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My name is Jeff, and I'd like to welcome you on a journey of reflection and insight into the tolls and triumphs of a career in automotive repair.
After more than 20 years of skinned knuckles and tool debt, I want to share my perspective and hear other people's thoughts about our industry.
So pour yourself a strong coffee or grab a cold Canadian beer and get ready for some great conversation.
Ryan Mullen [00:00:08]:
Is my arch nemesis. We have hated each other since day one. We will never be friends. We will not look in the same direction. And the only way he knows how to check how to diagnose a car is he'll spend hours checking fuses with a power probe. Just hear beep, beep, beep, and he'll just go fuse to fuse. He thinks the fuse controls everything, and if it's not a blown fuse, then he doesn't know.
Jeff Compton [00:00:34]:
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting episode of the Jada Mechanic podcast. So, you know, last night I had on a Canadian guest and tonight to keep it balanced because I want to be fair, I don't want to be divisive and, you know, all that political. I've got two fine American gentlemen with me tonight, not just one, two. Our good old friend check engine Chuck.
Check Engine Chuck [00:00:59]:
Let's go, guys.
Jeff Compton [00:01:00]:
And Mr. Ryan Mullen, who is a new guest to the podcast, but we're very excited to have him. He is a man of high esteem and we've looked forward to having him on here for a little while now. We wanted to do this recording at asta and yet we just ran out of time. It was absolutely nuts. And I mean, both of you guys have been to us the last year. Ryan, I didn't even get a chance to talk to you at ASA last year and then this year only got a chance to talk to you a little bit, so I'll save for that.
Ryan Mullen [00:01:25]:
Last year. Last year, the time change messed me up bad. Going back three hours and then having to wake up at 6 o' clock in the morning. I'm not a morning person and that just was rough. Yeah, I was a zombie last year.
Jeff Compton [00:01:35]:
I got, I never really got a chance even to connect with you a ton this time. But I just want to say it was, it really meant a lot for us that you attended both years and especially this year, and I got a chance to meet you, so I think it's pretty cool.
Ryan Mullen [00:01:46]:
I love it.
Jeff Compton [00:01:47]:
Yeah. Ch.
Ryan Mullen [00:01:48]:
So much fun.
Jeff Compton [00:01:49]:
Chuck brags about you non stop. Right? I mean, we kind of all have seen where you, how, where you've come from to where you are. And I mean, it's just, that's the power of this. Like we call this the power of networking on this episode because, I mean, it's like almost 20 years ago when I started talking on Facebook, this was the end goal for me was to be able to have technicians from anywhere in the, in the world, or at least in the country, be able to help one another. Out with trying to fix a car and then talk about the industry. And I mean, you know, I always looked at it as like, for the guys that don't necessarily have a mentor, it's even more important. Right. Because I've been very fortunate.
Jeff Compton [00:02:24]:
I've had good mentors in the shop. But somebody like you, that if you don't, this just opens up this ability for everybody. And I mean, I thought it was so cool. And Chuck is just. He brags about you all the time, man. So, you know, and I don't.
Ryan Mullen [00:02:37]:
The people that I work with, I. There's no one I can ask questions to at my work.
Jeff Compton [00:02:41]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:02:42]:
So it's big to have people that you can ask when you run into something that you've never seen before.
Jeff Compton [00:02:49]:
Yeah. It's crazy. A Chuck, when we talked with Brian, same thing, right? Young guy in the shop by himself. Like, you're not in the shop by yourself, Ryan. But I mean, nobody else to field stuff to. Like, I. I forget that that's such a common thing in this industry. You know what I mean? I forget about it.
Jeff Compton [00:03:04]:
I'm spoiled that I've always had at least one other person that I could. I could bounce ideas off, you know.
Check Engine Chuck [00:03:10]:
I mean, I think a big difference between Brian and Ryan's situations, though. I know that's. That's funny to say Brian and Ryan's. But a big difference is that Ryan has the ability to stay there as late as he possibly wants and the ability to work on anything he could possibly want to. As to where Brian is a lot more restricted at work for. For having the ability to do any of that, you know. So Ryan's lucky to have a leg up and be at that shop in order to devote all of his free time to. To learning how to diag better, you know?
Jeff Compton [00:03:44]:
Yeah. So Ryan, can you kind of fill me in and fill us in like. Because I'm not really too familiar with what your shop situation is like. Like, I know that it looks you've a couple of your lives. You've shown like, I don't know what, 50 cars in the parking lot and they're all sitting there waiting for diag. So, I mean, tell us.
Ryan Mullen [00:04:01]:
So we have a lot of cars. We. And let me quickly tell you where I came from. So I sold parts for 20 years mainly for BMW, also Mercedes, Volvo, Audi and Infiniti. And so then. So from selling parts, I know the parts on the car and I thought that would translate. And my boss. So then I have a pretty bad background.
Ryan Mullen [00:04:28]:
I went through A lot of hard times. I was homeless.
Jeff Compton [00:04:31]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:04:32]:
Less than five years ago, I was living on the street with a sleeping bag. And then like a year later I bought my first snap on toolbox. So I, when I first got back on my feet, I was living in sober living. And they make you get a job and telemarketing will take anyone. So I started telemarketing and I figured out how quickly how much I hated that. So I did that to get a car. And then I needed my AC charge. So I went by my boss I knew from when I sold parts at BMW.
Ryan Mullen [00:04:59]:
I used to sell him parts and he had just moved. He used to be at a gas station, you know, like a little two bay shop that's attached to a gas station. So he used to be there and then he had just moved to a bigger location with four bays and it was just still him and one mechanic.
Jeff Compton [00:05:14]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:05:14]:
So he's like, I went there to get my AC filled and I was not working anywhere at the time. And I'm like, he's like, I need a mechanic if you know anyone. I'm like, I. How hard could it be? I'm like, I know enough about the car parts. I'm like, it'll be fine. And then like 15 minutes in, I'm like, this did not translate at all.
Jeff Compton [00:05:31]:
I.
Ryan Mullen [00:05:32]:
The first job he gave me was like an airbag on a, a big Lexus suv. And I'm like, how do you do this? He's like, look it up on YouTube. So I started searching stuff on YouTube and that's how I learned how to do things.
Jeff Compton [00:05:44]:
So yeah, it's the service information system.
Ryan Mullen [00:05:48]:
Yeah. We have all data.
Jeff Compton [00:05:50]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [00:05:50]:
And, but like I didn't know how to use it. And like the instructions in there, there's not instructions for a lot of things. Some stuff, there's really good instructions. Some stuff, it's limited.
Check Engine Chuck [00:06:01]:
Yeah. So.
Ryan Mullen [00:06:02]:
And I mean, and if someone's put a video on YouTube walking through how to do something, it makes it a lot easier. You just play the video as you work and pause it when you need to.
Jeff Compton [00:06:12]:
And yeah, you'll never see me run down that because I still do that a lot now because we're on pro demand, we don't have an identifix, which is fine. I'm not missing identifix like I thought I would. I still think it's a great program, but we don't have it. My boss doesn't pay for it. It's cool. But like, I mean, I'm still you know, I'm 50 years old, been doing this 30 years, and I'll still look a YouTube video up on how to pull a door panel off. Right. Just because before I get.
Ryan Mullen [00:06:35]:
Because the screws are hidden on the door panel and it's. That's not in service information. I agree. Same thing.
Jeff Compton [00:06:41]:
Yeah. I always said, like, if I was a really smart guy, I would not be fixing cars. I would be like. Because I'm. I'm an arrogant sob and I think that I can see all the problems that it's with service information. So I already should have come up with a better one by now and it would have all been like AI and you know, virtual reality and all that. And of course now Napa's and unveiling something like that. So I'm.
Jeff Compton [00:07:01]:
I miss my opportunity again. But can we back up for a minute?
Check Engine Chuck [00:07:05]:
So.
Jeff Compton [00:07:08]:
I. I kind of heard some of your story from the tool. Toolbox Tours videos that you did.
Check Engine Chuck [00:07:13]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:07:13]:
Which was pretty cool because, I mean, I think I. I'd seen you on Tick Tock with Chuck and all that jazz. Right. But I mean, when, when I started hearing that story about, you know, homelessness to this and, and obviously in the throes of addiction, all that kind of stuff, and I was just like, wow, that's pretty amazing stuff. So hats off to you because, I mean, I haven't gone down that road myself. So I, I would be just full of it if I said, oh, yeah, I know what it's like, because I don't. But I mean, you're. You're a testament to, you know, got some.
Ryan Mullen [00:07:46]:
The biggest thing about staying sober is keeping yourself busy. And like, that's why, I mean, I work. My normal working hours are 8 to 7, Monday through Saturday. So that's a lot of hours as it is. And then I stay there. I go live every night after work and I'm there till lately it's been like nine. It used to be like 10 11.
Jeff Compton [00:08:05]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:08:05]:
But still.
Jeff Compton [00:08:06]:
And then I'm.
Ryan Mullen [00:08:06]:
I'm going to go in tonight. This is today, Sunday. I'm going to go in tonight after this and go live for a little bit. And I got a car to diagnose. Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [00:08:15]:
He says 10:11 his time. I used to be on there with him till like 3:34 in the morning, my time. So he would be on there till one or two in the morning sometimes.
Jeff Compton [00:08:23]:
So I remember waking up in the middle of the night and just looking at my phone and you clowns being there. I don't mean clowns in a bad way, but you know what I mean? They're like, no, it's an Audi at 2 in the morning. Like it is, but yeah, like, good on you. So working that much hours a week, Ryan, like, I'm gonna ask, is the pay good or is it kind of. Yeah, that's good, man. That's good. That's what I want to hear. I don't want to hear that.
Ryan Mullen [00:08:50]:
That's why I haven't. Like, this shop doesn't exactly fix cars the right way. Everything's fixed as cheaply as possible. That's what the customers want. That's what my boss wants. It's not the way I would fix cars, but anywhere else I go, I would be taking a pay cut.
Jeff Compton [00:09:05]:
Right? Yeah. Yeah. So tell me, see the airbag thing? What's kind of the first I Chuck's heard me say, what's the kind of the first light bulb moment that you had that you're like, wow, I might be able to actually have some proficiency for this kind of stuff. The diag side, for sure.
Ryan Mullen [00:09:25]:
I know it off the top of my head. We. We don't do a lot of engines and heavy work. We have another shop that we send the stuff to.
Check Engine Chuck [00:09:31]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [00:09:32]:
So we had sent this, I think it was an 04 Highlander, Toyota Highlander out to have the heads redone. And they put it together and that had timing correlation codes and they could not figure it out. They tore the timing belt off this thing like 10 times, tried to line it up, and it still had correlation codes. I think we figured out eventually that they took too much off the surface of the head and that changed the distance of the crank.
Jeff Compton [00:09:57]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:09:57]:
So I was. That was the first car I used an oscilloscope. I checked the timing on the oscilloscope and I literally like sticker. Seven mechanics had their hands in this thing. My boss said, if the car is not fixed today, I have to give the customers money back. And it was a lot of money. And he said, take all day. Do whatever you need to.
Ryan Mullen [00:10:15]:
If you can fix this car, great. And I ended up doing a bunch of stuff. I took the timing belt off and jumped it back a tooth on one of the cams.
Jeff Compton [00:10:24]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [00:10:24]:
It ended up fixing it. And check engine light never came back. It. I was so hyped that so many mechanics tried to fix it and they weren't able to. And I was that it. That's. That's part of what lit the fire.
Jeff Compton [00:10:38]:
Chuck is sitting there grinning because, yeah, it's awesome.
Check Engine Chuck [00:10:40]:
It's awesome.
Jeff Compton [00:10:42]:
Before you came on, we were talking about, like, how Chuck was talking about his, his mutant Subaru there. And I'm just like, I'm shaking my head because I'm like, you know, I.
Ryan Mullen [00:10:50]:
Have the same response to that car.
Jeff Compton [00:10:52]:
I know why Chuck is doing, because it's, it's not about the money anymore. It's. It's a pride thing. And then it's like a learning thing. And then it's like that endorphin kick that you get from being able to solve something that like you said, 2, 3, 5, 10 other technicians have not been able to solve or wouldn't even touch. I've never, I'm not, I've not been like. I've never gotten the kind of high that, you know, addicts get. But it's got to be similar, you know?
Check Engine Chuck [00:11:17]:
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:11:18]:
Super similar.
Jeff Compton [00:11:20]:
Yeah. I can see how it get addicting that you guys would be three in the morning, like just trying to get down there. You're just chasing that. I think it's so cool, man. And I, and I, I gotta say it again. I, I don't know, you know you very well, but I'm proud of where you are, Ryan. Let me put it out of where you are and Chuck is too, because it's. So many people don't make it, Ryan.
