Video Transcript:

Hi there. My name is Joe Hyde from Christian Brothers Automotive and I'm the director of automotive technology. Today I'd like to take the opportunity to talk to you about diagnosing.

Have you ever wondered what your technician means when he says he needs to diagnose your vehicle?

If you're like me, you've probably seen the commercials. All your local parts chains are talking about diagnosing your car, or what we like to say, pulling the codes in your vehicle.

And typically they use a tool similar to this one. (Shows tool)

Many places can read codes on your vehicle, but it takes a service professional like the ones that we have at Christian Brothers to truly be able to diagnose your vehicle by performing tests and inspecting your vehicle with the use of factory OEM tools. This can assure you that you're getting the proper diagnosis for your vehicle each and every time you visit a Christian Brothers Automotive.

So let's talk what diagnosis really means.

In the industry, there are a multitude of scan tools that you can use to pull codes on your vehicle. This is probably one of your most basic, and then they range in size and shape and price from here, all the way up to here. This would be known as a factory scan tool.

Is there a difference between one of these and a factory scan tool?

Let me out put it to you another way.

When you go to the doctor, you're probably not feeling well. And that's what made you set the appointment. The doctor is going to do some preliminary tests, they're going to take your blood pressure, they're going to take your temperature, and the nurse may take your weight, and a few other items. And then when you actually get to see the doctor, he's going to go over those results. And then in order to truly diagnose what is wrong with you, he's going to do what we like to call testing. He may send you out for some blood work, a CT scan, an X-ray, just depends on what’s your symptoms.

And that's truly the difference between reading a code on your vehicle and actually diagnosing your vehicle.

We hope this helps you better understand the automotive diagnostic process and this is Christian Brothers car talk.