Warning Lights
Warning Lights are very important, they help to inform you about any malfunctioning in your vehicle. Any time they come on, make sure you try to solve such problem. Resolving issues with Warning Lights would help you save more money, time and stress of running up and down with your car problem; it also improves the performance and prolongs the lifespan of the vehicle. There are numerous warning Lights, although they are usually universal several warning Lights are peculiar to various car brands and model.
Sensors and Applications
A sensor is a device that receives signals (as heat, pressure, light, motion, voltage etc.) from various components and system in the vehicle and sends this message to the ECU for interpretation and response by sending messages to the actuators to control these components or system.
The study of sensors and actuators and their diagnostics is not a part of this course, but this topics are available on other of our books. Get our free automotive courses
Application of sensors in Braking and Stability System of Vehicles.
ABS stands for Anti-lock braking System. It’s an anti-skid system that prevents skidding of wheels when emergency brakes are applied.
Some vehicles use abs sensors to detect vehicle speed. ABS sensors are usually located on each wheel. Speed sensors are usually located on the gearbox. They read output shaft rotation and send information to ECU for speedo reading. On some vehicle you can get both Abs and speed sensor. Speed sensor will be for the speed and abs for anti-skid.
Also ESP (Electronic stability program) present in vehicle such as Mercedes Benz aids emergency braking and stability just like ABS, it helps to increase braking impact on emergency braking when the yaw sensor senses an obstacle or pedestrian ahead of the vehicle, it also aids emergency parking, both ABS and ESP are present in all modern vehicles.
In Toyota there is also BA (brake assist) it works alongside the ABS and it comes up when there is need for Quick braking especially if an accident is about to occur, then any little pressure on the brake it will automatically reduce the speed of the vehicle to the barest minimum.
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USE OF DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS
Most vehicles usually have an inbuilt computerized diagnostic system, which send notifications (i.e. displays warning lights and messages) to the dashboard when faults arise in the vehicle. Not all faults in the vehicle can be detected by the inbuilt diagnostic computer, only faults that occur in components and systems whose sensors are connected to the inbuilt diagnostic computer.
Most vehicles of models from 1998 up till date usually come with an On-Board Diagnostic II (OBD II) Protocol installed. The OBD II Protocol helps to interpret the information from the inbuilt diagnostic computer which helps to detect the faults, when a diagnostic scanner/tool is connected to the vehicles OBD II port the faults present and other information of the vehicle are displayed on the diagnostic scanner/tool.
Vehicles with faults that are cases of Complex Repairs Jobs (i.e. difficult to diagnose manually) are usually connected to the diagnostic tool and diagnosed, several diagnoses are done for various vehicles of which artisans perform a few of them. These diagnostic tools are also used to clear fault codes present in the vehicles computer memory after repair are made.
