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by DCH3416 480 days ago
Not really. The issue with modern automobiles they don't really report much useful information about themselves beyond general upstream faults. One issue can flag errors in five modules, and it depends on the tech to know about the underlying technology in addition to diagnosing whatever mechanical issue. Techs also tend to be the type of people to throw up their hands and start throwing parts.

This is kinda where we need to shift more towards EVs because that would take out a lot of the complexity you get with modern automobile design.
1 comments
blueflow 480 days ago
> and it depends on the tech to know about the underlying technology in addition to diagnosing whatever mechanical issue. Techs also tend to be the type of people to throw up their hands and start throwing parts.

What do you think how well documented car internals are? What would you do if you open a control device and you see an unmarked ASIC?

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DCH3416 480 days ago
It depends on the manufacturer. Some are better than others. Some document pretty well but are overshadowed by crap manufacturing.

Personally I really like how Tesla did their online service manual. It's a good balance of technical but not to technical.

https://service.tesla.com/docs/Model3/ServiceManual/en-us/in...

With regard to your edit. That's where there's a practical limit of what do you (a manufacturer) publish that the tech needs to know. So you need to cross it between technical know how, and how detailed you need to get. Me personally would pull out the oscilloscope and make some probes to get an idea of what to do. You set a carburetor on my desk and that would probably take me a bit longer over electronics. It's a skillset issue, basically, and we're transitioning off strictly mechanics to mechanics and electronics working together. Which naturally raises labor costs because people aren't use to that.

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blueflow 480 days ago
Not sure if my point came across. This is a knowledge problem. How can you test an ASIC for correct function if you have no knowledge of its intended function?
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DCH3416 480 days ago
Right. That's what I added. You have to reverse engineer what's going on. As with anything if you don't know how it works. If your IC is producing crazy readings, or you look under a thermal camera, probably can blame the chip. Good luck getting a replacement.
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