Diagnosing a car will forever be a daunting prospect. There are a myriad of components dotted here and there, with hundreds of would-be points of failure. That doesn't mean, however, that you ought to make it any harder on yourself or choose to not take the easy way out. What is this wizardry, you might ask? Well, it's called a car diagnostic tool, and it's here to make diagnosis a piece of cake.
Whether it be troubles with the engine, transmission woes, or worse of all, electrical gremlins hiding in the wires, it doesn't matter. Having a diagnostics tool in hand, and paired with your car's onboard computer and many sensors, can pinpoint the exact cause of failure right quick. In other words, this means that you can spend less time grumbling over what's wrong, and more time trying to fix it.
Here are just a few reasons why you need a car diagnostic tool...
1. It Can Potentially Save You (A Lot) Of Money
Car diagnostics tools - or OBD2 scanners - aren't cheap. Take the iCarsoft CR MAX, which remains to be one of the most featureful, intuitive, and best diagnostics scanners available on the market today. It costs £379.00, which is an eye-watering figure, for sure. But it's all the more worth it.
When patching up a problem with your car, there's always the risk of misdiagnosis. You think this, in particular, is what's causing the issue, but in fact, it could be a different problem entirely. Before you know it, you've spent countless hours and thousands of pounds swapping out the wrong parts.
Spare components aren't like shoes, you know. You can't quite simply mail them back once you're in the right mind to figure out that it still hasn't fixed your car. By knowing precisely what component is malfunctioning, you can more precisely analyse what needs fixing, or if a part requires replacing.
2. Get More Details As To What's Wrong
Every car has a check engine light. It's one of the worst alerts you could possibly get. However, fears around it can be rather overblown. Consider this... The check engine light is a very general warning sign that something's amiss with your car. It could, for instance, pinpoint a major powertrain issue.
This could cost you a pretty penny - three to four digits, roughly - to mend. Or, a check engine light is known to be triggered if you have a loose fuel filler cap. This issue, otherwise, would cost you nothing to simply screw it back tightly. As you can see, even your car isn't always clear about what's wrong.
Nonetheless, all that data is saved to the car's computer, which can be accessed and read directly by using a diagnostics tool. Plug in an OBD scanner, and you can precisely spot why the CEL - or another warning light - is triggered. You might also be acquainted with errors code that can explain more.
3. Convenience At Your Fingertip
Besides making it more likely to spot the actual cause of an issue and enable better judgement from you as to what to do next, having a car diagnostics tool is just plain convenient. Sure, you could send your car down to a workshop to have it diagnosed if you're noticing it behaving oddly.
Many workshops are modest with their pricing, charging you a (relatively) meagre £50 for a detailed diagnosis. Others, however, aren't so friendly, likely charging you hundreds for what is a simple job. You can skip this fee entirely with a diagnostics tool, allowing you to diagnose your car infinitely.
