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Hated on ECM data until it saved my bacon on a tough job
I always thought real mechanics figured things out by feel and sound, not by staring at a screen. Engine computers seemed like a way for manufacturers to make things harder. Then I had this pickup in the shop with a rough idle. I was convinced it was a fuel delivery issue based on the sputter. Checked the pump, the lines, the filter, everything looked good. I was about to tear into the injectors when my buddy said to just scan it first. The code came back for a bad camshaft position sensor. Swapped it out, and the truck ran smooth. Now I scan before I touch anything. It cuts out so much wasted time.
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the_dylan7mo ago
Man, I feel this so hard. I swore by my timing light and vacuum gauge for years and thought scan tools were a crutch. Spent a whole afternoon once chasing a miss on an old van, replaced plugs, wires, the coil, you name it. Finally plugged in the scanner on a whim and it was just a lazy downstream O2 sensor. Felt like a total idiot but it changed my whole process. How many hours do you think we've all wasted fighting the computer instead of just asking it first?
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nguyen.elizabeth7mo ago
My buddy Rich did the same thing with his truck (he's a vacuum line purist, you know the type). He chased a rough idle for two days, cleaned the throttle body twice, even redid the intake gaskets. His cheap code reader showed nothing, so he assumed the computer was fine. Borrowed a real scan tool and found the throttle position sensor was barely sending a signal at idle. All that work over a five minute data stream check. He won't even open the hood now without plugging in first.
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the_matthew7mo ago
Saw a guy at the shop last month replace a whole fuel pump assembly on his Cherokee. Three hours of swearing. His buddy finally asked to see the live data, found a chafed wire to the pump relay. Five cent electrical tape fix after all that.
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emma_jones7mo ago
Classic Rich, always the hard way first.
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