Fixed a no-start in 40 mins that two shops gave up on last Tuesday

Had a 2011 Civic towed in last Tuesday with a crank no-start, and both the dealer and another shop had thrown parts at it for a week with no luck. I hooked up my scan tool and saw the cam sensor signal flatline only when the engine was warm, which no one caught because they tested it cold. Turned out to be a tiny crack in the sensor wiring harness that opened up with heat, a $12 pigtail and 40 minutes of my time. The customer started crying when it fired up because she'd been borrowing her sister's car for 9 days. What's your go-to trick for intermittent electrical gremlins that only show up when hot?

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aaron_mitchell20d ago

Man, a cracked harness that only acts up when it's hot is like the oldest trick in the book, I'm not buying that two shops couldn't figure that out in a week. Sounds more like they just didn't want to deal with it than anything mysterious. Crying over a Civic starting is a bit much though, come on.

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