When Should You Have A Diagnostic Check Performed?

We carry out a diagnostic check as part of our ‘Premium’ Service so that you can drive safe in the knowledge that all of the electrical parts of your vehicle are working as they should. There are a couple of other occasions when we would recommend bringing your car to us for us to carry out a diagnostic check.

  • If you experience anything unusual i.e. mis-firing, sluggish acceleration etc.
  • If the engine management on the dashboard illuminates (it looks a bit like this)

These can both be caused by many different things, sometimes very simple, sometimes not so simple. The diagnostic equipment will help to guide your technician to the problem but he will also need to talk to you about the problems you have experienced. We would ask you to try and remember the following.

  • What happens?
  • When did the problem first occur?
  • How often does it occur?
  • How long does the problem last for?
  • How fast are you going when it occurs?

The diagnostic equipment does not fix the problem but guides our experienced technicians to the areas of where the fault lies.

How Diagnostic Checks Are Performed

Every vehicle has an onboard computer, every vehicle manufacturer has a different system, a different type of plug and puts it in a different place!

The first step is to plug the diagnostic equipment into the vehicle’s computer. Once connected the equipment will effectively become part of the onboard computer and from that we can extract all sorts of information.

In most instances the information that we (and you!) will be concerned with are ‘Fault Codes’, these are used by the vehicle to record where it sees a problem. Once we have obtained the fault codes we can then trace the source of the problem and decide on the best cause of action to solve the problem.

Once we have found the fault codes we will clear them from the car’s computer and test drive your car. If the fault does not occur on test drive and/ or the fault codes do not come back up we may ask you to take you car away and drive it as normal, as soon as the fault occurs again or the light comes back on please give us a call and book your car straight back in.

There is no charge for the second diagnostic check if the same fault is showing for the second time.

Once we have established the problem, we will then price up the correct parts and labour charges to give you an estimate of how much your vehicle will cost to repair.

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  • I have used this garage for the past 12 years and would not consider changing. They are all very friendly and helpful even if I have called in to have something very minor looked at.

    Mrs V

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