Part of Lesson Plan: **Retrieving Diagnostic Trouble Codes (updated) by Dale Critchfield

Activity Overview / Details

As students enter the classroom, they will see a picture of a “Check Engine light” on the screen from a Power Point slide. I will give the students a task sheet on “Procedures for retrieving trouble codes” that the students can use to follow along and take notes on during my lecture.

I will continue with the Power Point and stop at key points and allow the students to ask questions and take notes during the presentation. I will ask the class with a show of hands, “What does it mean when a service engine light turns on in the dash board?”  I will ask the students if they know how a technician would diagnose a service engine light. I will wait for their responses and eventually hold up a diagnostic scan tool and tell them that one method to retrieve trouble codes is to utilize this scan tool.

I will inform the students that by the end of this lesson they will be able to use a scan tool to retrieve trouble codes from the Electronic Control Unit (ECU, ECM, PCM) of the vehicle's computer control system.