Vehicle Diagnostics

Vehicle Diagnostics.

What is it ?

• A diagnostic check is a process of checking a vehicle’s systems and components to help identify issues and rectify them. Modern vehicles are equipped with extensive computer networks that can provide information on the engine, transmission, brakes, and other related systems.
• Car diagnostics is associated among drivers with periodical roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles at diagnostic stations. Such an examination, required by law, focuses on the issues of driving safety and environmental impact in accordance with the applicable standard. Another association is computer diagnostics, which consists in connecting the diagnostic interface to the OBD2 connector and reading various data in this way. In fact, car diagnostics is a very broad concept and covers many more issues.
• In terms of methods and tools, everything depends on what vehicle systems we want to test. We will look for faults in the suspension differently, check the operation of the braking system differently, test the engine differently or determine the causes of air conditioning failure. The methods can be divided, for example, like this:
• Self-diagnosis, i.e. the use of diagnostic functionalities by the engine controller (computer diagnostics);
• Diagnostics using independent testers and gauges in the vehicle (e.g. battery tester, compression pressure gauge);
• Diagnostics of components outside the vehicle (e.g. testing of injectors on a test bench);
• Organoleptic methods – subjective evaluation of a mechanic based on visible traces, sounds, vibrations, etc.

The service technician who performs the diagnosis is responsible for the selection of appropriate tools depending on the situation – whether he wants to find the cause of the engine failure or prepare a report documenting the current technical condition of the car at the time of changing the owner.