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DRIVE ABILITY

MAXimize Electrical
Diagnoses with MIN MAX
by Steve Bodofsky

hese days, its almost impossible to operate a transmission

repair shop without owning a
digital multimeter. And if youre like
most folks in the industry, chances are
your meter cost somewhere between
$200 and $400 maybe more.
Some people might find that surprising; after all, most department
stores and retail parts stores offer digital meters for as little as twenty bucks.
Why would anyone spend more than
ten times that much for a meter that
does basically the same thing?
If you said accuracy, well, fair
enough. Accuracy is an important consideration when purchasing a digital
multimeter. And those higher-priced
meters are often tens, and even hundreds of times more accurate than their
bargain-priced look-alikes.
But often equally as important are
the features associated with the highpriced models. And no feature is more
valuable for diagnosing todays cars
than MIN MAX.
For those of you who arent familiar with it, MIN MAX is a recording
feature: It allows you to record the
highs or lows in an electrical signal
over time; which makes it a perfect tool
for capturing intermittent faults in a signal or circuit.

Two Problems with Glitch

Capture
There are two reasons that momentary glitches are so difficult to identify,
and both have to do with speed:
The first is your speed; that is, how
quickly you can work once the glitch
occurs. Think about it: Youre checking
40

Figure 1: Some meters will capture all three measurements MINimum,

MAXimum and average at the same time. When combined with the current
readings, thats four measurements to help you diagnose the circuit.

a car for a momentary stumble. You

hold the engine at about 2000 RPM and
wait. When you see the stumble, you
quickly turn to check the meter and
the glitch is already long gone. Theres
just no way you can react quickly
enough to see the glitch reliably.
Next is the speed of the meter display. Most digital meters update around
4 times a second. Thats awfully slow to
be able to catch a glitch; many glitches
are no more than a few milliseconds. A
glitch that fast might not even cause the
display to register a tremor.
Many digital meters come with a
bar graph display. The bar graph usually updates much faster than the digital
display: in some cases, 10x faster. But
thats still only 1/40th of a second too
slow for many glitches to show up.
No, you need something that will
pick up those glitches faster than you

can work faster than the meter can

update. You need MIN MAX.

Two Different Types of

MIN MAX
As is often the case, the term MIN
MAX can mean slightly different features, depending on the meter youre
using. In general, these features fall into
one of two different categories.
MIN MAX/Average This type
of MIN MAX records the minimum,
maximum and average signal while
active (figure 1). And it will usually
also display the present signal, giving
you four different measurements to
analyze at the same time. This type of
MIN MAX is by far the more valuable
version.
Simple MIN MAX This type of
MIN MAX only measures the minimum or maximum signal when active
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MAXimize Electrical Diagnoses with MIN MAX

you can monitor the circuit

while driving.
Start the engine.
Select MIN MAX (figure 4).

IMPORTANT:
Never select
MIN MAX until the engines running.
And never turn the key off until you
freeze the display or examine the signal
readings. Turning the key off will cause
the signal voltage to drop to zero, so
youll lose the minimum measurement
you captured during your test drive.
Go for a test drive.

MIN

MAX

Figure 2: Some meters only let you choose one measurement at a time. With
them, you may have to check the circuit more than once to capture the glitch.

Figure 3: Connect the meter to the sensor signal wire and sensor ground.
Never connect the ground wire to the chassis ground; remember, the ground
could be the circuit causing the glitch!

(figure 2). You choose which one you

want to capture, and thats all that it
makes available. So if you arent sure
whether youre looking for a dropout or
a spike, you could have to perform your
test twice to isolate exactly whats
going on.

