For those about to scope , We salute you, But...

[Witsend]

But if you live in a damp salty corrosive environment like the mid west USA , no matter how little a hole you poke in the insulation or weather pack with a needle probes, EZ hooks , sooner or later Old Man winter is going to F'dup that wire or connector where you just poked back probed the weather pack seal or pierced the wire insulation unless you take some sort of measure to prevent entry of moisture . Do you coat wire with a liquid plastic or at least squeeze a little dielectric silicone compound at the insulation wound entry point with your fingers. If you don't you are being more of an A-hole
doing that in the long run than setting a cold beer on the roof without a coaster.
You Scopers out there might have caught and saved yourself plenty of traces of known good component off of car in the past to refer to later if needed , but if the wires aren't getting green and swollen already , are you really just setting the customer and yourself up for future wire harness headaches by piercing wiring and connectors unnecessarily on non problem vehicles just to get traces of known good components? I'm tired of not being able to just toss parts anymore because I seem to have to fix all the green wires caused by folk piercing a hole in em a few years before , just to get their jollies off with a new Verus

[sbreland73]

I'm tired of not being able to just toss parts anymore

Perhaps you might consider retirement.

[ratherbefishing75]

green death

rember it may come back to haunt u ive had to chase many of broken wires due to a holes that like to just prick wires

[Witsend]

sealing wire insulation and connector accupunture wounds

Even on problem cars that need to be tested, short of extracting a connector terminal and sliding heat shrink tubing over the pierced wire, is there anything quicker than dielectric compound pushed into a puncture wound , gasket sealer compound or something. What do people who do give a sh@t do to prevent wire corrosion? I would think a spot of hot glue might seal a punture pretty well if wire is clean enough.

[Modis500]

Lots of talk of "parts throwing" on here these days, am I right? We as techs use our skills and diagnose to the best of our abilities using the tools at our disposal, but in my opinion "guessing with known problems or pattern failures" doesn't teach you anything, but the one person learning anything is the customer now knowing not to come back to you for "parts replacing"
Just my two cents...

[Crusty]

There are "back Probe" terminal tools for accessing a circuit without damaging the insulation.
Poking holes in wires went out of fashion 25 years ago-!!! with circuits using milliamps and millivolts, and some signals even down to microvolts on todays vehicles, any kind of voltage drop caused by an errant probe can send someone chasing their tail.

Personally, I will use safety pins and sewing needles to slide down the outside of the insulation to make contact with the crimped terminal and never deform the mating terminals from the front where the male/female terminal junction is.

Poking holes and stuffing probes into the front of connectors is HACK work. The sooner the people doing that are tarred and feathered and run out of town after a public flogging, the better.

Identa-GUESS is just that.....mathematical odds just the same as rolling craps at Vegas. Tossing parts.....sheesh....

Check
Test
Confirm the test
Repair
Confirm the repair
Done right, no comebacks....

Doctors are taught the Hippocratic Oath of "Do No Harm".
Aren't WE Doctors of automobiles-???

[Witsend]

" Doctors are taught the Hippocratic Oath of "Do No Harm".
Aren't WE Doctors of automobiles-???"

Hey , I agree , but at least the your skin usually heals up on it's own after a week or so of having a needle stuck in your arm and if the wound gets infected and the customer (patient) sues the doctor , only the nurse ends up getting fired, so we have to be extra careful unless we hire a nurse to do the probing for us too, LOL

[Crusty]

""The art of medicine is amusing the patient while nature cures the disease""....

[Witsend]

Exactly , so as a car nurse poking something like a needle or IV into the back of a connector that is never going to heal by itself if I miss the vein , I figure this is about the nicest looking set I have seen so far to probe and check car vitals with.

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-64900-17-Piece-Probe-Alligator/dp/B00AUIAVXI

[Crusty]

Those probes are designed to slide down the wire into the back of the connector past the weather seal the same way I use safety pins and sewing needles. Been doing that for over 20 years and I haven't damaged any connectors yet, and 95% of my customers return year after year.
I don't want to be the one to have to chase down a damaged connector so I don't damage them.

That is a nice set though.

[SPS10.4]

I bought a red/black pair of backprobes for my Vantage Pro the other day. Snap-On dealer had a sales flyer so they may be a newer product. Banana plugs work with most DMMs' or scopes. They have a .5mm diameter pin. Made in South Korea. Stock number is MTTL7005.
I use the sewing pins that came with my Pico as well. When I absolutely had to pierce a wire, I used a dab of Ultra Black RTV.

[ratherbefishing75]

for like 5 bucks you can get 2 packs of 50 each t pins at a fabric store and some liquied eletrical tape is cheep enough

[maven]

if for some reason I absolutely have had to pierce a wire to do testing, and I can probably count the number of times Ive done this in the last decade on one hand, I do remove the terminal from the connector and slide an adhesive lined piece of heatshrink over it. This and not piercing in the first place is what people who give a sh!t do.

I believe the surge in popularity of piercing wires is due in part at least to very popular technicians advocating the use of the practice in their videos/classes, youtube brings their opinions and less than ideal practices right into the homes and bays of thousands and thousands of techs. Who now have an 'expert" telling them its OK, to pierce and not to listen to the whiners who say not to.

Am I slower than someone with the same diagnostic skill level I have but who just pierces and smears (or doesnt even treat at all)???.....Im sure. But I cant work like that.

Wit, I have that exact set you posted, it is nice for $40. they pop right into the end of modular banana scope/dmm leads.

[Crusty]

You can FORCE it
you can F.... it
or
you can FINESSE it

Sliding the safety pin or sewing needle down the side of the wire is probing the same way the probe kits do.....

Just connect your meter lead alligator clip and test away
Nothing damaged.
Might take a wee bit longer as Maven says but in the long run the tortoise wins the race

[sbreland73]

I peirce, because sometimes you can't get to a connector in a reasonable amount of time. However I ALWAYS use this stuff to cover the "wound".

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Bender-4-fl-oz-Liquid-Electrical-Tape-LTB-400/100119178