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Electrical Work
Diagnosing and repairing
catastrophic electrical issues
A comprehensive repair helps to alleviate comeback concerns and
allows shops to see profit-making potential.
by Barry Hoyland, Contributing Editor
Most technicians fall into one of
two categories about how to deal with a
catastrophic electrical failure (meaning,
an electrical issue which causes a fire):
they either embrace them, or want to
run fast and far away from them.
Having a full understanding of what
is necessary to perform a complete
diagnosis, a comprehensive repair and
verifying full functionality will not only
help alleviate comeback concerns, but
will allow you to see the profit-making
potential in electrical repair.
The worst electrical failures you
will see are fires where the damage is so
severe you may not be able to determine
the component that started the fire. In
these cases, it will be necessary to repair
the damage that is visible and test every
component that is connected or driven
by wiring or other components within
the same system. An example of this
would be testing any and all solenoids
and actuators in the system to assure
none of them are shorted or open, and
they all function properly.
Step 1: Determine the
extent of damage
Determining the extent of the damage
will allow you to plan the best way
to perform the repair.
If wiring harness damage is extensive,
it may be more cost-effective to
replace either part or the whole harness,
rather than splice in numerous
wires. Either way, it will be necessary
to use your vehicle information source
to access the wiring diagram, component
locator and system specifications.
The wiring diagram will not only assist
in providing information such as wire
color, routing and connections, but also
details about what other components
may have been affected or even the
cause of the fire. A component locator
will assist you in finding the exact
location of components, splices and
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