Chose a $90 timing light over a $400 scan tool and it paid off

Had a 2003 Civic come in last month with a misfire that kept moving around. I could have bought a $400 scan tool to watch live misfire data, but I grabbed a $90 timing light instead. Turned out the cam was a tooth off after the guy did his own belt job in his driveway. The light showed it in about 10 minutes while the scan tool would have just told me which cylinder was missing. Sometimes the cheap old tools beat the fancy ones. What old school tools do you guys still reach for over the new stuff?

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williamh653d ago

I keep a vacuum gauge in my top drawer for stuff like that. Had a truck last year that ran rough as hell and the guy swore it was the fuel pump, but the needle was bouncing all over at idle which pointed right at a burnt valve. Twenty bucks at a swap meet and it told me more in two minutes than a code reader would have. The computers only know what the sensors tell them, a vacuum gauge just tells you the truth.

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