Bad habits and listening to tales what the problem is @

Úvod

The car manufacturers themselves are the cause of this

Ironically, where do you think that these mechanics have learned these incorrect diagnostic steps? From the car manufacturers mostly backward  procedures presented in their training materials. Do you remember? Here are a few examples:

• "Using the mixture screw adjust the CO value to 1.5 %".
• "Measure the fuel injectors resistance. If the resistance value is within 1.5 and 2.1 Ohm the injector is OK."
• "With a compression meter verify the compression of the individual cylinders..."

All these is "expert" advice fom the car manufacturers workshop manuals. There are hundreds similar to these nd deserve tags: INEFFECTIVE, LOSS OF TIME, IRRELEANT, MEANINGLESS

Why to do it differently

Every year somebody from the diagnostic business comes up with a new function, new diagnostic tool, new accessory or new idea. The car manufacturers workshop manuals keep on using the same methods with a typical picture showing a multimeter connected to the fuel injector terminals. Experienced diagnosticians are testing fuel injectors in the second or third step more effectively compared with the manufacturers recommendations. Our trainers on hands-on training courses are demonstrating testing methods that deliver not just one but many more at the same time. In this way they save the workshop time and money.

Bad habits have to be forgotten

Habit EXPERIENCE: "I had this before and it was this!"
Jumping to a defective car with tools where the cars fault symptom is reminding you of something that you had seen before is completely wrong. Symptoms like where the engine speed is fluctuating, the engine is stalling or jerking during driving can have numerous different reasons.

Habit TRIAL AND ERROR PARTS REPLACEMENT: "I will buy a new part and if the problem remains I will talk my way out of it." Trial and error" parts replacement is the most widespread bad habit. If I realize how many cheap spare parts with no warranty and without the correct parameters are offered on the market it makes me shiver. This will be just a circle of pointless steps, where the mechanic instead of repairing will introduce further new faults into the car, that will make the situation even worse.

Habit INTERNET: "I searched the internet and they said this. OK lets do it!"
Nothing is clear and I will repeat that one symptom can have ten different causes.

Habit PIECE OF ADVICE*: "Hi there, I had the same problem yesterday and you can be certain that its the Lambda sensor!"
For certain? Impossible! You have to make the first step that doesn't take too long but will shed some light to the case.

Have the required diagnostic equipment

An excuse, "I don't have an oscilloscope yet, I have to make the money first and then I will buy one" is something similar as if a dentist would want to buy an expensive drill only after he makes the money first by pulling out teeth. This is complete nonsense! By doing this the diagnosttician will drive away most of his customers and will not learn anything. Diagnostics require an OBD scantool connected to the OBD connector and an oscilloscope. Diagnostics through the cars OBD connector will tell us how the ECU interprets events and with the oscilloscope we will see the actual reality occuring on the "wires", because very often there is a difference between these two outputs and we have to determine the truth!

Skilled pinpointing of a fault symptom

Cars manufactured in this century are over 18 years old and contain sophisticated engine management systems. Regardless of what generation the management system is, we can say that "everything is interconnected and influences each other". For example if a disesel engine doesn't reach a specific temperature DPF filter regeneration will not start. Now how will I find out? From the Internet, from another colleague or have I seen this before and for sure the problems is caused by this?
The skilled procedure in the first step after the car has been accepted for repairs and the customer interviewed is always to get the most of information that can be obtained easilly and quickly. Ideally and if possible the data should from the state when the fault is present.

Begin with reading the DTC memory, select the appropriate live data values offered by the OBD diagnostics and make a log recording from a test drive. You can find out what is a log recording from a seperate article in another part of the Academy. We can tell you that the LOG recording will "give" information about what has to be OK and this will narrow down the area where the problem can be...

---

Listening to tales and not doing the first step (1991/1)

Don't listen to tales that quote to measure this specific component without doing the first basic step. This is a loss of time. It is a rare exception to find the source this way and is also highly unprofessional. The first step should give at least five to ten pieces of information what shoudn't be defective. We expect from every professional that is using the FCD. eu website and is part of our diagnostic family to already eliminate in the first step the systems and components where the problem shouldn't be.

Simple ring type notepad has its advantages (1991/2)

First step after talking to the customer is a LOG recording and analysis to determine "which system & components" are OK. To record our thoughts and concepts it is a good idea to use this kind of notepad that has the following advantages:
1) You can easily turn the pages by 360 ° and you have a full A4 page.
2) It doesn't matter if the notepad is dirty.
3) You can easily write on the left or right side and it's easy to turn the pages.
5) On the left side you can write down a list of what is OK.
6) On the right side you can write down a list of suspect issues that require some further verification.

---