Long gone are the days of carbs and points and condensers, it's injectors, crank sensors and the expensive ECU (electronic control unit).
With today's Global Warming problems, cars are getting even more complex with technology to keep emissions at their lowest, if the ECU on a car thinks their maybe a problem with the emissions then it will let you know with a warning symbol.
I'll try to make it easy. The ECU takes it's infomation from sensors on the cars ignition system, fuel system, intake/breather system, the speed of the car, the temperature of the cooling system, when you brake, when you accelerate and even when you turn, it takes all this info and more into consideration then tells the switches and actuators what to do based on the info recieved.
Right, did you get that? But if you have a sensor thats a bit lazy or not doing it's job to well due to a build up of carbon or worn, the ECU can't tell the switches and actuators to do the right thing so it puts the warning light on and maybe cuts out, holds back, puts out some smoke, won't start first time, won't accelerate over 30mph ish due to being in limp mode, or maybe it just drives normal but it's got a little light on the dash that jumps out a you every time you start the car.
Testing
Okay, so if you car does any of the above then you need a Diagnostic test with one of these on you right, it''s a hand held machine that we plug into your Diagnostic socket, we then retrieve any fault codes stored, and they should help us locate the problem.
Okay, the diagnostic will not fix it at the touch of a button but it helps a lot in locating the problem, so some fault are harder than others to find so we charge a set fee for the plug in and fault retrieval thats £30.00 inc VAT, less than half the price of most dealers and goes towards the money put into buying the tools and software updates. Then any parts and labour needed to fix the faults will be charge extra only after speaking to the customer first to get the go ahead.
Sometimes if your lucky the light could be reset and it may not come back on, so don''t wait and pay for more fuel than needed, get it checked before it damages anything else?
