Workshop software

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OWNER AND FLEET OPERATORS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Does anyone know any decent software? I’m thinking about doing more in house servicing and maintenance and want to find software and dongle to suit as many of our vehicles as possible. I ideally need to know how much the kit is and if it works on yearly licensing.

I would also like to know who does software to suit light and heavy, our current fitter has diagnostic software for cars, vans and trucks and can reset servicing data and access fault codes but he only works a couple of days a week and I would ideally like us to do more with our full time fitter.

We run: HGV’s MAN and Scania,

Light commercials, Ford and Mercedes

Cars/4x4, Jeep, Nissan, VW and Mitsubishi

A total of 22 vehicles in total.

2

I think I’m going to struggle with this topic…

3

Does the kit your part time fitter have do all the things you need it to?

Could you not just get what he’s got and get your full timer trained up on it?

4

are you looking for diagnostic software or workshop management software ( job cards/invoicing etc) ?

5

A "texa " may be what your after

6

norb:
A "texa " may be what your after

yes, but, TEXA equivalent does not pick up everything or as much as Davie does for the DAF

7

texa is ok as long as you keep updating the software as and when required . can have programs for trucks,trailers,cars,boats,tractors
i.e today had a man with a mil light on
texa said exhaust pressure sensor , fit new sensor fault cured , also said inlet manifold temp sensor , cleaned that fault cured. mil light stil on although no faults, so reset mil light, light goes out , roadtest , happy days
davie is ok for daf
star is ok for merc
etc etc

8

To get the kind of coverage that you need will cost in the region of £6K + yearly updates license etc. no 1 machine will cover everything but will do a bit of this & a bit of that.
We use 4 different machines to get reasonable coverage across the various brands/models
of vehicles.

9

Might be worth you subscribing to Transport Engineer, for reviews etc. Other useful stuff too if you’re doing your own work.

10

Some good advice, it is diagnostics I’m looking for, not management software.

6k a year seems like a lot! It doesn’t even seem worth it for 20-30 vehicles.

The software my subbing fitter uses is ok but out of date, and I wanted to know what else was on the market to be honest.

11

That texa kit looks good, and covers what I want, it can even cover my John deers, we have 8 of them. But does anyone know what sort of price they are? I’m tempted to give them a call but don’t think I will bother if I’m looking at 6K!

12

give texa a call see if there is any deals ,you won’t know the true price unless you ask .

13

Does your visiting fitter only work two days a week, or only two days a week for you? If the latter whose choice is that? From his viewpoint it makes a difference about investing in the £6K you don’t want to spend on diagnostics.

14

snap on do a sun diagnosic one for trucks which is acctually a jeltest.

15

Texa for me.
We’ve used JalTest, Eclipse and Iveco Easy before deciding on Texa.
For mixed fleet use it’s got the best coverage we can find. We do a lot of service van work so can be called to any vehicle, trailer or plant, including cars. The full package including Truck, Trailer and Car, along with full cable sets for truck and trailer, came to about £6’600.

A lot to swallow, they allowed 4 monthly payments to ease cash flow.

So far, we’ve been able to do a lot more in-house than we have been able to before. Once over a lot of workshop stuff went to the dealers. Now, we can carry out the same engine tests, turbo tests, forced re-gens, injector and pump coding, actuator activations, immobiliser and key coding, module coding that dealers can. On top of that, the built-in wiring diagrams have proven invaluable. It’s easy to decide you need to test wiring between X and Y. But when there’s 50 wires all the same colour disappearing into a loom at one end of the truck, it’s not always easy to find the same wire the other end!
With the wiring diagrams, you look up the wire and you can see on the screen the wire runs from terminal 3 on a sensor to pin 48 on the ECU plug. It also gives component locations and pictures (so you know what you’re looking for and where to find it).
On top of that, there’s comprehensive sections on component values. Example from today - Renault Kangoo van came up with a fault code relating to the crank angle sensor. Dug into the component location section and itshowed a picture of what the sensor looked like, and where it was located on the engine. Then into the Component testing section which said the sensor should have a resistance of 750 - 800 ohms through it. We tested it, 600 ohms. Replaced the sensor, engine fired up.

