Learning resources?

[hedges88]

Does anyone know of any free or paid courses that specialises in ECUs, error codes, monitoring and graphing, fuel maps and remapping etc? Maybe online or outside of college etc. I'm aware of YouTube etc which has been great but I'm looking toward some sort of structured learning with possible certificate or qualifications available? I used a free website just like this to learn how to use Linux PCs and wanted to know if there is something similar for ECUs and sensors etc?

Once I got comfortable with XENTRY and programming stuff with my own W169 I have earned a bit of money here and there from diagnosing DTCs and printing them off for people, enabling or disabling features such as video in motion, speed limiter removal, instrument cluster changes etc here and there

I'm now comfortable with Toyota Techstream and got paid a fair bit for following around a guy wanting to buy a Prius who wanted to know all about the battery condition in the ones on offer to him.

I also got a bit of money doing very basic jobs like MAF/MAP sensors or IAT sensors, or giving people part numbers and diagrams and workshop procedure pages relevant to their problems.

Virtually all of this stuff has been for friends or friends or family etc I don't advertise or have a little business or anything. Despite endless reading and watching of popular YouTube videos I want to be properly educated

Now I have a scrapyard Volvo I rescued using VIDA to do a DPF regen that others had tried and failed at, my grandfather has sadly passed away and I wondered about maybe progressing in this field with my inheritance available for courses, equipment and the ability to do little jobs when I want (I'm disabled so 9-5 isn't for me). I do have lots of different OBD interfaces and software, a voltage stabilizer, a basic phone based Autel and an older handheld Autel as well as a few other bits and bobs. A modern tablet that runs all of my individual virtual machines for each software.

Rather having all the gear and no idea and possibly loosing money from having to have someone's ECU replaced I'd rather continue to educate myself in the field and just wondered if anyone knows of any resources that would be helpful. I was hoping the used car market and the complexity of current ECUs and sensors would be a good opportunity.

Just looking for information on resources and stuff, advice on if I could viably make a few hundred pounds over a month or two etc I'm open to constructive criticism and arguments but please don't be mean

[stevieturbo]

you're covering a massively wide range there.

Scanner Danner, Mechanic Mindset, Diagnose Dan are good Youtube starting points for diagnostic, and they offer paid services/courses/resources too.

HP Academy for the tuning side of things, again free snippets, and lots of paid courses

And no doubt there are various books on the topics too.

[hedges88]

stevieturbo said:

you're covering a massively wide range there.

Scanner Danner, Mechanic Mindset, Diagnose Dan are good Youtube starting points for diagnostic, and they offer paid services/courses/resources too.

HP Academy for the tuning side of things, again free snippets, and lots of paid courses

And no doubt there are various books on the topics too.

Thankyou so much for your reply, Scanner Danner I've been watching for ages and a bit of Diagnose Dan. Don't know how I missed mechanic mindset. I didn't really think about using the subscribe option on YouTube and always skip the ads and sponsorships

HP Academy though is EXACTLY what I was after and a bit like the Linux computing course I did, some free stuff to get you started then some paid if you like it and want to know more. Such incredible length of video content that I'm free to keep accessing and things being updated are such a draw for me because I don't like set times/dates to do stuff. They have a podcast too and I love nothing more than a podcast!

Every time I searched for training programmes it was usually showing me results focused around a particular product etc, how HP academy passed me by I have no Idea maybe because it's a kiwi website??

Yes it's a bit of a wide range, hence why starting with the EFI basics on HP Academy would be perfect and help me understand what I need to be looking at when doing graphs etc. So I'm going to start with the bare minimum courses and see if I feel confident enough to wrap my head around it

Cheers you have made my day with that recommendation

[stevieturbo]

Pine Hollow diagnostics is another good one

On DD there has been a resource, Electude he used for some videos, which seems to be a training organisation of some sort.

But again, although I haven't really bought many, there are various books that would no doubt be of use..

A paper resource is always handy vs online stuff.

That said, even Scanner Danners book and some others I found very basic, although depends where you're starting at.

AESWave sell his online book in printed form. I did purchase his online years ago, but found it was only available online, and back then I only had online access in the house etc, so it was of limited use elsewhere. Luckily I was refunded because of that
Although many years later I did buy the printed format.

Likes of Mechanic Mindset and I'm sure some others do appear to run some training within the UK. Depends how much you're willing to spend.

For DIY, I'd struggle to justify such costs. Although I'm sure the online courses would make a lot more sense

Edited by stevieturbo on Sunday 16th April 10:35

[hedges88]

stevieturbo said:

Pine Hollow diagnostics is another good one

On DD there has been a resource, Electude he used for some videos, which seems to be a training organisation of some sort.

But again, although I haven't really bought many, there are various books that would no doubt be of use..

A paper resource is always handy vs online stuff.

That said, even Scanner Danners book and some others I found very basic, although depends where you're starting at.

AESWave sell his online book in printed form. I did purchase his online years ago, but found it was only available online, and back then I only had online access in the house etc, so it was of limited use elsewhere. Luckily I was refunded because of that
Although many years later I did buy the printed format.

Likes of Mechanic Mindset and I'm sure some others do appear to run some training within the UK. Depends how much you're willing to spend.

