GotBoost joins autotechnician magazine for Big Day Out 5
Andy Crook & GotBoost teamed up with Technical Topics once again for Autotechnician’s Big Day Out 6 for another training day
The event delivered valuable advice to promote that desirable first-time-fix
Here are some examples of the subjects covered.
Andy Crook began with a section on reducing diagnostic time and stressed the importance of primary data capture.
He begins each job back in his workshop with a customer survey – detailing the vehicle’s symptoms, timing, background and so on. By adding ‘Is there anything else?’ to this questionnaire increased the success of his first hypothesis dramatically, explaining that customers who are not comfortable due to a lack of technical knowledge can leave importance clues out for fear of appearing silly.
Once the interview is done, Andy then forges ahead with sensory checks, a global scan, then a test drive – to try and capture data whilst symptoms, hopefully, occur.
Then he stops to have a cuppa or walks away to do another job to let all the primary data sink in slowly. He says the next step is to plan your testing and is best done away from the car, so you are not distracted.
PLAN – TEST – EVALUATE – ACT
“In diagnostics, I consider myself a detective, convicting a component in a court of law.”
The trick, Andy says, is to design a test with known outcomes, then devise another. You then need to devise The Columbo Test – the killer question, which could show a component who was at the scene, but not actually guilty.
Then the time comes to go to the vehicle and conduct the tests, collecting as much evidence as you need to convict the killer!
The next stage is to evaluate your findings, “I draw my own wiring diagrams and add voltages, what I expect to see, so I know if results are good, bad or indifferent.” If the tests prove your fault hypothesis then save the information as base rate data for future reference. If they don’t, start the process again using your new evidence.
“If your primary data is weak, your best guess at the fault will be weak too.”
Andy explains that there will be occasions you are not sure, and you must replace a part but OK this with the customer first. Even if the light comes back on and the customer’s not happy, you have a chance to turn it around and change the process. Those times you are not convinced you found the underlying fault, give the customer a call two weeks after the job to check everything’s OK – customers would rather you put your hands up, you can then justify what actions you have taken so far and take it from there.
Andy Crook Training with a Difference
The delegates were tasked with navigating through a complex fault live on the vehicle using dealer and aftermarket tools.
Assisted by Technical Topics trainers James Dillon & David Wagstaff, the team of experts explored the key differences between the tools and how the data is presented.
Using audience participation software the delegates were able to shape the testing based on the results of scan tools, multi-meters and oscilloscope testing.
Both workshop owners and technicians, of varying levels of experience in complex diagnostics, came away with food for thought, to help tweak their current processes and make more effective use of their tools and time.
http://autotechnician.co.uk/autotech-mag
