[Wolfgang Weisselberg]

nospam wrote:
In article , Eric Stevens

And the mechanic needs the on-board log files.

no he doesn't.

all he does is look at the code and does what is necessary to solve the
problem. that may involve further testing, depending on what the code
is. most of the time, it tells you exactly what needs fixing.

From where do you think he gets the historic error codes? Please don't
tell me there are no such things as historic error codes. My Honda
keeps them until either the memory overflows or is reset.

that's not a logfile.

Oh, yes, that exactly IS a logfile. It is a storage of
historic error codes.

there *might* be a history of some of the codes, but not necessarily.

Oh, there absolutely is a history. Otherwise you'd not get
codes unless the engine was runnung and experiencing the
glitch/problem/bad sensor reading RIGHT NOW.

my car has no indication that the maf sensor was replaced. it gave a
code,

.... which was logged. In a logfile. Which was them read out
by the mechanic using a reader. And interpreted by the mechanic.

the sensor was replaced, the code was cleared and that's the end
of that.

So you basically say the logfile was deleted?


still, that's very different than log files on a computer.

Not at all, the only difference is that the onboard computer
doesn't have the same type of monitor, keyboard, mouse interface
that a PC has and doesn't use huge rotating hard drives.


Same with computers. The mechanic (or whatever you call them) also
need the on-board log files.

a technician might need it if he was diagnosing a problem, but normal
users definitely do not.

Who said that normal users need them?

wolfgang.

most users don't need them at all

Some do, as you admit yourself.
Hence: Normal users need them.

and even technicians don't need them
most of the time.

There are only technicians and normal users? That's like saying
there are only women and children.

they run diagnostic software which tells them what's
wrong.

Yes, your lowly trained first level technicians use programs that
read the logfiles.

-Wolfgang