. So it is unlikely that a power-ground terminating one or more slave nodes can take down such a network. If the CAN standard had begun with opto-isolated or transformer communication coupling at all nodes this problem would never have occurred. It would just be "module/s XYZ offline" instead. Well folks here is the best news... Tesla used their Cyber-truck design to implement several long-needed advances to vehicle electrical systems. * 48V low tension instead of 12V. * High-speed Ethernet-like G'bit communication bus with proper common mode and differential mode isolation on all modules. * Diagnostic potential from the main screen is still immature but I would expect this to become highly sophisticated in the near term. OBDII is basically a good standard tool but when all vehicles have a fancy screen, such tools will likely become largely redundant. It would be foolish for other vehicle OEM's to not follow this lead - irrespective of the power-plant and/or energy source - going forward.
@@jimparr01Utube I think it's because they grew from analogue and chasis ground into high-speed and low-speed (and sometimes medium speed) networks piggy backing on a more analogue system. But still, having a ground wire in the connector versus chasis ground would have been better if they couldn't do both for some of the reasons you described.
@@CedroCron To be fair, I was always taught that you should predict your car will die at the worst time. Plan that you're not going to make it through the intersection and leave the oncoming guy enough time to stop if you don't.
That was nuts! Immediately when you mentioned it worked with the scanner plugged in I figured it was something to do with the data line or a line driver circuit, where the scanner would pull up or down the line. Didn't expect the whole box to have lost ground though. Glad it was just a ground and not a fried module! Excellent troubleshooting Ray!
This stuff (diag electrical issues) is Scanner Danner bread and butter. From watching his videos I suspected a bad ground for two reasons, circuit high codes, and when you plugged in the scanner that provided a ground through your scanner on the data link connector. Got that at 5 min in, and my first look would be at any after market connections made, something may have been missed. ❤ your videos, good job Ray
What a find! When you had the dash apart with a gazillion wires hanging you missed one wire & stud you couldn't see. WOW. You solved your problem. Amazing diagnosis.
Ray ..First a compliment. You are one of the best mechanics I've ever Seen on Yotube and probably also anyplace anytime anywhere else. You are intuitive , meticulous, and through. Overall You're in the same league as Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson when it comes to Troubleshooting and fixing Vehicles. Now You're also one of the luckiest Son of a guns too. Do you know how lucky you were not wiping out your entire Trucks computer system with an intermittent ground? Not only could you have wiped all the components out electronically, but, you also could have corrupted the software. That would have been a major unrecoverable disaster! Computers just don't like certain situations and intermittent connections are a major one. I'm glad your truck still runs and know you are too. Don't do that anymore! 🙂 BTW I 'm an Engineer and been at this game for like 50 years. So I' know what I'm talking about. You just used up one of your 9 lives! lol 🍀🍀🍀👍 BTW...Hot Swapping is also pushing your luck. But I don't think I'm telling you something you don't already know.
You should take the kid and make him do nothing else except look for the danger zone in everything he interacts with in the shop for an entire day. He seems o be on cruise control simply cause he's young and doesn't know yet. Not criticism,your a great teacher.
The excitement is real when you found the problem (through good diagnosing). Great job Ray. Also thanks for teaching us another way to troubleshoot as that is the key to actually fixing something and understanding what or why it broke.
Yes I think we've all made this same mistake at one point or another, I am glad you got your truck fixed and you go out of your way to help your customers out and save them money you didn't have to take your injectors out of your truck to fix a customers truck that is above and beyond what one would expect from a.mechanic😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Glad you got your truck fixed I kinda thought is was something simple but it wasn't that simple to get too was it. I know some people are going to criticize you for forgetting to hook up the ground wire, but ill say to them you take your truck apart and see how many things you forget to back up!! I think Ray did a great job fixing his truck and finding the problem.
Ray, when you took out the Dash a year ago, you didn't reconnect that ground wire. I'm glad you were able to diagnose and fix it. I like that truck. And like me I need my truck too.
When I first saw the issues you had with your truck, I thought earth problem, but then I remembered I'm an ex mechanic and haven't professionally worked on vehicles for nineteen years. I sat back and watched in awe as you diagnose on stuff I had never had to deal with. Then you found the earth disconnected and it made me feel a bit better that I wasn't totally on the scrap heap as a mechanic. You constantly impress me with the work you do. Keep up the great work, all the best from a wrinkly old mechanic in the UK 😅
I got to say that I appreciate your honesty and integrity, as well as your wit and brain surgeon like attack on all mechanical and electrical issues. You are at the apex of your craft. Thanks also to your lovely wife unit.
