Re: VW Maintenance Reality Check


Jan wrote:

OR, you could buy an affordable (well, cheaper than a good laptop)
generic ODB-II reader tool, which has it's own screen, showing you each
code translated into plain english.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The problem here is that a simple reader does allow the creation of an
archive of data, it simply reports the current state of the system.
This worked well enough with OBD-1 but as the number of on-board
computers increased and the systems became more complex, a growing
percentage of the reported faults are erroneous, reflecting
intermittant errors within the reporting system itself rather than real
problems associated with any of the vehicle's components.

Computers offer a nice example of this, in that as they became more
complex a higher percentage of errors was seen in the interconnections
between the components. (I still have a working S-100 system out in
the shop :-) This lead to the development of multi-layer circuit
boards and a significant reduction in the number of connections. We
are starting to see the same thing in On-Board Diagnostic systems, in
that many apparent errors are turning out to be electrical glitches in
circuits common to all of the components, such as the power or
grounding circuits.

While some people find the thought of doing their own computerized
diagnostics difficult to accept, the fact is that even when a dealer is
honest their mechanics still perform a fairly high percentage of
unnecessary 'repairs.' The only way to protect yourself is to become
fully versed in the system because, computerized or not, YOU are still
the Mechanic-in-Charge of your vehicle.

-Bob Hoover

PS - someone wrote to ask the purpose of the (*) in my original
message. It had to do with the fact that while most modern vehicles
were designed with a view toward ease of maintainenance, the New Beetle
was not among them. Dropping a much-modified copy of the Concept 1
body onto a Golf chassis was purely a sales ploy, degrading the
maintainability of a proven chassis and leading to a number of required
recalls and repairs.

.

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