Hot take: I used to laugh at the idea of using a borescope for basic diag work

For years I thought it was a tool for engine builders, not for my shop. Then last month, a 2012 F-150 came in with a misfire on cylinder 3. I did the usual checks, swapped coils, nothing. My buddy loaned me his cheap $80 borescope from Harbor Freight. I stuck it down the spark plug hole and saw a clear crack in the porcelain of the plug I had just installed. It saved me hours of pulling the fuel rail and injectors for no reason. Anyone else find a simple tool that changed their whole process for a common job?

2 comments

2 Comments

blair_gibson783h ago

Man, that's so true. Honestly, I was the same way about those little inspection cameras. Tbh, I grabbed one on a whim for looking at a weird noise inside a door panel. Now I use it all the time for checking brake pad wear without pulling wheels, or seeing if a drain tube is actually plugged. It's crazy how a cheap tool you never thought you needed just becomes part of your daily routine.

jennifer_west521h ago

Nah, gotta disagree with @blair_gibson78 on this one. Those cheap cameras are a total gimmick. The picture quality is always garbage, so you can't actually see the brake pad thickness clearly. The cord gets stuck on everything, and they break if you look at them wrong. I bought one, used it twice, and it's been in a drawer for a year. Just pull the wheel off, it's faster than fighting with a blurry screen.