Modern automobiles are manufactured with sophisticated sensors, computer controls and On Board Diagnostics (OBD). Even with all of these systems operating correctly, the engine emissions can be nearly one and a half times the EPA standards set for the engine at the time it was certified. This means a vehicle can be operating at lower efficiency with no indication that anything may be wrong. In many cases the only way to know how well the engine is performing is to measure the tail pipe emissions using an NDIR based diagnostic instrument. OBD certainly can tell when the computer can no longer keep the engine running correctly but there are many failures a service technician cannot determine by OBD diagnostics alone. Tail pipe testing of the vehicle offers another level of diagnostics and verification that a specific repair action was actually correct. There are a number of components or interfaces in modern vehicle that are not or cannot be monitored by a specific sensor. Failure in these areas may result in a "Check Engine" condition that has no associated trouble code. Again, measurement of the actual tail pipe emissions provides today's highly trained and skilled service technicians yet another tool to add to the "tool box" which can mean all the difference in overall diagnostic and repair actions taken by the service technician. Of course the quality of the tailpipe test makes all the difference when being used for service or inspection. Low cost, low performance emissions testers provide a service technician with readings but how does he or she know the readings are real? Modern engine control technology requires higher performance emissions analyzers the service technician can rely on as being accurate and reliable. Many analyzers claim to be accurate to BAR 97 or OIML Class 0 or some other performance specification yet have not been certified or tested at all conditions these specifications require. At the heart of these analyzers is the NDIR gas-sensing bench. If this sensing device is inferior the data being reported is inferior and the technician has no way of knowing this. The Andros 6500 and 6510 are manufactured and tested at the specified limits defined in most of the worldwide specifications. The strictest of these specifications is applied to each and every product built to ensure the OEM is receiving the highest performance measurement capability for any regulation in any country. Built-in diagnostics ensure the analyzer is always operating at peak performance. The OEM and their customers, the service technician, can be assured of the quality of their measurements.
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