Have you heard about diagnostic testing for your car? It might sound pretty fancy, but it isn’t. SDS Automotive has all the information that you need about diagnostic testing and how it can help your car and you.
Diagnostic Testing Defined
But what is diagnostic testing really? It’s a lot simpler than it sounds. Your car’s onboard computer, or engine control module, collects a lot of data about what’s going on with the car’s engine and other systems. It stores that information and if the problem is big enough, the ECM will illuminate one of the dashboard warning lights. Smaller issues might not show up on your dashboard, but they will when a reader is attached to your car and it downloads the data from the ECM. That data shows up as different codes that an auto technician uses to troubleshoot what’s going on with the car.
Your Car Has Only a Few Ways to Communicate
The bottom line is that your car only has a few ways to let you know what’s going on. And the car isn’t always able to tell you exactly what’s wrong in language that you understand. So the car manufacturer gives you one way to get information, via the dashboard warning lights, and gives the auto technicians information through codes. This can help to reduce time troubleshooting, especially when the problem is an intermittent one that only shows up once in a while.
Diagnostic Testing Works Like Preventative Maintenance
If you already understand how much preventative maintenance does for your car, then you understand why diagnostic testing is so important, too. Routine diagnostic testing, done maybe once or twice a year, can help you to find small issues with your car’s engine that might have otherwise gone undetected. Once you know about them, you’re able to do something about them before you end up having to pay for a much bigger repair in terms of both time and money. That can make a huge difference for you.
SDS Automotive in Sacramento, CA has all the information you need about diagnostic testing and taking the best possible care of your car. Whether you already know what the problem is or you just have a list of weird things going on with your car, let us help you to figure it all out. We’ll get you back on the road as fast and as safely as possible.