According to Errol Ince, Deputy Head of School of Technology at London South East Colleges – Bromley Campus, one of the most challenging aspects of their motor vehicle training programme is teaching engine management diagnostics.
Virtual Diagnostics training software
We visited the college to see how Errol uses the LJ Create Autofault Virtual OBDII Diagnostics training software. Errol takes up the story: “I use the Autofault software to demonstrate to my students how to carry out certain diagnostic techniques on motor vehicles. What I particularly like about this software programme is that it’s got really good sound. It is the sound that really enthuses the students.
If we want to, I can always say to the students ‘there you go jump into the car and let’s go for a drive, click on the steering wheel and away we go’. Having gone for a road test, one of the critical things we need to be able to do, is to compare data. The way we do that is by looking at various different wiring diagrams included in the software.”
Students can practice their diagnostic skills in the classroom
“Using Autofault, my students can practice their diagnostic skills in the classroom and then take that knowledge and the skills into a workshop where they can actually do various different tests on a real vehicle or an engine rig.
This gives them a better understanding of how to diagnose and test modern vehicle systems. With vehicles becoming far more technically advanced and more reliable, the faults are harder to find. This means that our apprentices have less opportunity to practice their diagnostic skills in their work places. Using the Autofault software goes a long way to addressing this particular problem.”