Automotive Field Theory

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Are you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. PicoAuto.com

From drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Autel.com

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The Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/

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What if the same technology we blame for weakening mechanical aptitude could help rebuild it?

In this episode of Automotive Field Theory, Matt considers whether YouTube, internet access, and large language models could help address the automotive industry’s skill gap. Younger generations may be less likely to grow up around parents, grandparents, or neighbors who routinely repair cars, appliances, and homes—but they now have immediate access to demonstrations, explanations, and step-by-step guidance.

These tools can certainly become a crutch. Much like GPS can get someone to a dest...

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Oscilloscopes are becoming more powerful, accessible, and common in repair shops—but choosing the right scope is only part of the equation. You also need to understand how your particular scope captures, stores, and displays its data.

Matt Fanslow answers listener questions about automotive oscilloscopes, including the new eight-channel PicoScope, how many channels a shop actually needs, and whether beginners should start with an inexpensive scope or jump directly into a more capable platform.

He also explains the distinctly different way Snap-on scopes handle their sample buffer, and why mi...

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Percentages Don’t Pay Bills

A prospective hire wants a meaningful increase in income. Riverside Automotive’s base wage would already beat what he currently earns, and the shop’s profit-sharing program could take him beyond his stated goal. Still, he struggles to trust the opportunity.

Is the problem the compensation plan, the way it is being explained, or the uncertainty created by years of disappointing pay systems?

In this episode of Automotive Field Theory, Matt explains how Ri...

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A high school student considering a career in the skilled trades recently asked Matt for advice about entering the automotive repair profession. Should someone begin with a college or technical program, or find a shop willing to train them?

In this episode, Matt explains why the answer depends partly on the experience a person already brings with them. Many newcomers have had little exposure to tools, machinery, or basic repair work. Knowledge that experienced specialists consider “common sense” is often the prod...

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A monologue from Jelly Roll prompted a simple but powerful idea: It is never too late to do the right thing.

That does not mean “the right thing” is always obvious. People can look at the same situation from different perspectives, reach different conclusions, and each possess part of the truth. The challenge is remembering that the client, employee, employer, or competitor across from us is a human being before they are a problem to solve or a category to assign.

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Matt Fanslow returns from WORLDPAC’s STX 2026 with a greater appreciation for everything required to make a major training event happen, especially the hands-on classes. Vehicles, tools, simulators, soldering stations, ventilation systems, safety requirements, instructors, support personnel, and countless late nights all have to come together before an attendee ever walks into the room.

He also challenges a persistent myth about oscilloscopes: that you must become an expert at interpreting tiny waveform anomalies before a scope becomes useful. Most failures are no...

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For episode 250, Matt is joined by his wife, Danielle Fanslow, MSW, LGSW, LADCS, for a conversation about diagnostics...just not entirely the automotive kind.

Danielle works in behavioral health, mental health, and substance use treatment. Matt diagnoses cars. On the surface, those worlds seem pretty far apart, but both require professionals to gather incomplete information, recognize patterns, separate symptoms from causes, make recommendations, and earn enough trust for someone to act on those recommendations.

The conversation explores what happens...

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How much freedom should an automotive professional have to deviate from published service information?

In this episode of Automotive Field Theory, Matt Fanslow digs into that question after a recent discussion involving ADAS procedures and Ford brake caliper fasteners that service information specifically instructs technicians to remove and discard.

The debate isn't really about one set of bolts.

It's about the level of confidence we sometimes have in deciding that a procedure isn't necessary when we don't...

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Diagnosing the Aftermarket Becomes Automotive Field Theory

Things have changed.

After years as Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z, the podcast has a new name: Automotive Field Theory.

In this episode, Matt explains why the original title was chosen, why it eventually became a problem, and how the new name better represents both the podcast and the range of subjects explored on it.

The original name was intended to leave the show wide open. Automotive...

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Why are some automotive repair specialists resistant to attending training, particularly when it takes place after work or on weekends?

The easy explanation is that they are lazy, unmotivated, or unwilling to invest in themselves. Matt argues that this explanation may also be incomplete.

