BAM Automotive

My name is Austin Lutz, owner of Bam Automotive in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. We're going to go through our inspection. T So, we're going to follow along both on the iPad and on the video camera here. So, our first step is we're going to take a picture of our ve Then we're going to head to the inside of the ve We're going to turn the ignition to the on position. We're going to make sure that we have the right mileage so that our customer, we can write that up appropriately. Our service advisor knows what's going on mileage wise. And then we're going to click into the ve We're going to take a picture of our instr So, we make sure we don't have any warning lights and whatnot. And then we're going to mark it off as all good because we don't have any problems here, no issues moving on. Then we're going to take a video of our wipers. Those look a little streaky to me so we're going to say those are worn out. We're going to take a picture of our oil change sticker. T We're going to shut off the ve We're going to take a picture of the inside of the ve T So, kind of a CYA t We are going to mark it as an internal information item. Then we're going to go and grab our gift. So here at BAM Automotive we give gifts out to all of our customers t It's got a nice heart shaped lollipop for Valentine's Day. It comes with a QR code to hopefully get us some reviews and whatnot and just add to that customer experience. Some good spots for the gift is right in the cup holder facing the driver. And we're going to take a picture of that just to make sure that we do that. We're going to mark that as internal information. We'll close the car up. And then we're going to do a four corner shot of our ve So we're going to start on the driver's front corner. Click our blue button so we can add some more pictures. And what we're doing here is really just making sure that there aren't any scratches and dings that the customer is going to say that we did to their ve Kind of again a CYA t And we're going to mark that as an internal information item. Then we're going to take a picture of our winds There's any cracks, c We want to make sure that our customer knows about that. So kind of just give it a quick look over, make sure everyt And if there was a problem when we say there is, it would automatically create a referral, contact information for our friends over at the Glass Company. Next we're going to do a full lighting inspection. So we're going to put our iPad down. We're going to grab our brake pedal depressor. We're going to install t Press it on the brake. Pull that back, hook it onto the seat, That will have every light on the ve Reason for that is every single bulb in the ve So we're going to take a picture of our headlights. Those look Then we're going to go to the back of the car, take a picture of our brake lights. Looks good there. We're going to make sure we get a picture of our license plate lights. And t If they've got a new set of license plates, we can then update them and make sure that it's correct in our system. Or let them know that maybe their tabs are expired and they need to get new tabs on the ve I'm not going to do a video or a picture of any of the turn signals or hazards because we can check them visually. And on this vehicle it looks So we're going to mark that off as working. And now we're going to move on to the under hood portion of the ve So when I was inside I popped the hood so now I can just easily open it once I'm here. But if I didn't I can always go back in the ve It's always really important to make sure we clean up after ourselves so we'ready to do the next inspection and that we don't lose any of our stuff. Now on cards with automatic hood props here we're going to take a picture of that working. If it's failing we want to make sure that we show that it's failing. If it's a normal just stick route I usually don'take that picture as most customers know that it's working. Maybe if it's missing we might want to doc Next and on every single ve In this one it looks It's a really nice courtesy t Next we're going to grab our rig and we're going to check our oil level. If were doing an oil change we could pop off the oil cap right now but we're not doing that right now. So top, bottom, we're right in the middle so that's okay. And then we want to make sure we wipe that oil in our hand a little bit just to kind of get a sample of what that oil looks T We're going to take a look at that and get a good picture of our oil level. A lot of times the ve T We're going to pop out our engineer filter. Get a good picture of that one. Sometimes we get a blurry picture so we're going to click the reshoot button and then retake that picture. Gets a lot better picture the second time. And when we notice here we can see the cleanliness on certain areas of the filter and then very dirty on the others. T Some guys might put t I'm kind of a big believer that if the filter is dirty you can see it pretty clear We're also going to mark our cabin air filter whatever the same reading as our engineer filter. I don't So it's been a really good service for us not to