Watched a kid with a 20 dollar code reader school me on diagnostics

Last month at a shop in Tucson I've been at for 11 years, this young guy brings in a 2014 Civic that's throwing a P0420. I'm already thinking catalytic converter, got a $1,400 quote written up. He asks if he can check something first, pulls out this cheap Bluetooth dongle and his phone. Spends 5 minutes looking at live fuel trims before the engine even warms up, then points at the rear O2 sensor voltage. Turns out the wiring harness had rubbed through near the transmission mount, grounding out the sensor signal. I never even thought to check that because I was stuck on the code. It cost him $12 in tape and an hour of his time. That moment made me realize how easy it is to get lazy with scan tool flowcharts instead of actually thinking about what the data is saying. You guys ever catch yourself defaulting to the parts cannon when a live data check would tell you the real story faster?

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