Toyota’s Continues to Broaden Aftermarket Support

At an Equipment and Tool Institute (ETI) meeting held in April 2010 Tom Trisdale, an executive for Toyota Motor Sales USA, made a presentation called “Directions in Diagnostics”. The presentation, in PDF format, is available here.

Toyota provides some of the industry’s strongest aftermarket support through the Techstream Lite program covered in this post. In this presentation Tom explains how Toyota uses aggregated repair information, pulled from the “back end” of the Techstream tool to generate new diagnostic information.

The ability of Toyota to view the data pulled from the vehicle enhances and assists a technician’s diagnostic capability, Trisdale said. Personnel at Toyota can see what a vehicle’s DTCs (diagnostic trouble codes) are when a vehicle is connected, he said.  “I can see what the tech saw,” he said, adding that it’s a real-time data view that’s integrated into Toyota’s back-end system.

Take to time to look at this presentation and you will see the big picture and it looks pretty good to me!

Techstream Lite – OEM J2534 Scan Tool Program

Toyota just made it even easier for the aftermarket to scan their cars at OEM level. Their scanning system (Techstream) is now J2534 compliant. This means you no longer have to buy the $8,500 TIS Techstream system to scan a Toyota. All you need is a laptop, a J2534 device, and a subscription to Toyota’s diagnostic software.

Toyota recommends using the Drew Technology’s Mongoose cable as the J2534 device. This cable is about 1/3 the cost of a full J2534 box, but is dedicated for Toyota use. While the Toyota site recommends the Mongoose cable only, on the Drew Technology’s site they state that their full J2534 box (CarDAQ Plus) is compatible.

Toyota offers the diagnostic software at $995/year or as a short term subscription of $55/48 hours. This subscription includes PCM reprogramming capabilities.

To read more about Toyota’s diagnostic program visit techinfo.toyota.com.

Identifix Releases New OEM Scheduled Maintenance Feature

IDENTIFIX adds make/model/year specific maintenance schedules to their Direct Hit product. Press Release follows:

Identifix® Releases New Factory Scheduled Maintenance Feature in Direct-Hit™

ST. PAUL, MN, May 26, 2010 – Identifix®, (www.identifix.com) one of the
nation’s premier sources of online and hotline vehicle diagnostic, maintenance and repair
information, announced today the release of its new Factory Scheduled Maintenance™
(FSM) program in Direct-Hit™. The Identifix Direct-Hit FSM feature is designed to
access original equipment manufacturers’ recommended maintenance activities based on
specific year, make, model and mileage situations. With extensive coverage through
2010 model years, this new offering will enable automotive repair shops that perform
vehicle maintenance services to provide factory recommended maintenance schedules to
their customers in under a minute, even for the most complex versions. For more
information or to take a Test Drive of the new feature, visit www.identifix.com and select
the Try Direct-Hit link.

Unlike traditional mileage-based maintenance schedules, which focus on
recommended services based on “normal” or “severe” conditions, Identifix’s new
generation of preventive maintenance plans provide a broader and more robust set of
information for vehicle maintenance. Direct-Hit’s FSM delivers factory information for
Maintenance Minders, time driven schedules and multiple versions of schedules based on
special operating conditions.

For example, the 2007 Buick Lucerne combines dashboard Maintenance Minders
with mileage for preventive maintenance service. When service is required, the
technician must address the illuminated vehicle Maintenance Minder (Maintenance I or
Maintenance II) and consult the factory recommended mileage service information.
Using Identifix’s Factory Scheduled Maintenance feature, technicians no longer have to
look up Maintenance Minders and the factory recommended service tasks in multiple
locations. Direct-Hit maintains this information in one location.

And, since not all manufacturers provide vehicle recommended maintenance the
same way, Identifix has adapted the FSM program to support all systems. For example,
Ford recommends ‘more is better’ for vehicle maintenance. When servicing a 2007 Ford
F-150 the shop must determine what ‘Special Operating Conditions’ apply to the vehicle
and select all that apply. This impacts the maintenance items and recommended time for
next service. Since each ‘Special Operating Condition’ has its own maintenance schedule
and mileage, the shop could be presenting five different maintenance schedules to the car
owner. The new Direct-Hit FSM feature quickly sorts through the various maintenance
schedules, thus eliminating the opportunity to overwhelm the customer with too many
service plans to manage. Direct-Hit provides the customer with one complete
maintenance schedule in language they can understand and follow.

“We know when customers drop off or pick up their vehicles they just want to get in
and out. So unless the shop can record the vehicle mileage, get answers to some questions
and put the correct list of maintenance activities in the customer’s hands fast, they risk
missing an opportunity for additional business,” said Jeff Sweet, Identifix President. “At
Identifix, we build our products to help technicians streamline their daily workflows. The
updated Factory Scheduled Maintenance feature in Direct-Hit will make a huge
difference. We are excited to offer shops the ability to provide customers with timely,
reliable and trustworthy maintenance schedules in seconds,” Sweet added.

