That is not to decry the need for good equipment which is essential, and a range of that is available from our regular advertisers with well know brands such as Launch, SnapOn and ThinkCar. But once you have that equipment, you need to know how to use it to get the best results.

Whilst some of the basics are easily learnt and will suffice for run of the mill issues, more complex problems require more in-depth expertise.

Again, some of our regular diagnostic and troubleshooting columnists provide excellent training courses such as Vince Ainsworth from ThinkCar/Quantum Mechanics, Herbert Leijen from AECS and Clinton Brett from Diesel Help.

That training will take you to the next level of knowing how best to use the equipment you have invested in, where to look for potential problems beyond the obvious, but the very top diagnostic gurus need even more.

We often come away after reading Herbert’s troubleshooting column or Clinton’s Diesel Diagnostics column feeling like we have just finished a good detective story. As the famous (if fictional) detective Sherlock Holmes said, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” and that often seems the theme of the investigation into an automotive electronics issue – that the fault is not where you might initially look based on fault codes but in some distant interconnected system!

To get to the answer requires not just technical skill but an intuitive mind that is willing to consider all possibilities, even the least likely, and follow the trail until the end.
Training and experience will help build this expertise and developing an open mind to your intuition will complete the tool kit.

However,  equally important is to not jump to the least likely conclusion first – but to eliminate the obvious. Often you will see one of the columnists going back to first principles first – check the engine has fuel, check it has spark (if a petrol) and then onwards through the systems eliminating options as they proceed.

To give some idea of complexity and training available, AECS offer over 60 course modules in their graduated pathway from Diagnostic Technician through Diagnostic Expert to Diagnostic Master with streams for petrol, diesel, heavy diesel, Hybrid/EV, Automotive systems and for the tools they supply.