I spent a year trying to fix my old truck with random YouTube videos

My plan was to save money by doing all the work myself, but after a year and about $500 in parts, it still wouldn't start reliably. The moment I realized my mistake was when a mechanic friend, after looking under the hood for five minutes, pointed out I'd been chasing symptoms instead of the root cause. I had replaced the battery, starter, and alternator, but the real issue was a simple, corroded ground wire. Has anyone else wasted time on a project because they didn't diagnose it properly first?

2 comments

2 Comments

violafox15h ago

Always start with a multimeter. Check for power at the battery, then at the starter, and work your way back. A bad ground will show up as a voltage drop. I keep a spare length of wire with alligator clips just to bypass and test grounds on the spot.

aaronf4015h ago

Yeah, that wire trick @violafox mentioned is a total time saver.