My old boss in Bakersfield said to skip the parts cannon and actually test the circuit first, and I owe him one
Ten years back I was a young tech chasing a no start on a 2004 Silverado and I had already thrown a fuel pump and a crank sensor at it with no luck. My boss walked over, said quit guessing and backprobe the signal at the PCM, and inside 20 minutes I found a rubbed wire behind the intake. Half the guys in that shop swore the slow way was a waste of time and you should just swap parts till it fires. So which side are you on, diag first every time or does flat rate push you into guessing? Curious how other shops handle this when the clock is running.