Lodi Garage - Diagnostic

Diagnosing a vehicles problem is one of the most time consuming and mentally challenging aspects a technician faces. First off, the technician has to be able to duplicate the problem in the shop before he or she knows what to look for and then repair. Diagnostics are usually broken down into three common types:

Intermittent Symptom - Problem occurs at random with no particular cause. This is the hardest type of diagnostic to perform as the vehicle has to stay with the technician until the problem occurs.
Repeatable Symptom - Problem occurs when some specific step or action happens. This is easier to diagnose as the technician can repeat the procedure that makes the problem happen.
Constant Symptom - Problem occurs all the time. Nothing need be done to make this problem happen. This is the easiest to diagnose as it occurs all of the time.

When you bring your vehicle in for service, it is important to keep these three types of symptoms in mind and let the technician know what kind of problem you are having. The more information you can give the technician before diagnostic, the better he or she will be able to accurately diagnose and repair your problem.

Things such as "check engine light flashes" or "security light is on" or "vehicle quits at idle" will help the technician make the appropriate diagnostics. Failure to give any known information on a problem will probably cause the technician to make unnecessary checks and increase the billable diagnostic time.

Diagnostics are not always about readings from a scan tool. Some times a technician has to dig into the vehicle to determine the problem. Rest assured that our Technicians have the knowledge to troubleshoot and diagnose any problem, no matter the symptom.

In the picture at the right, you see a steering wheel removed from the column. This was necessary to track down a broken wire in the security system that was preventing this vehicle from starting. No matter what the problem is, we will find it and repair it to factory specifications.

On the left we see a fuse block on a vehicle which has become corroded. Through the knowledge of the technician we were able to diagnose several problems presented to us by this customer, make the necessary repairs to the fuse block and get this vehicle back on the road in a very short time and for not a lot of money. This problem could have been avoided if the inner fender splash shield were re-installed at the last shop the customer took this vehicle too.

Let our expert trained technicians diagnose your problems and repair your vehicle quickly. We always do quality work the first time to prevent you from having to return for the same problem in the future.