Posted by Darren Fraser on October 21, 2003 at 08:15:39:
Good day folks. Please allow me to introduce myself as Darren Fraser, I have a small Auto Electrical business in Botswana, Africa. I stumbled onto this website this afternoon looking for solutions to a no spark problem on a Camry 5S-FE. Everything made sense and your explanations were excellent.....now.....if only I had a darn DSO!!! I cannot even borrow one in our small town, because no one has one. I have been looking around for a "multi diagnostic tester" and it would appear that your Pico unit could do the trick. Motor Testers in this neck of the woods are very expensive and are limited to what vehicles they can be used on.
When I first opened my business I bought a Multi meter with data logger feature in the hopes of recording my own specs of "running" vehicles so that when there was a problem I would have a database of patterns to use to compare patterns. This seems to me the best way of getting around the problem of specs that are not available for what ever reason. Is this an unrealistic approach?
I read your article, "we are in trouble" with interest and would like to add the problem we have here in Africa, in that most "Technicians" here served with only one type of vehicle manufacturer and he uses only the "dealer" tools and testers which is not much use to us who would have to stock all these "special testers" which is not ecomomically viable for us smaller companies.
The million dollar question is this. Do we have or can we share scope patterns that are known to have been working on different types of vehicles, this would be a huge diagnosis tool when working on a new vehicle. Sort of like a database listing engine types with their serial numbers of "working" patterns sent in by members. I for one would be more than delighted to share any information I have recorded if it means someone else would benifit from my input.
Most of my business is supported by earthmoving and trucks, but I do get asked from time to time by agents to resolve problems on sedan cars and pickups. But even the bigger machines are now becomming more and more electronic and will need this type of test equipment.
Basically, here in Africa the demands and costs of keeping up to date are huge, and we are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with modern changes. I look forward to keeping in touch and hopefully the beginning of a more positive outlook towards the customers needs to "aftermarket service".
Regards
Darren