| HQ Automotive...Making a Difference |
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Hooking up your vehicle to the machine/computer to find out what's wrong.
Like most automotive repair shops HQ Automotive has diagnostic equipment to "tell us what's wrong"
with your car. The machine used for this, a computer or scan tool that connects to the vehicles
computer for diagnostic purposes, can be a very powerful diagnostic tool. Unfortunately these
machines are no more powerful then the person using it can make it useful. A good analogy would be
learning to play a musical instrument. With only a little bit of practice a person could learn to play a
simple song on the piano. He or she does not necessarily need to know much about music or the
piano to accomplish this. To master the piano and truly learn it will require a great deal of dedication
and practice. The diagnostic tools found in an auto repair shop are very similar. When using the
computer (and other diagnostic tools) to help diagnosis what's wrong with the car some basic
knowledge can be obtained with very little skill. For example you may be able to take the vehicle to the
local parts store and they can connect a scan tool to your vehicle and retrieve a code from the car's
computer. Then the parts store can print out a list of common failure parts they carry that could be the
cause. For example perhaps your engine isn't running well and a code was retrieved that denotes a
misfire on #3 cyl. (code p0303). This would be a fairly common code and is useful information as it
does help to narrow down the problem. However, it's not very specific. It doesn't tell you why the
engine has a misfire, which is ultimately what you need to know to fix it. Why does it have a misfire?
That's the question not answered by the machine. The list is long, (I would venture to guess the part
stores really love this technique of selling parts because they could sell you many parts to fix what
could be a simple or inexpensive problem). In this case they could sell you spark plugs, ignition
wires/coil boots, ignition coil(s), fuel injector(s). If none of these fixes your car you could come back for
more parts and "free" advice. The problem could be as simple as carbon build up in an EGR port. In
which case you could put on every conceivable part they think to sell you and the vehicle would still be
broken. What I just described is not uncommon either. It also makes something that could have been
a fairly inexpensive fix into something completely frustrating with a lot of wasted time and money. At
HQ Automotive problems like yours are our job. Problems like what I just described are common and
we can make the proper diagnosis without the hassle or expense of putting parts on hoping for a fix.
Will the "machine" tell us what's wrong?....NO.
Can we tell you what's wrong with proper knowledge of the systems and techniques to diagnosis
them?....Certainly. Can the machine or scan tool help in this process?....Certainly.
with your car. The machine used for this, a computer or scan tool that connects to the vehicles
computer for diagnostic purposes, can be a very powerful diagnostic tool. Unfortunately these
machines are no more powerful then the person using it can make it useful. A good analogy would be
learning to play a musical instrument. With only a little bit of practice a person could learn to play a
simple song on the piano. He or she does not necessarily need to know much about music or the
piano to accomplish this. To master the piano and truly learn it will require a great deal of dedication
and practice. The diagnostic tools found in an auto repair shop are very similar. When using the
computer (and other diagnostic tools) to help diagnosis what's wrong with the car some basic
knowledge can be obtained with very little skill. For example you may be able to take the vehicle to the
local parts store and they can connect a scan tool to your vehicle and retrieve a code from the car's
computer. Then the parts store can print out a list of common failure parts they carry that could be the
cause. For example perhaps your engine isn't running well and a code was retrieved that denotes a
misfire on #3 cyl. (code p0303). This would be a fairly common code and is useful information as it
does help to narrow down the problem. However, it's not very specific. It doesn't tell you why the
engine has a misfire, which is ultimately what you need to know to fix it. Why does it have a misfire?
That's the question not answered by the machine. The list is long, (I would venture to guess the part
stores really love this technique of selling parts because they could sell you many parts to fix what
could be a simple or inexpensive problem). In this case they could sell you spark plugs, ignition
wires/coil boots, ignition coil(s), fuel injector(s). If none of these fixes your car you could come back for
more parts and "free" advice. The problem could be as simple as carbon build up in an EGR port. In
which case you could put on every conceivable part they think to sell you and the vehicle would still be
broken. What I just described is not uncommon either. It also makes something that could have been
a fairly inexpensive fix into something completely frustrating with a lot of wasted time and money. At
HQ Automotive problems like yours are our job. Problems like what I just described are common and
we can make the proper diagnosis without the hassle or expense of putting parts on hoping for a fix.
Will the "machine" tell us what's wrong?....NO.
Can we tell you what's wrong with proper knowledge of the systems and techniques to diagnosis
them?....Certainly. Can the machine or scan tool help in this process?....Certainly.