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TECHNICIAN CHALLENGE: Guessing obscure (and obvious) dash lights


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    • By Counterman
      The
      link hidden, please login to view is calling on its members and the wider auto care community to take immediate action in the fight for the right to repair with the launch of the “#RighttoRepair, RIGHT NOW” challenge. The initiative encourages every member to send a new letter to their legislator, demanding swift action on Right to Repair legislation. The challenge is designed to amplify the voices of consumers and industry professionals alike, ensuring that their message reaches the halls of Congress. As part of the challenge, participants are asked not only to urge their legislators to pass H.R. 906, “The REPAIR Act,” but also to spread the word by tagging three colleagues, friends or industry peers on social media, urging them to do the same.
      Here’s how to participate in the #RighttoRepair, RIGHT NOW challenge in three steps:
      Send a New Letter: Visit repairact.com to send our updated letter to your legislator. Take a Selfie: Take a selfie featuring a message that you took action. Post about your action on social media, using the hashtag #RighttoRepair. Tag More People: Challenge three others to do the same by tagging them directly in your post. “As summer comes to a close and Congress picks back up from its August recess, it is now a critical moment for us to make as much noise as possible on the right to repair issue to capture the attention of our elected officials,” said Bill Hanvey, president and CEO,
      link hidden, please login to view. “We want to make sure Congress knows how important right to repair is to the American people, and one of the best ways to capture their attention is through grassroots efforts like the ‘#RighttoRepair, RIGHT NOW’ challenge. In the shadow of an election that is less than 100 days away, I ask that all members of our industry partake in this social media campaign with us to keep this fight for the right to repair alive on Capitol Hill.” The Auto Care Association provides all the resources necessary to participate in this campaign, including letter templates, legislator contact information, and 
      link hidden, please login to view. You can get started by visiting  link hidden, please login to view today and sending a new letter.  The post
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    • By Counterman
      link hidden, please login to view and link hidden, please login to viewhave declared Avery Breneman of Blackfoot, ID, the 2024 Technician of the Year. Breneman is the owner of Avery’s Auto Repair, a Bumper to Bumper Certified Service Center and customer of NPW Companies. Breneman was named the winner during Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper’s Technician of the Year program in Detroit, Michigan, this July. “This recognition is humbling. I deeply appreciate the experience and I am proud to be the 2024 Technician of the Year Champion. The support from Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper has been incredible. I want to thank NPW and our sales rep, Hoss Prestwich, for encouraging me to compete,” said Breneman. 
      Sixteen top technicians from across the United States and Canada traveled to Detroit to participate in the 2024 Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper Technician of the Year finalist competition. Sponsored by DRiV and Garage Gurus, the annual competition included a custom Automotive Service Excellence examination as well as a series of Garage Gurus’ hands-on skills tests. 
      “With over 3,700 Certified Service Centers within the Auto Value & Bumper to Bumper network, becoming a technician of the year finalist is no easy task,” said JC Washbish, president at the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance, Inc. “The goal of this program is to recognize top technician talent within the industry, bring honor to the trades, and highlight the skills required to be a top tech. This year’s competition did not disappoint. We had a wonderful group of Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper technicians! We’d like to thank DRiV and Garage Gurus for their continued support of this fantastic event.”
      The technician finalists were treated to a variety of entertainment and experiences in Metro Detroit including a day at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, a tour of the Ford Rouge Factory, racing at the Champion® Motor Speedway in the M1 Concourse and the luxury of a suite at Comerica Park for a Detroit Tigers’ game.
      “For Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper to once again partner with Garage Gurus on the technician of the year event is fantastic. The opportunity for our team to interact with top technicians from the certified service center network while representing our Champion, Fel-Pro, Moog, Monroe, Walker, Wagner and Garage Gurus brands is special,” said Mike Hinderer, technical product specialist field manager with Garage Gurus. “To the professional technicians in the industry, we are here, we see you and we support you.”
      DRiV and Garage Gurus have been the host sponsor of the Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper Technician of the Year event since 2019.
      “Our team at DRiV is very proud of our continued sponsorship and support of the Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper Technician of the Year program,” says Tony Genna, vice president North America sales at DRiV. “Hosting these extremely talented technicians from across North America is really something special and we are always appreciative of our time together. A program like this is important for our industry and no one does it better than the team at Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper.”
      The 2024 Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper Technician of the Year Finalists include:
      Scott Anderson; Canyon Meadows Auto Repair; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Central Auto Parts Sean Blakeley; First Choice Automotive Repair; Killeen, TX; 4M Parts Warehouse Rafael Borja; Robertson Automotive; Tyler, TX; ABC Auto Parts Avery Breneman; Avery Auto; Blackfoot, ID; National Performance Warehouse Jeremiah Clark; Clarks Auto Repair and Service; Pleasureville, KY; Moog Louisville Warehouse  Bim Gill; Gills Service Center; Harpersville, AL; National Performance Warehouse Michael Golda; Kerners Auto Service; Shelby Township, MI; Auto-Wares Group of Companies Jake Fehr; Chad’s Auto Repair Shop; Winkler, Manitoba, Canada; Piston Ring Service John Kincaid; Grainger Automotive; Bean Station, TN; Hahn Automotive Warehouse Brandon Osman; Square Deal Garage; Pinole, CA; Trimon, Inc. Mike Powers; Joe’s Garage; North Little Rock, AR; Parts Warehouse, Inc. Ryan Radtke; Village Mobil; Waunakee, WI; Automotive Parts Headquarters Inc. Matthew Reitmeier; Travel Care Regina Ltd; Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; Auto Electric Service Rob Richardson; Maclane’s Automotive; Downingtown, PA; Eastern Warehouse Distributor, LLC Stephen “Chris” Scott; Accelerated Auto Service; Bennington, NE; The Merrill Company Doug Smith; Telle Tire and Automotive; St. Louis, MO; All Car Automotive Warehouse, Inc. The post
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    • By Mighty Auto Parts
      The post
      link hidden, please login to view appeared first on link hidden, please login to view. When diagnosing engine performance complaints such as misfire symptoms, be advised that several systems and components can contribute to those symptoms. When considering single or multiple misfire codes, some checks may seem farfetched but trust me if not all are considered the symptoms can elude the most experienced technician, resulting in a misdiagnosis. When this […]
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    • By Counterman
      In the case of cordless lights, there is a lot more, starting with more light! The light comes from Light Emitting Diode, or LED, technology. When they were first invented, LEDs were a revolutionary development of electrical science, affecting virtually every aspect of our lives.
      Now LED lights are everywhere, and we’re all familiar with them, even in our homes, but the automotive industry has reaped the benefits as much as, if not more than, any other industry. Just like a diode, LEDs allow current flow in only one direction. When current, or electron flow occurs, photons are released.
      link hidden, please login to view

