Troubleshooting car problems

Troubleshooting car problems should be approached in an organized and logical fashion. There is no good reason to just start guessing, or even educated guessing.

Yes I am human just like you and continue to make this same mistake. Many times when I am working on a car, I might get lazy and take an educated guess at what the cause of the problem may be.

I know it is wrong, but I will start diagnosing a system and see that I have three choices of what the failure may be. Instead of following the proper procedure of testing each component and continuing to diagnose the problem thoroughly, I will try to take a shortcut known as an educated guess.

In most cases, when I guess, I pay the ultimate price. My educated guess will be wrong nearly 50% of the time or more. This means I have just increased my diagnosis time, and wound up replacing a car part that was not required. I do not consider myself very lucky, and even when it comes to a 50-50 chance, I am wrong most of the time.

Troubleshooting car problems correctly

When you feel like you have found the problem take the extra step and test the individual components.

For example, if you believe the relay has failed, all relays can be tested and confirmed to be good or bad. Another example of troubleshooting car problems is if you believe a switch has failed, a switch can be easily tested as well.

You need a multimeter

All automotive meters come with instructions on how to use the device. Become familiar with the operation of this tool before you begin troubleshooting car problems or performing Diy car repairs.

Another reason to have a multimeter on hand is that if your diagnostic steps in the auto repair manual require you to take a voltage reading, a test light should not be used in this situation.

If you are looking for a 5 V reference signal from the ECM, A test light will not be good enough. Also if measuring resistance is required only one tool can do this, yes an automotive meter.

Below are some examples of multimeter tools arranged from good to best. I own the fluke but this may be overkill for diy car repair. The fluke operators manual is so good I use it to study for my ASE Electrical Certification tests!

Diy car repair

So to review the reason that we perform Diy car repair is to save money and downtime of our vehicles. Let's not ruin this by guessing at what parts need to be replaced.

Instead, let's properly diagnose and test the individual components we believe have failed. Take the extra time, and you will save extra money as well as learn a valuable lesson about troubleshooting car problems.



Like this troubleshooting tips page? Let me know with a And I'll build more pages on this automobile subject.

More car troubleshooting help

Another good website that covers do it yourself auto repair and has the cheapest professional printable electrical wiring diagrams for instant access is the eauto-repair website. To have deadly pinpoint diagnostic results you need the right tools.

I purchased the Mitchell powered car repair program for my own vehicle. I also made a video for you so you can see how this program works. This is no award winning film but the 4-minute demo does show you the key features of this online automotive repair manual.



Do you need help with your car troubles right now?

Ask A Proffesional Auto Mechanic

Type your question here.

 letters left

Custom Search

Learn about the plug and play full featured gauge package. Diagnose check engine lights and track instant and average fuel economy plus many more car troubleshooting functions.