Vehicle down on and off for 6 months
Intermittent network fault that only showed up hot
By Sebastian Rivera
The short answer
This intermittent fault only appeared when the vehicle was hot because the cooling fans caused vibration. A connector whose locking clip had never been latched shifted just enough each time the fans came on to open 1 wire of the network.
- Down
- 6 months, on and off
- Found and fixed
- 3 days
- Technicians who had already tried
- 14
- Vehicle
- Vehicle down on and off for 6 months
- Symptom
- Network fault that only showed up hot
- Already tried
- 14 technicians before Sebastian could not find the fault.
How it was found
- Looked at when the fault happened, not just what codes it set.
- The data pointed to vibration.
- The fault lined up with the cooling fans kicking on.
- Found a connector whose locking clip had never been latched.
Root cause
An unlatched connector shifting with fan vibration and opening 1 wire of the network.
What this means for your team
Intermittent faults usually have a trigger. Heat, vibration and load all leave patterns in the data, and matching the fault to its trigger narrows the search fast.