Jeff Compton [00:11:41]:
You know what I mean? Making out. And it's crazy because, like, we talk about the mental side, mental illness side of this, this industry and what it can do to you. And for you, it saved you. Like, that's so powerful, Chuck. That's crazy, man.
Check Engine Chuck [00:11:58]:
Yeah, it is. It's wild. You know, I think, I do think that having the, the mind to have no problem losing an extremely high amount of money to figure these cars out is like part, it's. It's part of chasing a high, you know, So I, I think that part of the mind definitely mixes together with it. I, I think you have to have a little bit of an addictive personality, because if you don't, you're going to be the tech that after 15 minutes of looking at a car, can't figure it out, goes, ah, I'm done looking at this. Just get a part, you know.
Jeff Compton [00:12:35]:
Ryan, what does your boss think of you? Does he think like you're some savant, you know, like, I mean, like some crazy.
Ryan Mullen [00:12:43]:
He would trade me for a tire tech and a lube tech any day. Or shotguns, parts, really. He would trade me for two guys that'll shotgun. He would rather I just shotgun parts all day. Long. He doesn't see the value in it.
Jeff Compton [00:12:57]:
But that doesn't usually.
Ryan Mullen [00:12:58]:
Usually the cars that make it to me have already been had parts thrown at them by everyone else there. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:13:04]:
But then he. Oh, by people that you work with as well. Have already tried. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that's a different wrinkle to that whole thing of trying to. So what the process is like, Chuck is sitting there nodding his head.
Jeff Compton [00:13:16]:
Is the process is the car should go to you first. You do the diagonally, delegate the repair to somebody.
Check Engine Chuck [00:13:23]:
Two.
Ryan Mullen [00:13:23]:
Two days ago, my boss scan. I hate to make this about bashing because I really like my boss, but like, this FJ cruiser came in with a bunch of ABS codes. They. That has the ABS module with the master cylinder and the pressure thing and the booster. It's all one unit. It's very expensive, like old school. Scanned it, threw that thing in there. It was like 900.
Ryan Mullen [00:13:43]:
They threw it in there. Had all the same faults. So he brings it over to me. I'm like, I need the original one put back in. This one's a different number. I think it's for an automatic car. This car's manual. So he sends it to the other mechanic, has him put the original one back in the car.
Ryan Mullen [00:13:56]:
Needed a brake light switch. It was $20.
Jeff Compton [00:14:00]:
Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [00:14:00]:
I never heard the follow up on that.
Ryan Mullen [00:14:03]:
Brake light switch fixed the car.
Jeff Compton [00:14:05]:
Oh, my God.
Ryan Mullen [00:14:06]:
Brake light switch correlation fault. And it compares the master cylinder pressure sensor to the brake light switch. And that's it. Oh, man.
Jeff Compton [00:14:14]:
I just make me want to hit myself in the head with a hammer. So stupid. Don't take it like we're running down your boss. I'm not trying to say that. I just, I, you know, the, the, the challenges you're speaking of. Chuck and I have talked to lots of technicians that are in the exact same place, you know what I mean, where they either don't want to spend the time, give you the opportunity, yada, yada, yada. You know what it is. And I, I don't know.
Jeff Compton [00:14:42]:
It's sad to me though, that you're, You're. You say that with a pretty straight face that your boss would trade you for two for a tire tech and a parts shotgun. Because, I mean, you're. You're a special guy already in this industry in terms of what, you know, in the short window that you've learned it, you know, and you're already influencing a lot of other people with your. With your story and your ability and all that kind of jazz. And it's like to think that this industry is not getting that is. It puts me in a, in an angry spot because that's, that's who I advocate for is guys like you guys. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:15:13]:
That's who I want to see be appreciated and paid like a million dollars a year and all that kind of stuff. And it's frustrating to me when it's not happening. You know the thing that pisses me.
Ryan Mullen [00:15:22]:
Off is how often it works. Like they scan a code and throw a part at it. It works so often that it drives me crazy. Like I want to do the right process, check powers and grounds, check the signal. It takes me two seconds to scope a crank sensor, see if that's the fault. They would rather they get a crank sensor fault. It's getting a crank sensor before it comes to me.
Jeff Compton [00:15:39]:
Yeah, yeah. But Chuck, you know from being out there that a lot of the time then it is somewhat though like that, right. That you can kind of still. I mean we say that, you know, DTCs are not part numbers, but they kind of are sometimes, right Chuck? Like you can still go to a lot of cars and Chrysler evap, right. You know, it's got an evap fault. You know where you're going, right. You're going to go right to the ESM right away. And, and, but man, that's.
Jeff Compton [00:16:07]:
I understand both sides because it's like shop owners. I talked to lots of shop owners, Chuck. You' seen it too. They don't want a guy to spend three hours hooking a scope up and look at a crankshaft waveform if the thing doesn't start and or has a glitchy one or whatever, you know, three hours later to come and go. Yep. It needs an 80 crank sensor. Like from the shop owner standpoint, that's real tough sometimes to justify. Right.
Ryan Mullen [00:16:31]:
That's the thing is when I get a car so I. 80% of what I do is diags mostly almost all day long as I do diags. We have like five for other technicians now they can replace the parts. If something's going to take me. If I spend more than an hour on something, I'll tell my boss. I'm like buy more time. I'll do it at night. And when I do things at night, I'm not making good money on it.
Ryan Mullen [00:16:50]:
I make a hundred dollars, 200 if I spend 20 hours on a car. But some of the cars I'll spend a half hour and make 100 bucks or 200 bucks. It's definitely not about the money at night. It's about the experience and the learning and what comes with it right now.
Jeff Compton [00:17:08]:
Can you, can you kind of set your after hours schedule, Ryan, so that you don't have to take those cars on unless you want to, or is it expected of you at this point?
Ryan Mullen [00:17:17]:
No, I don't have to do any of it.
Jeff Compton [00:17:19]:
Good. Because, I mean, I mean, Chuck and I have had lots of conversations in the past and we talk about how like, you know, we want to see you home and enjoying the family and the, and the kids and all that stuff. Right. Like, I mean, Ryan's got kitties. I could see. So I mean, you want to be home with the kitties, but like, you know, it's, it's important because if you're not making money, I, I'm not going to lecture anybody that like, don't do this. You're not getting paid. Because I spent a lot of hours unpaid because I just had to know.
Jeff Compton [00:17:45]:
Right. Same as you guys. But as I, as I got older, I realized that it's like I missed a lot too, you know, so it cost me pretty much a relationship, which is, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't the. For the worst thing that ever happened to me that that relationship ended. But it was, I was definitely. It was a factor as I was working too much, but.
Check Engine Chuck [00:18:04]:
Right. It was still a cost at, at that point. I mean, me working for myself, it's not, it's not that bad because I take the kids to school, I'm around in the morning, you know, they expect that I'm going to be out for the majority of the afternoon and stuff like that. And then we, because I'm out there working, we get to do a lot of really fun things together, you know, on weekends. Like the fall is apple picking and it was the Sunflower Festival at the end of the summer and you know, all little things like that. So the Dutch county fair. So while they're little, I hope at least that makes up for it. But I definitely do lose a lot more time than I would like to lose with them, you know?
Jeff Compton [00:18:46]:
Yeah. So, Ryan, when you came to Asta, did the wheels fall off in the shop? Like, was it just an absolute, like, pile to get back through when you finally got back?
Ryan Mullen [00:18:57]:
Like, I mean, there's definitely cars waiting for me, but I mean, they'll just keep throwing parts at a car till they get it right. Otherwise they'll just buy time. Most, the majority of our cars are dealers and they come from auctions.
Jeff Compton [00:19:09]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [00:19:09]:
And I have a theory that most cars that are Sent to an auction are sent there for a reason. It's because people don't want to deal with it. So cars like that. I have some time on, bro.
Jeff Compton [00:19:17]:
Yeah, I can tell you that's my employer right now is a used car lot. And that's all I do is. Is, you know, it's. It's. I keep going back to that Mazda that, like, you know, we. The customer's in the waiting room about to take it, and they're finishing the detailing up, and they go hit the push button to shut the thing off, and it won't shut off. And then panic sets in because it's like, wow, here's been this electrical problem that this car has obviously had in its life. Finally rears its head at the most inappropriate time, and everybody panics.
Jeff Compton [00:19:44]:
And they're like, jeff, go look at this. Okay. You know, and then I start yelling at the detailer because the parts of the dash, right? And I'm like, what did you do? The water? And it's. It ended up being nothing to that. It's just a, you know, a Ford or Mazda Relay, how they stick sometimes and things won't shut off. Well, that's all it was. But, like, I. As I started looking in the car, little things around the steering column, everything.
Jeff Compton [00:20:06]:
You could tell somebody had been apart and looked at the steering lock module and little things, right, that you guys know what to look for. You see it, and I'm like, that's why the car was traded right there. So, you know, but we fixed it. It didn't take me too long. It was 18 for a Mazda relay, was available next day. No big deal. But, yeah, you're exactly right. You would get these cars from auction, and you're like, what the hell happened? Was it hit by lightning or what? Like, you know, you guys had a lightning car yet?
Check Engine Chuck [00:20:35]:
I've never. I've never seen a lightning car. I've been told that I was repairing a lightning car, but didn't believe it. Yeah, I've never seen one. Never seen one in person. It's kind of like a. When we call, like, unicorn text, like, I don't mean it that way, but it's like a unicorn car.
Jeff Compton [00:20:54]:
Yeah. You know, I haven't had the pleasure yet, but I. A guy, a bane mate of mine way back when, had an old Intrepid that I hit by one, and it was like, it took out every module in the car. And I mean, so think about, like, you know, early 2000, and there ain't a ton of modules there. They fried every module in the car.
Check Engine Chuck [00:21:12]:
So I mean my experience with that is when I've been told, let's say it's happened maybe three times in the last like two years. What I've been told that it's struck by lightning because they've replaced every module in the car. It usually comes down to a broken wire. Yeah, they just already have replaced every module in the car before they got to the module or the wire that was causing a disruption of can network, you know. Yeah, I have trouble believing in them.
Jeff Compton [00:21:41]:
So is it, Ryan, is it a lot of high end stuff you're getting in or is it just everyday kind of basic commuter stuff?
Ryan Mullen [00:21:48]:
I mean I. Look, I work on a lot of BMW and Mercedes because that's kind of what I. I mean, auction. Yeah, I kind of say I specialize in BMW because that's what I'm most familiar with, like the makes and models and engines in years because that's what I spent the most time with. But I work on everything.
Jeff Compton [00:22:05]:
Yeah, Yeah. I mean I. Good on you for liking that brand. I mean it's, you know, not one of my favorites by any stretch.
Ryan Mullen [00:22:13]:
But most people don't like it.
Jeff Compton [00:22:14]:
I like driving them, I'll say that. You know, in a high pressure fuel pump and a tune up in an Audi the other day I was pretty proud of myself. But I mean it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't all that complicated. It was like, you know, that's worthy.
Ryan Mullen [00:22:30]:
I hate, I hate audis. I love BMWs. I like Mercedes.
Jeff Compton [00:22:33]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:22:34]:
So it's not all German that I like, huh?
Jeff Compton [00:22:36]:
I, I'm just, I'm just a redneck woodchuck. So give me like a pickup truck. Anything with a Dodge symbol on it or a pickup truck, I'm happy. Boy, you know, just give me Chryslers all day long. I love them. You guys, I know you think that's.
Check Engine Chuck [00:22:53]:
Crazy, but that is crazy. It is.
Jeff Compton [00:22:56]:
Ryan, did you see Chuck's DRB3?
Ryan Mullen [00:22:59]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:23:00]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:23:00]:
I don't know what that is. That's older than. That's before my time.
Jeff Compton [00:23:06]:
I think. Chuck, I've got a DRB2 somewhere in my basement. You've probably never even seen that.
Check Engine Chuck [00:23:12]:
I haven't.
Jeff Compton [00:23:12]:
Yeah, it seems.
Check Engine Chuck [00:23:13]:
Oh wait, wait. It's got the white writing on it says drb. It's like a little black. Little black box.
Jeff Compton [00:23:20]:
Yeah. Little small thing this big. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We. It looks like it's some people's TV remotes now. Really? But that's. Honey. Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [00:23:28]:
Never seen one in person. But yeah, I struck my memory up all OBD1 stuff.
Jeff Compton [00:23:33]:
So was all DRB1. And that was the precursor to that was flash codes in the car. You guys probably don't remember those, do you?
Ryan Mullen [00:23:40]:
No, I still, I still get old Toyotas that are flash codes.
Jeff Compton [00:23:43]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:23:44]:
Three of our dealers, all they buy is Toyota and Lexus SUVs. From old four runners to. I mean like even the 90s, four runners used flash codes.
