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Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad #

Posted by Paul Manning on February 9, 2010, 9:14 pm
Message modified by board administrator February 12, 2010, 3:21 pm

To cut a long story short, as the song says, I am returning to self employment,after giving up my buisness 8 yrs ago due to family illness, on a mobile basis, doing auto-electrics. Been running around the country working for a company doing electrics on trucks and buses, spent some time working on MAN Military Trucks going to Afghanistan. i'm feeling a little out of touch and would appreciate opinions on electrics in general, is it still the case that most garages own a code reader but dont know how to use it, are Electricians still in short supply, they certainly are on trucks and buses! Interested to hear any views you feel relevent, are Snap On Solus scanners any good, also any thoughts on ecu remapping, considering this as another string to the bow, but I hasten to add from a company as a dealer rather than buying unknown files from e-bay or the web.
Probably opened a huge can of worms, but thanks in advance.

Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad

Posted by Steve Nicholas on February 10, 2010, 3:15 pm, in reply to "Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad"
Stephen Nicholas

Hi Paul.

Firstly, good luck with the venture. I think that your progress will depend very much on your geographical area of work as much as how much you put in to it yourself.

I do auto-electrical work as well as all the other work but my knowledge of the market generally in that area is limited as I am very provincial. I get the impression that the increasing complexity of car systems can mean less reliability and more involved diagnosis.

Then there is CAN Bus...

I have a Snap-On Solus and would have had the Solus Pro had it been available then as it has better features, such as a rechargeable battery that lasts well, USB port etc. As a general tool it does us quite well.

I think that knowledge amongst the trade of how to go about diagnostics with all this kit is improving. Necessity is driving this with more and better training being available from a number of sources.

UKAT has helped me a lot too. Here is a great bunch of professionals with a lot of knowledge to share.

Regards,

Steve

Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad

Posted by Pete Mutlow on February 10, 2010, 6:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad"
Peter Mutlow

Hi Paul,

Other people like Steve can advise you on diagnostics/electrics so I will concentrate on ECU re-mapping.

Like you, I am a one man band and have been in operation for nearly 22 years and operate on a mobile basis. Basically I am into tuning/diagnostics and steer well clear of electrics. I pass that line of business onto a mobile electrician who is better qualified than I am. 2 years ago, I ventured into ECU Re-mapping which I find more rewarding and profitable than anything else I do. The first company I signed up to was a disaster and ended up on my 2nd job by replacing a fried ECU and then on my 4th customer I was urged to con him which I refused to do. I changed company and have not looked back and have now re-mapped over 30 vehicles with no problem. So the first lesson is to do your homework on who you choose. Initial out-lay is expensive but I have already recouped that. This company also remaps trucks which is even more profitable, but I haven't marketed that yet.

If you require more info, then I can either post here, or contact me via my web-site.

Regards

Pete M

PS. Have you thought about key-coding? Just started that and it seems money for old rope.

www.mobile-remaptuning.co.uk

Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad

Posted by Paul Manning on February 12, 2010, 10:44 pm, in reply to "Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad"
Paul Manning

I take steves point that things are becoming ever more complex from my encounters with can systems on military trucks god only knows how they will get on in the desert!! As for UK Autotalk, this was the first resource I thought of even before I set up this venture, previous use of this site showed me many heads are better than one, I suppose that time will tell just how many times I have to use it, still handed my notice in today so watch this space.
As for Petes points once again time will tell how much work is out there for re-mapping as I have made the decision to go for it. Probably meet somewhere on the road as my area is the East Midlands more or less directly below where Pete is patrolling, as for key programming then the answer to your question is no, not even considered it but maybe I should money for old rope sounds good to me, thanks for your thoughts, more fat to chew on, any more thoughts then post them here or e-mail me directly.

Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad

Posted by terry taylor on February 22, 2010, 3:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad"
Terry Taylor

hi paul good luck with your new business; pete has mentioned key coding which his something i have been thinking about, pete do you just do key coding or key cutting has well and if so which kit do you use any info would be most welcome for both paul and myself .thanks terry

Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad

Posted by Pete Mutlow on February 22, 2010, 6:24 pm, in reply to "Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad"
Peter Mutlow

Hi Terry,

If you scroll down a bit on this forum, you will see my post dated 10 Nov 2009 where I was testing the water on the subject of key-coding which attracted some very interesting and helpful replies.

However, now as a complete beginner, I have not encountered any problems and coded 6 cars in the past couple of months (Rovers and Peugeots). This is without marketing my new service. I do not have the facility to cut keys and will probably use a local lock-smith if required. Also, to be safe, I only use genuine fobs (do not buy from E-bay) and have had no problem - yet, obtaining entry codes if required from the main dealers.

Currently using AD100 but I understand the T300 from China is just as good but a lot cheaper.

Regards

Pete M

Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad

Posted by terry taylor on February 25, 2010, 11:38 am, in reply to "Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad"
Terry Taylor

hi peter who do you use for your files and do you buy them for your library or just one offs every time [i am based in south midlands so no competion to you]do you use a slave or master kit if you want to keep this information private i fully understand.thanks for any info terry

Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad

Posted by Pete Mutlow on February 25, 2010, 7:59 pm, in reply to "Re: Out of the Frying Pan...........I Must be Mad"
Peter Mutlow

Hi Terry,

My kit is slaved to "Wake up your car" based in Shipley. Visit their web-site and speak to Dave who can advise you on prices etc if you are interested. The files and kit come from Dimsport in Italy and he has been on their (expensive) courses to be very good at what he does. I have complete faith in him and the files he produces. Before joining him, I spoke to a few companies and for various reasons he was my top choice.

If you require any further info from the "sharp end" you are welcome to call me on 01652688423.

Regards

Pete M

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