Since 2002, commercial vehicles have changed dramatically in response to both EPA mandated emissions requirements and the OEMs increased implementation to create, identify and capture crucial vehicle data. These changes, observes Greg Reimmuth, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Noregon Systems, have resulted in a four-fold increase in electronic controllers that are now multiplexed and continuously communicating with the data network, along with a five-fold increase in related diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs).
“While the diagnostic and data acquisition requirements have changed dramatically, the in-shop methods used to diagnose total vehicle health has not evolved along with these changes,” he notes. “Shops today are working on trucks that are a computer on wheels,” and many shops are not keeping up with the technology.
Noregon Systems (www.jprofleetproducts.com) is a leading supplier of commercial vehicle data solutions.
THREE PRIMARY REASONS
Following years of research, Noregon has determined that most technicians are falling short for three primary reasons:
1. They are not listening to what the vehicle is telling them.
2. They are not diagnosing the root causes of an issue.
3. They have a lack of visibility to the information they need.
“Often, technicians are only fixing the specific problems reported in the complaint,” Reimmuth says. “Our studies show that at least 57 percent of the time that a truck leaves a shop ‘fixed,’ it still has an unresolved maintenance issue.”
NOT LISTENING
While some active DTCs are identified with a dash light indicator, many are not, says Reimmuth. What’s more, some inactive codes can indicate various problems that need to be inspected and often repaired. “Unless multiple OEM diagnostic tools are used on every vehicle during the inspection/estimating process, total vehicle health will go unidentified.”
Technicians have access to PC-based total vehicle diagnostic software that allows them to plug into a vehicle and “listen” to the entire vehicle, he says. The goal is for any level technician to quickly and accurately diagnose and repair issues prior to sending a vehicle back on the road.
“Where in-shop maintenance protocol is concerned, service writers or shop foremen who use diagnostic software at the initial point of service can identify any vehicle health related issue and schedule the related repair accordingly,” says Reimmuth. “This helps the shop maximize technician and shop efficiency, improve parts usage, extend vehicle life cycles and improve customer satisfaction.”
LACK OF ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Multiplexing and multiple ECUs (that are connected) can result in the misdiagnosis of a root cause. For example, a problem with the performance of an engine or transmission may be the result of the body and chassis controller or vice versa.
Total vehicle diagnostic software can provide a technician with the ability to identify potential root cause, Noregon’s Reimmuth explains. When technicians have a total diagnostic “snapshot” of the vehicle “they can avoid misdiagnoses, then quickly and efficiently diagnose and repair what is truly wrong with a vehicle.”
LACK OF VISIBILITY
Today’s shops often lack the visibility they need to properly identify and repair vehicles, Reimmuth says. “This is largely caused by inaccessibility to respective OEM diagnostic applications, lack of updated and functional software, insufficient training and just sheer frustration from using many different and complex applications.
“The solution,” he maintains, “is to make total vehicle diagnostics an integral part of the repair process. Technicians should be using total vehicle diagnostic software to diagnose all issues before locating parts or turning a wrench.”
Trucks are complex and getting more complex every year, he observes. “From the shop standpoint, the best way to maximize vehicle uptime is to employ a total vehicle diagnostics approach that empowers technicians with the ability to determine total vehicle health right away and get the detailed information they need to fix vehicles quickly and correctly.
“It’s all about listening, looking and learning,” concludes Reimmuth.