Jeff Compton [00:23:53]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I just. I love the DRB3. Like when Chuck was showing it to me, I'm like, oh man, I made so much money with that thing, it wasn't even funny. It was such a good tool back in the day. And I. It back in the day it would come with a scope module and everything. I never saw the scope module in any of the dealerships I worked in ever.
Jeff Compton [00:24:13]:
Like it was an. It was a mandatory tool, but I never saw it. I never even saw anybody use it.
Check Engine Chuck [00:24:17]:
Never got busted out.
Jeff Compton [00:24:19]:
Never. I mean, what are they gonna do with it? Right?
Check Engine Chuck [00:24:21]:
Like, right.
Jeff Compton [00:24:21]:
We're flat rate dealer techs.
Check Engine Chuck [00:24:23]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:24:23]:
We're shotgun and parts all day. Like we're. You know, I'm actually gonna.
Check Engine Chuck [00:24:27]:
I didn't even look to see what card was in this thing.
Jeff Compton [00:24:30]:
Ah, good one Supercard.
Check Engine Chuck [00:24:32]:
Nice. Yeah, yeah. This thing's meant. Man, I got. The screen is absolutely perfect. I know the screenshot tend to look like the fan runs perfectly good.
Ryan Mullen [00:24:42]:
So what years did they use that at the dealer?
Jeff Compton [00:24:46]:
Right up to like 2000 and about 5. 2006 is when y tech hit. But they use that from. Shoot. You could even do some hookups on that would go back to OBD1 cars too. Yeah, the. I always called them the. The weird cars like the Sebring built or.
Jeff Compton [00:25:05]:
Sorry, the Mitsubishi built Sebrings. There's a lot of stuff that you can only do with that machine. You couldn't do it with. Even with an emulator. Like I said, the old Cummins, you know, the old 12 valve OBD1 stuff, there's pretty much. You're stuck with that only like. Yep.
Check Engine Chuck [00:25:21]:
Yeah, that's exactly what I bought that.
Jeff Compton [00:25:23]:
For around level six. Ryan, I think is by the time they were phasing that out pretty hard, they're bringing Y Tech in and it was. And Y Tech hit the ground running really well. But it had some big hurdles at the time. Really, really big hurdles. So I know lots of guys were like, they love the DRB3, but I don't even know. I should go back to my old dealer and just see if I can steal one. There's probably two of them sitting there somewhere, and nobody's used it in forever.
Check Engine Chuck [00:25:48]:
You should, because they're online for like two to two grand to 3, 500. Yeah, I got lucky on that post. I saw that it was old, and the guy must have just wanted to get rid of it.
Jeff Compton [00:25:56]:
Yeah. And now, Ryan, as we talk about beating up people online for. For tools and stuff, you got some pretty amazing stuff in your collection in a short period of time. Tooling and. And scan tools and your. Your old red brick clock. Like, I'd never even seen one of those before. When I saw that video, I thought that was pretty cool.
Ryan Mullen [00:26:16]:
Those are not that old. Those snap on gave out not that long ago when you bought something really, like the first. God, two or three years I was in sober living and it was like, free to live there. So all my. All my pay went to tools.
Jeff Compton [00:26:31]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [00:26:32]:
Like, I would just buy so much stuff because I had no overhead. Now I have overhead, so I don't buy as much stuff. But that's what I just tried to collect as much as I could while I could.
Jeff Compton [00:26:42]:
You're set up pretty good though, right? Like, I mean, you don't. You don't find yourself needing something? I don't think that you're. I can't get a job done because.
Ryan Mullen [00:26:51]:
Or do you? Right now I'm trying to make a key for an Audi, and I've spent, okay, 700 to make. To make 300, and I still don't have what I need to make it. So it depends.
Jeff Compton [00:27:06]:
Dude, just. Just let the boss buy the machine.
Ryan Mullen [00:27:10]:
We lost the key. Oh, he won't. No, we are loom. My chat is just bouncing off the walls right now. Our lube tech lost the key. The dealership said $700. I said, sure, I can make it. And then I realized I didn't have the tool and I like tools.
Ryan Mullen [00:27:27]:
So I started buying stuff, and now I'm in it real deep.
Check Engine Chuck [00:27:30]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:27:32]:
So what's like, how do I ask this question when you have to do that for your boss? Is there some way that you can kind of get a little extra money or is it just like. Yeah, okay, if it.
Ryan Mullen [00:27:44]:
If it. If something requires tools that I bought myself, I charge my boss. Okay, so that's not included in my good salary.
Jeff Compton [00:27:53]:
Yeah, that's important because, like, at that point, you're investing in yourself. He's not investing in a business.
Ryan Mullen [00:27:59]:
Like, if I program a car, I bought the J Box, so I charge my boss instead of having someone come out and program cars.
Jeff Compton [00:28:06]:
Yeah, yeah. You do a lot of that too, eh?
Ryan Mullen [00:28:10]:
I wouldn't say a lot, but I do it. Yeah, it'll be every couple of months.
Jeff Compton [00:28:15]:
Mainly GMs h w. So and are when you do like how many different subscriptions are you purchasing? Or do you kind of do it as you need it or you got.
Ryan Mullen [00:28:26]:
Like scan tools or OE stuff?
Jeff Compton [00:28:28]:
Yeah, OE stuff.
Ryan Mullen [00:28:30]:
Oh, I mean, well, GM, you just pay 50 bucks when you need it and then I'll charge him enough to make somewhere on top myself. But like my scan tools I pay, I think I pay $3,000 a year just in subscriptions on my scan tools that are mine.
Jeff Compton [00:28:46]:
Yeah. And Chuck, where are you on that?
Check Engine Chuck [00:28:48]:
Oh, as far as subscriptions go, I don't even know.
Jeff Compton [00:28:52]:
That's a lot, eh?
Check Engine Chuck [00:28:53]:
Yeah, it's a lot. I got a lot. A lot of different subscription. No, no manufacturer subscriptions. I'm not buying manufacturer subscriptions.
Jeff Compton [00:29:00]:
Right.
Check Engine Chuck [00:29:00]:
Like for a year, period. It doesn't make sense to me to do that because I'll have a period where I have like, oh my God, I'm programming nothing but GMs and I haven't done a Ford this year. And then all of a sudden the year roll over and then it's like, oh, all right, it's all Fords this year, not GMs anymore.
Jeff Compton [00:29:15]:
Right.
Check Engine Chuck [00:29:15]:
So yeah, just I, I just pay per, per session in whichever way that particular manufacturer is going to work because they're all different. You pay by hour, you pay by vin, you pay by three days, you pay by two days. But I mean just on rolling Scan tool subscriptions probably, probably right at that like three to four grand area. I don't update them all, you know. Yeah, some of them I will never update intentionally.
Jeff Compton [00:29:47]:
So, so how did you got like guys kind of get hooked up on. On Tick Tock? Like what was the kind of. The first thing that like I'm. Because Ryan, how long you been on Tick Tock?
Ryan Mullen [00:29:59]:
Tick Tock? Yeah, I mean I was on Tick Tock before I was a mechanic. So I, I Tick Tock did Tick Tock. Not car related stuff, but before I was a mechanic. And then I started making tick Tocks early in. So about. I've been a mechanic four years, so about right about there.
Jeff Compton [00:30:16]:
Right. And Chuck, you've been around at least four, right, haven't you?
Check Engine Chuck [00:30:20]:
Yeah, four. 4ish, I would say. I don't know if I'm maybe going on my fourth or fifth year.
Jeff Compton [00:30:28]:
Yeah, I'm the New one in the group here on that. I've only been in like just over a year, so that's pretty cool.
Check Engine Chuck [00:30:34]:
But wow, you've definitely been in longer than that.
Jeff Compton [00:30:36]:
Me?
Check Engine Chuck [00:30:37]:
Yeah. Has to be. I've been to ASTA twice. We started talking way before the first ASTA that I went to.
Jeff Compton [00:30:46]:
It might be two years and a.
Check Engine Chuck [00:30:47]:
Bit then, but I think so.
Jeff Compton [00:30:49]:
Not like, I mean, you were very. Already really established. So was Ryan when I came into the. The bunch. But Ryan, how did you come about finding Chuck?
Ryan Mullen [00:30:59]:
I was so. I, I was already going live like every day. I think it was a Sunday and I was live and I was working on a car and I was banging my head against the wall. I spent like, God, I probably had 30 hours into that car and I was just testing random wires just to. Because I was so lost on it. And then Chuck came into my life and he was just. In the comments, he was sick. That was sick as just watching my life.
Ryan Mullen [00:31:26]:
And he pretty much helped me, told me what I was doing wrong.
Jeff Compton [00:31:30]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [00:31:30]:
And it solved that car, like in a matter I had 20, 30 hours into it and then it was fixed and it wasn't that long.
Check Engine Chuck [00:31:40]:
I think if I remember it was a Honda. Yeah, yeah, it was. The problem was that the DTC that was setting when you went into service info, you could find out that the DTC sets when you key the car off, not when you key the car on.
Jeff Compton [00:31:55]:
Right.
Check Engine Chuck [00:31:55]:
And that was the big. That was the big hang up was that little piece of service information.
Jeff Compton [00:32:00]:
Yeah, yeah. Pretty cool, eh? To be able to just find somebody that, you know. Yeah, yeah. That's how I met a lot of people. That's how Chuck and I first connected was I was just watching his stuff and I don't think he was live. I think he was just doing things. And I would comment and I'd have to go back to whatever I was doing and then I would check the comment later. And then, you know, he'd be like, I can still remember.
Jeff Compton [00:32:23]:
It was early on. It was about a power probe. I'm like, oh, I hate that tool. Hate that tool. He's like, why do you hate that tool? And I'm like, oh, man, I've watched so many good technicians, you know, go down rabbit holes on that and not knowing that. And I wasn't trying to put Chuck in that class of guys that get tricked by that tool. But I was like, oh, I just seen, you know, and yeah. And then we just kind of.
Jeff Compton [00:32:44]:
That's how the conversation opened up. And he showed me how good that tool can actually really be. And then he's also, you know, he understands a little bit better is why I don't grab it first. You know, it just. For me, it's, you know, the, the old school three dollar test light is the, is the tool to grab. I don't have a load cage yet. It's. It's coming.
Check Engine Chuck [00:33:03]:
So yeah, now that, now that the post strike is coming to a. A restful moment, we won't say it.
Jeff Compton [00:33:10]:
In, but they'll take a break and go back to work for a little while. Maybe I'll get. Yeah, but I mean that's, that's old way for me of doing it. Like I, I talk all the time. One of my first bosses, he took my DVOM away and he wouldn't give it back to me until I could like, you know, come to him with the test light results. And then he would give me the DBOM because that's just what he believed was the right way. And it, it served me well. But oscilloscopes, like I, I have one, I never really use it.
Jeff Compton [00:33:38]:
So I've used it for, I use it for relative compression test and that's about it. So I don't, I don't grab it for circuit tests at all.
Ryan Mullen [00:33:48]:
So the good thing about what I do is I only work out of my bay. I don't work anywhere else. So I have my pico set up with my computer right there and I have a boom. I just flip it out. I can put it on the car. It literally takes me two seconds to scope a car. Like a lot of people, it takes them so much time to set it all up, get out of the box, hook it up. Like Chuck has to dig it out of his van.
Ryan Mullen [00:34:07]:
I can pull in a car and check four circuits at the same time faster than I can set up a multimeter. So yeah, that's why it's. I have so much practice with it and it's so different.
Jeff Compton [00:34:17]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:34:18]:
If I was working outside, I'm not taking my scope with me. I'm taking probably a power probe. I. I'm on Chuck's side with the power probe thing. The biggest thing about power probes is you got to understand circuit design.
Jeff Compton [00:34:30]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:34:31]:
Like that's one thing that really. So one thing I didn't talk about is when I first got in to being a mechanic, I realized quickly that no one around me knew what they were doing, for lack of a better way of saying it. And that's when I found Scanner Danner and Paul. I. I binge watched everything that Paul's recorded on the Internet over a span of like, four months, and it, like, turned a switch in my head.
Jeff Compton [00:34:56]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:34:56]:
Like, just. And the most important thing was understanding circuit design. Like, once you understand how circuits are laid out and how everything is, it's really hard to fry something with a power probe. You're not, you know where not to Send power?
Jeff Compton [00:35:09]:
Yeah. Oh, 100. You know, it's, it's.
Ryan Mullen [00:35:12]:
Or ground, for that matter.
