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Switched from a standard scan tool to a scope for a weird misfire and it made all the difference
I was working on a Ford F-150 with a random cylinder 3 misfire that wouldn't show up on my usual scanner. A guy at the parts counter said to try a scope, so I borrowed a Pico 2204A from a friend. Watching the ignition waveform live showed a tiny spark breakdown right at the plug gap that the scanner completely missed. Have you ever been surprised by how much a scope can show you on an intermittent problem?
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milascott1mo ago
Scopes just show you what's actually happening.
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mary_foster921mo ago
Feel your pain on the electrical gremlins. I fought a weird voltage drop for weeks before I borrowed a scope. The visual proof just shuts down all the guesswork.
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Honestly I used to think scopes were overkill for most shops. But seeing a waveform catch something like that, it's hard to argue with the raw data. Totally changed how I look at weird electrical gremlins.
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