Back to all

Chicago Customer Detective Work

April 11, 2016

One might say the most challenging part of being an automotive service technician at Tuffy Chicago (Diversey Pkwy) is diagnosing a problem before it can be fixed.

Cars are made up of a bunch of complex systems. There usually could be a number of reasons for any given symptom. So, it's challenging to track down the actual cause of the problem. And it can be frustrating for the vehicle owner because it can take time and money to get to the bottom of a problem. If it's not something obvious, it's easy for the customer to focus on the fixing and not the diagnosing.

Let us at Tuffy Chicago (Diversey Pkwy) introduce you to something we'll call 'Customer Detective Work' –  helping your technician find clues to what's wrong.

We start with the detective basics: What, Where and When. Play along with me; You come in to Tuffy Chicago (Diversey Pkwy) and your car is making a funny sound...

    • Q: Where's the sound?
    • A: Around the right front wheel.
    • Q: What kind of sound?
    • A: Kind of a clunk, clunk sound.
    • Q: When do you hear the sound?
    • A: When I turn and accelerate. 
  • Q: Right and left? Forward and back?

Do you see where we're going? You're gathering additional information to help your technician at Tuffy Chicago (Diversey Pkwy) know where to start. Based on your car and the tech's experience, he'll know where to look and can start with the obvious suspects.

You can see how that would be more helpful than dropping the car off with a note that says "making a funny noise."

If the tech can experience the problem personally, he's better able to make a diagnosis and repair and then test to see if the repair solved the problem.

Ask us for details.

Tuffy Chicago (Diversey Pkwy)
1400 West Diversey Pkwy
Chicago, Illinois 60614
773-929-3622

More articles from Tuffy Chicago

It's Brake Time (Brake Calipers)

March 9, 2025

Race car drivers have demonstrated the advantages of disc brakes, so most modern vehicles use them. Sometimes just the front wheels have disc brakes, but many vehicles now have them all the way around. A major component of the disc brake is called a caliper. It works by squeezing brake pads ag... More

Differential Essential (Differential Fluid Exchange)

March 2, 2025

What's the dif? To an automotive technician, it's the differential, a part of your vehicle that helps direct power from the engine to the wheels. The differential is a gearbox that enables the drive wheels to turn at different speeds (they do that when you turn). Inside the differential is a f... More

Making Sense of the O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor Replacement)

February 23, 2025

As you know, todays vehicles rely on a lot of computers in them to keep them running clean and efficiently. Those computers depend on information delivered by several sensors throughout the engine and exhaust system. And one of the most important is the oxygen sensor. Known as the O2 sensor f... More