Take advice from industry experts at Snap-on and work smarter from connection to completion – because time means money and we’d all like more of both.
Using diagnostics is essential in every garage every day and the more efficiently you can work, the more productive you can be and the more jobs you can get through.
With this in mind, the car diagnostic tools from Snap-on are geared up to help you speed up the connection, diagnosis and completion of the job with some intuitive features you need to know about.
They are designed to overcome the time-consuming nature of some diagnostic processes and procedures and to help you work smarter.
Auto ID
For every vehicle you hook up to you first need to make sure that the correct vehicle identification is selected, which can be complicated with many vehicles having several different types of the same engine.
The Auto ID function eliminates the need to hunt for specific engine codes – a vital time-saver.
Simply select the ‘Scanner’ icon on the homepage of your scan tool, pick the vehicle you are working on from the list of manufacturers and then select ‘Auto ID’.
Your platform will now tell you precisely where the DLC connector is located and once fitted, it will do the work of identifying the vehicle for you.
Now we have got communication, where do we go next?
Code Scan
Modern vehicles have grown into to a complex network of computers sharing information, ranging from a driver’s request for a window to open to ABS sensors telling numerous computers that the driver needs help getting around a sharp bend.
This means that not only can one code be stored in many ECUs but the symptom the vehicle is displaying may be caused by a different system.
The code scan function gives you access to an overview of all ECUs and the fault codes they may be storing.
Without code scan you need to access each of the codes in multiple places, which is extremely time-consuming.
Code scan allows you to analyse all this information all on one screen, leading you down the correct diagnostic path and to a quicker repair.
Clear All Codes
Once the repair work has been done, the codes need to be cleared to allow the ECU’s self-monitoring systems to function correctly again.
But if there are multiple codes in many ECUs this is going to take some time to go into each individual ECU and clear them away.
With Snap-on’s clear all codes function, the task is made very simple.
The scanner will locate all of the systems within a vehicle – and then report back on which of those systems have error codes and how many will need dealing with.
Clearing the codes across multiple systems individually would take time – but this can be done in seconds using the clear all codes procedure.
Just follow the on-screen instructions and within three button presses, any codes will be cleared from all available ECUs – saving valuable time.
So why the big focus on time? Well, time is money, and we would all like some more of that!
Date posted: 4 April 2019