A customer's throwaway comment changed how I read codes now

Had a guy come in Tuesday with a rough idle, p0300 stored. I was already leaning toward plugs and coils, but he mentioned his last shop chased an evap code for a week before finding a cracked vacuum line behind the intake. I almost brushed it off, but I spent an extra 20 minutes with a smoke machine and sure enough, found a split hose I would have missed. Now I'm second-guessing every time I rely on just the scan tool readings. Anyone else had a customer accidentally point them in the right direction like that?

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grantp2817h ago

Wait, a WEEK chasing an evap code and it was just a cracked vacuum line the whole time? That would drive me up the wall. And the fact that the guy's random story about his last shop is what made you grab the smoke machine is kind of crazy when you think about it. Most of the time customers talk and I just nod while I'm already planning my next step in my head, so hearing one of them actually pushed you the right way is wild. A split hose behind the intake is exactly the kind of thing a scan tool will never show you no matter how long you stare at it.

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