In this episode, Matt examines training through the lens of incentives, career development, and systems thinking. A specialist who spends personal time and money developing new skills is often told that the investment will eventually...

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Are We Paying Attention to Inspiration?

Ben Askren was already known for an accomplished wrestling career, MMA championships, and one of the most replayed knockouts in UFC history. After a life-threatening illness, severe physical decline, and a double-lung transplant, simply surviving would have been remarkable.

Instead, Askren worked his way back onto a wrestling mat.

In this episode, Matt reflects on Askren’s return to competition and the difficult position faced by the opponent standing across from hi...

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Powered circuit testers tend to produce strong opinions. Some specialists consider them indispensable time-savers. Others see them as dangerous tools that make it far too easy to damage a circuit.

In this episode, Matt examines where tools such as the Power Probe, Autel powered circuit tester, and metered test lights fit into an automotive diagnostic process. The ability to apply power or ground can be dangerous without an understanding of the circuit, but the same can be said of jumper wires...

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In this episode, Matt digs into a question that sits underneath a lot of shop economics, technician frustration, and industry culture: who should be responsible for buying the tools and equipment required to do the work a shop advertises?

The discussion starts with a real-world example involving a dealership service department that did not have a connector depinning tool available, leaving a mechanical or technical specialist considering buying the tool personally. From there, Matt explores where the line should be drawn...

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A Dodge Durango came into the shop for a second opinion after being suspected of needing a transmission. The symptoms sounded convincing at first: harsh shifts, apparent slipping, no diagnostic trouble codes, and a vehicle that felt completely wrong on the road. But the actual problem was much simpler. The Durango was stuck in four-low. Once shifted properly through neutral, the harsh shifting, driveline bind, and “slipping” behavior disappeared.

Matt uses the case as a springboard into a broader discussion about diag...

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In this episode of Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z, Matt Fanslow starts with a case study on a 2000 Ford Excursion with a 7.3L Power Stroke that came in with a severe lack of power. What began as a fuel delivery problem turned into a more interesting diagnostic puzzle involving a P1280 injection control pressure sensor code, an aftermarket ICP sensor, and a fault that appeared to happen not during cranking or running, but after key-off.

The case becomes a practical...

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Matt Fanslow continues his exploration of game theory by examining the difference between a shop’s official game and its shadow game.

The official game is what ownership and management say the shop values: quality work, safety, fairness, employee support, customer care, and doing things the right way.

The shadow game is what the shop’s systems, incentives, habits, exceptions, and unwritten rules actually reward.

Those two games are not always completely opposed, and the gap between them...

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In this episode, Matt Fanslow continues the conversation around game theory and economics in the automotive repair industry, focusing on one of the biggest invisible forces affecting customer trust: information asymmetry.

Auto repair is a credence good service, meaning most customers cannot fully judge the quality of the work before, during, or even after the repair. A grinding brake noise may disappear after a $200 backyard brake job or a $500 professional repair, but the customer may not be able to tell whether...

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In this episode, Matt starts on the golf course and ends up right back in the service bay, because apparently, even a decent round of golf can turn into a cognitive psychology lesson.

After shooting a personally strong nine-hole score, Matt catches himself doing what many technical and mechanical specialists do every day: ignoring the accomplishment and obsessing over the shots, tests, tools, or decisions that could have been better. That leads into a discussion of discounting the positive, upward counterfactual...

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In this episode, Matt begins laying the groundwork for a larger discussion on game theory and how it applies far beyond poker tables, chessboards, casinos, or movie references. What starts with John von Neumann, poker strategy, bluffing, and imperfect information quickly becomes a broader conversation about how people, businesses, customers, competitors, and coworkers interact.

Matt explains that “games,” in the game theory sense, are not just games. They are interactions where people make choices, respond to incentives, interpret incomplete information, and try...

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In this episode, Matt Fanslow uses Game of Thrones, specifically the arc of Daenerys Targaryen, as a metaphor for what can happen when a mechanical or technical specialist moves from employee to shop owner. The comparison is not that former technicians suddenly “burn everything to the ground,” but that people can start with strong ideals, endure pressure, accumulate responsibility, and slowly rationalize decisions they once hated from the other side of the counter.

