I was sure those new smart diagnostic tools were just a gimmick

Our shop in Omaha got a demo unit for that handheld diagnostic reader about six months ago, and I rolled my eyes. I figured it was just a fancy screen for stuff we already knew. Then last week, we had a weird intermittent fault on a 15-year-old Otis Gen2. It would just stop, no codes on the car top. I spent half a day checking the usual suspects. My boss told me to try the new tool. I hooked it up, let it run a few cycles, and it flagged a voltage drop in the door lock circuit that only happened when the car was at the third floor. I never would have caught that so fast with a meter. I'm still not sold on all the bells and whistles, but for chasing ghosts, it's pretty solid. Anyone else have a job where one of these things actually saved your bacon?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_drew11d ago

Ever have one of those days where the simple stuff just slips by? I get what @morgan_king36 is saying, but sometimes you just need a win without the extra hassle.

paulw5310d ago

Read an article in a trade magazine about a guy in a similar spot with a finicky hydraulic system. His new scanner logged pressure data over a full week of runs and found a tiny leak that only showed up under a very specific load. It’s that data logging part that gets me. Sure, you could rig up a meter with a bunch of wires and a notebook, but who has the time to watch it for days? The tool just sits there and catches the one weird moment. Makes you wonder what else we miss because it’s a pain to check manually.

morgan_king3611d ago

Okay but voltage drops are a pretty basic thing to check, even on an intermittent. A decent meter with a min/max function and some long leads could have found that too, it just takes more time. The tool just automated a simple process.