Jeff Compton [00:35:13]:
To me, you know, the idea that they used to say, no, you can't have a jumper wire. No, you can't have a power probe is like, if you can't trust the person with that tool, you shouldn't even be trusting them with the job. Right. That's just the simple way it is. Like, do we really want to have to be, like, turning kids out with a dvom? Because that way we're pretty sure they can't screw anything up. No. Like, they should already understand enough that we can give them any tools and they're not going to hurt something. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:35:38]:
I mean, nobody's perfect. But, you know, sometimes service information is written as wrong. But yeah, Scanner Danner is like, man, I've been friends with that dude for well over a decade now. And talking to him and yeah, he, he doesn't realize. I mean, he's starting to realize, but he doesn't realize the effect that he's hit. You know what I mean? His footprint in this industry right now is arguably bigger than anyone else's. I would argue that from the, from the old school guys back in Iat way back when, to. To up to now, I don't think anybody's made the impact he has.
Jeff Compton [00:36:13]:
And he, and it. The coolest thing is he never even wanted to or tried to. That was what so was so cool about Paul. He was just like, you know, I'm filming these videos for my students and that was it. And it just took off. I can remember early on there was him and there was Ivan from Pine Hollow, and there was Eric O. From, you know, south Maine. And there was a guy named Daniel Sullivan, which makes the Load Pro tool.
Jeff Compton [00:36:37]:
I don't know if you guys have seen that. And I remember Daniel Sullivan was kind of like on the outside. He was looking at, like, everybody. He was a very upset guy and he was very pissed off because his patent was stolen. And, and he, he threw the gauntlet down and made a challenge to, like, Paul Danner and, and Eric, Owen, Ivan to do, like, a diagnostic shootout, and he literally got lambasted on YouTube to where he, like, he. He pulled his channel down for a long time and didn't have any kind of interaction with anybody. And I felt really sad for the guy because, like, he's super smart, and he really knows what he's talking about. But it's always about that tool.
Jeff Compton [00:37:18]:
He is. He designed it. He's 100% convinced it is, like, it's the same as the power probe guys, Right? They're convinced that that tool is the best tool that's ever been built. I'm not going to argue that it ain't, but it was a completely different thinking, different tool than Daniel and Dan. What Daniel was doing was pulling everybody in from that power probe camp or this other camp or whatever and saying, no, it's all wrong. My tool is the best ever, and I'll prove it to you. Well, he just. He.
Jeff Compton [00:37:43]:
He caused career suicide, so. But when he called out Paul, I was like, well, you're. You've just stepped over the line there, dude.
Check Engine Chuck [00:37:50]:
Like, you know, so I'm glad there was beef before. Tick tock.
Jeff Compton [00:37:56]:
Dude. I can tell you somebody that was, like, on IATN before I was on Facebook, there's always been beef. Beef's never gonna go away, man. Beef is. And you guys laugh because you know what? It's like, we've seen it, right? Like, yep. But, like, Ryan, how do you handle it with the detractors and the. And the. Because Chuck knows me.
Jeff Compton [00:38:18]:
Like, if somebody's not a tech and they start spouting off at me like, I want to get in my car and go find out where they live and, like, punch your teeth in. Like, I'm that way. I'm just wired that way.
Ryan Mullen [00:38:28]:
How do you guys think I'm not big enough to get it? I only have 20,000 followers. I don't. I very, very rarely post videos. When I go live at night, there's, like, 10 people there.
Jeff Compton [00:38:36]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:38:37]:
Sometimes 20 if I'm on a good night. But, like, it's mostly people trying to help and people that are helpful and. Yeah, same people. So I don't see it as much as other people do.
Jeff Compton [00:38:47]:
But Chuck knows because it's like, when he first brought the location, everybody's like, oh, you don't need that tool. You only need a DVO m. And I'm like, oh, my God, here we go. I got to give this. Like, I've been given this lecture for 10 years on why one you surpasses the other. And Chuck's doing The same thing. And I'm just like, God bless you, man. I'm not.
Jeff Compton [00:39:05]:
I'm bowing out of this one because.
Check Engine Chuck [00:39:07]:
Some of my favorite comments was, oh, it was. And it was like, it. It must have been commented a hundred times. Some form of, oh, so you reinvented the test light, you know, with like a clown face. And I. I was. At first I was like, well, no, that's not what I. And then I thought about it.
Check Engine Chuck [00:39:22]:
I'm like, all right, fine. Yeah, I. I reinvented the test, like, fine.
Jeff Compton [00:39:28]:
Yeah. And, you know, to your credit, it's probably been the best test built test light in terms of how what a mechanic has always really wanted in a test light. Right. Was one that. I appreciate that, A, didn't burn my hands. B, I could get rough with it and it wouldn't break the bulb. C, I had way more options. Just like a pointy end on one point or a alligator clip on the other.
Jeff Compton [00:39:50]:
Like, it's. It's a very effective, efficient tool. That's what I love about it, you know? Like, it's. You know, it just.
Ryan Mullen [00:39:57]:
Yeah, I still use mine every day. Yeah, like, every single day.
Jeff Compton [00:40:02]:
I would see the concept like, oh, you shouldn't use a Tesla. It's going to blow up the module and you shouldn't use it. I'm like, oh, shut up. You don't fix cars.
Ryan Mullen [00:40:11]:
It's obvious.
Jeff Compton [00:40:13]:
And Chuck would laugh at me. Like, we'd be talking. He's like, oh, why do you let them get so. Why do they bother you so much? I'm like, dude, it's just the way I am, man. I can't help it. Like, I just, you know, I can't entertain fools. And when I know that they don't do what we do, I don't even want them in the conversation. Like, they can just.
Jeff Compton [00:40:28]:
You're the adults are talking go off. Like, that's how I think. And it's just, you know, I was. I've been a prick online for a long time, so trying to not be a prick. I do pretty good until certain subjects come up, and then it's just like, no, no, you're wrong. I don't even want to tell you why you're wrong. You just. You're just effing wrong.
Jeff Compton [00:40:49]:
You don't. You don't run into that, though, Ryan. You just, like, you just let it roll, man.
Ryan Mullen [00:40:53]:
It's rare, and I'll just ignore it.
Check Engine Chuck [00:40:55]:
There's a couple people that. That used to constantly come after all of us in the same Comments? There's one guy told us that we don't know what we're doing because we don't measure anything in micro Siemens. Like what the.
Jeff Compton [00:41:08]:
What is a micro semen?
Ryan Mullen [00:41:11]:
I still don't even know.
Check Engine Chuck [00:41:12]:
I don't know.
Jeff Compton [00:41:13]:
I don't want to know.
Ryan Mullen [00:41:15]:
Like I think he's trying to talk about milliohms and using a milliohmmeter, but I. And like calculating the length and the diameter of wire. That's what it is. You got to know the length of the wire and the diameter of the wire to find the surface area of the wire to find the exact resistance. How is that anyway better than load testing a wire?
Jeff Compton [00:41:37]:
Does this gentleman not realize all the different.
Ryan Mullen [00:41:39]:
Like any tried to say service information says the length of all the wires.
Jeff Compton [00:41:43]:
And, and an 18 gauge wire built by one person does not necessarily have the same surface area as an 18 gauge wire of another manufacturer, let alone the conductivity of the two different brands is not always the same either. So his, his fucking theory is bumped. Here's my theory. Does a test light? Light? Yes. Right, fine. Next.
Check Engine Chuck [00:42:04]:
You know, you want to know the best part too? This is the people that are commenting these kinds of things. You go to his page and you, you first he tells you and you think that he's an aircraft mechanic. So you're like, okay, I know aircraft mechanics can be a little, you know, a little odd at times. And then you start going through his page and he's no, he's not. He's a aircraft simulator mechanic. He fixes the aircraft simulators that pilots go into and train in.
Jeff Compton [00:42:34]:
You guys have seen that meme where it's like I'm a sniper but only online when I play Call of Duty, right?
Check Engine Chuck [00:42:40]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:42:43]:
It'S like that. I, I had a guy last week and it's like he told me he owned two dealerships or two repair shops. And I go to his Facebook profile and he literally has like woodworking crafts and a bunch of chickens. And I'm like, he's like, oh, you don't put everything that's in my life online. I'm like, oh, okay, dude. What? It was arguing about something related to how a circuit worked her car or something. And I'm like, he's trying. Oh no, it was a business question based on, you know, how would you handle this in the, in the automotive realm or something.
Jeff Compton [00:43:16]:
And I think it was probably like free diag or something like. And I'm like, you know where I am on that, right? Like, no, that's the Devil. But he's like, oh, no, you should do that. It works for me. And I'm thinking, you got chickens and pallets that you've made into ashtrays of auto repair. Like, get the out of here. Like, sorry, I'm cussing a lot. I shouldn't cuss.
Jeff Compton [00:43:36]:
But that's the. The challenges of. Of online. The tool thing, Ryan, when the. When the guy contacted you about toolbox tours, how did that. Like, were you surprised that they knew who you were?
Ryan Mullen [00:43:54]:
No, I reached out to him.
Check Engine Chuck [00:43:55]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [00:43:58]:
Like, I found his channel right when he made it, and it was. So at first, when I first started, I was super into tools before I moved to being super into diag. So, like, I spent, like a year just being obsessed with tools. And I found his channel, and he had said, like, message me if you're interested, and I. Or if you want to be on the channel. So I messaged him, and then a couple people that he went to see say that they found the channel because of me, because I used to talk about it on TikTok all the time. And so he had heard my name a bunch of times. And then when he finally came out, I mean, a bunch of people had brought my name up in different episodes saying, I saw this, that Ryan had.
Ryan Mullen [00:44:37]:
I saw this, that Ryan had.
Jeff Compton [00:44:38]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [00:44:39]:
So it's like he'd heard of me a bunch of times.
Jeff Compton [00:44:41]:
Yeah. Where is he based out of?
Ryan Mullen [00:44:44]:
Utah.
Jeff Compton [00:44:46]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [00:44:46]:
I think.
Jeff Compton [00:44:47]:
Yeah. Because you're in California, you're like.
Ryan Mullen [00:44:50]:
Yeah. So he's been all over the country.
Jeff Compton [00:44:52]:
Yeah. Very cool. Where Chuck's not that far from me, like, a few hours, and I would be at Chuck's place or I say few. It's probably like, five. I could be there. But, you know, so. But yeah, because I saw that, and I've seen some of his channels, and it's been very cool, like, his or his videos on his channel, because it covers the whole realm, right? From young guys starting out to when you. When you got in.
Jeff Compton [00:45:16]:
Was that kind of the allure was the big toolbox and the tools and, like, what? No, I mean, I grew up working.
Ryan Mullen [00:45:25]:
On stuff in the garage with my dad and stuff like that. And, like, we were into dune buggies and dirt bikes and going to the desert and all that. So I'd grown up with tools and stuff. And then, I mean, I quickly realized that when I first started, I bought as much cheap stuff as I could. Harbor Freight, Amazon, whatever. And then just like, it was like a year before we got a snap on truck and Then I just started replacing the cheap stuff with good stuff and a lot of YouTube and just learning stuff that's out there and.
Jeff Compton [00:45:53]:
Yeah, just.
Ryan Mullen [00:45:55]:
I don't know. I've always liked tools, so. Yeah, I've slowed down a lot.
Jeff Compton [00:46:00]:
Are you the Expert, like, the Mr. Subaru is? No, no, that guy's.
Ryan Mullen [00:46:06]:
He's got all kinds. He's got so much more stuff than me.
Jeff Compton [00:46:09]:
Yeah, I'd like to. I wish that now that would be a good episode. If the Toolbox Tours guy is watching or listening. If you could get Mr. Subaru, Robert Lazenby on, that would be pretty sweet.
Ryan Mullen [00:46:19]:
So that would be sick. I. I still talk to him all the time. The guy from Toolbox Tours, his name's Dustin. He's super nice guy. I had so much fun talking to him and just hanging out with him because he. After we filmed the episode, he's there for, like, another four hours doing B roll stuff. So we did a lot of talking and a lot of filming, and it was.
Ryan Mullen [00:46:36]:
It was a lot of fun.
Jeff Compton [00:46:37]:
Yeah. So, Chuck, what was the. When you first had an interaction with Ryan, what did you. What did you see right away?
Check Engine Chuck [00:46:44]:
I don't. To be honest, I don't remember why I followed Ryan, you know, obviously, because, you know, he's in the industry and stuff, but I can't remember. Like, I remember, okay. I followed this guy and he posts tool, you know, hauls, and I never see his face, you know, so I got familiar with his name from seeing him in my comments and stuff. And I think I just. I was sick and I was scrolling live or something, and I saw him dealing with that Honda, and I was like, oh, this looks fun. I'm like, maybe I could help someone over the phone, you know, Like, I. I mean, I.
