Surprisingly, an auto repair diagnostic sheet can be one of the most important tools your auto mechanic has in his toolbox. Why? Well, a great auto repair diagnostic sheet is made to provide information you can use by your auto technician to quickly gather relevant information from industry internet data bases. Checking these databases is important because it can save your mechanic a lot of time, resulting in a speedier, less expensive diagnosis. Additionally, the info can serve as a supplement to the computer diagnostic info.
At our auto repair facility, we use six different diagnostic sheets. That's because the technician will be needing different types of information with regards to the nature of the problem. Having fewer inquiries to answer makes it much easier to get to the most important information quickly.
If you're unsure as to which category your condition fits into, just take a look at the questions on the sheet, and find out if they ask about the sort of problem you are experiencing. Every one of the sheets separate the questions into two categories: 1)This is the problem and 2) It occurs as follows. In this way you end up providing information to assist explain not only the type of problem, but under what conditions it really is occurring.
The six diagnostic sheets we use are:
o Noise, Vibration and Harshness - This is an easy category for customers to recognize, because most of us know whenever a car is shaking or making some form of noise that's unusual. Rather than just telling your auto mechanic the car is making a noise, the form helps you to further specify the kind of noise, (e.g. rattling or squeaking) when you hear it. For example, you may only hear the noise if the car is going with a certain speed or if the air conditioner is on.
o Heating and Air Conditioning System - Again, though it may be easy to identify when you are having a problem with the warmth or the air conditioning, you may be less likely to pay attention to a few of the details of the problem. This diagnostic forms helps show you through the problem by asking them questions about airflow, section of the car where the problem is occurring, whether or not you are receiving any cooling effect along with other similar items that will help your auto mechanic get to the root of the problem.
o Drivability - Here is the form to choose when you're having concerns about whether the engine is idling high or low, stalling, hesitating, or skipping.
o Electrical - This diagnostic sheet includes items you may not expect like set up car has recently held it's place in an accident, or whether you needed a battery, fuses or accessories replaced. This kind of information can help a tech get to the cause of a power problem.
o Cooling and Overheating - This sheet helps diagnose problems linked to engine performance versus the heating or cooling of the passenger compartment. Here you will need to take note of things like get the job done check engine light occurs, what speeds and out temperature the problem occurs at, whether there's steam coming from beneath the hood, whether the AC or heater were off - things such as that.
o Automatic Transmission - Lastly, this diagnostic sheet is geared at understanding what types of problems you might be experiencing when upshifting or downshifting. It requires provide information like mileage once the problem occurred, frequency with the problem, and driving conditions if the problem occurred.
Auto repair miramarAs well as providing your auto repair center with a diagnostic form, it is important not to jump to conclusions about what's causing the problem. You'll want to avoid giving the store a list of potential problems you located on the internet or a list provided from a friend. It's true that your actual problem might be on that list - but what type? This places your vehicle shop in the awkward position of getting to address everything in your list in order to avoid you saying "I mentioned so." This may lead to the shop spending more hours on diagnosis -- the opposite of what you were targeting by completing a diagnostic sheet. That's why it's best to use diagnostic forms to clearly communicate the observed problem also to build a working partnership together with your auto service provider.