Under The Hood

Large vehicles and heavy equipment are at the center of the construction, transportation and agricultural industries and keeping these key assets in optimal condition is vital for business success. When a large vehicle fails, a company can’t afford to wait days for repairs. Unexpected breakdowns mean lost productivity, project delays and substantial monetary losses. The pressure is on for diagnostic and repair service providers to get the equipment operational as quickly as possible.

In the past, vehicle and heavy equipment providers relied heavily on a mechanic’s innate knowledge and experience to determine what was wrong with a vehicle, often applying an Occam’s Razor mindset to diagnostics — the most obvious problem is probably the right one.

A correct diagnosis is essential for efficient (and effective) repairs. Diagnostics have come a long way in recent years, especially since most vehicles and heavy equipment now use electronic control systems that make manual diagnostic processes inefficient.

Diagnosing problems requires an ability to read data from sensors as much as it does knowledge about the machine itself. Today, effective diagnostics has become a profit center for service bays, with 78.3 percent of heavy-duty repair shops now charging for diagnostic operations.