Bournemouth · Independent garage
Vehicle diagnostics
Fault diagnosis for warning lights, intermittent faults and driveability complaints, using the vehicle's own data alongside physical testing.
Sound familiar? An engine management, ABS or airbag warning light has come on.
Signs you might notice
If any of these describes your vehicle, this is the page for it.
An engine management, ABS or airbag warning light has come on.
The vehicle starts badly, idles roughly, or loses power under load.
A fault comes and goes, and never happens when somebody else is looking at it.
A code has been read elsewhere, a part was replaced, and the fault came back.
What the work covers
- Reading and interpreting stored and live fault data from the vehicle.
- Road testing where the fault only appears while driving.
- Electrical testing on circuits, sensors, connectors and earths.
- A plain explanation of what was found and what we recommend doing about it.
How it works
You describe the symptom and when it happens — from cold, at motorway speed, only in the wet.
We read the vehicle's data, then test to confirm the cause rather than replacing the part a code names.
If the fault does not show itself quickly, we come back to you with what we have ruled out before going further.
We explain what we found and agree the repair with you before starting it.
Why choose AutoTech Garage?
What you can hold us to on this job.
We agree the work with you first
We explain what we have found and what putting it right involves, and nothing beyond what you have agreed is carried out without a telephone call first.
We test before we replace
A fault code records the circuit the vehicle was unhappy about, not the component that failed. We test to confirm the cause rather than replacing the part a code names.
Common questions
Does a fault code tell you which part has failed?
Not on its own. A code records the circuit or the reading the vehicle was unhappy about, not the component at fault. Replacing the part a code names is how the same fault returns a fortnight later, so we test to confirm the cause first.How much is this going to cost?
There are two questions inside that one and they have different answers. The repair cannot be priced until we know what has failed — finding that out is the work you are asking for. What the testing itself involves for your vehicle is a fair question to put to us on the telephone before you bring the car in, and we would far rather answer it then than afterwards. Nothing is carried out until you have been told what it will come to and have agreed to it.Do you need the car for long to find a fault?
It depends entirely on how the fault behaves. One that is present all the time can be confirmed quickly. One that appears for a minute on a cold morning and then clears may need a road test at the time of day it happens, which is not something that can be arranged around a fifteen-minute appointment. Tell us when yours shows itself — it is the most useful thing you can tell us, and it shapes how the work is planned. Either way, we tell you where we have got to before spending more time on it.The warning light went out by itself. Has the fault gone?
Often not. Many faults leave a stored record after the light clears, and an intermittent fault usually returns. It is worth having the stored data read before it becomes a breakdown.
Related services
Talk to us about your vehicle
Tell us the make, model and what it is doing, and we will tell you what the work involves before anything is agreed.