Thanks for offering up your opinion. By the posts here, most posters seem to hold to the position there’s no merit in the diagnostic improvement ideas above; but that’s the purpose of an opinion forum such as this. Good for everyone who replied!
Just to be contrary, I take a baseline on my batteries because I’m the one deciding when to replace them. But I don’t want some $60 an hour guy driving my new car on a test track. If something goes wrong in four years or so, the dealer will have to fix it. So who would benefit? After the warranty period I don’t think the baseline would be much use compared to the trouble codes that the computer set.
You make some good points. But I’d guess the main beneficiary to having baseline data available during a diagnosis would be the shop tech who is trying to explain to a customer why they think the problem is A and not B.
Customer: The online forums say this is almost always caused by B!!! Why do you think it is A ?
Tech: Take a look at your car’s baseline data, compared to now. B is nearly exactly the same, but A is very different.
I remember having a discussion with the emergency room doctor saying I didn’t think my symptoms fit a ruptured appendix. He said they don’t always fit what the book says. He was right. I’m still around. I hire experts and don’t second guess them.
Those are pointless conversations, imo
In my experience, the customer usually finds some garbage online and thinks it’s useful
They’re usually referring to some vague information, which is about a different model year, wrong engine, different fault code, etc.
When I hire someone to do work at my house, I don’t presume to tell him how to diagnose the problem
And if I’m not satisfied with his work, guess what . . . I’ll call someone else, next time I need work done
Too late. Every assembly plant I have ever been to has a test track out back to check for squeaks and rattles. Not that long ago most had been smoked in before it was banned.
I got shocked looks when I told Corvette owners that their car HAS been smoked in…by the guy who drove it off the assmbly line to the test rollers and out.
The Turin Fiat plant (now closed) is said to have had their test track located on the roof, 5 stories above where the raw materials were delivered. The cars moved up a floor after each build procedure, tested on the roof track, then moved back down by elevators and ramps for train-shipment to the Fiat dealerships.