Advanced diagnostics

Mobile Car Diagnostics in Dudley and the Black Country

Warning light on and no idea what it means? We collect the car for free, scan every control module on the ramp, and tell you what's actually wrong before anyone spends a penny on parts. If it won't start, we come out to it.

From £45Written report includedPrice agreed before any work

4.9• 370+ Reviews

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Full-system scan

Fault finding, not guessing

EngineModule 01

ABS and tractionModule 02

Airbag and restraintsModule 03

TransmissionModule 04

Body electricsModule 05

Stored codes, pending codes, live sensor data and component testing, followed by a written report you can keep.

The difference

A code is a clue, not a diagnosis

A warning light tells you the car has noticed something. It doesn't tell you what, and it doesn't tell you how bad.

That gap is where most of the money gets wasted. Someone reads a code, buys the part the internet says matches it, fits it, and the light comes back on a week later. They're down the cost of the part and no further forward.

Diagnostics is the job of closing that gap properly. Read the codes, watch what the sensors are actually doing while the engine runs, then test the component before condemning it. It's a fault-finding job, not a plug-in-and-print job, and doing it properly is almost always cheaper than guessing.

Elliot has spent fifteen years on modern diagnostics and hybrids. Keith spent forty at a Vauxhall main dealer. Between them there isn't much they haven't had on the end of a scan tool.

The process

What actually happens when we turn up

Step 1
We talk to you first
When did it start, what were you doing, has anything been done to the car recently, does it happen hot or cold. Five minutes of this saves an hour of scanning. Most intermittent faults get solved by the story, not the tool.
Step 2
Full system scan
Not just the engine. We read every control module the car has: engine, ABS, airbag and restraints, transmission, body electrics and emissions. We check stored and pending codes, because a pending code is often the one that tells you where this is heading.
Step 3
Live data
This is the bit a free code read doesn't include, and it is usually the bit that finds the fault. We watch sensors report in real time while the engine runs. Where the fault only appears on the move, we drive the car and log fuel trims, misfire counts, sensor voltages, boost pressure or whatever the fault points at.
Step 4
Test before we condemn
A code pointing at a lambda sensor does not mean the lambda sensor is faulty. It means the reading was wrong, and a split vacuum pipe upstream can do that just as easily. We test the component itself before recommending that you replace it.
Step 5
You get told in plain English
What's wrong, why it is happening, whether it is urgent, and what it will cost to put right. Then you decide. Nothing gets fixed without a price agreed first, and you choose whether we do it there and then or take it back to the workshop.

What you take away

A written report with every fault code we found, what each one actually means without the jargon, what we tested and what we found, and a parts and labour estimate for the repair.

Email or paper, whichever suits. It's yours to keep, and if you want to take it elsewhere for a second opinion that's absolutely fine.

If we carry out the repair, we clear the codes afterwards and verify the light stays off. What we won't do is clear a code without finding out why it was there. It'll go off, it'll feel fixed, and it'll be back, usually at the worst possible moment.

Why a free code read isn't a diagnosis

Plenty of places will read a code for nothing, and there's no harm in it. Just understand what you're getting.

You get a code. Something like P0171, which tells you the ECU noticed the engine running lean. It doesn't tell you whether that's a five-pound vacuum pipe, a dirty airflow sensor, a tired lambda sensor or an injector problem. The code is the symptom. The diagnosis is the work of finding out which one it is.

Read what every dashboard warning light means

From the workshop

What we've sorted recently

Real jobs off our ramps, described by the mechanic who did them.

Four photos of the Volvo XC60 intake job: the black XC60 in the workshop yard with its bonnet up, the engine with the intake manifold off and the ports open, the old manifold ports caked in carbon, and the MAF sensor tip blackened with carbon and part of it broken off

Volvo XC60 diesel, 17 plateIntake manifold and MAF sensor

Running rough like a failed injector, but it was the intake: Volvo XC60 diesel

A customer from Coseley brought this 17 plate Volvo XC60 diesel to the Dudley workshop because it was running rough, almost as though an injector had gone down.

Elliot ran diagnostics on it, and the fault was not in the fuel side at all. The intake manifold was so full of carbon that the swirl flaps inside it could not move. The MAF sensor, which measures the air coming into the engine, was so full of carbon that part of it had broken off. Elliot says those two together are probably why the engine management light came on.

We ordered a complete new manifold, swapped all the parts over to it, fitted a new MAF sensor and put it all back together. After that it ran really well.

How a car feels is a good starting point, but it is not a diagnosis. This one felt like an injector, and an injector would have been the wrong part.

Watch this job: Elliot on the XC60 intake manifold

A black Audi A3 in the Dudley workshop, the scan tool showing fault code P048B00 for the exhaust pressure control valve, the old valve on the bench next to the new one, and the new valve fitted to the exhaust under the car

Audi A3 1.6 TDIExhaust pressure control valve

An EGR code that led to the exhaust pressure valve: 2018 Audi A3 1.6 TDI

This 2018-plate Audi A3 1.6 TDI came into the Dudley workshop for a customer from Amblecote, with a trouble code for the EGR valve to start with.

