The Road to a Great Diagnostician Part 2
In Part 1 we discussed the importance of attending training conferences and building a diagnostic support network. If you want to accel in diagnostics it is especially important that you understand how to learn. What I mean by this is you must understand what classes to take, how to gain as much knowledge from each class as possible and then how to retain it. This is where we will start for Part 2!
The biggest mistake I see technicians make when it comes to training is, they choose classes that they are comfortable with. For example, maybe a Honda technician comes to an event and they sign up for all Honda specific classes on subjects they already have vast knowledge on. At the end of an event, they say they didn’t learn anything, and the classes were rudimentary. The problem is they forgot how to learn, in order to gain knowledge, you have to take classes on things you don’t already know or are unfamiliar with. Let’s use an example for the hypothetical student above, two weeks ago Bill Technician was working on a 2009 Ford Van for the used car department. The van exhibited an extended crank. He performed a system scan, what he found was code P0340 camshaft position sensor circuit malfunction. Bill pulled the sensor out, inspected it and determined it was bad, so he installed a new sensor. Upon starting the vehicle, the code immediately returned, and the vehicle still had an extended crank. Next Bill checked for voltage and ground at the sensor and decided the PCM must be bad. The PCM was replaced and low and behold the code returned and the symptom persisted. Long story short there was a problem with the reluctor on the camshaft because someone had installed the wrong engine in this vehicle a year prior. The technician is made up, the scenario is not. Bill has attended classes in the past but focuses on areas he is already comfortable with therefore his knowledge is never expanded.
So, the question becomes what should Bill do different in the future? He should attend diagnostic classes or electrical classes to help further his knowledge of how the sensors work and how to test them, so he doesn’t have to go through this a second time. If this scenario sounds familiar to you, you are not alone, do not feel embarrassed about this at all, its an easy fix. Next time something like this happens to you take notes on what happened and write down the system or component you had a problem diagnosing. Next time you are able to attend a training conference, look for classes that pertain to the problem you struggled with. I personally keep a running list of subjects I struggled to diagnose or felt took me too long to fix and therefore I must not have a good grasp on the system or how to diagnose it. If you do this your knowledge will grow ten-fold in a short amount of time.
Lastly when you take that class take as many notes as possible. Show up early and talk to the instructor ahead of time about the problem you encountered in the past. That way when the topic is covered, he/she can go over that part in more detail so you will thoroughly understand it. Take ample notes and if you don’t understand something raise your hand and ask questions. There are no bad questions and no one there is going to make fun of you. Remember in part 1 I told you everyone there is humble and just wants to help others learn. This is one of those examples of that.
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