Matt draws a parallel between Daenerys’ journey, from abused...

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Matt Fanslow revisits the Challenger disaster, not just as a historical tragedy, but as a case study in how standards, tolerances, and risk perception can shift over time. The common simplified story is that management ignored engineers, pushed the launch forward, and disaster followed. While that is part of the story, Matt looks at the deeper concept sociologist Diane Vaughan identified: normalization of deviance.

The Challenger disaster happened 73 seconds after launch in 1986, killing all seven astronauts onboard. The...

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In this episode of Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z, Matt Fanslow tells the story of a modified 1994 Corvette that came in with a hesitation, backfire, and cut-out concern under light-load highway driving. The vehicle had already been looked at elsewhere, and the customer believed the problem was inside the PCM. What sounded at first like a computer problem eventually turned into a lesson in secondary ignition leakage, diagnostic assumptions, customer expectations, and the danger of two people using the...

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In this wide-ranging "mailbag" style episode, Matt Fanslow dives into a mix of technical, professional, and lifestyle questions from listeners. The conversation moves from the intimidating complexity of quantum physics and why it makes discussing "basic" electricity difficult, to practical advice on commercial versus consumer lawn equipment. Matt also tackles the controversial topic of flat-rate pay plans and the importance of ethical systems in the shop, before wrapping up with some lighter notes on AI, mental health resources, and a...

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In this episode, Matt Fanslow starts in an unexpected place, music, vocal styles, and Smashing Pumpkins, before using a series of stories from the music and sports worlds to make a bigger point about mentorship. The central idea is simple but important: mentorship has to come from both directions. Experienced people need to step in and offer guidance, and younger people need to be willing to ask questions and listen.

Using examples involving Billy Corgan, Ryan Leaf, and...

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In this episode, Matt Fanslow reflects on what it really means to be strong. Prompted by the story of a young mother navigating grief, single parenthood, and overwhelming responsibility after the loss of her children’s father to overdose, the conversation explores relapse, recovery, endurance, and the often-misunderstood nature of strength. Matt argues that strength is not having everything under control. Sometimes strength looks like hanging on by your fingertips, asking for help, or simply making it through the day wi...

Thanks to our Partners, NAPA Auto Care and NAPA TRACS Watch Full Video Episode Recorded live at VISION 2026, host Carm Capriotto and Matt Fanslow explore how lessons from marriage counseling can improve communication in auto repair shops. The core discussion centers on Matt’s article for NAPA Auto Care's Insight Magazine, “Your Shop Might Need Marriage Counseling,” and the industry’s gap in soft skills. His central argument is simple: most automotive professionals were never taught effective communication or soft skills. In the past, shop culture often relied on public criticism or shame to correct mistakes. Today, that approach backfires, especial...

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In this episode, Matt Fanslow tackles a highly requested topic from listeners: the "Mount Rushmore" of automotive trainers and educators. Wrestling with the definition of a Mount Rushmore—whether it represents the "Best of the Best" or the "Foundational Forefathers"—Matt takes a deep dive into the lineage of automotive instruction. He pays tribute to the "Road Dogs" who laid the groundwork before revealing his personal top four (plus a few tag-teams) and the rising stars to watch in the indu...

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Matt Fanslow reflects on overhearing a conversation between shop owners about spending more time with family, and it sparks a bigger question: if family time is so important for ownership, what does that mean for employees? This episode looks at the tension between the real financial demands of running a repair shop and the equally real need for technical specialists, advisors, and staff to be present for their families. Along the way, Matt explores PTO, unpaid time off, flex-time realities...

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Matt opens with a run of classic Chuck Norris jokes, partly as a tribute and partly to explain the inspiration behind the now-familiar Scot Manna Facts. What starts as a funny origin story turns into something more meaningful: a reflection on Scot Manna’s influence, the odd mix of ego and generosity that often sits behind teaching, and the growing need to develop the next wave of instructors in the automotive repair industry.

Using a moment from Deadpool an...

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Show Notes

In this episode, Matt builds on a thought that has been bothering him for a while: the automotive repair industry has done a pretty terrible job defining what we mean by diagnosis, diagnostic, analysis, and even something as simple as a code scan.

