re: My wife’s ac in her car just crapped out

Nah, they just need the right diagnostic tools. Without those, they're dead in the water. Repairs are easy now. The computer is very accurate to the exact problem."

You've been misinformed. The "computer" points you in the right direction but reading and interpreting the data is up to the mechanic. Knowing what tests to run is up to the mechanic. The difficult part in today's mechanic job is the diagnostics. The easy part is replacing the parts once the diagnosis is made. The correct diagnosis is critical and a shop is fortunate if they employ one really skilled diagnostician. I can't tell you how many vehicles I diagnosed and repaired that had gone elsewhere prior to coming to me . Codes were pulled and parts were replaced;however, the vehicle was not fixed. Some of it is easy but not nearly all of it.

quote:

---

Nah, they just need the right diagnostic tools. Without those, they're dead in the water. Repairs are easy now. The computer is very accurate to the exact problem.

---

You keep on thinking that.
See the two other responses to your ignorant post, they pretty well cover exactly what I was going to say.

People that think "Why can't you just hook it up to the computer? It will tell you what's wrong" are woefully mis-informed and obviously have no real world experience in diagnosing/repairing modern vehicles.

These are the same people who will let their neighbor throw parts at it, then haul it to the local Pep Boys/Goodyear/Firestone, etc... and have them hack on it, then finally it winds up with me with a bunch of sketchy aftermarket parts on it, and the same problem it had to begin with. Then the whining begins when they are told I will have to start from scratch, may have to replace the A/M crap with OEM parts, and it will be straight time for diagnostics.
More often than not, it winds up costing you a lot more in time and $$$ when it is all said and done by trying to have some goober with a toolbox trying to fix your car "cheap".