I had a 2005 silverado that did almost everything yours did, but it was still drivable. After several hours of messing with it, I unplugged the aftermarket steering wheel control interface harness that I had for my aftermarket radio. As soon as I unplugged it, everything returned to normal. Ended up replacing the harness with a different brand, no issues afterwards
When I watched part 1 ….. Rot-Roh …… wiring ……oh the humanity …… So many things fubarred !!!! Great work on locating the issue !!! Oh yeah…. Now I remember…… It was getting late…… I wanted to get this dash IN !!! Overlooked one lil wire …… out of the multitude ….. Glad it was a relatively minor issue !!!!
Well done, Ray! I had *NO* idea precisely what or where the problem was, but my gut feel from the start was "It's something Ray did to the truck." That turned out to be right. Seems that your scan tool jumps pins 4 and 5 (ground) together internally, which is why the truck would work with it connected. As vehicles get more and more complex, we see more and more "single point of failure" problems. In this case it is one skinny little wire running to ground that takes out the entire truck.
Ray as soon as you found the issue I couldn't help but laugh and not trying to laugh at you it's the whole reason why I know every technician hates dash work and this shows why. Things are so easy to miss when it comes time to putting everything back together but glad it was an easyish fix that didn't require any parts just time. I was seriously worried cause my 05 LeSabre is pretty much at the same mileage as your Silverado and thought I had a huge issue to be worrying about. Glad she's running and I'm certain she's good again
One little ground wire. I can't tell you how many times it came down to one, little missed wire. Happy for you man. Glad it's back. Nothing feels quite as good as having your baby back, running the same as ever.
Funny how this is an extremely common problem. Literally a hundred wires and easily a half a dozen of them are grouped grounds under the dash. It's almost guaranteed that anyone will miss at least one connection during reassembly. What is shocking is that everything seemed to be working fine for months. And now, it finally shows itself. Nice work finding the problem Ray.
This is why I don't trust most mechanics or dealerships to find and fix a problem. That was a lot of diagnostic work and, in my experience, people are not willing to put in this much effort. I applaud you for doing so with this vehicle (your own) and all the others you work on. Seems like you really care.
Been waiting for this vid. As soon as you plugged in the scanner my first thought was that it was a grounding issue. I had one on my Durango and I was literally chasing my own tail in circles for what felt like forever. Great job finding it and I love that when you make a mistake you still show us the mistakes instead of making them disappear or making excuses. Keep it up
1992 Chevy Astro Van had the exact same issue just in a different place. The ground wire cluster near the left side top radiator mount had somehow loosened and had all 4 grounds flopping around. The area Chevy dealer service manager had it fixed in 20 minutes and didn't charge me a nickel. The good old days! Great Video Ray! Thank you!
Finding and repairing these kinds of problems is so frustrating to me. However, when you find the problem and finally fix it the feeling is awesome. Good job!
Great video, I immediately guessed there was a ground fault, but how well you diagnose it shows the professional. Great praise from an old mechanic from Germany.
For want of a wire, the truck was lost. This was a good video because you showed that you're not afraid to show us that even you can make mistakes, Ray. Kudos to you for showing us that when you didn't have to do it.
indeed! it wasn't the upgrades....it was the installation of said upgrades! good news though... when you do it yourself in your own shop you always get labour covered under warranty.
@@21Piloteer fitting them did :) Which is why I wrote 'kinda'. Well, strictly speaking, fitting the upgraded dashboard did, which isn't really an 'extra' I guess.
Man, complicated repair. Shows how diversified the amount of electrical knowledge a true master mechanic must know today. Thanks for bringing us along.
First off; congrats on getting your truck back to operational status! I love that you do this kind of diagnostic work. You have skills that many mechanics lack or won't get into because it's a total PITA. I watched your previous video when you were stuck out in the parking lot and you pulled most of your dash and all kinds of modules. Finally, after much testing, you finally found the problem...a disconnected ground wire in a very hard to reach area. The fix was kinda simple but getting there was the hard part. Loads of respect to you for all the patience you have. Even if I had the skills, I'd have lost my s**t and probably cursed out the truck and taken a sledgehammer to it.😂
Ray, I guessed the problem was related to the DLC WHEN the system started working with the scan tool connected. However, I'm no where as good as you, and I don't have a scan tool. This was a great video. A master class in diagnosis. I've been retired from the car business for almost 20 years but cars remain a passion. Thanks so much for your channel.
Honesty....this was one for the archives best part 1 and 2. Title: The ground issue..personal. This now gives you that first thought on starting issues for future clients. " It's ground issue" Peace to you and family Ray. DVD:)
When we get deep involved in a project its easy to miss small things. Amazing that ground maintained continuity . Seems like any bounce could have broke connection wreaking havoc. Best case scenario is it stayed broke until you found it!😊
You nailed it Ray good job. I was kinda fed up with those networks for the day (spent 4hrs on ''u'' codes at work this very afternoon) but when I watched your pt1 video, I cannot pass on this one to see what the matter was with your beloved mean of transportation. Interesting to see those codes on a older model but just to reassure you, the newer ones are an interesting nightmarish freaking mess haha. Love your vids man keep up the good work.