      Photons are tiny particles of electromagnetic radiation that are released as the electrons jump between atoms, and they’re emitted in the form of electromagnetic waves. This is where the visible light comes from. Certain wavelengths are visible to the human eye, which we perceive as light. Specifically, these wavelengths are those between 400 and 700 nanometers, and it’s in this range that LEDs emit photons.

      Different wavelengths are seen by us as different colors. To control and obtain the different wavelengths that appear to us as different colors, LED output is controlled by altering the semiconductor material inside, which controls the energy of electron flow, the wavelength, and, ultimately, the color.

      Early on, LEDs in automobiles were a type of LED called a through-hole LED, referring to the fact that their connectors went through holes in a circuit board for mounting. These were primarily used for warning indicators, such as an oil warning light or alarm indicator since they weren’t powerful enough for anything else. Over time, as technology was able to produce brighter white light, they began to see use in cordless lights.
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      Through-hole LED were used for many years in lights, and worked well, but the most significant advance was the development of surface mount devices (SMDs) and chip on board (COB) technology.

      SMDs were smaller with a much thinner profile, had as many as three LEDs on one chip and could be soldered directly to a circuit board. These made compact designs possible with multiple LEDs for extremely bright work lights. Then came COB technology which could fit nine or more LEDs on one chip, offering the highest light-to-energy ratio. Both types are very effective with light output, and both still commonly used.
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      For an auto technician, cordless lights have replaced the traditional “trouble” light, and in addition to the advantages of an LED light, there are many other technology-based features we can take advantage of.

      If headlamps are your game, there’s a new technology of adaptive light beams that automatically adjusts intensity and focus to provide the necessary light output for the job at hand. Who thought that word was just for cruise control?

      White light is what we use the most, but since LED technology produces different colors, there’s a couple that are useful to us and are included in many lights. Ultraviolet light is used for leak detection, so it’s a useful option to have.

      Ultraviolet is unique because it’s a photon wave that’s just outside the visible light spectrum, but it’s easy to think of it as a color because it does give off a visible purple hue.

      Red is the second color that’s becoming more popular, especially in headlamps. Why? Red has always been known to preserve night vision, and we all know there are never enough hours in the day!

      Here’s a feature I really like: The device finder. It’s just like when you lose your TV remote, only better. Nobody likes to lose tools, but especially not a light. You’ve got extra 10mm sockets and you expect those to disappear in the occasional black hole, but losing your light can ruin your day. I’d rather hit a button before pulling a car out, just to know my light is under a pile of tools versus under the hood.

      Have you ever heard of CRI? It stands for Color Rendering Index, and it’s a measurement of the ability of a light source to reveal the color of objects in contrast to natural light. In other words, do they appear the same as they would under natural sunlight? Light sources have a huge effect on how we perceive colors, and while we don’t care so much what color brake pads really are, it’s a unique feature for body and paint technicians.

      CRI is measured from 0-100, and anything under 80 is considered poor; over 90 is considered good. So, a high CRI in a shop light is valuable when comparing colors. A common use is for comparing paint chips to a body panel, but it’s very much a “thing” in home refinishing, too. If you’re trying to decide on that perfect color for your addition or match one when you can’t remember the color, a high CRI light will show you the true colors.

      Here’s another term that may strike you as unusual: Ingress Protection. If you’ve never heard of it, you’ve seen it for sure. It’s the IP rating that’s called out on most lights. The IP code is an international code which classifies the degree of protection against dust and liquids for electrical equipment. The rating consists of two numbers, e.g., IP65 (a common rating.)

      The first number indicates ingress protection against solid objects, ranging from 0-6, and is basically related to the physical object size, including things like hands, all the way to small dust particles. Zero is no protection, six is the highest level available meaning it is dust tight.

      The second number indicates resistance to liquids and includes classifications from dripping water all the way up to immersion and high-pressure jets. This ranges from 0-9, nine being the highest rating.

      This is an important rating to look for when shopping for a light, since we all know when you’re under a car, dripping liquid automatically seeks out the most inconvenient places to drip, such as your eyes, your mouth or your work light.
      Cordless lights are the way to go. Cordless lights plus today’s technology equals some of the most useful tools you’ll own. 
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    • By Mighty Auto Parts
      The post
      link hidden, please login to view appeared first on link hidden, please login to view. The 2013 Ford F150 equipped with a 3.5L EcoBoost engine was running perfectly. With the exception of a drop in fuel economy, there was no indication of a problem until the Check Engine light in the dash illuminated. A system scan revealed P2098 code stored in memory, which represents Post Catalyst Fuel Trim System Too […]
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