Diagnostic systems at the garage

It's hard to picture a modern garage without diagnostic equipment. Long gone are the days when faults in the fuel system, engine operation, electronics and other parts of a car were identified by ear, by eye, or from indirect signs. The car industry keeps moving forward, a car's main systems keep getting more complex, and so they demand ever greater diagnostic precision.

For instance, plenty of drivers know how an oxygen sensor works. It's a sensor that analyses the car's exhaust gases, and based on its readings, the car's onboard computer (the electronic fuel injection control unit) precisely adjusts the fuel mixture fed into the engine. As a result, this mixture should be optimal, meaning it should deliver maximum power with minimum fuel consumption.

Back when oxygen sensors first started being fitted to cars, even at official garages these sensors' operation was checked with an ordinary tester (or multimeter): if the oxygen sensor's readings changed dynamically while the engine was running, that meant it was “healthy.” In reality, that's far from always true. Besides simply failing outright, an oxygen sensor can produce distorted readings, and that will inevitably lead to excess fuel consumption and, as a result, the gradual failure of the catalytic converter, spark plugs, accelerated engine wear, and possibly the failure of individual parts of the fuel system.

Modern diagnostic equipment lets garage staff not just determine whether a given oxygen sensor is “alive” or “dead,” but in many cases also assess just how accurate its readings are. What's more, today's electronics can diagnose absolutely every part of a car, from the main components of the suspension right through to how the engine itself is running.

That's why having modern equipment at a garage is, as a rule, the decisive factor that influences which garage owners of modern cars choose. That said, you need to understand that even the most advanced equipment won't be able to help fix your car if it's being used by someone without the relevant knowledge and experience. So when choosing a garage, its “specialization” also plays a considerable role — meaning its experience servicing cars of your particular make, as well as having experienced technicians on hand who don't need to waste time looking up information about your car.

At the stage of setting up a garage and choosing garage equipment, the main task is defining the future service's line of business. Based on that, the garage's work zones are formed and the necessary equipment is selected. A garage can be broken down into several functional zones: reception, the general repair bay, the wash bay, diagnostics, the body shop, the paint shop, the assembly repair shop, the compressor room.

Each zone is equipped accordingly. This article is primarily about diagnostic equipment. Diagnostic equipment for a garage covers a fairly wide range out of all the possible equipment a garage might use. That includes auto scanners, engine testers, gas analysers, wheel alignment stands, inspection lines and much more. This equipment is designed to diagnose the electronic control systems, as well as the suspension, the braking system, the steering, and other systems in the car.

Diagnostic equipment can be bought either separately or as a complete kit on a mobile stand. That's what makes it a diagnostic system. It includes an auto scanner, an engine tester, a gas analyser and other portable equipment. Systems like this are indispensable at small garages, where saving on workspace matters. What's more, the functionality of these systems is far greater than that of individual scanners or engine testers taken on their own.

What's more, diagnostic systems are put together to the customer's specification, that is, depending on the tasks set for that particular system. It's possible to build systems around auto scanners for diagnosing both trucks and passenger cars. An auto scanner, for example the Launch X-431, forms the basis of a diagnostic system, and it's around this base that the rest of the diagnostic bay's equipment is built.</content>