Capturing Intermittents
with MIN MAX
Probably the most valuable use for
MIN MAX is to identify intermittent
problems. For example, suppose you
suspected an intermittent failure in a
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throttle position (TP) sensor. But no

matter how many times you checked it
in the shop, you couldnt isolate the
problem.
MIN MAX makes it easy to find
this type of problem; heres how:
Connect your meter positive
lead to the TP sensor signal
circuit (figure 3).
Connect your meter negative
lead to the sensor ground.
Run the leads along the engine
compartment, and into the
passenger compartment, so

Once the intermittent problem

shows up, pull over to the side of the
road. Take your time, theres no rush;
any problem that showed up during the
road test will still be there when you get
to the side of the road thats the
beauty of MIN MAX.
Now check the readings in MIN
MAX: On some meters, those readings
might already be on the display, or you
might have to press the MIN MAX button to cycle through them (figure 5).
Oh, look: MIN dropped to zero
volts. Thats not right. The TP voltage
signal should never drop below the sensor base voltage: about a half a volt.
Looks like you found a problem. This
sensor has a dropout in its signal.
Chances are the sensor is worn out, and
should be replaced.
What about other types of sensors?
Will MIN MAX help you find problems with those circuits? Sure all you
have to do is connect your meter, energize the circuit, and select MIN MAX.
Any dropouts should show up as a zero
minimum voltage signal; any spikes
should cause the maximum to jump to
reference voltage.
Diagnostic Tip: When a variable
resistor fails, such as a temperature sensor, the voltage will usually jump to reference voltage; around 5 volts.
Potentiometers, such as throttle position sensors, will usually fail the other
way: Theyll cause the voltage to drop
off to zero when they lose contact internally. In either case, the signal is outside the normal sensor range, and indicates a problem.

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MAXimize Electrical Diagnoses with MIN MAX

Figure 4: Wait until you have the circuit active before pressing
MIN MAX. That may simply require starting the engine, or you
may have to wait until youre driving the vehicle. And remember
to freeze the display before you allow the circuit to shut off.

Figure 5: Oh, look: the voltage signal dropped to zero.

Since the minimum voltage is supposed to be about
half a volt, this probably indicates a dropout in
the sensor.

By activating MIN
MAX after youve
started driving, and
freezing it before you
come to a stop,
youve eliminated
those times when
the vehicle speed
sensor is normally
stopped.
Figure 6: MIN MAX isnt just for voltage; you can use it to check amperage, resistance, frequencies just about anything you can check with the meter itself.

Testing Speed Sensors

with MIN MAX
Speed sensors offer a specific
problem for diagnosis with MIN MAX:
Depending on application, they often
drop to zero normally. For example, a
vehicle speed sensor signal will always
drop to zero when the car comes to a
stop. On the other hand, a sun shell
speed sensor may come to a stop in certain gears.
The problem is that theres no real
44

difference between a signal that stops

normally, and one that drops out
because of a sensor failure. The trick is
to know when the sensor drops to zero
normally, and then test the sensor without allowing those conditions to occur.
For example, if youre checking a
vehicle speed sensor:
Get the vehicle moving.
Activate MIN MAX. Dont
activate MIN MAX until the
cars moving.

Continue driving the vehicle.

Freeze the capture either by
hitting the HOLD button or by
checking the recorded readings before you come to a
stop.

By activating MIN MAX after

youve started driving, and freezing it
before you come to a stop, youve eliminated those times when the vehicle
speed sensor is normally stopped. So a
dropout in the signal indicates a faulty
sensor or an intermittent break in the
signal circuit.
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Suppose youre checking a pulse

generator thats measuring the sun shell
speed. First, you must know in which
gear ranges the sun shell stops, because
when the sun shell stops, the signal
stops, too. So you dont want the transmission to shift into those ranges during
your test, or the signal will stop, and
ruin your test results.
For this example, well assume a
unit where the sun shell stops in 2nd
and 4th gears:
Select a gear range where the
sun shell continues turning,
such as D3.
Begin driving, and allow the
vehicle to shift into 3rd gear.
Activate MIN MAX and continue driving. Dont activate
MIN MAX until you reach 3rd
gear, or allow the transmission
to downshift into 2nd.
Freeze the capture before you
stop the vehicle.
As long as the sun shell remains in
motion during the entire test cycle, you
should get a valid signal capture using
MIN MAX. If the signal drops out during the test, you know youre looking at
a sensor problem or an intermittent
problem in the wiring.
Suppose you have a code for a
slipping clutch. If the clutch is being
monitored by a pulse generator, such as
the one we just discussed, you can use
MIN MAX to check it:
Connect your meter to the
pulse generator.
Start to drive the vehicle.
Choose MIN MAX.
Allow the transmission to shift
through the range where the
clutch is supposed to stop the
sun shell.
Freeze the display and check
the readings.
Once again, dont let the vehicle
come to a full stop before you freeze
the display or check the readings. If the
clutch is slipping, the sun shell will
keep moving when its supposed to be
stopped, so the signal wont shut all the
way off. If the signal never drops to
zero, youve confirmed a slipping

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clutch.