Direct-Hit is Identifix’s subscription-based online diagnostic resource offering realworld,
proven diagnostic and fix information. It was developed from over 3.6 million
Identifix Repair Hotline calls to the company’s staff of over 45 ASE Master L1+ Carline
Specialists. Direct-Hit delivers more than 380,000 Hotline Archives that contain
symptoms, associated short-cut tests and confirmed fixes. Direct-Hit is updated with over
6,000 new entries added to the database each month.

Direct-Hit enables technicians to perform repairs profitably and accept repair services
on jobs that otherwise might have been turned away. The company also serves as a
content supplier to Microsoft’s MSN.Auto web site, providing data on used vehicle
reliability and reparability.

About Identifix:
Identifix® is a wholly owned subsidiary of Service Repair Solutions, Inc. (SRS)
www.servicerepairsolutions.com, which Inc. Magazine ranked in 2009 as the 63rd fastest
growing independent software company in the United States. Since 1987, Identifix has
evolved into the nation’s best source for knowledge of what breaks on vehicles, what
vehicles it breaks on, and how to fix those vehicles correctly. The knowledge base is
created from data gathered from the more than 250,000 annual calls it receives from
technicians seeking diagnostic assistance for vehicle repair problems; its staff of 45
master technicians (with over 1,000 years combined years of experience performing
vehicle diagnostics); and the nation’s most comprehensive on-site library of factory
vehicle service information. Identifix products and services include: Repair Hotline™,
Direct-Hit™, Repair Trac™, and consulting services to automotive equipment
manufacturers. For more information visit: www.identifix.com

iPhone Displaying Automotive Performance Info

Brian from Palmer Performance has ported his automotive OBD-II software package to an Apple iPhone. Check out this incredible integration.

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PC-Based Diagnostic Equipment

With more and more OEM diagnostic equipment going to PC-based hardware, is that driving a parallel change in the aftermarktet equipment also? I sure hope, so. There really isn’t a good justification for continuing to use an expensive, custom built diagnostic tool with a tiny screen, small processor, with limited inputs and outputs.

Toyota's TIS techstream

Toyota's TIS techstream

While Dell has jumped into the ruggedized notebook market with the Lattitude XFR D630, I really like the look of Toyota’s TIS techstream, as shown in the image to the left. It is based on the legendary Panasonic ToughBook Model CF-19. This ruggedized computer has a reversible screen that lets you use also use it like a tablet computer. The computer is held in a cradle that encompasses the vehicle communication module (VCM), a charging system, and an OBD-II cabling system.

This is Toyota’s OEM scan tool that is also tied into Totoya’s service information system so you can access service information right from the scan tool. Currently this setup is available from Toyota for $7995 which includes a 2-year subscription to Toyota’s information system. Also note that this OEM scan tool is the same hardware and software that is used by the Toyota dealership technicians.

PC-based solutions are readily available for scan tool operations and scope operations. While there are many products to choose from, the two following solutions seem to be the best of breed.

Scan Tool

AutoEnginuity's Logo

AutoEnginuity's Logo

While Ease Diagnostics was one of the first major suppliers of a PC-based scan tool, AutoEnginuity seams to currently be the predominate and most popular PC-based scan tool.

They offer enhanced coverage for Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Hyundai, Kia, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar and Porche. One of the more attractive features of AutoEnginuity is the low cost for upgrades. Based on the package you buy access to all upgrades  for 1 year are between $50-$150.

PC-Based Digital Storage Oscilliscope

picoscopepco

4-Channel Pico Scope

PC-based digital storage oscilloscopes (DSO) really make sense. The larger screen size of a computer is nice when you start graphing several waveforms and need to see the details.

PicoScope is the predominate pc-based DSO. You can get this DSO as a 2-channel unit or a 4-channel unit. This DSO is built in England and is available from several sources in the USA including a trainer who specializes in the PicoScope, Tom Roberts of AutoNerdz.

While there are many sources of automotive test equipment, I have to put in a plug for my friends Jorge and Carlos Menchu of AES Wave. They offer all the latest and greatest in automotive testing equipment and equipment accessories. They also support the industry by attending most major trade shows and delivering quality training.

In Summary

Are You using PC-based diagnostic equipment? If so, what are you using? Do you like it? Should you buy a ruggedized laptop (often at 3 times the price of a standard laptop) or buy a solid standard laptop and replace it if it gets broken?

Join in on the conversation and help make the decision easier for those wanting to make the transition to PC-based diagnostics.