I always love that eureka moment of finding out and knowing exactly what's wrong... then to immediately realize... "oh god, I know what's wrong. how the F am I gonna fix it?"
Who would have thought one single loose wire would cause so much hassle. That possibly cost a few hundreds in another shop just for a simple nut. Glad you found and sorted the problem. Stay safe and have a nice day.
Thank you for showing that we all can make mistakes at whatever level we are at. But at least you fixed the mistake and made it right way to go Ray , keep kicking butt and never stop living dreams.
Amazing and it seems like yeah you guys hit it right on the nail Good job where you know some of us old people can't see for like my brother and father used to be able to tell with a broomstick what's going on but with today's stuff you know it's good to have people like you that are really concerned about is what is actually wrong and how to fix it without taking advantage of the customer I wish she had somebody up here like you up here
Go Back to Pt1: Mechanic Stranded! (Total Data Loss) LBZ Duramax 6.6 U1301 U1305 ruclips.net/video/trZk-iq4WTU/видео.html
Customer states "You are the customer"
Man I love your content I wish there were more people like you when I was growing up! Education and entertaining. This is the kind of channel I admire the work that goes into!
When a Me-chanic has to wrench on his own rig....... Mechanicing!
i recon what you did is finger tighten the bolt and didnt nip it up 👍
It takes a good man to make a video to point out his own mistakes, it takes a bigger man to own up to them . Still a good trouble shooting diagnostic video with good content any way you slice it.
Your time is your own time, you don't get paid for fixing it .., the upside.., you didn't have to pay to get it fixed.
*hits the like button.*
So…. You are a regular customer,(not a real technician) , and you bring your vehicle to a dealership. They fire the parts cannon because they claim the data told them the modules lost connection. Thousands of dollars later, your vehicle still doesn’t run. The service writer apologizes for not fixing the problem and recommends you speak to sales and purchase a new vehicle. This hypothetical situation is becoming the reality to most vehicle owners. Wish there were more experienced technicians with ethics, like you Ray.
Totally thinking that (Sorry A-Rod). Can't imagine some mechanic testing things one by one and simply RTFM and finding the issue.
There is a video about that exactly scenario on Banks auto, another shop told to the costumer she need to buy a full new cluster and new dashboard components, when banks look in to it was a mouse eaten a cable!!
I had a new beetle in which groundhogs ate my "eco-friendly" cable sheathing and hoses. My mech patched everything up with stuff he had lying around for 80 bucks. I cried when he retired. Fortunately, I found another mechanic but he is also overworked and near retirement...dammit...the good ones are always snowed under a workload and a half and tend to retire. Small town where I used to live, the "awesome car dude" was working on cars into his 80s...so people were willing to give him time to "get around to it". He loved meching like Ray does...took his time but he was so awesome and it was small town life and speed so, nobody cared...LOL
Greetings: Ford is typical of that. Others not far behind. I find it is less expensive 2 refurb and upgrade der stuff and end up with better It has proven itself with time. Thx 4 the share. Bsafe.
That's the quality of techs they get on the cheap because they hire them straight out of tech school. They know how to use tools, but don't have any experience diagnosing issues.
So, the problem literally was......The nut behind the wheel and in front of it. Our favorite mechanic and his Mr. Ray.
The LOOSE nut behind the wheel...
"It ain't got no gas in it!"
- Karl Childers
sometimes the simplist things are the easyist to fix! ask me how i know!
@@geraldharkness8830 how do you know huh
so....deez nutz??
"The person who never made a mistake never made anything" served me well for over 48 years as an aircraft engineer. Still makes one feel stupid though. Well done on the troubleshooting, had a few difficult ones in the past myself. Retired now but still miss the challenges.
Geez, All that hassle for a loose/missing nut... I can't imagine the look on Ray's face when he realized it was just a faulty ground that he had removed during his dash upgrade. But at least he didn't have to take the whole dash apart to fix it. Kudos to him to finally figure it all out.
Customer states previous mechanic tried to diagnose vehicle while driving it...😅😂😅😂
Customer states I took the dash apart and when I reassembled it, I forgot to put something back together since rated all the work on his truck he forgot to put those ground back on
Having followed your channel since just about the beginning - dealership days- I am constantly impressed by your willingness to share even those experiences which others might not want to admit to. This is a sign of great character and the ability to grow. Hat's off to you, Sir. Back when I was in the electronics repair business, we would call this a TIF (Technician Induced Failure)... not that it ever happened. lol. Cheers guys. Great video, thanks for sharing!
