Multi-Stage Diagnostic System and Method

A system for providing diagnostics for a vehicle having an onboard computer using a hand held electronic device, the system comprising:

• a scan tool disposable in operative communication with the onboard computer for retrieving diagnostic trouble codes therefrom;
• a diagnostic database having diagnostic solutions matched with symptomatic data;
• and
• a set of computer executable instructions downloadable onto the hand held computing device for configuring the hand held electronic device to:
• establish communication between the hand held electronic device and the scan tool;
• display a symptomatic question sequence for the user when there is no diagnostic trouble code received from the onboard computer;
• store symptomatic data received from the user;
• and
• communicate the symptomatic data to the diagnostic database;
• the diagnostic database being configured to match symptomatic data received from the hand held electronic device with a diagnostic solution.