Contrary to popular belief, an auto repair diagnostic sheet may be one of the most important tools your auto mechanic has as part of his toolbox. Why? Well, a good auto repair diagnostic sheet is designed to provide information which you can use by your auto technician to quickly gather relevant information from industry internet data bases. Checking these databases is very important because it can save your mechanic lots of time, resulting in a speedier, less costly 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. Like the technician will be needing different types of information depending on the nature of the problem. Having fewer questions to answer makes it a lot easier to get to the most important information quickly.
If you are unsure as to which category your problem fits into, just take some of the questions on the sheet, to see if they ask about the sort of problem you are experiencing. All of the sheets separate the questions into two classes: 1)This is the problem and 2) It occurs as follows. By doing this you end up providing information to help explain not only the type of problem, but under what conditions it 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 when a car is shaking or making some form of noise that's unusual. Rather than just telling your auto mechanic that the car is making a noise, the form helps you to further specify the type of noise, (e.g. rattling or squeaking) and when you hear it. For example, you may only hear the noise once the car is going in a certain speed or when the air conditioner is on.
o Heating and Air cooling System - Again, though it may be easy to identify when you're having a problem with the heat or the air conditioning, you may be less likely to pay attention to a number of the details of the problem. This diagnostic forms helps show you through the problem by asking questions about airflow, area of the car where the concern is occurring, whether or not you are getting any cooling effect as well as 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 are having concerns about whether the engine is idling high or low, stalling, hesitating, or skipping.
o Electrical - This diagnostic sheet includes stuff you may not expect like set up car has recently been in an accident, or whether you needed a battery, fuses or accessories replaced. This kind of information can help an installer get to the cause of an electrical problem.
o Cooling and Overheating - This sheet helps diagnose problems associated with engine performance versus the heating or cooling with the passenger compartment. Here you will want to take note of things like whether or not the check engine light happens, what speeds or outside temperature the problem occurs at, whether there's steam coming from underneath the hood, whether the AC or heater were off - such things as that.
o Automatic Transmission - Lastly, this diagnostic sheet is geared at being aware what types of problems you might be experiencing when upshifting or downshifting. It requires provide information like mileage once the problem occurred, frequency of the problem, and driving conditions if the problem occurred.
Auto repair miramarAs well as providing your auto repair shop 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 your friend. It's true that your actual problem might be on that list - but which one? This places the car shop in the awkward position of having to address everything in your list in order to avoid you saying "I told you so." This can lead to the shop spending more hours on diagnosis -- exactly the opposite of what you were shooting for by completing a diagnostic sheet. That is why it's best to use diagnostic forms to clearly communicate the observed problem and to build a working partnership together with your auto service provider.