The spark for the conversation comes from seeing a vehicle owner buy their own scan tool after being told a dealership wanted $190 “to scan codes.” That raises the real question: was the...

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In this episode, Matt recaps his trip to VISION 2026 in Kansas City. What starts as a simple event recap turns into a reflection on why conferences like VISION matter so much: the training, the conversations, the hallway discussions, the tools, the friendships, and the people pushing the industry forward.

Matt talks about recording with Carm Capriotto, bouncing between classes with friends, teaching hands-on PicoScope and key programming classes, and sitting in on standout sessions covering EEPROM work, AI...

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In this episode, Matt takes on a question that listeners have apparently been enjoying asking: what’s on his “Mount Rushmore” of various categories? Before getting there, though, he gives a quick follow-up to the No Good Deed Goes Unpunished home-plumbing saga, where a simple bathroom fix turned into tracking down a hidden bathtub drain leak caused by questionable original construction choices.

From there, Matt dives into his personal Mount Rushmore lists, starting where it matters most for this a...

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Matt opens with a home-repair “birthday gift” project that spirals from a simple bathroom refresh into a full-blown floor/toilet/subfloor/plumbing/trim/electrical ordeal. What starts as a kind gesture turns into a week-long marathon of improvisation, problem-solving, and unexpected complications.

From there, he ties the experience directly into life in the repair shop: helping someone out, taking on a difficult job, making an exception, or trying to do the right thing can sometimes backfire in spectacular fash...

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Minnesota’s been a pressure cooker lately—and watching people process the same event in completely opposite ways has been… a lot. Matt sits down again with Margaret Light (LMFT, Equilibrium Therapy Services) to talk about why we’re so reactive, how cognitive distortions hijack conversations, and why “how we fight” matters more than the topic. Then we drag all of it into the repair shop—because if you’ve ever tried to explain “it’s not the same problem” to a stressed-out cust...

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Matt answers listener emails about oscilloscope aliasing—what it is, whether all scopes can do it, and how it can trick you into diagnosing failures that aren’t real. Using a “pegboard and golf tees” mental model, he explains how a digital storage oscilloscope samples voltage, stores it in memory, and then reconstructs what you see on-screen. The key takeaway: aliasing isn’t magic, it’s math—specifically the relationship between sample rate, timebase, and memory buffer. He also explains why some scopes (especially Sna...

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A random YouTube Shorts interview turns into a surprisingly sharp lesson in leadership. Matt shares a story from Rob McElhenney about working with Danny DeVito—and how DeVito’s humility and audience-awareness reveal something shop owners and managers can use immediately: collaboration beats ego, and if you want to reach a demographic (customers or employees), you’d better listen to them. Process matters. Culture matters. And the best people in any field tend to be the most open to input.

Matt talks...

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Matt uses the movie Mr. Baseball (Tom Selleck as Jack, an aging Yankees player traded to Japan) as an analogy for life in the automotive repair world—especially for veteran mechanical/technical specialists whose bodies start breaking down and whose production (and pay) can drop as a result. The core theme: your role can evolve from “hour-cranker” to leader/mentor, but that requires radical honesty, ego-checking, and intentional changes—from physical maintenance to skill expansion to management systems that properly reward wisdom.

Key points...

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Matt goes down a rabbit hole on the science of bubbles and comes back with something surprisingly practical: cavitation is a major source of cooling-system component damage, especially in and around water pumps. The “bad guy” isn’t the bubble forming—it’s the bubble collapsing, releasing intense localized energy, micro-jetting, and shock waves that pit and erode metal surfaces over time. The takeaway: approach cooling-system maintenance as anti-cavitation prevention, not just “keep it from overheating.”

Key topics covered

Why cavitation damage is ofte...

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Comebacks. Rechecks. Catastrophic parts failures. The stuff that makes everyone’s stomach drop. Matt makes the case that a big part of management’s day-to-day job is not “policing people,” but acting like an investigator—leading with genuine curiosity to figure out what actually happened and what should change.

Using Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s framework, Matt breaks problems into two buckets: