Can we talk about using a multimeter before assuming a box is dead?

I spent two years replacing whole LRUs on Gulfstreams because I'd see no power light and just swap it out. Then a senior tech in Savannah stopped me and showed me his trick - probe the test points on the connector pins first. Turned out 5 out of 7 times the box was fine, it was a pinched wire in the harness. Now I save like 3 hours per job and a ton of parts. Who else got caught doing that?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarmurray1mo ago

I got hit with that exact same thing on some old King Air avionics. Had a nav box that looked totally dead, swapped it out twice before a buddy told me to check the backshell pins. Turns out one of the power pins was just recessed a little from a bad crimp. I felt like an idiot but hey, now I always check the pins first and it saves a ton of headaches.

angela_kelly1mo ago

Learn the simple checks first. Almost everything breaks at the connection point.