Check Engine Chuck [00:47:20]:
I help people over the phone all the time, but maybe, like, while he's on live, I can help him, like, out of life. Wouldn't that be cool? You know? And we started, you know, talking for a bit there, and then I had to go do something or I felt like. Or something. I was really, really sick. So I was like, all right, well, let me know what you find. Maybe I'll pop back later. And I think I came back, like, what, two hours later? Or something like that.
Ryan Mullen [00:47:44]:
I don't have that good of a memory.
Check Engine Chuck [00:47:46]:
Oh, okay. All right.
Ryan Mullen [00:47:46]:
I remember the car, but that's about it.
Check Engine Chuck [00:47:48]:
Okay. So I came back, like, two hours later, I think. And at that point, I actually started pulling up service information, and. And that was how we got down to It. And then I don't know how the hell. I think I just started pop.
Ryan Mullen [00:48:05]:
Yeah, I think we, you just went. I made a video about it. And then you probably, I think you saw that video and you commented on it. And then I think you just kept popping into random lives and you would come in there and see what I'm doing and if it was interesting, you'd be in the comments talking. And then it went to eventually, I mean, for a while there you were in my life like every night we were diagnosing cars. That was, Yeah, I think that was last summer because your kids were off of school and you could kind of stay up and not have to wake up early in the morning.
Check Engine Chuck [00:48:32]:
Yep, that's what it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just started popping into his lives and then I convinced him to come on to Snapchat and it was all over from there.
Jeff Compton [00:48:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. So you rocked him into Snapchat too then. That's good.
Check Engine Chuck [00:48:46]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:48:47]:
I can tell you, Ryan, what, what Chuck said to me really recently is that like he said you eclipsed, you know, not, he didn't really say you eclipsed him, but he would never, he's never seen like the trajectory from anybody he's ever met the way you brought it. You know what I mean? So that's pretty cool.
Check Engine Chuck [00:49:05]:
He's, I'm not in his lives anymore because he doesn't need me anymore.
Ryan Mullen [00:49:10]:
I appreciate it. I've definitely, I've definitely learned a ton from you. I mean, I, I, I definitely didn't know about reading service information as much before starting, before Chuck started helping me. I mean, Chuck still helps me find stuff in service information that I can't find but that I, I mean, just from him being in my life for a series of months, I learned enough to figure out almost anything now. I mean, it's, it's rare that I get stuck on a car unless it's like a one off situation that's like super crazy.
Check Engine Chuck [00:49:45]:
And now we're consistently bouncing ideas off of each other.
Jeff Compton [00:49:48]:
Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [00:49:49]:
You know, it's snap. And since I'm, I'm not on live.
Jeff Compton [00:49:51]:
Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [00:49:52]:
You know the, yeah, that's the difference.
Ryan Mullen [00:49:55]:
Is we're talking all day now. Back then we would talk at night on my live, but now Chuck. So me and Chuck got me onto Snapchat when he was building the load cage because you had asked me about the, when you were making the letter to send out with a load cage. That's when we started talking, sent me a copy of the letter. You're like, how does this look? Do you have any suggestions or anything? And then he's like, I want to get some guys on Snapchat and build a group of just people that do this stuff. And we beat. We each got a bunch of guys to Snapchat and made a group and started talking. This group's no longer around, but just having all these like minded people that were all smart in different areas, different texts from different dealerships and just like being able to pull out your phone and say what your problem is.
Ryan Mullen [00:50:41]:
And 10 other texts from around the country that have specialties and all different kinds of stuff someone's seen whatever you're running into.
Jeff Compton [00:50:48]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:50:48]:
Like, it's not. A lot of people have that where you can just reach in your pocket and talk to like the smartest text you've ever talked to a whole group full of them.
Jeff Compton [00:50:58]:
It's powerful stuff, man. It really is. I, I spent so many years on Facebook, but I wasn't doing it that way. I was, I was again, I was a bit of a person that was a little lost in the sense that I was like always trying to qualify the people that were in the conversations before I would help them. You know what I mean? And that's why I have so much respect for Chuck is because he's, he, he comes up from a completely different spot. And the more Chuck talk about it, the more I understand exactly what he means. Like, he said it to me several times and I'm like, well, no, I, I don't get it. But it's starting to really sink into me where it's like, it's not even my right or my place to be qualifying them.
Jeff Compton [00:51:37]:
And I'm pushing a lot of people away. And I have pushed a lot of people away that I shouldn't have because I was like. And it, people thought it was coming from a place of ego. It wasn't coming from place and ego. It was just like I, I had this impression that everybody was lazy, right. Because it was like I thought I was the hardest worker in the room and everybody else should just be like me. And I realized that that's not the case. Like that, yeah, I work hard, but I also have an aptitude for it that some people just don't have.
Jeff Compton [00:52:04]:
And Chuck and I, you know, can you, can you teach that aptitude? And I think you're an example, Ryan, of somebody that we can and have been able to. Right. And that's why when I think now of the way I've acted in the past, I'm I'm a little, you know, resentful of how I. How I behaved because I've pushed a lot of good people away, and it sucks. I'm trying to. Trying to make good on that. I'm trying to do better. So.
Ryan Mullen [00:52:31]:
But, you know, that's the thing is when Chuck. So when Chuck came into my life, he was trying to get a. A gauge on if he could help people like that. Like, remotely help people diagnose cars. And I think it made it really easy with me because he could tell me to check a wire and go to this connector, check this wire, and know that I checked it because he's there with me. But, like, when you're telling some random person across the country to go check the. Check this wire from end to end load, test it, check the connector pin tension, all this stuff. Yeah, you have to kind of know their capabilities to know that they checked it right before you move on to checking something else.
Check Engine Chuck [00:53:08]:
Yeah, that's. That's definitely something I've ran into with trying to help other people is if I go to Ryan, and I go to. Or I say, all right, go to C127B pin 6. It should be black and red. Let me know what you see there. He would go, okay. And he would do it, you know, or if he didn't know where it was, I'd say, it's the left kick panel, third square connector up, 20 pin, or whatever. He'd be like, okay.
Check Engine Chuck [00:53:32]:
And he'd find it like that. There's some people, if you're on the phone with them, that one step might take an hour.
Jeff Compton [00:53:38]:
Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [00:53:39]:
You know, so that's. It's tough, you know, and for me.
Jeff Compton [00:53:42]:
It was a situation. It was like. I'll give you this example. I've used it before. You would say, go check the grounds. And they would walk over and wiggle it. Like, no, that's not okay. Like, let's think about the other way.
Jeff Compton [00:53:52]:
Like, okay, yes, it's hooked up. Is it good? Like, there's, like, way to test that. And it was just little things like that. And then you see me always trying to face palm myself, because that's a thing I do a lot. It's like, oh, like what? You know, And. And eventually, yes, I had to back up, slow down, and say, no, no. Like, go grab a test light and test that. Actually check it.
Jeff Compton [00:54:13]:
Check it, you know, and it took a while, man. It took a while to, like. You gotta slow down, to go fast, you know, like, you gotta be that way. And it Was. But people like, oh, I checked the wiring. What did you do? Well, I just physically checked it. Like I didn't visually check it. Like that's there.
Jeff Compton [00:54:29]:
Yeah, it's there.
Check Engine Chuck [00:54:30]:
Right, right.
Jeff Compton [00:54:31]:
Wheels on. You know, it's good. So I, what was I thinking? That's been the, that's been the struggle for me is trying to, to. Because the way I communicate is very, just very concise and abrupt and, and gruff. And I'm still learning. This has been very good for me to learn how to communicate more effectively and not be an a hole. But the A hole does come out a lot still. It's tough.
Jeff Compton [00:54:58]:
You know what, what do you see? Like this networking thing with you guys. What other benefits do you see to it besides the fixing cars thing? Like do you have conversations away from fixing cars now that you would have?
Check Engine Chuck [00:55:16]:
No. Yeah, yeah. Constantly. I mean so there, there is that aspect of just having a group of like minded people as well. You are instantly like minded. Like we. So I used to hang out at this shop and we used to joke around that none of us that hung out at this shop had. This is when I was a kid, 18, you know, that none of us had anything in common except that we all enjoyed the devil's lettuce and we all liked cars.
Check Engine Chuck [00:55:41]:
And because of that we all, we had a group of 20 friends that were just completely different people. But we're perfectly cool all hanging out at the same time, you know?
Jeff Compton [00:55:53]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [00:55:54]:
That's one thing. When I first became. When I first went into sober living, I didn't have a friend in the world. I didn't have any friends anywhere. I'd gotten distance from everyone I used to talk to. And when, even when I was a mechanic, first became a mechanic, I had no one. And now I have. There's about 30 people that I talk to every day.
Ryan Mullen [00:56:12]:
Whether like, like all the people that watch my life. We started a group together and we all talk and then we, than all the people that are like minded dyag guys, we all talk and it's just, it's so. It's more friends than I've ever had in my life. Like, like even I had a large friend group in high school. But like nothing like this. Like 30 people or so many people that I talk to on a daily basis, all stemming from Tick tock. And these are all people that I've met off tick Tock just from going live at night. So many people come by there, hang out, help with the cars, come back almost every night and just hang out in the comments.
Jeff Compton [00:56:46]:
And then I want to say when again, I don't mean any disrespect. I know a lot of people I've talked to that have come from addiction is that once they get off of that, a lot of their people that were. They thought they were friends were not really their friends. Right. They were just people that they were getting high or drunk with.
Ryan Mullen [00:57:02]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:57:02]:
And that, that's something that I think a lot of people is. What we don't even talk about is how hard it is to leave that behind. You know what I mean? Because you're fighting that. And again, I'm talking like I've been through it and I haven't. So correct me if I'm not.
Ryan Mullen [00:57:16]:
You're pretty on top of it.
Jeff Compton [00:57:17]:
You know, it's like they're, you're, you're. You're trying to get that devil off your back, and at the same time you're feeling like you're either deserting some friends or you've been deserted. Right. I think that's what a lot pulls a lot of people back. And I don't even think a lot of the time it's the, it's the substance that pulls people back to addiction. It's the, the people that you were comfortable with being what you were, you.
Ryan Mullen [00:57:40]:
Know, so that's the thing is when you start to get into addiction, you lose all friends that you had before that. And then once getting out of it, I stopped talking to the people that I was friends with during it that are obviously not the people that I should be hanging out with.
Jeff Compton [00:57:54]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [00:57:55]:
So then you lose, like, when you first get out of it, you lose everybody because you're not talking to anybody. And that's what Tick Tock has brought back, is just a group of people that are not gonna take me back to that.
Jeff Compton [00:58:07]:
And not judging you either. Yeah. Because I've been a judgmental dick about some people's addiction because, like, I really have been. Because so you gotta to know where I am. You have to understand, like, it's the prison capital in Canada. Like, there's more prisons per capita in my little area than there is anywhere else in the country. Like, we had at one point, we had like over 10 that I could within a 5 mile radius of me. So there was a lot of addiction, a lot of criminals.
Jeff Compton [00:58:33]:
Right. So we all, from a very young age were very familiar with. And Ryan, please don't think that I'm saying that every addict is a criminal, but you know what I mean, like, the, the two of them are a lot of people when they go to crime, they do it because of addiction. So you know, so it was like I, I was not always the most sympathetic to that plight that a lot of people have been through. And I realize now that a lot of people when they go to addiction is because they're self medicating trauma and then they lead to crime or the crime finds, they find crime or whatever. And so it's been a, it's been through meeting a lot of people that have been through it and got through other side. That again is. It's been a lot of awakenings for me guys in the last couple years to really understand better.
Jeff Compton [00:59:17]:
And I mean I'm blessed that I've been able to meet people that have come out of it because it's very easy. My brother worked in the correctional system, so it's like he has seen, you know, the ugliest of the ugliest, the worst of the worst. And there's necessarily people that are not like dealing with their shit. So you immediately put them in this particular category. And I would do that and I never even worked with these people, but I would be exposed to it through him. And now, you know, I'm starting to meet a lot of people that I would have never knew, had that in their background. And I used to think that like those people were always going to be those people. I gave up hope on them.
Jeff Compton [00:59:57]:
And then I meet some amazing people that have come through it and I'm.
Ryan Mullen [00:59:59]:
Like, wow, it's, it's definitely not easy to change. Yeah, like not at all.
Jeff Compton [01:00:06]:
Yeah, it's powerful stuff, man. Anybody that does it, you know, my respect because you know, I know I have little vices and I mean it's like I, I know how hard that is for me to like not eat a cheeseburger every day. You know what I mean? Like, I know what that's like. It's nothing like that. I mean it's 10 times, 100 times worse. But I know how easy that gets in my head and I can't even imagine anything else. So the people that have been through it that, that are listening, you have my, you have my utmost respect for sure. So yeah, it's a big deal.