🫡
Bad grounds can make you chase your ass a round all day. Glad you found it
Luckily these days the information is available online, where you can see the diagram and search for the location of the things you need in those situations. Back in my day...........
@@AstroBoyAU LMAO..... The 'Back in my day' line brought back some painful memories. At least we had a telephone. It was good to know the old guy with a photographic memory too!
Even “Ray the Magnificent” can make an error. I’ve done the same thing. You still ROCK.
Ray had his own comeback. Thanks for showing us you are human.
How many times has he "forgot" something on a customer's car but didn't do this extensive of a search for the problem?
@@epstein_isnt_dead7726 Even on flat rate in retail big box shop he gave 1110% of that flat rate to each and every customer.
@@epstein_isnt_dead7726 Probably never.
@@stevenreid-g2y why do you say that? He is human, right? Why is is so hard to imagine that a human messed up?
I know the pain you feel when you just can't figure out a problem, and you search forever, and think you'll never find what you're looking for. I also know the pleasure from your laugh after getting it connected, when you find a very simple problem, that was even all your fault, but you're grateful that you can actually fix it!
As soon as you plugged the scanner in and everything came on line I knew it was a ground problem. Glad it was an easy find. Have a great day buddy!
Beat me to it. Grounding through the scan tool.
Hehe.said it was a ground problem in the towing home video.
He said he hit a puddle and everything went crazy
I thought it would be a network open and the SCAN tool was bridging it, which it was, it was just bridging a ground not a data line. Kinda like where it looked Ray was going. But before he showed the scan tool made it work, my first thought was.. You had the whole dash out not long ago, probably a bad connection behind there.
Makes you wonder how many customer cars he didnt put back together correctly.
There is great satisfaction when you find an electrical issue and you know you have the root cause!!
I had a ground issue on my plane that took me 7 hours to fully track down and fix!
On an Airplane an Electrical Ground can Take You Down to Real Ground Potential--not Good...
Customer States: Vehicle towed in by myself. Now I gotta fix my own crap 🙃 "Everything is up! Security is still pissed at me." 😂
Lol
To add insult to injury, the Customer supplied parts 🤣
@@Isus666999 lol
@@Isus666999 Even worse, the customer worked on their vehicle.
Customer refused service, wants 2nd opinion lol
Thanks for again showing us the value of sound diagnostic process. All the codes in the world will not find a ground issue.
So your truck downloaded the Crowdstrike update!😂
Crowdstrike---- when the Windows fell
More like the OnStrike update...
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Crowdstrike will never live that down. have to say it sucked though as it hit all operating systems if you updated it lol
Electrical gremlins can be a PITA to diagnose but are SOOOO satisfying when you get them fixed!!!
I had a customer in 2011 bring in a Ford chassis cab bus to the shop. It would randomly loose all throttle, would run extremely rough, and sometimes stall. Typically a restart would get it back up and running, but for an indefinite period of time. He had already spent $5k at 2 other shops trying to fix this issue. We were his last hope.
The data scanner showed that the TPS would suddenly show zero throttle even when the ECM commanded throttle. All wires were in good shape and ohmed out good.
After a couple of weeks of wracking our brains, we finally figured out what was going on. Ford engineers, in their infinite wisdom, changed the TPS sensor on the throttle body from a potentiometer type to a magnetic read type. Well, on the 5.4 and 6.8 motors, the alternator is RIGHT next to the TPS sensor on the throttle body. Those chassis buses also all utilize an aftermarket alternator to deal with the extra load from all of the lights and dual AC systems. Those alternators were around 250+ amps.
With the new TPS in place, as soon as the alternator started putting out a lot of power, it turned into a giant electromagnet, which would scramble the TPS signal!!!
So, our fix was to replace the new TPS sensor out to the old one. Problem solved!!! So, we went around to all of the local Ford dealerships and bought them all out of their old TPS sensor since we worked primarily on chassis cab buses.
So it wasn't the Banks stuff, it was the guy who installed the Banks stuff! Good for him he has a great mechanic!
It was Ray who changed whole dashboard when he modified interior, he forgot that ground connetor. Everything was out of cabin when he did that interior update.
🤦🤦
Hahaha oopsie.
It's not related to Banks stuff in a slightest. Did you even watched the video?
@@SmallKittyPaw I see that reading comprehension isn't your forte
While working at chevy dealer in body shop ,heavy collision had almost same problem because the same ground wasnt tightened by me when i had to install new dash but it was intermiten problem.9 hours later found problem almost lost my mind again while customer yelled and bitched,My thoughts go out to you because most dont know how much stress this problem causes .Great diag GO RAY GO
Baffling real world mistakes like that happen to most of us who have ever tinkered with vehicle electrics, and would often take days to fix reliably. Your faith in a proper diagnostic process got to it logically and quicker than I'd have thought. So well done Ray!
