Throughout my career of 40 or so years, I have worked for several Ford Dealerships, in 5 different States, ran my own Ford Performance shop for 7 years, worked at various independent and performance shops.
This is my first foray into working for a non Ford Dealership. (in the classic sense) In fact it is a Chevrolet/Cadillac Dealership. I just finished my 7th week there.
Needless to say, there are many differences, some quite dramatic. First off, I like my current position at this particular Chevrolet Dealership. I am making good money (more than at the Ford Dealership, by a lot) and while I have a long history of really really "hating" GM, I can overcome some of that for a paycheck. Lol.
When it comes to automobile manufacturers, I can say with no doubt, that they all have problems, regardless of make. After all, the largest part of ANY Dealership, regardless of brand, is the Service department, because everyone's shit breaks down.
I have had extensive experience with Ford Diagnostics, starting out with a simple "STAR" tester, then on to the NGS (New Generation Star) tester, then the WDS, followed by the IDS and finally FDRS. In fact I am about 2 classroom sessions away from being a Ford Senior Master Tech. I would have obtained that years ago if I would have stayed put at any of the various Ford Dealerships. I always thought Ford was behind the 8 ball when it came to WSM, (Work Shop Manuals) and diagnostic routines.
Boy, Howdy...was I wrong. GM sucks. Period. When it comes to Diagnostic support, this has been the most difficult part of assimilating into the GM way of doing things.
With Ford, if you have a CEL code, you go to the PCED for that code and get a printout of the diagnostic routine, which includes any relevant connector views and pinouts with directions on which connector on which module and which pin # to test.
With GM, it sometimes just says, "test the appropriate wire at the appropriate connector at the appropriate module". Mmmmm. OK? So off to the wire diagram to find out which module, connector and wire is "appropriate". How obtuse can you get?
Anyway, maybe I am spoiled by having relevant information spoon fed to me to perform a diagnostic.
Seeing how this rant has gone on long enough, I will leave it as is. I could expand on this subject quite easily, but i won't bore anyone further.
This is my first foray into working for a non Ford Dealership. (in the classic sense) In fact it is a Chevrolet/Cadillac Dealership. I just finished my 7th week there.
Needless to say, there are many differences, some quite dramatic. First off, I like my current position at this particular Chevrolet Dealership. I am making good money (more than at the Ford Dealership, by a lot) and while I have a long history of really really "hating" GM, I can overcome some of that for a paycheck. Lol.
When it comes to automobile manufacturers, I can say with no doubt, that they all have problems, regardless of make. After all, the largest part of ANY Dealership, regardless of brand, is the Service department, because everyone's shit breaks down.
I have had extensive experience with Ford Diagnostics, starting out with a simple "STAR" tester, then on to the NGS (New Generation Star) tester, then the WDS, followed by the IDS and finally FDRS. In fact I am about 2 classroom sessions away from being a Ford Senior Master Tech. I would have obtained that years ago if I would have stayed put at any of the various Ford Dealerships. I always thought Ford was behind the 8 ball when it came to WSM, (Work Shop Manuals) and diagnostic routines.
Boy, Howdy...was I wrong. GM sucks. Period. When it comes to Diagnostic support, this has been the most difficult part of assimilating into the GM way of doing things.
With Ford, if you have a CEL code, you go to the PCED for that code and get a printout of the diagnostic routine, which includes any relevant connector views and pinouts with directions on which connector on which module and which pin # to test.
With GM, it sometimes just says, "test the appropriate wire at the appropriate connector at the appropriate module". Mmmmm. OK? So off to the wire diagram to find out which module, connector and wire is "appropriate". How obtuse can you get?
Anyway, maybe I am spoiled by having relevant information spoon fed to me to perform a diagnostic.
Seeing how this rant has gone on long enough, I will leave it as is. I could expand on this subject quite easily, but i won't bore anyone further.