Wrench Tales with Brandon Steckler, Ep. 1: Chris Martino

Feb. 27, 2024
Water ingress, faulty new components, compatibility issues, and corrupt software made this security system diagnosis one Chris will not soon forget.
Wrench Tales title screen

Welcome to Wrench Tales, a new video series from Motor Age and Technical Editor Brandon Steckler. Each month, Wrench Tales takes a deep dive into perplexing repair stories with technicians from across the country.

In this very first episode, Motor Age Technical Editor Brandon Steckler speaks with long-time friend and brilliant diagnostician, Chris Martino, over a 2005 Toyota Highlander. This vehicle’s crank, no-start condition gave Martino a run for his money and devoured his lunch over many attempts to draw a diagnosis. Martino runs ADAS LI diagnostic center in Long Island, New York.

Water ingress, faulty new components, compatibility issues, and corrupt software made this security system diagnosis one Martino will soon not forget. Listen to his logical diagnostic approach to research, technician networking, and implementation of the digital storage oscilloscope to solve this issue once and for all.

Stay tuned for more Wrench Tales episodes, and if you have a challenging repair or diagnostic story that you'd like to share on the show, email us!