Corndogs on the house!😊
Spot on. I recently had ECT sensor 1 and O2 sensor DTCs after a muffler installation...forgot I also deleted the symposer and never plugged the ECT back in. I was too focused on the O2 sensor. Fail!
Reading those ladder diagrams as well as he does really helps.
Heck, just having those diagrams really helps.
Oh wow. So I had a 2011 tahoe. Had a couple gremlins. Turned out that the ground up in the dash had sealant from the windshield install in the connection. 🤦🏻♂️ You brought back the horrible memory of finding that.
Get GROUNDED Ray!
Sweet that she is ALIVE.
great new T-shirt logo...?
@@lomni02 You made a GREAT point :)
Meanwhile the rest of the world would buy a Wal-Mart code scanner, plug it in and tuck it up behind the dash... (ducking to dodge flying tools and chairs) I am eating this video up, this is the stuff that makes you bang your head against the wall and Ray is just cool and calm going through all the steps.
Single piece of wire to bridge the two grounds at the obd port and some hot glue to keep it in place.
"Good as new"
I have a suspected ground issue that's causing all sorts of dramas on my 27 year old land rover that I can't seem to pinpoint. It is amazing how such a simple issue can cause so much of a headache. I'm happy that you managed to find and fix the issue on your truck. I love your videos and have learnt so much from them.
This was/is a great video! Phenomenal diagnosis and repair. It's almost always the simple things. Reminds me of a proverb (I paraphrased to make it fit this scenario):
For want of a nut the ground was lost;
For want of the ground the circuit was lost;
For want of a circuit the power was lost;
For the failure of the power the Silverado was lost-
All for the want of a 10mm nut.
As soon as he said 10mm, 😂 😂😂
Brilliant detective work again Ray! I invested in an OBD2 breakout box which makes testing pins a breeze. I'm well past the point in my life where putting my head under a dashboard works. Glad that you're back in your trusty steed!
Ray, I love the fact that you share your “Learning Experiences” with us. 😊
1:07 when I first moved to Tampa FL years ago, my dash looked just like that. Except mine did because I parked my car to go to work one day, when I came back at 4pm, someone had helped themselves to my stereo equipment and everything else inside my car....
We all saw the mess it was when you re-did the interior so it's no wonder how you missed that ground. That's gonna make you wonder if their could be anything else you might have missed. I guess if their was anything else it will pop up sooner or later. 😁😁 you're still a grade A tech 😁😁👍👍 That was good troubleshooting skills though. 👍👍👍👍
Moral of the story. Mind your nuts!
Electrical issues has never been my forte. Watching your channel has helped me understand more, especially in the modern high tech vehicles. Modules, talking, network, etc., I can follow, but seeing your diag of this issue with your Silveryrado was fun. Glad that you found the ground problem. Not surprising that with all you did modifying it during your mods that a ground escaped being connected. Sorta glad you were able to find it was "just" that and not some other weird problem. When I saw your dash apart in the parking lot I was scratching my head, and there's not much hair left up there nowadays. Thanks for taking us along on this. Amazing what a loss of ground did. 😊
Wow! What terrible luck to have one of the worst possible connections to overlook. Glad you found it quickly Ray. Good job!
You could have worded this so it didn't spoil the video for everyone who sees it and clicks away bc the mystery is ruined
@@Onewheelordealdon't read the comments till you watch the vidya
When you plugged in the scanner and it was alive, I immediately said: "Bad Ground". The scanner ties the two grounds together when plugged in. Seen that a few times myself.
That's awesome it was just something simple, crazy how we can do all that high end swapping and upgrading and miss one little ground wire that throws it all into total chaos. Great find!!
To quote Scottie on Star Trek, "The more they overthink to plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."
The more complex electronic systems get, the more vulnerable they are to simple faults.
Glad you found the problem, at least you know who to punish for the oversight.
That is a true remark. We need more simple things in life, not this electronic shit in every bit there is. Bling-bling is for girlies, men need raw and robust!
Rainman Ray.. I was thinking you probably missed a ground or didn't get one quite tight enough when you had the dash out. Glad it was a simple no money & no parts needed repair.
Ray, I knew you'd find the problem and thank you for being transparent with your viewers!
Great Find! I too have created my own problems while working on stuff. Sometimes you have to slow down to go fast and trouble free.
I really enjoy your Movie Clips when addressing some issues. It adds humor to an otherwise frustrating situation. Keep up the good work, we really enjoy it.
Really thorough job of troubleshooting. Reminds me of when my analog cell phone in my truck failed intermittently. The service guy ended up completely uninstalling it and finally found a wire that SOMETIMES opened if I happened to put my foot on a particular spot on the floor of the driver's area. (Meaning THAT hard to nail down). Excellent!!!!!
You've always harped on the ground and how rusty cars and connections can cause problems great video and showing how something so small can be huge. Love your honesty and channel ❤
Gotta love the terrible redundancy built into the electrical system that a single ground can take down the entire network. That's quality engineering there!
Exactly. Most engineers are lazy. When ever I think of automotive engineers I also think of Pantera's "Five Minutes Alone".
@@Viracocha785 "AS CHEAP AS POSSIBLE" forget that a single ground took out the entire network. What if his vehicle stalled while making a left-turn against traffic and a truck couldn't stop and hit the guy. Like would a dedicated ground wire in the harness instead of relying on a chassis ground alone, be too much to ask? But that one olive they don't put in a million jars is a lot of money saved is their attitude.
I am a retired Electronics Engineer. I agree that a single ground node missing that can trash an entire communication system is darn foolish.
Sometimes chassis ground-loops can become difficult to engineer around. I expect it was one of those. The biggest problem with CAN bus is that while it is a differential 2-wire system, it also has a specific relationship to vehicle chassis in terms of levels and common-mode limits. This is never good. Ethernet avoids all these issues by isolating the communication cable from all transmitter, receiver and transceiver modules connected. So it is unlikely that a power-ground terminating one or more slave nodes can take down such a network.
If the CAN standard had begun with opto-isolated or transformer communication coupling at all nodes this problem would never have occurred. It would just be "module/s XYZ offline" instead.
Well folks here is the best news...
Tesla used their Cyber-truck design to implement several long-needed advances to vehicle electrical systems.
* 48V low tension instead of 12V.
* High-speed Ethernet-like G'bit communication bus with proper common mode and differential mode isolation on all modules.
* Diagnostic potential from the main screen is still immature but I would expect this to become highly sophisticated in the near term.
OBDII is basically a good standard tool but when all vehicles have a fancy screen, such tools will likely become largely redundant.
It would be foolish for other vehicle OEM's to not follow this lead - irrespective of the power-plant and/or energy source - going forward.
@@jimparr01Utube I think it's because they grew from analogue and chasis ground into high-speed and low-speed (and sometimes medium speed) networks piggy backing on a more analogue system. But still, having a ground wire in the connector versus chasis ground would have been better if they couldn't do both for some of the reasons you described.
@@CedroCron To be fair, I was always taught that you should predict your car will die at the worst time. Plan that you're not going to make it through the intersection and leave the oncoming guy enough time to stop if you don't.
That was nuts! Immediately when you mentioned it worked with the scanner plugged in I figured it was something to do with the data line or a line driver circuit, where the scanner would pull up or down the line. Didn't expect the whole box to have lost ground though. Glad it was just a ground and not a fried module! Excellent troubleshooting Ray!
This stuff (diag electrical issues) is Scanner Danner bread and butter. From watching his videos I suspected a bad ground for two reasons, circuit high codes, and when you plugged in the scanner that provided a ground through your scanner on the data link connector. Got that at 5 min in, and my first look would be at any after market connections made, something may have been missed. ❤ your videos, good job Ray
What a find! When you had the dash apart with a gazillion wires hanging you missed one wire & stud you couldn't see. WOW. You solved your problem. Amazing diagnosis.
Cool video and excellent deductive reasoning on your data line loss issue. Always amazing what a simple ground circuit issue can cause.
Ray ..First a compliment.
You are one of the best mechanics I've ever Seen on Yotube and probably also anyplace anytime anywhere else. You are intuitive , meticulous, and through. Overall You're in the same league as Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson when it comes to Troubleshooting and fixing Vehicles. Now
You're also one of the luckiest Son of a guns too. Do you know how lucky you were not wiping out your entire Trucks computer system with an intermittent ground?
Not only could you have wiped all the components out electronically, but, you also could have corrupted the software. That would have been a major unrecoverable disaster! Computers just don't like certain situations and intermittent connections are a major one.
I'm glad your truck still runs and know you are too.
Don't do that anymore! 🙂 BTW I 'm an Engineer and been at this game for like 50 years. So I' know what I'm talking about. You just used up one of your 9 lives! lol 🍀🍀🍀👍
BTW...Hot Swapping is also pushing your luck. But I don't think I'm telling you something you don't already know.
You should take the kid and make him do nothing else except look for the danger zone in everything he interacts with in the shop for an entire day.
He seems o be on cruise control simply cause he's young and doesn't know yet.
Not criticism,your a great teacher.
The excitement is real when you found the problem (through good diagnosing). Great job Ray. Also thanks for teaching us another way to troubleshoot as that is the key to actually fixing something and understanding what or why it broke.
It's going to be something easy because there was a rain bow when you brought it in
Yes I think we've all made this same mistake at one point or another,
I am glad you got your truck fixed and you go out of your way to help your customers out and save them money you didn't have to take your injectors out of your truck to fix a customers truck that is above and beyond what one would expect from a.mechanic😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
At least you admitted who's "fault" it was.
