Diagnostics
When you phone your doctor with an unspecified ailment. The receptionist huffs and puffs and eventually books you in to see him about a month later. Now you would not dream of asking the receptionist to give you an idea of what your ailment could be, and of course your doctor will want to prod and poke you and possibly have fun with some embarrassing implement before giving you any idea of what the problem might be. And all of this time he is being paid to use his expertise to diagnose your ailment. However many people believe that a vehicle technician (despite being paid much less) is able to work out the problem over the telephone and give an accurate idea as to the fault and the cost of rectification without getting his finger near any orifice whatsoever.
Fair ? Possible? No not really. So let's deal with a myth first.
"The Computer will tell you what's wrong"
As yet there is not a computer available that we can plug the car into and allow them to have a chat and then let us know exactly what the fault is. Sometimes we can have a really good idea based on information from the vehicle but frequently much of the information generated when we connect up is more a symptom than a cause. So the technicians role is to analyse the data and then by a process of elimination rectify the problem. Computers are actually pretty thick.
The diagnostic process is used for all faults on vehicles. Some are easy NO HEADLAMPS-BLOWN BULBS. Some much less so. NO HEADLAMPS-FAULTY EARTH ON RELAY. Both faults have the same symptoms but different causes.
A scenario for you to ponder.
A car arrives, the customer complains of lack of power on occasions. So where to start. There is no right place, but on modern vehicle the normal course is to read the vehicle's fault codes to see if has detected a problem. Next we might look at the spark plugs or HT leads, we may even follow this up by checking exhaust back pressure, and it could be all to no avail if the actual problem is a brake sticking on every other day.
Help Us to help you.
The more information we have, the more chance we have of locating the fault. So if the engine judders note when it happens, engine temperature, weather conditions, how long it goes on for. These details can be priceless in tying down a fault and rectifying it.
A Blank Cheque Then?
No, and that is a definite no! We will always agree a budget for locating faults. The norm is that we will spend an hour or so and then give a progress report. Normally an hour is sufficient to give a good idea of where the problem may lie, and if little progress has been made then at least it will not have broken the bank. And remember we have been awarded the prestigious kitemark for customer service well as being approved by Trading Standards.
With many thousands of pounds worth of diagnostic equipment we have one of the best equipped facilities in the area. Our technicians are always kept up to speed with the new developments in our industry and undergo training on a regular basis
