Originally Posted by
John E
... but I had to donate the 1996 Audi A4 Quattro to PBS after a substantial electrical short / meltdown / near-fire in the power window circuitry. (I had a long career in the semiconductor industry, and I currently teach electrical engineering and computer science at a local university, so it hurt to admit defeat on this one.)
Originally Posted by
merziac
I know that feeling, 20 year fomoco and ASE Senior Master Technician, had a couple of cars that ended up at "we can replace the wiring harness and see what happens".
These were problems that were out of my specialty that I took on after they kicked other techs azzes that couldn't get there, I proceeded to join them but was fairly confident it would work and/or the problem would be found if we went there as that is what usually happened, you would find a water leak, pinchpoint or shrinkage stretch, abrasion, rub through area that didn't test/prove out during diag azz whoopin but became obvious once you got your eyeball or hand on it.
"How does one find a electrical issue?" "Look for the smoke of the electrons escaping" says my own FoMoCo/ASE Senior Master Tech buddy... No longer a FoMoCo grease monkey, but he keeps current with his ASE training/certification. He is 'on call' to several of the repair shops around town. They call him in for the tricky ones... Oh, and for the really strange things we say that "The Universe is made up of Protrons, Neutrons, Electrons and lastly Queertrons because who knows whys that circuit is doing that" What he typically finds are pinched wires, botched wiring, corrosion, and sometimes just a bad part right out of the box... His idea of 'relaxation' is buying and fixing rebuildable wrecks from the insurance auctions. He's converted his '95 F250 4x4 351/5.8L Speed density/batchfire to a 393w stroker Mass Air/SEFI. Doing a Mass-air conversion requires the whole front body wiring harness (for the Mass air meter, and other sensor wiring), the engine wiring harness and sensors, and the proper programmed ECU. also must add O2 sensors for each cylinder bank, manufacturing a 'tone ring' for the crank position sensor, etc... My '95 7.5L F250 is next, and that is going to be tougher to find the correct parts for...