I gotta say, this is the best video I have ever see in this channel.
1 part required ! A 10 mm nut ! How that ran so long since the dash removal is pretty wild !
Labor 6 hours diagnostic, parts 10 cents, installation of part .25 hours.
Glad you got your truck fixed I kinda thought is was something simple but it wasn't that simple to get too was it.
I know some people are going to criticize you for forgetting to hook up the ground wire, but ill say to them you take your truck apart and see how many things you forget to back up!!
I think Ray did a great job fixing his truck and finding the problem.
Ray, when you took out the Dash a year ago, you didn't reconnect that ground wire. I'm glad you were able to diagnose and fix it. I like that truck. And like me I need my truck too.
When I first saw the issues you had with your truck, I thought earth problem, but then I remembered I'm an ex mechanic and haven't professionally worked on vehicles for nineteen years. I sat back and watched in awe as you diagnose on stuff I had never had to deal with. Then you found the earth disconnected and it made me feel a bit better that I wasn't totally on the scrap heap as a mechanic. You constantly impress me with the work you do. Keep up the great work, all the best from a wrinkly old mechanic in the UK 😅
I don't know why but the Jurassic Park Door Locks clip kills me every time 🤣
same here and it makes me want to watch it again
Just watched the movie yesterday , now I get it😂
29:04
Must be something deep down wthin you, from prehistoric times.
I love those clips
I got to say that I appreciate your honesty and integrity, as well as your wit and brain surgeon like attack on all mechanical and electrical issues. You are at the apex of your craft. Thanks also to your lovely wife unit.
0:24 “double rainbow all the way!!! What’s it mean?”
I had a 2005 silverado that did almost everything yours did, but it was still drivable. After several hours of messing with it, I unplugged the aftermarket steering wheel control interface harness that I had for my aftermarket radio. As soon as I unplugged it, everything returned to normal. Ended up replacing the harness with a different brand, no issues afterwards
From watching a lot of Pine Hollow and Eric O my first thought was bad ground.
When I watched part 1 …..
Rot-Roh …… wiring ……oh the humanity ……
So many things fubarred !!!!
Great work on locating the issue !!!
Oh yeah…. Now I remember……
It was getting late…… I wanted to get this dash IN !!!
Overlooked one lil wire …… out of the multitude …..
Glad it was a relatively minor issue !!!!
Oh remember the good ole days when you could just work on cars without accessing Skynet by Cyberdyne systems for Sac-norad!!!! 🤣😂
Well done, Ray!
I had *NO* idea precisely what or where the problem was, but my gut feel from the start was "It's something Ray did to the truck."
That turned out to be right. Seems that your scan tool jumps pins 4 and 5 (ground) together internally, which is why the truck would work with it connected.
As vehicles get more and more complex, we see more and more "single point of failure" problems. In this case it is one skinny little wire running to ground that takes out the entire truck.
Ray as soon as you found the issue I couldn't help but laugh and not trying to laugh at you it's the whole reason why I know every technician hates dash work and this shows why. Things are so easy to miss when it comes time to putting everything back together but glad it was an easyish fix that didn't require any parts just time. I was seriously worried cause my 05 LeSabre is pretty much at the same mileage as your Silverado and thought I had a huge issue to be worrying about. Glad she's running and I'm certain she's good again
Good morning Ray 🌄 man that tow truck that you invested in really paid off it really came in handy.
One little ground wire. I can't tell you how many times it came down to one, little missed wire. Happy for you man. Glad it's back. Nothing feels quite as good as having your baby back, running the same as ever.
ahh those pesky grounds get you every time. Where there is a global electrical issue, that is usually my first port of call.
Funny how this is an extremely common problem. Literally a hundred wires and easily a half a dozen of them are grouped grounds under the dash. It's almost guaranteed that anyone will miss at least one connection during reassembly. What is shocking is that everything seemed to be working fine for months. And now, it finally shows itself. Nice work finding the problem Ray.
It shows how good your content is when I do not understand a word your saying but still enjoy it anyway🤣
This is why I don't trust most mechanics or dealerships to find and fix a problem. That was a lot of diagnostic work and, in my experience, people are not willing to put in this much effort. I applaud you for doing so with this vehicle (your own) and all the others you work on. Seems like you really care.
Your car is requesting a scan tool for itself. 😁
Sorry not part of the default kit, must issue a MAC to add new equipment.
Been waiting for this vid. As soon as you plugged in the scanner my first thought was that it was a grounding issue. I had one on my Durango and I was literally chasing my own tail in circles for what felt like forever. Great job finding it and I love that when you make a mistake you still show us the mistakes instead of making them disappear or making excuses. Keep it up
Love that Escalade interior swap
1992 Chevy Astro Van had the exact same issue just in a different place. The ground wire cluster near the left side top radiator mount had somehow loosened and had all 4 grounds flopping around. The area Chevy dealer service manager had it fixed in 20 minutes and didn't charge me a nickel. The good old days! Great Video Ray! Thank you!