Of course, other machines can be more comprehensive on specific brands. As Spanky says, DAVIE is more comprehensive on DAFs, well it will be, it’s the dealer machine. Such as Iveco Easy/Eltrac or MB Star. But for an all-rounder that’ll cover a mixed fleet, I believe Texa is the best you’ll find.

On the subject of fleet management software (which I acknowledge you say you’re not looking for), well guess what? Yes, the Texa has the facility to store fleet data, service histories, previous diagnostic outcomes, parts portal etc…

I’m not a Texa salesman, believe it or not, just putting my point of view across. It’s become one of them bits of kit that I can’t understand how we managed without it!

16

Can I ask how many bits of kit you run and what they are?

I decided to give Texa a call and they are coming back to me with a price, and when we get another fitter on the books I would consider buying software if it was the right price.

Texa kit does look good, I just hope I haven’t priced myself out of getting it because of the range of kit we have, we don’t have hundreds of machines but it would be beneficial to use it on the agri, trucks, cars and vans.

£6,600 seems a lot for us to spend.

17

For the cost of the software you could visit the dealers lots of times :wink:

The texa system is ok , but the comment from the workshop that does my servicing was " it talks to every system but in an slightly average way, the dealer software is more reliable"

And with a cost of £6-7k and £1500 ish a year it would take a lot of vehicles to justify it in my opinion.

18

That’s what my opinion is to Dennis, but if they offer me the kit a lot cheaper and cap the number of vehicles I can use it on (not sure if that’s possible) I would consider it.

19

ibson:
Can I ask how many bits of kit you run and what they are?

I decided to give Texa a call and they are coming back to me with a price, and when we get another fitter on the books I would consider buying software if it was the right price.

Texa kit does look good, I just hope I haven’t priced myself out of getting it because of the range of kit we have, we don’t have hundreds of machines but it would be beneficial to use it on the agri, trucks, cars and vans.

£6,600 seems a lot for us to spend.

A lot less than a full-time fitter’s annual overhead though.

20

ibson:
Can I ask how many bits of kit you run and what they are?

Sure, we run 10 Iveco Daily 6.5 tonners 51-58 plates, 3 Isuzu NQRs 57-59 plates, 1999 Iveco Cursor, 1999 FM12, 2001 MAN Roadhaus, 2005 FH16, new Transits, Ford Connect, CAT telehandler, various cars.
All the rest of the fleet has no engine management (Scammell S26, Scania 93M, MAN Eco 420, AWD 12-18, forklifts, tractors, older Iveco dailys, Smiley Transits, genny’s and compressors etc).

That’s our own fleet, we do workshop work for a few large fleets, one a 100 strong fleet of various vans, another 70 strong fleet of mostly Premiums. The service van work, we work for all the commercial clubs, FMG, AA Truck, RAC Comical, Fleet Support etc, we are called out to all types of commercial vehicles, units, rigids, trailers and plant.

With the car package, we weren’t 100% sure that was right for us, so the salesman did us a deal: He knocked the price right down for the car software/subscription, just to try it. If it works out for us we can just extend the subscription come renewal time, if we hadn’t used it much or decided we don’t need it, just don’t renew the subscription and only update the truck package. Seems a fair deal.

The subscriptions, you don’t have to update them every year, the machine doesn’t lock out our expire if you don’t renew. BUT… when you do update it, you can’t miss years out, you have to buy the ones you’ve missed out, if that makes any sense.
For example, if you bought the machine in 2005, you could keep using it as long as you want, it won’t expire. If in 2009 you choose to update it, you have to buy 2006, 2007 2008’s updates as well.

I find the saving doesn’t only come from the cost of dealer diagnosis, but it’s also seen in the time spent diagnosing in our own workshop. Jobs that once over took half a day can now take half an hour. Some diagnosing was done purely by a process of elimination, swapping bits off other trucks to see if it cures the fault, now we can test components rather than guessing. A more firm diagnosis can save money on parts too, how many times have you condemned something, replaced it only to find the fault is still there? That becomes expensive with such things as injectors or electrical sensors, as once they’re opened they can’t be returned for credit.