waste time pulling out cabin air filters and what not. We do want to make sure that gets clipped back in place and all hoses if they are disturbed go back to the little holding fixtures that they need it. So whatever we mark our engineer filter we're going to mark our cabin air filter the same way. Put our cap back on our washer fluid and then we're going to test our battery. It's really important to have a nice battery tester and test every one of them especially up here in the cold weather states We got a lot of battery problems here. Last week it was negative 20 and it was pretty rough. Make sure you get a good connection on that. And on here we're going to do a battery test. It's a regular flooded battery, cold cranking amps, 625. Looks We'll take a picture of that. And then on top of that picture we're also just going to get a picture of the battery overall in case we do want to sell one or if we have an issue with it. This one looks I'm going to make sure I got these lights turned off so we don't kill the battery on t We're going to grab our flashlight so we can kind of see into the engine bay here. I'm going to get a good picture of the washer fluid. Looks a little low so we definitely want to let the customer know. On the tablet we can put an arrow if need be. In t We're going to move over to power steering fluid. We're going to get a picture of that fluid level and we're also going to use plastic pipettes. So we're going to get a little fluid sample here draining into the bottom. And then we're going to do the exact same t Now you could use a hygrometer to test for moisture and whatnot. It's not a bad idea. I t Especially in Minnesota we get some pretty gross fluid. In that looks pretty good to me. Next up is transmission fluid. And on t So we're just going to note that t Our system allows us to check car fax Our service riders are going to do that for us to see if there's any recommended mileage maintenance on the ve Next up we're going to take a look at that drive belt. Some ve These Subaru's it's very easy to see them. So we'll take that picture. T Motor mounts in they're not really accessible but sometimes you can see if you have a torn bus So we're just going to mark that as internal information. Spark plugs on a ve But our service advisor is going to make that call for us once he checks that in car fax So on our tablet here we're just going to say mileage and age recommended. Whenever we do a spark plugs here at BAM Automotive we're also going to recommend a fuel induction service and we're going to recommend a PCV valve. Some ve This particular one does and it looks So we're going to take a picture of that sticker and then we're going to mark that off as being okay. Once we're done with that we're going to move on to our mid-rise height w So I'm going to get those pads set appropriately on our unibody today. Once we get the car set racked it's always a good idea to give it a little shake and make sure that we're safe on the lift. It's not a bad idea just to check for safety reasons. I raised it up to about chest to level height for all of us to be a little bit different. We're going to check tread depth and then we're going to go in and check some pressures on the tires. I really Just gives you a quick n So what we're looking for is we want to find a smooth portion of the inside of the tire so not these little grooves here. We're going to put our tool right on that flat spot, go to the bottom and then that is our reading on a tire tread. We're going to want to do t What that would indicate is we need to do a wheel alignment. If we're seeing unequal wear front to back we want to do a tire rotation. So we're going to check the outside and inside tread on all four tires. Then on the iPad we're going to make sure we take and put those measurements in. We don't have to put the units in on tires. It's going to automatically do that for us. So on t And since we did see uneven wear front to back it looks So we're going to mark that as our condition. And then we're also going to take a picture of our tire tread both on the front. And we're going to take a picture of that on the rear. So we're going to go check tire pressure now. We just wrapped up getting the tread depth. So we're going to grab our air hose, hook that up, turn on our tire checker, pop our caps off. And here in Minnesota we usually shoot for 33 to 35 psi mainly because with it being winter if I go too So we really want to just shoot for uniformity amongst all four tires so we make sure that lights off. Obviously if it's a heavy truck we might but we really want to make sure there's no problems with the tires so we're looking for We want to make sure we don't lose any of the tire caps. Okay. And anytime we're unhooking an air hose or a tool we want to make sure that we clean up after ourselves so we don't create trip hazards or anyt Alright. Now we're going to go into checking our brakes. So we're going to use a tool And we're going to get right in on these brake pads. Sometimes it's a little tough to get in there. And if it's really impossible we would want to recommend pulling the tires off and doing a brake