MIN MAX Works with

More than Just Volts
So far weve looked at how to use
MIN MAX to capture voltage variations, and it works great for that. But on
most meters, MIN MAX will capture
variations in just about any signal you
can measure.
For example, suppose you want to
check a Ford MAP sensor that you suspect of a signal dropout. No problem:
Connect your meter positive
lead to the MAP sensor signal

wire.
Connect your meter negative
lead to the sensor ground.
Set your meter to measure DC
Frequency.
Start the engine.
Select MIN MAX.

Now drive the vehicle until the

condition youre looking for shows up.
Avoid WOT accelerations, which
would allow the manifold vacuum to
drop to zero. Then run through the frequency signals on your meter (figure
6).
In most cases, the signal frequency

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MAXimize Electrical Diagnoses with MIN MAX

IMPORTANT: Voltage will

only drop to zero if you connected your meters ground
lead to the sensor ground.
running normally, youve probably identified the problem.

Peak MIN MAX for Momentary

Glitches
The very nature of glitches is they dont last long. In
fact, sometimes an electrical glitch may last no more
than a millisecond or less. So its important to have the
fastest sampling rate possible, to increase your chances
of capturing it.
Thats why some meters notably the Fluke 87
Figure 7: Peak MIN MAX increases the meters sampling rate, so
offer
Peak MIN MAX (figure 7). Peak MIN MAX
youre more likely to capture intermittent glitches.
increases the meters sampling rate during the test, to
help you catch even the shortest glitches.
should range between 95 Hz and 148 Hz at sea level; the freHow fast can Peak MIN MAX capture electrical glitchquency should be lower at higher elevations (about 6 Hz per
es? Depends on the meter: Early Fluke 87 meters increased
1000 feet). Key on, engine off frequency should be about 159
sampling rate to 1 ms: four times faster than normal MIN
Hz.
MAX. Series 3 versions increased the sampling rate to 250
If the MAP sensor signal goes considerably out of range,
microseconds, so the newer meters set to Peak MIN MAX can
such as jumping to 159 Hz or dropping to zero with the engine
catch a momentary glitch 16 times faster than normal MIN

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MAX.
Use Peak MIN MAX the same way you use normal MIN MAX: Connect the meter, set it to measure
the circuit, and activate MIN MAX. Then choose
Peak MIN MAX. The display will indicate 1ms
Record, even on the version III meters, which are
actually capturing at 250 microseconds.
Peak MIN MAX captures so many samples per
second, you can use it to make sure that Ford MAP
sensor signal is rising to reference voltage level and
pulling all the way to zero volts right from the signal wire. With your meter connected to the MAP sensor signal wire, just select Peak MIN MAX (figure 8):
Minimum should pull to zero; if not, look for
a bad ground or a faulty sensor.
Maximum should rise to 5 volts; if not, look
for a bad connection in the sensor feed, low
reference voltage, or a bad sensor.
Figure 8: Selecting Peak MIN MAX with your meter connected to
a Ford MAP sensor allows you to determine whether the signal
IMPORTANT: Voltage will only drop to zero if
is receiving proper reference and ground signals.
you connected your meters ground lead to the sensor
ground. If you used the system ground, itll only pull
as low as the sensor ground: usually 1 or 2 millivolts.
Momentary electrical failures glitches can be
When set for Peak MIN MAX, the meter only captures
among the most difficult types of problem to isolate. But MIN
the minimum and maximum readings; it no longer displays
MAX helps you identify those glitches faster and easier than
the current or average readings. But since the meter sampling
ever before.
rate is so much higher, youre more likely to identify short
glitches that you could miss with normal MIN MAX.

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