Elliot ran some diagnostics, reset the codes and re-drove the car. It then started to come up with a different fault: the exhaust pressure control valve, code P048B00 on the scan tool.

Elliot says these are pretty common on these Audis because they sit underneath the car on the exhaust, open to all the elements. The valve controls the pressure through the exhaust and allows the engine to heat up quicker, and it can sometimes cause symptoms such as erratic idling.

A new valve went on, and the customer was happy. The first code on the screen is where a diagnosis starts. Resetting and re-driving is what brought the next one up, which is why we test before we condemn a part.

Watch this job: Elliot on the Audi exhaust pressure valve

A blue Ford Focus on the ramp in the Dudley workshop, the air mass meter plugged into the intake beside the air filter housing, the old meter held up with dirt on its casing, and the meter housing on the bench

Ford Focus 1.8 TDCiAir mass meter

A fault code for a sensor that lives inside another part: 2014 Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi

A customer from Hagley brought in this 64-plate Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi with a trouble code pointing to the air intake temperature sensor.

On this engine that sensor is not a separate part. It is built into the mass airflow sensor, the air mass meter, so the meter is what gets replaced. Order a standalone intake temperature sensor off the back of the code and it would not fit anywhere.

Elliot took out the air filter housing, removed the air mass meter from its housing and fitted the new one, then cleared the trouble codes. The car was finished the same morning.

A code reader tells you which reading is wrong. Knowing where that sensor sits on your particular engine is what turns the code into the right part, first time.

Watch this job: Elliot on the Focus air mass meter

Diagnostic scanner in the Mercedes showing the diesel particulate filter fill level at 400 per cent, with close-ups of the removed filter, its blocked internals, the exhaust temperature sensor and the car on the workshop ramps

Mercedes-Benz A200 dieselDPF, lambda and exhaust temperature sensors

A DPF reading 400 per cent full: Mercedes A200 diesel

A Stourbridge customer brought this one in with a simple complaint: no power. The diagnostics gave a less simple answer. The diesel particulate filter was reading 400 per cent full, which is the figure on the scanner in the photo, and that is not a number everyday driving produces.

A DPF traps soot from the exhaust and burns it off periodically. This one had blocked solid because a component had failed rather than because of how the car was being driven: the exhaust temperature sensor that should have been managing that burn-off was dead. With the filter off the car, it was completely blocked.

Rather than a new filter, the customer chose a secondhand unit that we had professionally cleaned, which saved a good deal of money. That went on along with a new lambda sensor and a new exhaust temperature sensor, then every fault code was cleared and the system values reset to zero. To be clear about what that means: the filter was replaced, not deleted. Removing a DPF is illegal and an automatic MOT failure, and we do not do it.

Then a road test. Elliot's word for the difference against how it arrived was unbelievable. Running perfectly.

Watch this job: Elliot on the A200 DPF diagnosis DPF cleaning and repair in Dudley, with prices

Range Rover EvoqueEngine failure, fluid contamination

AdBlue in the oil filler: a costly Range Rover Evoque mistake

This Evoque arrived on a recovery truck with catastrophic engine failure, and the cause was simple. AdBlue had gone into the engine oil filler instead of the AdBlue tank. Once it's in the oil it attacks the engine from the inside, and by the time it got to us the engine was gone.

We're not here to blame anyone. Modern cars are genuinely complicated and it's an easy mistake to make. Before you top up any fluid or follow advice off the internet, check the handbook, and if you're not certain which cap is which, ask. We'd far rather answer a quick question than see the result.

Mercedes dieselInjector copper seals

Diesel injector copper seals: an easy fault to overlook

Easy job to overlook, and it matters a lot on these engines. The copper seals sit at the base of each injector and form a heat- and gas-tight seal into the combustion chamber. Over time they compress, corrode or burn out.

Once they go you get combustion gases leaking past the injector, sooty black residue around the seats, rough running or misfires, and that unmistakable diesel smell drifting out of the engine bay. It slips past a routine service easily. Left too long it damages the injector itself, or the cylinder head, and that's a very different bill.

Know the signal

Warning lights we get called about most

Full warning lights guide

Engine management light

Steady and driving normally is usually fine for a few days. Flashing means an active misfire and you should stop, because that fuel is burning inside your catalytic converter.

ABS or traction control

Your normal brakes still work. What you have lost is the help in an emergency stop. It is an MOT failure.

Airbag or SRS

The car drives perfectly, which is why people leave these for years. Your airbags may not deploy. It is also an MOT failure.

DPF on a diesel

Usually caused by short journeys and cold running. It is often fixable with a proper run, but if it keeps coming back something else is causing it.

Red oil or temperature light

Stop. These are the two that end engines, and there is no version of this where driving on is the cheaper option.

Diagnostics from

£45

No call-out fee. No hidden extras.

What it costs

That covers the conversation, the full multi-module scan, live data, testing before condemning, and the written report.

