Mastering Diagnostics #25 - Customized PID List for Analytical Success

June 18, 2025

Mastering Diagnostics #25 is here! Today, Motor Age Technical Editor, Brandon Steckler, is leveraging the power to the ADS 625X Diagnostic Scan Tool from Bosch Diagnostics to prove a very important point. Daily, automotive diagnosticians across the planet reach for the scan tool as a means to gather data from the systems in question. That data is leaned on to make diagnostic decisions. Even the best diagnosticians in the world can’t make accurate analyses if the data is not accurate.

A scan tool becomes an extension of our mind, giving us, as diagnosticians, the opportunity to see what the ECU sees. This is the data that diagnoses are derived from. A scan tool queries the ECU for information, and gathering and displaying that data takes time.

When too much information is requested, latency is the result. Even the most powerful diagnostic platforms make it simple to display the consequences of overloading the scan tool. By simply displaying some common graphical OBD2 global data, Brandon showcases the latency that occurs when too much data is requested versus when a properly established PID list is utilized.

Stick with Brandon on this episode of Mastering Diagnostics and learn how to keep yourself out of the weeds. Stay focused on evaluating accurate diagnostic data and avoid the pitfalls of falling prey to erroneous data. And see for yourself how the Bosch ADS 625X can serve you well in creating the proper PID list with everything you wish to see and nothing you don’t.

About the Author

Brandon Steckler | Technical Editor | Motor Age

Brandon began his career in Northampton County Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he was a student of GM’s Automotive Service Educational program. In 2001, he graduated top of his class and earned the GM Leadership award for his efforts. He later began working as a technician at a Saturn dealership in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he quickly attained Master Technician status. He later transitioned to working with Hondas, where he aggressively worked to attain another Master Technician status.

Always having a passion for a full understanding of system/component functionality, he rapidly earned a reputation for deciphering strange failures at an efficient pace and became known as an information specialist among the staff and peers at the dealership. In search of new challenges, he transitioned away from the dealership and to the independent world, where he specialized in diagnostics and driveability.

Today, he is an instructor with both Carquest Technical Institute and Worldpac Training Institute. Along with beta testing for Automotive Test Solutions, he develops curriculum/submits case studies for educational purposes. Through Steckler Automotive Technical Services, LLC., Brandon also provides telephone and live technical support, as well as private training, for technicians all across the world.

Brandon holds ASE certifications A1-A9 as well as C1 (Service Consultant). He is certified as an Advanced Level Specialist in L1 (Advanced Engine Performance), L2 (Advanced Diesel Engine Performance), L3 (Hybrid/EV Specialist), L4 (ADAS) and xEV-Level 2 (Technician electrical safety).

He contributes weekly to Facebook automotive chat groups, has authored several books and classes, and truly enjoys traveling across the globe to help other technicians attain a level of understanding that will serve them well throughout their careers.