Jeff Compton [01:00:40]:
It's a really big achievement. It's the one thing I think that everybody that's come through should be really proud of is that you made it through. You know, that's the.
Check Engine Chuck [01:00:50]:
And then in Ryan's situation to succeed to the point that he succeeded to in only in four years, it's that's crazy.
Jeff Compton [01:00:58]:
When he, when I saw the toolbox video and he's like, you know, they're like, oh, he's been a mechanic for years. I'm like, this ain't been a mechanic for four years. Like he, he's been paid to do it, but he's been fixing forever.
Ryan Mullen [01:01:10]:
But that's not really called me a liar too. When me and Chuck first started talking. So he's, he's like, he didn't believe that I'd only been a mechanic for like two or three years at that point. And then I had mentioned something like I was talking to. I actually still remember this. I was talking about cash for clunkers and I was talking about like, remember back then when we used to pour the stuff in the cars and used to destroy them? And he's like, I KN were lying about being a mechanic that long. You've been doing it way longer than you said. I'm like, no, I sold parts and I was, I remember back then, but I swear I haven't been a mechanic that long.
Ryan Mullen [01:01:42]:
And like I did little stuff with my dad when I was younger, but not like, like I'd done brakes and like tires and stuff like that. And I've worked, I've rebuilt a two stroke dirt bike engine, but nothing on cars.
Jeff Compton [01:01:53]:
Yeah. So when, when you were starting that as a teenager with your dad or as a young kid, how did you, why did you not pick up on that as a career? Like, why'd you go a different route?
Ryan Mullen [01:02:03]:
I don't know. Now that I, now that I've done it, I regretted it. Like when I was in, when I was in high school, my best friend's dad owned a used car dealership for BMW Mercedes and it had a full service department and it had a wrecking yard for used parts, like a full yard of car. So in high school I needed a job. He's like, go down there and start delivering parts. So I was a parts driver when I was in high school and then I started selling parts there. And then when that place closed, I went to the BMW dealership, sell parts. Because that's what I've been doing for four years at that point.
Ryan Mullen [01:02:35]:
And that's how I got selling parts. What did you did that for a long time.
Jeff Compton [01:02:40]:
What did you think of the dealership experience from the technician standpoint, that you would watch them? Because I know, like you hear me rip sometimes, like I, I tell the story, I've, I've grabbed parts guys that, from across the counter by the Throat.
Ryan Mullen [01:02:51]:
You know, there's a lot of bad parts, guys. There's a lot of useless parts, guys. When I worked at BMW, we had a core group of like five guys that were there for over 10 years. We were all really good. But I've worked with some guys that didn't know a brake rotor from a gas cap. They just knew how to pick the numbers in the system and charge them out.
Jeff Compton [01:03:10]:
Yeah, yeah. Did you. What did you find? Their technicians were like. Like, were they. Did you ever see yourself and go, I wanted to do that?
Ryan Mullen [01:03:18]:
Not really.
Jeff Compton [01:03:19]:
No way. That's crazy.
Check Engine Chuck [01:03:22]:
Here's the thing with that too though, at, you know, Ryan being 16, 18 years old, the cars weren't where they are today. And I think that he's got the type of brain that jumping into it when the technology is so advanced compared to. If he had started, maybe he would have been burnt out by the time this technology was here and he wouldn't have the capability to be where he got in. Only four years.
Jeff Compton [01:03:45]:
Yeah. I mean, because you must.
Ryan Mullen [01:03:47]:
The technology side of it is the part that draws me in, really. Module stuff and the scope stuff and the cloning and programming and all that kind of stuff is the stuff that pulls me in.
Jeff Compton [01:04:00]:
Because I mean, like Chuck and I, we've both been kind of that jaded mechanic, you know, in the dealership environment where we hated life and, you know, we were getting taken advantage of and not valued and everything. But did you see that from like. Or were they kind of that same way or did they kind of were a little more chill because of the product they're working on?
Ryan Mullen [01:04:18]:
So I did wholesale parts, so I didn't have a ton of interaction with the technicians. Like on Sundays and stuff, I would help technicians. But the most. The time I was selling to shops.
Jeff Compton [01:04:28]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [01:04:29]:
So I didn't have that much of an interaction with them to like really get into it. Like, I could tell who's a good tech and who's not a good tech, but I couldn't tell how they were being treated or if they liked it or anything like that.
Jeff Compton [01:04:42]:
Yeah. Steven never worked in a dealer. You're a lucky guy. Yeah. I mean like as a technician and a dealer.
Ryan Mullen [01:04:48]:
Yeah. And I'm very anti dealer for someone who's never worked in a dealer. Like, I, I'm anti flat rate and I'm anti dealer. I think, I think it really helps you to work on all brands.
Jeff Compton [01:04:59]:
Yes.
Ryan Mullen [01:05:00]:
I think guys get sucked into one brand and they just do what the computer tells them and the service information tells Them and, like, flat rate punishes people who want to learn new things and expand and chase issues and stuff like that. Encourages people to take shortcuts. And I just. I'm just not. I don't know that I would never. Originally, I wanted to go work at a BMW dealer. I wanted to be a BMW tech, but now I could never go work at a dealer.
Jeff Compton [01:05:29]:
I think you could kill it, though. I think you've got the right.
Check Engine Chuck [01:05:32]:
You'd be so bored.
Jeff Compton [01:05:34]:
You do, like, 10 recalls in a row or, like, you know, that's.
Ryan Mullen [01:05:38]:
That's the. That's the big thing is recalls. Like, I. I have a buddy who's a BMW tech, and they're replacing ABS units. Like, they're going out of style. I'm like, I could not do that 100 times in a row.
Jeff Compton [01:05:47]:
Yeah, yeah. It becomes. I remember the Takata airbag recalls in Nissan. I had them down to where I was doing them in 22 minutes, both the airbags, you know, And I was like, people, like. And I wasn't the fastest guy. We had a guy that was doing an 18 minutes, right? Like, we'd literally time ourselves. Like, 18 minutes. Both are done.
Jeff Compton [01:06:03]:
And the job paid, like, 1 3. Like, it still wasn't a great paying job, but you're like, I got it down to 18 minutes. Like, it was. It was cool.
Ryan Mullen [01:06:10]:
And.
Jeff Compton [01:06:11]:
But you would do sometimes six in the morning and six in the afternoon. So, yeah, it just became like, how fast can I do this? And then that's the thing I see where it's like, guys do that with brake jobs. Guys do that with control arms. Guys do that with, like, alternators, starters, you know, and then so you get. So where it's so fast that, like, I know I did it. I could grab the part and put it on faster than I could diagnose some of the parts. So, like, yeah, there's a. I remember doing it.
Jeff Compton [01:06:37]:
Caravan cluster. I could pull the caravan cluster of the one in the bay next to me so fast, didn't even bother to look up the wiring diagram. I could just yank it out so fast and plug it in to see, hey, look, there it is. Or it's still not turned on. Oh, go get a Tesla. You know, and that was the thing. But it was just the way you did it, because, again, speed was. Was everything.
Jeff Compton [01:06:58]:
But I'm right there with you. Like, everybody knows by now, you know where I sit on it, where it's like. Like, I'm not even against flat rate. I'm against flat rate, where it's the only option for us. And I'm against flat rate when it's like, as soon as you get ever whatever this level in the dealership, you're put there, you have no choice. I'm not for that. I think it's like if you've been in there 10 years and you really know the product and you want to, like, bang out some work. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:07:25]:
Go ahead, do it. Right. So you finally, through the math channel, figured out that you had anomalies with the crank sensor.
Check Engine Chuck [01:07:32]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [01:07:33]:
And then.
Check Engine Chuck [01:07:33]:
Which you could not see. No matter how good you look at this crap, this is. It's. It's quite literally the. The power of the picoscope. Nothing else without this problem, except for someone just going, let's get new spark plugs, new coils, new injectors, a new ecm, a new crank sensor, two new cam sensors. Get all four of the VVT sensors. Get new intake gaskets, get new valve springs.
Ryan Mullen [01:07:57]:
Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [01:07:57]:
Get new head gaskets, you know.
Jeff Compton [01:08:00]:
Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [01:08:00]:
So the power of the pico unveiled that we could see these anomalies. And they were. They were hitting with about the same repetition of which the last symptom of it is that it would very occasionally just throw a hit of a misfire on a single cylinder. And then it would throw a hit and then another hit. And eventually, while running, no matter temperature, they would count up to enough to become a pending code. So I knew that it would become one that would illuminate the light if the customer took it. And. And we said it was good because it wasn't.
Check Engine Chuck [01:08:32]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:08:33]:
So I know. I've heard people talk about that exact same scenario with Chryslers with using the aftermarket crank sensors. Like, it will count misfires, but not actually misfire, misfire. You know what I mean? Like something that you can feel, but it counts them, and it's just like they. I've seen the waveform captures. I didn't capture them. I've. That is not my realm.
Jeff Compton [01:08:52]:
And they would show you the difference of, like, see how it's just got a little bit of saw on the top of it, and that's enough for the ECM to detect it. And, you know, it's why one of those things where everybody says the aftermarket ones, different windings, the amount of windings in the sensor, what they don't know, it just doesn't seem to work. But I mean, so that.
Check Engine Chuck [01:09:09]:
That's the craziest part of all this too, is I was talking with Ryan. He pulled up the math Channel and I saw the anomalies and you know what fixed it? I didn't let him keep this in it. But you know what fixed it? A Duralast fucking crank sensor that looked exactly like the aftermarket that I pulled out of it. Yeah, the aftermarket wasn't seated incorrectly. It was seated in there properly. But the autozone crank sensor was my confirmation that we found the problem. I made him put a Toyota one in it because it was two days before I left for Asta. So he did put a Toyota one in before the truck left.
Check Engine Chuck [01:09:44]:
Left. But a Duralast aftermarket sensor gave me enough info to know that the Toyota one would 100 never have a misfire come back.
Jeff Compton [01:09:54]:
Had somebody put a crank sensor in it already or was it just a failed.
Check Engine Chuck [01:09:57]:
Yeah, I know. If I ended up finding. After I saw that he. After he showed me that math channel, I went down. I took the shield off of the crank sensor, I pulled it out and I went things aftermarket. God damn it. And this was the aftermarket throttle body. Cause the first symptoms, the mix match of aftermarket coils had the IGF all over the place.
Jeff Compton [01:10:17]:
Yeah.
Check Engine Chuck [01:10:19]:
Oh, the O2 sensors. The air fuel sensors were making it misfire worse before we got to the crank sensor.
Ryan Mullen [01:10:27]:
But then they were the throttle body.
Check Engine Chuck [01:10:30]:
You know what? Yeah, the throttle body. And the. The upstream. This is even crazier. The upstream air fuel sensors on this thing, I never questioned because they read data. No problem. And they were brand new Toyota. Right.
Check Engine Chuck [01:10:42]:
But I'm looking at them and I'm just like, what else can I look at? I pull up the part numbers. They're not even correct for the truck. Yeah, they're a Toyota part. They plug in, but they're not correct for the truck. So I went and got densos and that changed a symptom. It just. That thing was wild, man, absolutely wild.
Jeff Compton [01:10:59]:
Somebody swapped in because I know Toyotas, you could do that. They'd swap in like a regular old school oxygen sensor for where a wide band should have been.
Check Engine Chuck [01:11:06]:
It. It could have been. Honestly, I didn't even check to see if they were wideband or not. I know the ones I put in were, but I. I didn't check by the part number to see if the.
Jeff Compton [01:11:14]:
Old ones were 20 years ago. This guy's talking about that they'd get Toyotas and like certain build dates within the year. One would be supposed to be a wide band or it could have been depending on California missions, all that jazz.
Check Engine Chuck [01:11:23]:
Actually, they. They had to be wide bands because they were Reading in a. In a wideband fashion.
Ryan Mullen [01:11:28]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:11:31]:
Ryan, what's your kind of process when you, when you get a car so, like, you read the code or whatever and you, you know, duplicate the complaint or whatever. What's your next step? What's. What do you do?
Ryan Mullen [01:11:43]:
Identifix. I want to go in and read. I'm not going to go in there and replace a part, obviously, because you guys know who I am now, but I'm going to go in there and read all the articles and see is this. I've only been doing this a couple years. Is there. Is this something that happens all the time? Because I don't know.
Jeff Compton [01:12:00]:
I do it too.
Check Engine Chuck [01:12:03]:
That's my exact process every time too.
Ryan Mullen [01:12:05]:
I had this one car, it. It was a Sequoia, and I had a bunch of airbag sensor faults and this car had never been in an accident. And I plugged in my faults to Identifix and it said, oh, down in the passenger footwell, there's two plugs that people mix up. I went there, surely enough, they were mixed up. I fixed that car in 30 seconds. It would have that airbag modules, three hours to get to. If I would have had to do testing there or it had two different door sensor faults, I would. Had to take both door panels off and the center console.