If it turns out to be something obvious that takes two minutes, we'll tell you and you won't be charged for a full work-up you didn't need. If it's a genuinely awkward intermittent fault that needs data logging over a longer period, we'll tell you that too, and what it'll cost, before we start.

A price before any repair work begins.

When we're the right call

A warning light you want explained properly rather than guessed at
An intermittent fault that nobody has managed to pin down
You want the root cause found before you pay for parts
A modern, hybrid or electronically complicated car
You would rather the mechanic came to you than lose a day at a garage

When we're not

You already know exactly what the repair is. Call us anyway; you may not need a diagnostic at all
Manufacturer-specific coding or programming that only a franchised dealer can perform

We'll tell you honestly if someone else is a better fit for the job. It costs us nothing and saves you a wasted afternoon.

Is our equipment as good as a main dealer's?

For fault finding, yes. Our multi-brand equipment reads engine, ABS, airbag, transmission and emissions systems across virtually every make on the road, and live data is live data whoever is looking at it.

The exception is manufacturer-specific coding, where a few jobs genuinely can only be done by a franchised dealer. If your fault falls into that category we'll say so upfront rather than charge you to find out.

Mobile diagnostics across the Black Country

We collect from every town on this list and bring the car back, free. That matters more than people realise when the light on the dash is a red one. You shouldn't be driving a car with an oil pressure light on, and with us you don't have to.

Dudley Stourbridge Halesowen Brierley Hill Kingswinford Rowley Regis Sedgley Tipton

Every call is answered, and you get a collection or callout time on the phone.

How the car gets to the ramp

Three ways, and you pick the one that suits you.

Drop it off at the workshop. Or we collect it from your home or your work and bring it back afterwards, free, anywhere in our service areas. Or, if it won't start or can't safely be driven, we come out to it, read it where it stands, and recover it in if it needs to come in.

So you're not choosing between a mobile mechanic and a garage. The car gets dealt with where it is, and the diagnostic gets done on a ramp with the tools it needs.

Unit 6, Turner Street, Dudley, DY1 1TX.

55+ years between them. 12-month parts and labour warranty. £5m public liability cover.

Who'll do the work

Every job is carried out by Elliot or Keith - the mechanic who quotes your job is the one who works on your car. No call centres, no subcontractors.

Elliot Wheeler

Lead Mechanic & Founder

Founder of Your Local Mechanic. City & Guilds Level 3 qualified with 15+ years experience, specialising in modern diagnostics and hybrid vehicles across the Black Country.

Keith Wheeler

Senior Mechanic & MOT Assessor

Senior mechanic at Your Local Mechanic with 40+ years Vauxhall main dealer experience and a fully qualified MOT assessor, known for honest, careful work across the Black Country.

Before you book

Common questions

How much does car diagnostics cost?

Diagnostics starts from £45. That covers a full scan of every control module, live sensor data, testing the component before anything is condemned, and a written report. If the fault turns out to be something simple, we will tell you, and you will not be charged for a work-up you did not need.

My engine warning light is on. Can I keep driving?

If the light is steady and the car feels normal, you can usually drive gently for a few days while you get it booked in. If it is flashing, or you have lost power, or a red light has come on as well, stop as soon as it is safe and call us. Don't drive it to us. We will come to it.

Do you come to me for diagnostics?

If the car will not start, or it is not safe to drive, yes. We come out, read the codes and tell you what we are looking at, and recover it to the workshop if it needs to come in. For everything else we collect the car for free and do the full diagnostic on the ramp, where we can get under it and test properly, then bring it back.

How long does a diagnostic take?

Most take between forty-five minutes and an hour and a half, depending on how many systems are involved and whether the fault needs a road test to show itself. Intermittent faults occasionally need longer, and we will agree that with you before we start.

Will you clear the warning light for me?

Only after the fault behind it has been found and fixed. Clearing a code without diagnosing it just hides the problem, and it will come back. If a garage offers to simply reset it, be wary.

Where does the work actually happen?

At our workshop, Unit 6, Turner Street, Dudley. The full diagnostic is done on the ramp, because a lot of fault finding needs the car lifted and the engine running at the same time. Getting it there is the easy part: drop it off, or we collect it and bring it back for free, or we come out and recover it if it will not start. If the car is due a service anyway, it is worth having both done on the same visit.

Car servicing with collection and return

Is your equipment as good as a main dealer's?

For fault finding, yes. Our multi-brand equipment covers engine, ABS, airbag, transmission and emissions systems across virtually all makes and models. The one exception is manufacturer-specific coding, which only a franchised dealer can perform, and we will tell you upfront if your fault needs it.

DSG and dual-clutch gearbox diagnostics

Can a warning light fail an MOT?

Yes. An illuminated engine management, ABS, airbag, brake system, stability control, power steering or tyre pressure light will fail the test if it shows an active fault. Our dashboard warning lights guide explains each one.

Read the dashboard warning lights guide

Warning light on? Let's find out why.

Call Elliot or Keith for honest advice and a price before anything happens. If you can send a photo of the dashboard on WhatsApp, we'll often tell you straight away whether it can wait.