My $120 Sun analyzer still catches stuff my $900 scanner waves right through
Picked up a Sun MCA-3000 at a garage sale in Mesa for $120 about 8 months ago, mostly for the scope to check ignition patterns on older stuff. Ran it against my new scan tool on a 2004 Silverado with a rough idle that showed zero codes. Scanner said all clear, but the old Sun scope showed the #4 injector pintle bouncing like a sewing machine needle. Swapped it and the shake went away. Any of you keep old analog gear around for stuff the computers miss?
Ever tried watching live data on a scanner while wiggling wires? I keep an old analog dwell meter and a vacuum gauge in the box for the same reason, they show stuff in real time that a scanner smooths right over. Had a 5.3 with a miss no code would ever catch, and a compression gauge and my ears found it in ten minutes.