Diagnosing Problems

The most difficult tasks we have to perform are diagnosing what's causing engines, transmissions, air conditioners, and other complex equipment to function improperly.  Unlike automobiles of the past, the modern automobile is a marvel of computer control.  It has literally hundreds of sensors that tell computer systems just what they need to know to make your auto run perfectly and efficiently.  However, those hundreds of sensors, while making your automobile operate better and more efficiently than ever before, make diagnosing problems a nightmare.

There are from two to ten sensors controlling each engine function, such as ignition or fuel injection or fuel mixture ratio, and it takes much expertise and time to isolate each sensor and determine if it's working properly.  Often customers aren't happy about having to pay the labor cost of diagnosing a bad sensor, which can be many times more expensive than the cost of the sensor itself, but the time and effort to determine just which sensor or wire is not functioning properly is a fact of life with the newer automobiles. 

The intermittent problem is not only your worst nightmare but ours also.  Too often complex sensors and computer components act up only periodically when they go bad.  The world would be a better place if these components just failed outright and stayed broken but the problems sometimes mysteriously go away, only to return later.  The downside is, any problem can be caused by the failure of any of many different components, and finding that component is almost an impossibility when it isn't acting up.  Invariably the bad actor is on its best behavior whenever the car is in the shop.  It's like the kid who never picks up his or her clothes at home, but when a guest at another kids house is as neat as a pin and even helps with the dishes (go figure).

We don't like intermittent problems any more than you do, because they're costly to diagnose and they frustrate the devil out of us.  Believe us when we say we'd much rather be working with a wrench or screwdriver to replace a defective part than looking into your engine compartment with a concerned look on our faces.  If you can live with your intermittent problem, by all means live with it until it becomes persistent or predictable.  If you can live with it until it becomes a regular problem, you will save a lot of diagnosing and trial-and-error costs.

All mechanics and shops have to diagnose problems before they can fix them and intermittent problems are the bane of all mechanics, but we have the latest and best diagnostic equipment, including computers with Compact Disks and special gas detecting lights to help us find your problem in the least possible time.  However, our best resources for diagnosing your problems are not our latest and best diagnostic equipment, but rather our highly trained and long experienced personnel who have seen it all (problems you wouldn't believe and we still have a hard time believing).   

If your automobile is acting up and all the mechanics just stand around it scratching their heads, bring it to us.  We pride ourselves in diagnosing problems that have stumped the best of 'em.  Our mechanics may grumble at first when presented with the unsolvable problem, but their smiles get mighty wide when they fix what no one else could, which happens quite a lot.

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