ChatGPT Sorted my Car

Roughneck

Roughneck

Roughneck

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,740
Location
Aberdeen
I don’t know if anyone remembers, but a while ago I was having issues with a loud squealing noise coming from my engine. I took the car into the garage, and after hooking it up to the laptop they said they couldn’t see what was wrong with it. The only clue was that the noise stopped when the oil filler cap was removed.

I put this into ChatGPT, and it came back saying it was 99% sure the issue was a faulty PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve. Turns out it was right. I asked the garage to replace it, and since then there’s been no noise at all.

Just goes to show—unless it’s a dash light or a computer error code, the art of modern mechanics diagnosing issues themselves seems to have disappeared.
 
It's a trade off - mechanics have their hands tied these days, if they suggest replacing something that might cure a fault and it doesn't, then the customer will complain that they've wasted money
 
The amount of times I've used ChatGPT for my bike project is nothing short of alarming. And of the dozens of times I've used it, it's been wrong once. Even then I told it that it was wrong and it had a rethink and spat out the correct answer.


Something else I also clicked, is that you can use it to find answers in foreign languages which is very helpful. I was after a proper Turkish chicken shish recipe, so I asked it to find me one on a proper Turkish website and ten seconds later I had one.


I absolutely love ChatGPT.
 
Armageus said:
It's a trade off - mechanics have their hands tied these days, if they suggest replacing something that might cure a fault and it doesn't, then the customer will complain that they've wasted money
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yep trying to save daughter some money..... expansion bottle gets low on water every couple of months literally 10 to 20 mm.
daughter worried so put the pressure tester on it and no drop over a couple of hours.
local garage she has her tyres at reckon its a tiny leak in the radiator?? quoted 200 notes to change. shes adament it must be right cause they have told her. so guess who is changing the rad....(100 quid probably for nothing grrr)
 
gc123 said:
yep trying to save daughter some money..... expansion bottle gets low on water every couple of months literally 10 to 20 mm.
daughter worried so put the pressure tester on it and no drop over a couple of hours.
local garage she has her tyres at reckon its a tiny leak in the radiator?? quoted 200 notes to change. shes adament it must be right cause they have told her. so guess who is changing the rad....(100 quid probably for nothing grrr)
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Probably a tiny split in a pipe, perhaps even an ever so slightly loose hose clip that only allows a small amount out when the engine is warm and the coolant is hot and the pressure is higher.
 
jpaul said:
what's the latest on the recent heater problem/thread though ? with blower/hedghog/fuses changed
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Electronics… I’ve already spent nearly £800 on brakes, a suspension arm, pads, and now this valve. The heater will just have to wait a month or two. Got myself a thermal blanket for the window and I’ll be sticking with the old 2-litre warm water trick on the dash — it works.

Car’s turning into a money pit, but I can’t afford a new one. Only 37k on the clock, had it since new (62 plate). Mechanically it’s sound and the body’s in good nick — just these annoying bits draining the wallet.
 
Roughneck said:
Electronics… I’ve already spent nearly £800 on brakes, a suspension arm, pads, and now this valve. The heater will just have to wait a month or two. Got myself a thermal blanket for the window and I’ll be sticking with the old 2-litre warm water trick on the dash — it works.

Car’s turning into a money pit, but I can’t afford a new one. Only 37k on the clock, had it since new (62 plate). Mechanically it’s sound and the body’s in good nick — just these annoying bits draining the wallet.
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Having bought many a cheap car I've always found bits start failing due to age after about 10-12 years regardless of mileage and there's not a lot you can do about it. Which worries me as my BMW is now over ten years old.
 
Diddums said:
The amount of times I've used ChatGPT for my bike project is nothing short of alarming. And of the dozens of times I've used it, it's been wrong once. Even then I told it that it was wrong and it had a rethink and spat out the correct answer.


Something else I also clicked, is that you can use it to find answers in foreign languages which is very helpful. I was after a proper Turkish chicken shish recipe, so I asked it to find me one on a proper Turkish website and ten seconds later I had one.


I absolutely love ChatGPT.
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As long as you check the sources to ensure there's no weird stuff popping up with anything particularly important, ChatGPT is probably the best "search engine" on the internet right now tbh.

It's barely worth using Google or the others, they just use crappier versions of AI + insane filters and advertising to the point it's a waste of time.
 
Armageus said:
It's a trade off - mechanics have their hands tied these days, if they suggest replacing something that might cure a fault and it doesn't, then the customer will complain that they've wasted money
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Surely it's their job to know or diagnose it properly though.

If I repair a PC or server and I replace expensive parts which don't fix it, people will be rightly annoyed and expect me or my company to cover the cost :P
 
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Nasher said:
Surely it's their job to know or diagnose it properly though.

If I repair a PC or server and I replace expensive parts which don't fix it, people will be rightly annoyed and expect me or my company to cover the cost :P
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It's a bit easier to diagnose parts on a PC as there's a much smaller selection of cross platform compatible parts, e.g. if you have known working different socket CPUs, sticks of ddr4 and 5, a GPU and a PSU, you can generally quite quickly swap them out and see which one fixes the problem.

A garage isn't going to keep a known good example of every single part for every single car from the last 20 years to be able to swap them out to test (unless they're a specialist for a specific make/model)
 
Nasher said:
Surely it's their job to know or diagnose it properly though.
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Fairly sure it's not as black and white as diagnosing PC hardware (where things general work or don't, and even if they are intermittent then there's little cost impact of borrowing a replacement part to try)

Nasher said:
If I repair a PC or server and I replace expensive parts which don't fix it, people will be rightly annoyed and expect me or my company to cover the cost :P
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Honestly can't believe you are comparing swapping car parts to PCs or Servers :cry:

Not sure there are many jobs even on a Server that require numerous hours of labour.

You can't just "borrow" someone's radiator, or ECU or anything else, unlike swapping out a PSU or RAM or whatever in a PC.
 
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I used it this week to diagnose and fix an issue with one of my bikes, it has been brilliant.

This made me laugh this morning also:

So in short — everything’s working exactly as it should
You’ve gone from lever swap → full electrical diagnosis → success story.

Nice work. ️

(You might even say the V-Strom lives to brake another day )
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Armageus said:
It's a trade off - mechanics have their hands tied these days, if they suggest replacing something that might cure a fault and it doesn't, then the customer will complain that they've wasted money
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Its been like that and rightly so in most repair industries for an age. Why should the customer pay for something they didn't need.
We used to own an electronics repair centre and we always took the hit on parts not needed. Although we did charge for the labour in fault finding. If we couldn't return the parts then they went on the shelf for us to use at a future time
 
On a side note, I’ve also used it to do some basic Python programming. I’d never touched programming in my life before I got ChatGPT. I’ve also used it to help me learn some Russian and to sort out a CV and covering letter. If only I could get it to help me play better at FM24 with some super tactics! I like it so much that I even pay for a subscription.

Oh and I used it to calculate the cost of carpets in my new house. I did try and make a meditation mp3 with it but the voice was rubbish but Im sure it will come
 
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