That's a pretty slick anti-theft security system the engineers thought of there.
Finding and repairing these kinds of problems is so frustrating to me. However, when you find the problem and finally fix it the feeling is awesome. Good job!
`Murphy`s law at work...nicely sorted.`
Great video, I immediately guessed there was a ground fault, but how well you diagnose it shows the professional.
Great praise from an old mechanic from Germany.
Ray theres nothing worse then a internet Tech / Mechanics. To much aftermarket broke your truck !!! People these days are just so ignorant.
It amazes me the things that these internet techs say... literally no clue what there saying!!😅😅
Well, it/they did - in a way, because he forgot this ground connection while installing the aftermarket parts. 🤔😁😁😁
@@JohnADoe-pg1qk Dash was a factory part not aftermarket - the Banks pods were installed at a different time.
For want of a wire, the truck was lost. This was a good video because you showed that you're not afraid to show us that even you can make mistakes, Ray. Kudos to you for showing us that when you didn't have to do it.
So those folks who blamed all the extras you'd bolted in were kinda right... ;)
Not really. The extras didn't cause the issue.
indeed! it wasn't the upgrades....it was the installation of said upgrades! good news though... when you do it yourself in your own shop you always get labour covered under warranty.
@@21Piloteer fitting them did :) Which is why I wrote 'kinda'.
Well, strictly speaking, fitting the upgraded dashboard did, which isn't really an 'extra' I guess.
I'm so glad we got the truck running and fixed 😊
Man, complicated repair. Shows how diversified the amount of electrical knowledge a true master mechanic must know today. Thanks for bringing us along.
Thanks for detailing the fault tree and found the problem. Electrical issues are always a pita
First off; congrats on getting your truck back to operational status! I love that you do this kind of diagnostic work. You have skills that many mechanics lack or won't get into because it's a total PITA. I watched your previous video when you were stuck out in the parking lot and you pulled most of your dash and all kinds of modules. Finally, after much testing, you finally found the problem...a disconnected ground wire in a very hard to reach area. The fix was kinda simple but getting there was the hard part. Loads of respect to you for all the patience you have. Even if I had the skills, I'd have lost my s**t and probably cursed out the truck and taken a sledgehammer to it.😂
Ray, I guessed the problem was related to the DLC WHEN the system started working with the scan tool connected. However, I'm no where as good as you, and I don't have a scan tool. This was a great video. A master class in diagnosis. I've been retired from the car business for almost 20 years but cars remain a passion. Thanks so much for your channel.
Honesty....this was one for the archives best part 1 and 2. Title: The ground issue..personal. This now gives you that first thought on starting issues for future clients. " It's ground issue" Peace to you and family Ray. DVD:)
Boy you showed your talent in finding and fixing a problem that had you stuck for good. Very smart man.
When we get deep involved in a project its easy to miss small things. Amazing that ground maintained continuity . Seems like any bounce could have broke connection wreaking havoc. Best case scenario is it stayed broke until you found it!😊
I am so glad it was a simple fix, you have put so much into that machine!
You nailed it Ray good job. I was kinda fed up with those networks for the day (spent 4hrs on ''u'' codes at work this very afternoon) but when I watched your pt1 video, I cannot pass on this one to see what the matter was with your beloved mean of transportation. Interesting to see those codes on a older model but just to reassure you, the newer ones are an interesting nightmarish freaking mess haha. Love your vids man keep up the good work.
I always love that eureka moment of finding out and knowing exactly what's wrong... then to immediately realize... "oh god, I know what's wrong. how the F am I gonna fix it?"
Who would have thought one single loose wire would cause so much hassle. That possibly cost a few hundreds in another shop just for a simple nut. Glad you found and sorted the problem. Stay safe and have a nice day.
These head-scratching diag videos are amongst the best. Your intuition and knowledge (plus AllData) are fantastic. TY
Being an electrician I know it was your ground because when you plug the scanner in it was using the ground from the scanner circuit😮
Thank you for showing that we all can make mistakes at whatever level we are at. But at least you fixed the mistake and made it right way to go Ray , keep kicking butt and never stop living dreams.
Good find Ray. Thankful you weren't high speeding down the highway.
Amazing and it seems like yeah you guys hit it right on the nail Good job where you know some of us old people can't see for like my brother and father used to be able to tell with a broomstick what's going on but with today's stuff you know it's good to have people like you that are really concerned about is what is actually wrong and how to fix it without taking advantage of the customer I wish she had somebody up here like you up here
Good find! Kudos for sticking to it and finding the problem.