A customer's offhand comment about his old truck made me rethink my whole approach to diagnostics

He said, 'It only happens when I'm coming home from my night shift, after the long hill on Route 9.' I realized I'd been asking 'what' and 'when,' but never 'where.' Anyone else have a story where a location detail cracked a tough case?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_blair4h ago

Totally get what you're saying, but I'd push back a little. The "where" is just another part of the "when" in my book. That hill on his route is the specific condition that made the problem show up. It's all about finding the exact situation that triggers the issue. I've seen similar stuff where a pothole on one specific street would make a weird noise, but only when the engine was cold. You're right to dig for those details, but I see it as tightening up the "when" question, not a totally different thing.

taylorcarr1h ago

Okay but if we're lumping 'where' into 'when', then what's next? Does 'how' get swallowed up too? I mean at that point we're just asking 'stuff happened, yes or no' and good luck fixing anything. The hill is a place, not a time. My car doesn't care if it's Tuesday, it cares that the road slopes. Idk maybe it's just me but separating them seems pretty basic.