For DIY, I'd struggle to justify such costs. Although I'm sure the online courses would make a lot more sense

Edited by stevieturbo on Sunday 16th April 10:35

Thankyou again, more for me to look into I'm literally just off now to change the IAT on a W245, something I was able to diagnose and fix isn't a regular thing. Then while I'm there I'll see if I can offer them anything else useful to make an extra buck. Autels and the like can do an awful lot these days, ABS bleeds, SAS alignment, DPF regen and Battery replacement reset counter but some things need dealer software or elevated permissions. Lots of people love retrofitting stuff just like I do and adding features/options they didn't have

Girl next door can't do a 9-5 due to looking after 2 kids all day, she sells cupcakes locally (Amazing!) and makes a ton, so why not do a bit of this on the side

Of everything I've looked at HP Academy feels right for my needs, I'm doing the free basics of EFI tuning which is 96 minutes worth of free content. I'm getting along with it just fine, I think the NZ accent is like soothing or something If I like it I'll buy the next module.

You were very right about things being a bit broad into what I wanted to cover, I'll leave remapping to the companies that have the kit, insurance and customer confidence. I will have a go at editing maps and fuel tables though at some point to satisfy my curiosity. If I carry on doing these sorts of jobs I'd like to be able to know I've spent considerable time learning about what I'm dabbling with

[stevieturbo]

hedges88 said:

I didn't really think about using the subscribe option

When I mentioned their services, I meant they offer a more in depth paid version of what they do.

I've never went down that route myself, but I'm sure for some it could be valuable

But a lot of their content online for free is excellent and very educational.

[SturdyHSV]

Personally I'd suggest the 'remapping' side of things you're looking into through HP Academy isn't going to be a profitable use of your time... My thinking being:

• Most common / in demand vehicles will have generic off the shelf maps available, cheaply, and many businesses / individuals offering to flash those on
• If you wanted to do a proper remapping job, you (or the customer) are going to be paying for dyno time, which is expensive, and starts to look quite 9-5 time wise
• The amount of potential follow up agro is significant, especially if you're doing your own remapping and not just flashing on a relatively tried and tested tune. Any random stutter, any engine issue, any change in fuel economy, anything, you're going to get the blame.
• Along with the hardware to flash the new tune on to the vehicle, you'll likely need to buy a licence for each vehicle, and it won't be the same software that does all vehicles, so again, more costs, and a lot of software to learn and so on.

Naturally there's nothing wrong with learning about it and being knowledgeable, but the slightly more informal 'odd job' style of work you're currently offering for me is at odds with an in-depth remap. The off the shelf maps I believe work by you effectively becoming a franchise / reseller for the company that made the map / flash tool, so by all means that's an easy service to offer alongside what you already do. There's also the various other snake oil services that go along with that, "carbon clean" and all that piffle.

For what it's worth, bear in mind these qualifications are entirely for your own benefit and self belief, I'd be amazed if you turn up on somebody's driveway for a booking and they first ask to see some certificates...

[hedges88]

SturdyHSV said:

Personally I'd suggest the 'remapping' side of things you're looking into through HP Academy isn't going to be a profitable use of your time... My thinking being:

• Most common / in demand vehicles will have generic off the shelf maps available, cheaply, and many businesses / individuals offering to flash those on
• If you wanted to do a proper remapping job, you (or the customer) are going to be paying for dyno time, which is expensive, and starts to look quite 9-5 time wise
• The amount of potential follow up agro is significant, especially if you're doing your own remapping and not just flashing on a relatively tried and tested tune. Any random stutter, any engine issue, any change in fuel economy, anything, you're going to get the blame.
• Along with the hardware to flash the new tune on to the vehicle, you'll likely need to buy a licence for each vehicle, and it won't be the same software that does all vehicles, so again, more costs, and a lot of software to learn and so on.

Naturally there's nothing wrong with learning about it and being knowledgeable, but the slightly more informal 'odd job' style of work you're currently offering for me is at odds with an in-depth remap. The off the shelf maps I believe work by you effectively becoming a franchise / reseller for the company that made the map / flash tool, so by all means that's an easy service to offer alongside what you already do. There's also the various other snake oil services that go along with that, "carbon clean" and all that piffle.

For what it's worth, bear in mind these qualifications are entirely for your own benefit and self belief, I'd be amazed if you turn up on somebody's driveway for a booking and they first ask to see some certificates...

Well as I said remapping was something that I was going to leave alone business wise because who wants a backstreet guy who just has tools and no big company to provide guarantees etc .

Yes, you're right. No one's going to ask for my IDs or anything. And I tell every single customer that there are risks to altering the code of the ECU, including potential total loss of a module or perhaps even a whole ECU. I do have a voltage stabiliser and booster which I'm happy with plus and OBD voltage regulator that keeps communication with the cars as good as possible. I use those things when I need to do a compression test, for example to provide additional power if needed.

At the moment I'm just making enough money doing Mercedes up to about 2017 model year and the results I get are consistent and reliable. Everyone has always been happy with what I've done for them and no one has ever complained which is a good thing.

That is actually a remap that I do provide and it's for Vito vans who quite literally have an option in the engine control module that you can tell them whether they are a lower or higher PS outputs.

The education is for myself so I am confident in what I am doing. Even if some of the modules are easy for me that are still the odd few things. I need refreshers on. I want to continue educating myself in each manufacturers own software and the complexities and oddities that they often come with. BMW software is something I'm going to be practising with a fair bit and my dad does not mind letting me use his two series as a test bed for learning ISDA