The 10 minute trick that found a broken pin I'd been chasing for 2 shifts
Had an intermittent AP disconnect on a 737 that came in 3 times with no fault found. I stopped trusting the built in test and did a wiggle test on every connector while watching the flight deck. Found a pushed back pin on the A/P engage switch connector in under 10 minutes. The last 2 shifts I'd been swapping LRUs and reading wiring diagrams instead of just moving the harness around. Now I wiggle every connector first before I pull a single box. Anyone got a better way to catch intermittent pin tension without a breakout box?
Man, I gotta disagree on skipping the box swap entirely. Wiggle tests are great but they lie to you sometimes, a pin can feel tight and still lose contact once things heat up and expand in flight. I still wiggle first, but if it passes and the squawk keeps coming back, that box is coming out.