What is the purpose of Mercedes car diagnostics? Godstone Mercedes Ltd offer independent Mercedes repair throughout Godstone and Surrey. Find out what a car diagnostic test is for and what a car diagnostic test will tell you. 

What Is A Car Diagnostic Test?

One of the most useful automotive innovations in recent decades has been the computerisation of car components. This technological advance helps both car owners and their technicians to diagnose potentially serious issues with a car's operating systems and mechanical components. This is achieved using specialised software and car diagnostic tools to read and clear fault codes that locate problem areas in your car's engine and elsewhere with improved accuracy.

With onboard processors, microchips and sensors monitoring your vehicle's performance, it has never been easier to maintain a car than it is now. Even if your car feels fine, car diagnostics and trouble-shooting software can identify where small issues lie, preventing them from becoming serious. In the long run, this window into the inner workings of your car can help you save money on potentially expensive repairs and component replacements. 

What Is The Most Common Problem With Mercedes-Benz?

What Areas Of The Car Can Be Tested?

Several areas of your car can be monitored and tested with a diagnostic investigation, including:

This isn't an exhaustive list, and a diagnostics test can look into several other key areas of your car. With a trained technician performing the test, you can discover the exact location of potential issues. 

Once you know exactly where these issues are, your technicians can remedy them, preventing any serious disasters and ultimately saving you money.

All in all, diagnostic tests are very beneficial for all car owners, as it helps to keep them and other road users safe, ensuring their Mercedes Benz vehicles are in optimal condition to be on the roads. 

One of the most common misconceptions about car diagnostic tests is that they can tell your technicians exactly what the problem is. This isn't the case, as code-reading tools can't tell you what caused your check engine light to flicker into life.

Instead, diagnostic tests inform your technician which parameters for the various components in your car are reading out of their usual range. Therefore, diagnostic tests can't tell you what is wrong, but they can show you where the issue is. Ultimately, it will be down to your technicians to determine the issue. 

Car diagnostic tests are simply a way to speed up the process. When it comes to figuring out what the nature of the issue is, nothing beats the brain of a qualified and experienced technician. Again, once the issue has been located and the technician has identified what it is, they can offer a suitable remedy and resolve it before it has a chance to grow worse. 

How a car diagnostic test works

Most cars have engine control units these days, which are essentially onboard computers that technicians use to run diagnostic testing. You might also hear it referred to as an "ECU". 

Its main purpose is to gather live sensor data from the various areas of your vehicle and its engine, from the engine temperature to the exhaust system, which is how diagnostic tests can trace where an issue might be occurring. If the control unit picks up on an issue, it will create error codes, determining which of the corresponding warning light will be illuminated on your dashboard. 

Using a specialised code reader and scanners, these fault codes are also how your technician will determine the area within your car that is experiencing the issue. But, as mentioned before, this isn't the end of the story. While your car's ECU can tell you there is a problem, you won't know exactly what that problem is until you take a look.

This is where the training and experience of your technician or mechanic come in. Once your technicians erase fault codes that tell them where the issue is, they must physically look at that area to determine the nature of the issue. Specialised diagnostic equipment can speed up this process, but, in the end, there's nothing to beat old-school human ingenuity and understanding. 

These car diagnostic tests are also ideal for determining engine coolant levels, build-ups of debris and other substances in your combustion engine, the overall performance of your fuel injection system, ignition timing, ignition coil firing failures and whether your rpm levels are right when changing gears. 

Given that these tests are affordably priced and can reveal whether your car is beginning to experience any of these issues, they are definitely worth the effort. 

What Are The Benefits Of A Car Diagnostic Test?

Before diagnostic testing became prevalent in the automotive industry, identifying issues with people's cars was a time-consuming and difficult process. 

This is in part due to the fact that most car owners would only bring their vehicles to a garage if something went seriously wrong with it, and by then, it was too late to fix the issue anyway. You have a greater chance of discovering and fixing mechanical issues with regular services and car maintenance checks.

How often you should have these performed on your car depends on its make and model, which your manufacturer should inform you of. Sticking to these regularly scheduled services and having diagnostic testing performed during your maintenance checks gives you the best chance to consult the computer data in your car and detect problems before they have a chance to cause a breakdown.

Not only will the ECU provide data for ongoing issues, but it can store notifications left by the manufacturer about that particular model and a complete rundown of the car's history. This helps speed up the diagnostic process even more, as this information gives your technicians a more detailed overview of that vehicle, how it is supposed to perform and what repairs it might need.

Are you looking for Mercedes repair and servicing in Surrey? If you are a Mercedes-Benz owner you will want to ensure your car is in the right hands. 

 Follow the links below for Mercedes servicing and repairs in Godstone, Crawley, Croyden, Sevenoaks and the surrounding areas.