check. In t Yep. It looks And we'll go to the back. About six on the back as well. So six millimeters all the way around. And on the tablet we're going to make sure we put in that six millimeters. Then we're going to make sure we take a picture of those brake rotors just to make sure there's no issues with them. Make sure there's no rusting, grooving, whatever. Now we definitely want to take a look at all four brakes both on the inside and the outside. So when we lift up the ve But for right now we're looking pretty good there. We do not have dr W So at nine and three we're going to give that tire a little bit of a shake. Then twelve and six give it a little bit of a shake. Make sure that's tight. So what we're taking a look at here is a tie rod test from the inside of the ve So David here is going to give it a shake from three to nine side to side very lightly. We're trying to look for movement in t And so as he'shaking it we're looking to see if there's movement here. So one trick is we can take two fingers and we put them on the two points where they should be not moving. Right so there should be no movement between my two fingers. And if I feel movement then we know that we have a problem with t Do that on both the front tires. T Make sure it's wearing about the same as the other one w And we're looking pretty good here as well. Our brakes and tires are doing pretty well on t We're going to mark those tie rods off okay and then we're going to move to the underside of the ve Now some cars are going to be a lot easier to take pictures of the shocks and struts at the mid-level height so in t We could do two if we want to. The big t And then we're going to lift the car up and take a look at it. We're going to lower that car down to the locks. Save a few reasons there. Then we're going to take a look at our control arms and the bus Sometimes it can be kind of tough to see those bus They can always delete that picture. We'll take a picture of it but we're looking for any type of bus These ones look pretty good. So we're going to mark those off as okay. Alright so t We're going to walk to the back. We'll take a shake down of those. Those are looking good and we can also go back and take some pictures of them if we wanted to just to kind of show that we've got some good pictures and if we want to go back and take some pictures of those shocks and struts in the back here we certainly can and any ve T Our technicians should make some decisions of their own so that they're not guessing and the service advisors are not doing all of the work for them. Alright so we're good there. W So our differential here, got a picture of it but what we want to do is make sure we recommend that based on mileage and then again our service advisor is going to double check to make sure if it needs it based on car facts So we'll take a picture of both that front and rear differential and then w That could help them write estimates and any of that kind of stuff. So it really makes their job easier as a technician. Take a look at our steering gear, make sure the boots aren'torn and we don't have any leaks. It looks It's hard to get a good picture of that one so we won'take a picture there. Our transfer case, we don't have one on these Subaru's, we just have front and rear differentials. Our transfer case is part of the transmission because it's a trans axle ve So we're going to mark that it's not equipped with the transfer case. Then we're going to check our drive shafts. So we're going to take a pick, peek at these guys here, looking good, boots are not torn. Then we're going to look at the actual drive shaft. So we're looking at here is a center hanger bearing and it has a rubber insulator w So we just kind of look for cracking or any type of broken portions of it and then we're going to give it a good shake. So we're going to grab that, give it a shake and we So t Check our U-joint in the back here, make sure it's not loose. If it's loose then we've got to replace t And we don't have any torn boots in the back here. So that's a good recommendation. Alright, so after we took a couple pictures of that differential fluid, we're going to take a look at the exhaust. T Now our last section we're just going to kind of take a quick look over the ve So as I was walking around I noticed a couple of fluid leaks. First one is on the back of t So we're going to make sure we get a picture of that. And then I also noticed a little bit coming off of a valve cover over here. So we want to make sure we note that we have an engine oil leak and a transmission fluid leak. And I can even type notes into the system to say transmission pan and driver's valve cover. That way the service riders can write up a better estimate if we have any issues with that. And then if there's any other issues, But once the inspection gets to the end of it, we want to make sure that we mark everyt And then we're going to submit that inspection. That way the service advisor knows that we're all done and they can start estimating all the services that they have. So thanks for following along. Hopefully it was informative and you can do that as well. Thanks.