Ryan Mullen [01:12:36]:
And I fixed that car in 30 seconds like that. Right there. I read through and find out is this something that happens all the time or is this something that I'm going to have to start tearing into? I. I think I'm such a huge proponent to identify in the right hands and identifix out of the wrong hands.
Jeff Compton [01:12:56]:
Yeah, I know. Chuck and I have talked about that too. Right. Like it's it. It. That program gets such a bad rap. But I mean, when it's used properly, it is the most. It's the best tool you can have in your shop.
Jeff Compton [01:13:07]:
I don't care what anybody says. I have fixed so many cars in my career with identifix.
Ryan Mullen [01:13:14]:
The word I learned from Chuck, I didn't even know what this word was, was pattern failures is. It's all in there and it's impossible to know it all when you work on every brand.
Jeff Compton [01:13:23]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:13:24]:
I mean, skies that have been in a BMW dealership for 20 years know all the pattern failures.
Check Engine Chuck [01:13:28]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:13:28]:
I don't know them on Dodge, Ford, Chrysler, Jeep, Chevy, all these brands.
Jeff Compton [01:13:35]:
Yeah. Yeah. So are the guys then, Ryan, not sponsored in the shop? Yeah, not sponsored. They'd be a good sponsor for the podcast. Really. What I Should try and meet with them.
Check Engine Chuck [01:13:48]:
You should try.
Ryan Mullen [01:13:49]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:13:51]:
So, Ryan, do the guys at your shop follow the same process then? And is that how they fix in the cars when they don't have to roll it to you? No, no.
Ryan Mullen [01:13:58]:
I'm the only one that diagnoses cars.
Jeff Compton [01:14:00]:
Right, but do they use fix and try?
Ryan Mullen [01:14:03]:
No, I'm the only one who has it.
Jeff Compton [01:14:05]:
Okay.
Check Engine Chuck [01:14:06]:
One guy does use a power probe. One guy does use a power probe. Very, very awesome.
Ryan Mullen [01:14:13]:
My co worker is my arch nemesis. We have hated each other since day one. We will never be friends. We will not look in the same direction. And the only way he knows how to check how to diagnose a car is he'll spend hours checking fuses with a power probe. Just here, beep, beep, beep. It'll just go fuse to fuse. He thinks the fuse controls everything.
Ryan Mullen [01:14:30]:
And if it's not a blown fuse, then he doesn't know.
Jeff Compton [01:14:35]:
Really does.
Ryan Mullen [01:14:38]:
Yeah. Nobody's diagnosing anything that doesn't have a fault that has the name of a part in it.
Jeff Compton [01:14:42]:
Okay, yeah, all right, I get it. What's that like to work with somebody, though, that you don't like? You have that much distaste for each other?
Ryan Mullen [01:14:53]:
We keep a bay in between us, so we just don't interact ever.
Jeff Compton [01:15:01]:
It's tough.
Check Engine Chuck [01:15:02]:
Eh?
Jeff Compton [01:15:02]:
That is really. I. I've had. Yeah, I've had a guy like that.
Ryan Mullen [01:15:07]:
And it's not me. My boss has assured me that it's everybody that's ever come to work because this guy's been with my boss for like 30 years. And everybody that my boss is brought in because he wants to be the best mechanic there.
Jeff Compton [01:15:20]:
Yeah. So he sees you as a threat. Yeah. And you expose him daily for what he really is, which is not, you know, the greatest thing in the. In the building. And yeah, that's got to be a really bitter pill for him to swallow. And he must hate it.
Ryan Mullen [01:15:33]:
And he. He knows that I've only been doing this a couple years and he's been doing it for like a deck or 30 years.
Jeff Compton [01:15:40]:
Yeah, he's like me. He's been doing it 30 years and thinks he's really smart. And then some young punk kid four years in, was like, you know, all over the Internet, famous and, you know, one of the top. You know what I mean though, right?
Ryan Mullen [01:15:53]:
I'm also not young.
Jeff Compton [01:15:54]:
Yeah. Trust me. I'm the oldest one here, so trust me, back in my day, I. I struggle with that. That's some of the biggest problems I've ever Had in shops isn't fixing the cars. It's being able to interact with the people. Being able to get along with them is really tough. What.
Jeff Compton [01:16:15]:
Why does your boss keep them? Just. Just because he's.
Ryan Mullen [01:16:19]:
Because if you give him a part to replace, he can do it okay. Efficiently. He does all that. So I told you that we have three different dealers that all they buy is Toyota and Lexus SUVs. And he just does timing belts, like, all day long.
Jeff Compton [01:16:31]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [01:16:32]:
Like, just time. About water pump. Talking about water pump. Tiny belt.
Check Engine Chuck [01:16:34]:
Water pump.
Jeff Compton [01:16:35]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:16:36]:
Brakes. You give them something to replace, he'll replace it. He's just an.
Check Engine Chuck [01:16:44]:
Chuck.
Jeff Compton [01:16:44]:
You're lucky. You don't work with anybody, really. Other than.
Check Engine Chuck [01:16:46]:
Yeah. I stopped babysitting a couple years ago, too. That was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Jeff Compton [01:16:52]:
Yeah, it's.
Check Engine Chuck [01:16:53]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:16:55]:
Oh, man. I see it. It kind of hurts me, though. Like, it doesn't hurt me. But I wish, like, you guys still have so much to offer both of you, right, That I wish, like, there was some way. I mean, that's the beauty of this platform, is you're still mentoring a lot of people. We'll go back to Brian Goce. I say go, Che.
Jeff Compton [01:17:14]:
You know, I pronounce his name wrong because I pronounce it like a French Canadian, because I am one. But, you know, he. Without this platform, where do you think Brian would be?
Check Engine Chuck [01:17:28]:
Still. You know, still. Well, he'd still be doing the same thing, but he wouldn't be. The other day, he snapped me and he said, man, you gave me the curse. He said, I got wheel bearings to do on that, brake lines to do on that, And I think, like, oil change and tires on that one, and I really got to get those done. But all I want to do is look at the check engine light in the parking lot. He would be missing that function had not having this, you know, he'd probably. Maybe he'd be more complacent in life.
Jeff Compton [01:18:01]:
Actually, I'm the same way, right? Like, if you tell me there's a diet ticket and I've got to get through three other tickets first before I get to look at that diet ticket, I'm gonna figure out, like, how to get through those three tickets real fast, because I'm just my. I'm dying to know what's out there. What is it? You know, that's the way. Oh, you got to put an axle in this Subaru, and then you, like. You know, like, can we just, like. Like, snap our fingers and pretend that we don't have to do that work. I really want to look at the check engine light. But that's, that's real life.
Jeff Compton [01:18:29]:
Right? But when I think of those kids, like, we're so lucky we have this because, you know, between like YouTube and tick tock and Paul Danner and all the guys you mentioned earlier, like, without them, I don't know where this industry would be because I know when I came into it there was like, I never got training ever. And Ryan, like, did you get training outside of like online? Like, that's crazy, man. That's crazy.
Ryan Mullen [01:18:56]:
Not only did I not get paid for going to asta, I paid for it all myself.
Check Engine Chuck [01:18:59]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:19:00]:
So it cost me $4,000. Flight, hotel.
Jeff Compton [01:19:04]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:19:05]:
Taking a week off work.
Jeff Compton [01:19:06]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:19:07]:
It, it cost me a lot. And I would do it again tomorrow. Yeah, I'm gonna try and go to Vision this year also.
Jeff Compton [01:19:14]:
Yeah, dude, I think that's both of you guys. Like, you're at that level where Vision is. And I, I say that wrong because it's, that's like trying to say that the training level is not as good at ast as it is a vision, which is not the case. There's going to be some classes that were taught at us that are going to be taught at Vision, but there's so much more variety at. From what I hear of Vision, I'd never been. I think you both would really, really, really enjoy Vision. It's the, it's the, it's the OG of this, of the, of the shows. Right.
Jeff Compton [01:19:43]:
For 20 years, people back before there was Facebook on IATN, it was like the yearly thing to go to to was Vision. So the, the top people, you know, people that you've never even heard of to just hang out in the circles and like fix incredibly, you know, mobile guys that just go and fix like, you know, nightmare after nightmare and never post, they attend Vision and they're sitting in the classroom with you and you're like, who's that guy? Well, he's been, you know, 30 years in some state fixing the most complicated forever and he doesn't even like, he just knocks it out like it's not even there. You know, he's just really refined killers. So yeah, I hope to get there one day. I just, I got the Sema Apex thing coming up and then tools again in the spring. So, you know, I don't know if I'll make it to another show between now and then. I, I feel where you are because it's the same thing. Like, I'm not paying out of pocket this, this platform allows me to make those trips but I still like, I lose a week's pay when I go.
Jeff Compton [01:20:42]:
You know what I mean? Like they're not, my, my job's not paying me to go to sema.
Check Engine Chuck [01:20:45]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [01:20:46]:
You know, they're like yeah, you can take as many days off as you want, no problem. Give us the. But we're not paying you to be there. Like I don't get paid time off. So it's like yeah, it sucks that way because you have to like really budget then to be like okay, how do I make this work? So what's short term goals, long term goals for both these?
Check Engine Chuck [01:21:10]:
You go ahead first there. Right.
Jeff Compton [01:21:12]:
Do you want to see yourself in business for yourself, Ryan?
Ryan Mullen [01:21:15]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:21:16]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [01:21:16]:
I want to see myself doing what Chuck's doing essentially.
Jeff Compton [01:21:20]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [01:21:22]:
Mobile diag programming.
Jeff Compton [01:21:25]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:21:25]:
Cloning, that kind of stuff.
Jeff Compton [01:21:29]:
You got a plan?
Ryan Mullen [01:21:30]:
Term is just keep learning into what I'm doing right now. Like.
Jeff Compton [01:21:37]:
Yeah, Chuck, do you think he's ready?
Check Engine Chuck [01:21:40]:
Yeah, I think so. Well actually no, I definitely know so. I think the only thing is that I already have an, I built up enough of a customer base and also changed gears with my business at the right time and then changed gears with my business again at the right time to be able to afford myself the luxury to, to spend the amount of time I, I do trying to learn a lot of the, the newer stuff that I'm doing because I already have all the diags and programmings I'm I'm going out for. So I know the money's there. The load cages are still selling like constantly, you know, so I'm very lucky to be able to, I mean this, you know, I, one of the things I love in my videos is saying how long I take on something that definitely shouldn't take that long for me. I mean this, this CM 848 I probably got 30 hours into trying to learn how to do it. It's an eighteen hundred dollar job because that's what I quoted before I knew it was this complicated. I got a thousand dollars into a DRB and, and cables for it, you know.
Check Engine Chuck [01:22:46]:
But I, I, I'm lucky enough to be able to afford that time. You know, Ryan still got his day job to pay for him getting stuck on the key that he's stuck on right now. So that's the only thing that while I think he's ready, he has the opportunity to make himself even more ready being in the situation that he's in right now.
Jeff Compton [01:23:08]:
You know, I mean like you can't ask for really better weather than Las or Las Vegas. I'm already there. Los Angeles, California. Like to say where I'm gonna go and do mobile because like you don't have snow. I just, the guy I interviewed last night, he works mobile in Calgary, Alberta. Like it gets minus 66, zero minus, like it, you know, frees your ears off.
Ryan Mullen [01:23:34]:
Like when it hits 60 here, I have thermals on under my clothes. And Chuck, Chuck snaps me every day and says, Ryan, it's not cold.
Jeff Compton [01:23:43]:
Yeah, Ryan, 60 is not cold. It was 71 here today. So 60 is not cold. Like I, I, I, I took my shirt off in the afternoon. Like I didn't need it on at 71. Like it's, yeah, 60s not cold, Ryan, 60s night. But for you.
Ryan Mullen [01:24:01]:
Yeah, it's 75 and sunny right now.
Check Engine Chuck [01:24:06]:
Yeah, it's, it's 50, 56 degrees here right now.
Jeff Compton [01:24:10]:
So Ryan, what's the, what's, can you give a timeline on when you think you're gonna to move into that realm?
Ryan Mullen [01:24:17]:
It See, I think I'm ready knowledge wise, but financially and customer base wise, I'm definitely not. It'll be a year.
Jeff Compton [01:24:27]:
Okay.
Ryan Mullen [01:24:28]:
Probably.
Jeff Compton [01:24:30]:
Yeah. What are you going to do about your boss? I guess Chuck probably said the same thing.
Check Engine Chuck [01:24:35]:
What?
Jeff Compton [01:24:35]:
You bet.
