TRAINING

20 November 2008

Lindertech 2008

Michele Winn – Amazing Analysis by the Sleuth

By Brian Early

While several of the trainers at Lindertech North 2008 presented seminars that were heavily technical and to the point, Michele Winn’s presentation blended light-hearted humour—such as the trials and tribulations of “Skippy,” the shop fall-guy—with a break-down of her real world approach to diagnosing a variety of problem vehicles.

Photo: Michele Winn, Amazing Analysis by the Sleuth. Don’t be

fooled by Michele’s petite stature or relaxed demeanour!

Don’t be fooled by Michele’s petite stature or relaxed demeanour—this lady has been turning wrenches professionally since 1993 and is ASE certified in more than a half-dozen specialties, including “L1” Advanced Level Performance. Her “Sleuth” nickname comes from her informal position of chief driveability technician at Linder Technical Services, where she has been since 1999.

Poor Skippy

“Skippy” is Michele’s name for the shop lackey, be it the apprentice or the part-swapping tech that just should have known better. He (or she) is the comical foil in Michele’s tales of vehicle diagnostics gone wrong. As she puts it, “every shop has a Skippy, and if you don’t know who they are, then you’re Skippy!”

Pattern failure diagnostics

Some of the case studies presented might have seemed obvious, especially to those that frequently work on the particular vehicles mentioned, however many of us find ourselves working on whatever rolls up to the door, so having some insight into how to identify, confirm, and repair common pattern failures is quite helpful. Not everything goes according to plan though. We all have bad days, and the Sleuth shared cases where her diagnostic path took a wrong turn and why. Sometimes you learn the most from your mistakes!

Order of operations

One notable case study involved a stalling and poorly running 1996 Pontiac Sunfire with multiple codes and a random misfire. Referred by another shop that felt it required a PCM reflash, it seemed to Michele that there might be something else going on.

Instead, a look at scan data values, KOEO (key on/engine off), revealed several anomalous readings, coolant temperature among them. Disconnecting the coolant temperature sensor altered the other erroneous readings (actually making them worse), leading her towards the eventual discovery of a rubbed-through and corroded wiring harness—the common element between them.

Having it as part of her typical procedure to analyze KOEO data as part of her work process definitely aided her diagnosis in this case.

Indeed, Michele’s presentation highlighted the need for the implementation of a logical order of operations; skipping a step or assuming anything along the way tends to do more harm then good. Not only could it prolong your diagnostics, it could just make you the shop Skippy.