Some Denver motorists are confused by Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop charges for diagnostic services for a vehicle repair. Many services at Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop and other Denver automotive repair shops include diagnostic fees.

When you take your laptop into a Denver computer repair shop for a problem you’ll likely have to leave a deposit for diagnostics. When we visit our Englewood doctor for a medical problem, we’re paying him to diagnose our ailment and of course for the tests that go along with it.

So receiving a diagnostic charge at Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop for a tricky automotive problem shouldn’t be a surprise. In the Denver area, automotive diagnostics can cover quite a range. If you hear a noise in your SUV brakes when you slow down in rush-hour traffic on a busy Colorado expressway, you pull off the next off-ramp and take a quick visual check. That is usually enough to know what needs to be done. If you’re having an intermittent problem with your SUV engine, Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop diagnosis may be much more involved.

Much of the Denver public’s confusion comes when the problem involves the check engine light. The check engine light comes on when the engine management computer has sensed a problem.

There’s a common misconception among Englewood, Aurora, and Littleton drivers that the trouble code tells the Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop technician exactly what’s wrong. Why then is there a diagnostic charge, the scanner just gave the diagnosis?

Reality is more involved than that. The computer monitors many sensors throughout the vehicle. When one of these sensors has a reading that’s out of parameters, the computer will record a trouble code and turn on the check engine light.

The SUV computer's trouble code just tells the Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop technician what engine parameter is out of range – not what’s causing it. The technician needs to determine the underlying problem that’s causing the symptom.

There are many problems that could cause a troublesome sensor reading for Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop Denver customers. The Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop technician makes a list of the most likely causes and begins tracking down the source of the problem.

Denver service centers subscribe to databases that document possible causes for a given trouble code. They outline procedures for confirming a diagnosis and provide the documented fix. These databases are specific to each vehicle and engine combination.

Some diagnoses are quick and easy. Others are more involved and difficult. Of course Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop wants to figure out what’s wrong with your SUV and get you back on the road as quickly as possible.