Ryan Mullen [01:24:35]:
He becomes my top customer.
Jeff Compton [01:24:37]:
I was just going to say that exact same thing. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Either he really ponies up some big money and gets you to stay or gives you a stake in the business or something like that. Or yeah, you just, I don't even.
Ryan Mullen [01:24:50]:
Think there's an amount of money he could get me to stay.
Jeff Compton [01:24:53]:
Yeah, yeah, but I mean, you could probably spend a full day there every week for the next infinity for sure. You know, with the amount of work that he's gonna have, I'm gonna need and gonna need even more. Right? Like, yeah. Good for you, man. So what about you, Chuck?
Check Engine Chuck [01:25:12]:
When we talked at Tools, I said within six months I wanted to be doing module repairs and at home programming and shipping modules out to people. And I mean we're, we're there, you know, so it's pretty cool. You know, we're there to the point where people are starting to tag me in comments as a way of advertising before I actually start putting links up on my webpage for this and stuff. You know, this, this week I've done like five different mail in modules. So yeah, short term goals, this is this, I'm there, I'm in the, I'm in the thick of it right now.
Jeff Compton [01:25:49]:
You know, I mean like Spaceship 1 there, we'll have a, like we'll phase them out, right?
Check Engine Chuck [01:25:55]:
Yeah, exactly. And you know, the thing with a lot of these modules too is, you know, a lot of it is just having the ability to do it. That's something that if I find a kid that's interested in, in this aspect of the business, there's no reason I can't set him up down here with a laptop for a couple hours and say, hey, listen, I'm going to teach you how to clone this stack of modules and have at it, you know, me too.
Jeff Compton [01:26:21]:
Kind of my final question, because I'll let you guys go. It's a, it's a, you know, getting late. How do we fix this technician shortage? Guys.
Ryan Mullen [01:26:33]:
I truly don't know.
Check Engine Chuck [01:26:34]:
I, I've said, I, I've said it a bunch of times. I've raised labor rates, put that money to. But that like takes an entire industry shift. I understand that. But seriously, that would be the easiest fixes. Raise the labor rates, give it to the tax, and then you have people that, to make it. It's up to $20 an hour at Burger King. Right up the road for them from me.
Check Engine Chuck [01:26:56]:
You can't get a entry level Mechanics job at 20 bucks an hour.
Jeff Compton [01:27:00]:
No, no. And you, we shouldn't even be trying to get him at 20 bucks an hour. And the guys go, I'll give him 22. Look at the amount of tools that Ryan. Money spent. Ryan spent on tools still and did starting out, right. Like if it wasn't for Ryan's living situation, he probably couldn't have bought that many tools. And then where would you be? You might be in a completely different realm.
Jeff Compton [01:27:20]:
Right. Like, like I'm gonna say you gotta start these kids at like 25 bucks.
Ryan Mullen [01:27:24]:
An hour or else in California, if you have your own tools, it's supposed to be double minimum wage, which is 30. So that someone told me that I've, I've never known that to be true, but I heard that it's 30 if you have your own tools in California.
Check Engine Chuck [01:27:40]:
Starting as a mechanic, I could tell you if that was a law here in New York and someone tried to go up to the labor board with it, they'd just.
Ryan Mullen [01:27:49]:
In California, it's $800,000 for a one bedroom condo that's attached to the next door neighbor, right? Oh, it's, it's a little different than that aspect.
Jeff Compton [01:27:59]:
I'm so glad I don't live there. I mean the weather, yeah, but everything.
Ryan Mullen [01:28:03]:
Else, no, like I pay 2500 for a one bedroom apartment. You can get a house almost anywhere easily.
Jeff Compton [01:28:12]:
My mortgage and my housing costs don't add up for the month to 2500 and that's mortgage. Like I'm 15 years in owning on this. I got 10 years left. Like good on you man, really, you know, I'd like to see you leave that state then. But if you love it, then you love it, you know, there's nothing you can do. I, the technician shortage thing for me is like Chuck and I kind of talked about this. There's not really a shortage. I mean there's a shortage of young people that are necessarily picking it, but there's not a shortage of technicians right now.
Jeff Compton [01:28:44]:
There's just a shortage of really, really good ones that a lot of people seem to be wanting to hire. You know, like when I talk to the people at Promotive, like they said everybody that calls Promotive is trying to hire a diagnostic tech. They want a Ryan Mullen or they want a check engine shop, you know, and they can't seem to find one. Now a couple reasons, not everyone is as good as you guys. The other reason is a lot of them, if they are as good as you guys, they've already been burned out and they've gone to doing their own, own thing, you know, and that's where, look at Ryan. Ryan's a perfect example that he's getting ready to think about going to do his own thing. So I don't know what the shops are gonna do to be able to keep you guys in the business and not becoming competition, you know, because it's, you know, the industry can't work if it's just a bunch of mobile guys that show up. Like, I mean we do need people with skills in the shop, you know, but I don't know how they fix it because I never like business wise, I don't even think they know how to scale it so that they can make it work financially.
Jeff Compton [01:29:47]:
So you either have to get them to, which I've said for years, stay in their lane, don't book that car in or if you do, you got to have that really hard conversation about this is going to cost like six grand to fix. And you know, like, look at your Toyota, you know, there's nobody else in your area, Chuck, that's going to tackle that and see it through, you know what I mean? So that's a tough one. It really is. Right? And it's a lot of people, I told you give up on it. Like I said, yeah, just, you know, when you said it's a mechanical thing. It's. It's a. Sell a guy an engine to move on collector and look at how stupid we'd have looked.
Jeff Compton [01:30:22]:
You know, we'd have looked like idiots. I mean, if that engine came with a new crank scissor.
Ryan Mullen [01:30:27]:
I was just about to say. Because they. There's a chance the engine came with a new crank sensor and.
Check Engine Chuck [01:30:31]:
Right.
Ryan Mullen [01:30:31]:
Never would have known.
Jeff Compton [01:30:32]:
Yep. Nobody would none the wiser. But like. Yeah, I mean, and that's why I have so much respect for you guys, because it's like I'm not way where I can just look at it and go, well, I know what it ain't. And you know, if you, if you bolt this in, you'll fix it. But I'm. I'm. Because I'm not that way anymore.
Jeff Compton [01:30:49]:
Where I just have to. Have to know, you know, Comes with age.
Check Engine Chuck [01:30:53]:
I think I can't remember if it went in the bell housing.
Ryan Mullen [01:30:58]:
Yeah, I think it's in the bottom of the bell housing, isn't it?
Check Engine Chuck [01:31:01]:
I. I think so. It's. So if they changed the engine, it wouldn't have came with a crank sensor. I think.
Jeff Compton [01:31:08]:
There you go. Then. Yeah, I'd have been a real idiot then.
Check Engine Chuck [01:31:11]:
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Ryan Mullen [01:31:13]:
No, I think it's the block.
Check Engine Chuck [01:31:15]:
No, it's. It's in, it's in the bottom of the block. It's in the, in the upper oil pan. Yeah, yeah. So it would have came with a different crank sensor. Would. The engine would have fixed it and then I would have gotten. See, it was a mechanical issue and I learned nothing from it.
Jeff Compton [01:31:30]:
Well, guys, I want to thank you for coming on. This has been a lot of fun. I really want to do this. I'll tell you, if I go to apex and Starship 1 is there, I'll be sure to like, tell them how much they suck.
Check Engine Chuck [01:31:43]:
Nice. Perfect.
Jeff Compton [01:31:44]:
And say that I have two really good friends that, you know, absolutely hate your product and won't use it. I want to thank you guys for coming on. This was really, really cool. And like I said, I'm sorry we didn't get this done at ast, but it was just too hard to. To get everything lined up. Scheduling wise was tough, especially the last day was really tough. And Ryan, man, I. I am so impressed with like, I have to keep telling myself that you've only been doing this four years because the way people in our circles talk about you, including Chuck, but other people too.
Jeff Compton [01:32:16]:
And then what I've seen what you've been able to do, man, you're like, like I said, there's no ceiling for you. The trajectory that you like, you know, really cool. And I mean I, I love, you know, you're aligned with me on everything. Like, you know, you don't like the flat rate thing and you know, you're a big Paul Danner fan. And I mean that, that what I hope is that like at some point I can see you guys doing content for Paul. That's what I really want to see because I think that's like, you know, I know I kind of know Paul's long term plan and, and that's what it is, is to be able to hand it off to, you know, be able to have. It's just a name, you know, it's his name. But other people will be able to get a lot more of their stuff on there.
Jeff Compton [01:32:57]:
And I think like, you guys need to, to make that some kind of not trying to tell you what to do, but you're really missing out and the, the world is missing out that doesn't know about YouTube because you're not on his channel and vice versa. Right. Like I, this is the whole thing with me is people like, oh, I don't want to be on Tik Tok. Why, if I was never on Tik Tok, I wouldn't know this YouTube and I wouldn't be having this conversation and I wouldn't be so impressed by both of you.
Ryan Mullen [01:33:23]:
So another long term goal I have is to make more content. Yeah, like I'd like to make content. I'm trying to put together a class on picoscopes just because I think I know enough tricks to put together a pretty good lesson, better than anything I've seen. So I've been like taking notes on what I put in it and I'm working on that right now. And I'd like to make more content. But like when I get off work and go live immediately after that, I used to record Tick Tocks after I went work, after I got done working. But now I go live every night and it takes up all my time.
Jeff Compton [01:33:53]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:33:54]:
And I really like the live thing. Like I have fun on there hanging out with a bunch of people working on cars. So I gotta find time to make content, record actual videos.
Jeff Compton [01:34:03]:
I know Chuck has talked about at one point he wants to do a class as well. And I think you guys both like make that a goal of yours to be able to at some point teach a class. Because my, my buddy Brian Pollock, like three, five years ago, you'd have never thought Brian would have never thought he'd be teaching a class. And now his is one of the most popular classes that when it, when it comes up to be taught, people are there, you know, and you guys are every bit as, you know, popular. You get the same kind of response, especially even with the younger people. That's the key right now, right. Is like the younger people know who you guys are. And that's what's key, I think.
Jeff Compton [01:34:37]:
And that's what I want to thank you guys for is being such outstanding examples of what, what professionals industry do and look like and act like. And I, you know, thank you for that. So appreciate it.
Ryan Mullen [01:34:50]:
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Jeff Compton [01:34:52]:
Oh, dude, I. I adore the heck out of both these. I think you guys are great, so.
Check Engine Chuck [01:34:56]:
It'S always a blast. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:34:58]:
So I guess we're not going to see you at Tools probably then, are we? Ryan, you're not going to come all the way from LA up to Pennsylvania? Yeah. That's a bit of a track, eh?
Ryan Mullen [01:35:08]:
That's the thing is I can't take work off.
Jeff Compton [01:35:10]:
Yeah.
Ryan Mullen [01:35:11]:
Twice in a row. Like Vision and Asta are like March and September. So it's like two ends of the year. Yeah, but two back to back. I mean, unless I'm working for myself and I'm super successful and I've got work coming out of everywhere and I'm making money hand over fist, then I would do it. But with what I'm doing now, I can't do two back to back.
Jeff Compton [01:35:34]:
And if you get to where you're teaching a class there, guess what? Then you can kind of make the excuse that you got to go to more of them because you're teaching.
Ryan Mullen [01:35:42]:
If anything, Apex, I mean, Vegas is three hour drive from me. Yeah, 45 minute flight, that's easier than Pennsylvania. But.
Jeff Compton [01:35:51]:
Well, I'll be in. I'll be in Vegas for my birthday. For Apex and Seam. I'll be turning 50. I'll be there.
Ryan Mullen [01:35:57]:
What's your birthday?
Jeff Compton [01:35:58]:
November 4th.
Ryan Mullen [01:35:59]:
So when's the 6th?
Jeff Compton [01:36:01]:
Dude, then that settles it. You gotta go. You could be in this. You could be jail cell right next to me.
Ryan Mullen [01:36:13]:
I'm down for that.
Jeff Compton [01:36:14]:
All right, guys, thank you very much everybody that's been listening. I love you all. This has been a really fun night and I can't wait to see everybody that's going to be at Seaman Apex. And you never know, you might bump into Ryan while he's there. So Chuck, I probably won't get a chance to see you now until Pennsylvania. But, you know, I look forward to it. Be talking to you guys very soon. So thank you, everybody.
Check Engine Chuck [01:36:38]:
Thanks for having us.
Jeff Compton [01:36:39]:
All right, night, guys. Love you all. Ciao. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and, like, comment on and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that you'll please join us again next week on this journey of change. Thank you to my partners in the ASA group and to the Changing the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say, in this industry, you get what you pay for.
Jeff Compton [01:37:13]:
Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10 millimeter, and we'll see you all again next time.