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Finally bit the bullet on a thermal imaging camera for the shop
Spent about $800 on a Flir One Pro last year, thinking it would be a neat toy for finding electrical faults. Turns out it's saved my bacon more times than I can count. Just last week, had a 6.7 Powerstroke with a weird intermittent miss. Scanner showed nothing, but the camera picked up one injector connector running 30 degrees hotter than the rest at idle. Found a corroded pin causing resistance. Without that heat signature, I'd have been chasing ghosts for hours. It's not cheap, but for diagnosing electrical issues, coolant flow problems, or even a dragging brake caliper, it cuts diagnostic time in half. Anyone else using thermal imaging regularly, or do you still think it's just a gimmick?
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ericnguyen7mo ago
Sounds cool but isn't that just fixing problems you'd find anyway, @laura_lee?
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laura_lee7mo ago
What kind of stuff do you look at first when you scan a vehicle? Like do you have a go-to checklist or just start where the problem seems to be?
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nina1476mo ago
My old shop had a rule. Scan the whole engine bay first, always. Takes two minutes. Look for the one cold hose in a heating system or the one hot wheel after a drive. Found a cracked exhaust manifold on a Tacoma that way. Customer only complained about a noise. It's not a gimmick, it's a shortcut. Lets you see the problem instead of guessing.
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