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Welcome to the OnDemand5.com/ShopKey5.com newsletter.
This newsletter is provided to share information about our users, their shops, automotive industry news, things going on at Mitchell 1 as well as tips for using the OnDemand5.com and ShopKey5.com products. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, or ideas for what you'd like to see in it, please .
In this issue:
Missed a previous edition or want to read an article again? Just go to the Newsletter Archive page for a list of links to past headlines.
ProDemand™ and ShopKey®Pro Now Available
FASTER, EASIER, SMARTER
ProDemand and ShopKey Pro are now available to all OnDemand5.com and ShopKey5.com subscribers at no additional charge. For more information and to request ProDemand™ or ShopKey®Pro to be added to your account, click the link below:
Click here to request your free upgrade to ProDemand or ShopKey Pro.
- FASTER - eliminating the need for multiple information look-ups. By returning relevant content in one look-up, ProDemand and ShopKey Pro quickly give the technicians everything they need to complete the job.
- EASIER - allowing the technician to effortlessly navigate from procedures to TSBs to specifications to wiring diagrams and more. ProDemand and ShopKey Pro bring the information to the technicians so they can focus on the vehicle.
- SMARTER - intelligently cross referencing components, phrases, and codes in the database. Technicians don't have to know the OEM specific term because ProDemand and ShopKey Pro will find the information regardless of term entered.
Want to know more before you sign up?
Join us at one of our training workshops where we show you how the new product works. Workshops are held each week at varying times. You only need to attend one 45 minute session to learn the basics of using the program. There is also a question and answer session at the end to help you with anything else you need to know. Click the appropriate link below to visit our training site and to sign up for a workshop.
Now Includes Improved Estimator/Quotes module, VIN Decoder and SureTrack Preview
Click here to request access to ProDemand or ShopKey Pro.
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New Mitchell 1 Shop Connection Blog
Mitchell 1 has a new blog site dedicated to providing the latest updates on our products as well as interesting and informative industry news and stories. Much the same content as you're used to getting here in the OnDemand5/ShopKey5 newsletter but expanded to cover more products.
Contents include:
- Product Highlights
- SureTrack Real Fixes
- Product Update Information
- Product Tips & Tricks
- Quick Product How-To Videos
- Industry News and Insights
- Automotive Repair Articles from Motor Age and Other Sources
- And Much More
Click here to visit the Mitchell 1 Shop Connection blog now.
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Internet Explorer 9 or 10 Compatibility
Before installing or upgrading to Internet Explorer 9 or 10, please read our page of information detailing what to do and issues that may occur with this update. Some users will get IE9 automatically from Microsoft.
Click here for more information.
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More Up than Down - Power Window Servicing
Richard McCuistian/Motor Age -- My dad drove a lot of different cars home from his garage. One morning in 1963, I remember looking down the long dirt road in front of our house at the approaching school bus, and I glanced over my shoulder at Dad while he slid behind the wheel of a long black car to leave for work. I still don't know if that grand old boat was a Cadillac or a Chrysler, but I do remember the goose bumps I felt when I saw all four of the windows slide down into the doors under their own power. When I was 6 years old, it seemed more like magic or science fiction than reality.
According to some sources I found online, Daimler first introduced electric windows in 1948, but the SAE timeline credits Lincoln with the first power windows in 1946.
My wife is a drive-through bank teller, and she says one in four of her customers have a driver side front power window that is inoperative; they have to open the car door to do business. Any shop owner knows there's a big profit in power windows.
The old scissor-type regulator with its curved rack and spiral spring were by no means trouble free, but they didn't drop like flies the way so many of the cable and pulley units do nowadays, either. Usually all it took on those units was a motor or a switch. That being said, those units do tend to bind up as the door housing gets tired. And the cable and pulley units are easier to service and from the design side of things; they're a lot easier for automotive engineers to work into a variety of door shells.
Parasitic Battery Drain
Making a tough job a little easier to tackle.
Michael Miller/Motor Age -- Let's face it, parasitic battery drains suck, and I'm not only referring to voltage. Locating the source of the draw also can suck up a lot of time as well. A couple of decades ago, a test light and a fuse puller were pretty much all that was required to track down a problematic circuit that was causing a continuous amperage draw on a vehicle's battery. Now with the technological evolution of automotive electronics and its encompassed networks, the archaic methods previously used to detect parasitic draws can derail your diagnostics before you even get started. While diagnosing parasitic draws probably never will be on your list of favorite work orders, encompassing the techniques here hopefully will make narrowing them down a more efficient process.
Not too long ago when a customer had a concern about their vehicle's battery going dead after sitting overnight or after a few days, the first step was to disconnect one of the battery cables and install a test light in series between the cable and the battery post. The glow emitted from the filament was relative to the amount of current being consumed by the vehicle's electrical system. Common causes were glove box lights remaining on or sticking brake light switches. Tracking them down was as simple as going to the fuse box (don't forget to trip the door ajar switch so the dome light doesn't stay on) and pulling fuses one by one, until the test light glow diminished. Then finding out what circuits were powered by that fuse and eliminating them one by one.
Just by doing the first step, disconnecting the battery cable, on a modern vehicle can completely nullify your diagnostics. On most vehicles, removing battery power from modules on a network reboots them and that may have even fixed the problem without you knowing it, not to mention erased clues that could have helped with your diagnostics.
Start with the Source
Sometimes when looking for the source of the parasitic draw, we overlook the source of voltage itself: the battery. Uncountable hours have been wasted without first testing the battery. First, the battery needs to be adequately charged. Too low of a voltage might cause modules to flake out and your test results will be inaccurate. Also, don't forget to measure for any drain caused by corrosion on top of the battery, referred to as case drain. Because the corrosion is conductive, it creates an electrical path for current to flow from the negative post to the positive post. To check, place the negative end of a digital multimeter (DMM) on the negative post of the battery and place the positive lead on the case of the battery. If your meter reads even half a volt, the battery needs to be cleaned. Also, while you're at the battery, don't forget to measure voltage drop between the battery post and its respective terminal while starting the engine. Too much resistance here can prevent a battery from charging properly, not to mention increase the amount of current needed to start the vehicle.
Did you know...
 When you post a tip or question in the OnDemand5/ShopKey5 Live Tips system, there is a spell checker available. It is the right-most button on the tool bar above the text box. Just click the button before you click the post button.
Click here for more hints on using OnDemand5 and ShopKey5.
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SureTrack Real Fixes
Mitchell 1's long running a tip contest ended on July 31, 2013. We will be focusing on the new SureTrack system available in the new ProDemand and ShopKey Pro programs and will probably have a contest there in the future. We would like to express our gratitude to all have participated in the tip contest in the past. If you have not tried the new products and SureTrack, click here request your upgrade.
- Click here for the archive of OnDemand5/ShopKey5 tip contest winners.
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