How To Troubleshoot Anything

We’ve all heard about the guy who can fix everything he puts his hands on. Sometimes it’s the old mechanic with decades of experience who’s seen it all. Other times it’s the young one who was born to turn bolts and skin wires and troubleshoot. We all want this guy as an employee, or even better as a friend with a little spare time.

For some people, whatever ‘it’ is, they sure got it. The thing is, anyone can learn ‘it’ for themselves. Practice, good sense, and patience not included. There is a way, a formula, to fixing anything. Here it is:

When everything is good. What does ‘good’ look like? What does a component/system/truck need to function properly? Or what are it’s ‘ingredients’? Where do these ingredients come from? How are they fed into the pie?

How Does A Thing Work Or Behave When Everything Is Okay? This is often an overlooked question, but it’s by far the most important step. Not only does it completely determine whether a component should be fixed, it decides if a component was fixed properly.

We somehow always know, on the surface, when something is wrong. We know by the sound, feel, smell, etc. that something is amiss. But how does it look when it’s healthy? Where does the belt sit on the binder? How freely, or secure should this or that be? What is a normal or optimal output?

Not only do these questions help decide if any given thing needs to be repaired. Not only do these questions help decide if a repair was well done. These questions also give important information on what the problem could be in the first place.

ex. 1 – High pitched or grinding noise coming from the front of an engine. Low voltage in the dash battery gauge. Seems like an alternator bearing.

ex. 2 – Difficulty accelerating under load. Always hauling the same load. Fuel cap missing. Old dirty fuel, air or oil filter. Lack of maintenance and engine protection. The engine isn’t getting the air, fuel, and lubrication it needs to function at capacity.

First, there is a symptom. A new behavior. Then there are some observations made, less obvious if not for the original symptom (noise, lack of performance). The overall symptoms and observations lead to a theory for repair. It’s by weighing the cost of repair (parts, labor, what else may break), versus the probability of actually being the problem. This can be a very difficult decision for anyone to make. You cannot always know the right answer.

What Does A Component Need To Do Its Job

Just about every component relies on another. Everything lives as a part of a cycle. The starter needs a battery. The battery needs an alternator. The alternator needs to turn to charge the batteries. To turn the alternator you need the starter. For the starter to work you need batteries When one component isn’t doing its part, it is often brought to your attention in a very inconvenient way. Often, this happens while driving down a highway, or when you want to leave a place.

In example 1 we looked at a grinding noise and low voltage. You don’t always get both. Let’s say you only have low voltage. Voltage is maintained by the alternator, so we’ll look at the alternator. What does an alternator need to do its job of maintaining 14 volts when the engine is running? It needs a certain RPM. How does it get that? It relies on the engine’s RPM. Is the engine at speed? It also relies on the belt being tight and in good condition on the alternator pulley. Check the belt tension and its condition. The alternator is turned by the pulley. Check if the pulley turns freely and that the core inside turns with it. The alternator needs a ground and voltage from the batteries. Check the connections, cables, fuses and battery condition. By checking the ingredients that the alternator needs to do its job you will find the problem. If not, then replace the alternator. It is broken. Now test your repair.

Where Do These Ingredients Come From

Ingredients needed for components to function come in many forms. Not flour, butter, and eggs but signals (volts and amps down a wire), air (down a hose or pipe), fuel (from the tanks through a filter, a pump, another filter, another pump, an injector and into the cylinder to be burnt). Sometimes the path is long and very unclear. Not clear to the person standing over the engine, never mind in the left seat.

Checking the ingredients is always the key. How do you bake the cake that is a 15-liter diesel engine hauling tens of thousands of pounds down a highway? If you are not verifying and perfecting the ingredients, you are a cook, a parts replacer. The method is formally known as ‘spray and pray’. Do this with a few non-returnable electronic components and you see how wasteful this approach is.

A chef knows the ingredients well. A chef can find what is missing from the cake. A cook throws ingredients around like he figures or hopes. Every chef was once a cook. By hard, smart work anyone can become a chef. Unless of course you just want to throw ingredients around.

Drive safe,

Kevin Gauthier