Benchmarks: We must complete the circuit COLUMN BY JOEY CLINE le my article “Doing Business On and Off the Bench” first published in the November edition of the Electrical Rebuilder’s . Exchange, I included a topic subtitled “Testing.” In this section I provided information about Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and how November is one of their testing periods. I also includ- ed an official ASE question. The question can be reviewed here in Figure 1. At the end of the article I wrote, “Next month we will look at the correct answer to this question.” The next month rolled around and I had prepared a large article on heavy duty starter drives. Since I had received no feedback or curiosity concerning the ASE test question, I considered it a dead issue. This seems to be where I made a grave mistake. Two months later there were a couple inquires concerning the ASE question. One inquiry was to know the correct answer to the question and the other inquiry was a little more in-depth. The latter was concerned that the ques- tion, as it was presented, may have been altered, making it bogus with no possible answers and not from the ASE database. This brings us to why I mentioned the ASE question in my article. In September 2008 I received a reminder that the ASE testing session was nearing and _ that November test dates were set. I was inter- ested in becoming certified, so I proceeded to the ASE Web site for more informa- tion. After reading over the testing material, I noticed they where not only involved with automotive, but other divisions as well, such as the school bus division. A very large portion of my rebuilding busi- ness pertains to school bus electrical units. As I looked over the school bus PDF study guide on electrical, I came across the question as it appears in the top half of Figure 1. After looking at the question from different viewpoints, I realized that there was a problem. Herein lies my real question. “How do I handle this situa- tion? Do I just ignore the mistake or do I notify ASE?” Suppose you were driving down the road and your tire blew out and you went sailing over an embankment into a ravine. As you lay in your car unconscious, sev- eral people stop and observe your current situation and then get back into their cars and drive off without reporting the acci- dent. I decided that I would e-mail ASE and let them know that indeed there was a problem with the question. Within a few hours of my e-mail I received a reply from Woody Dashiell, executive director of technical programs. “Joey, thanks for pointing out the problem with the sample question. We will make the necessary changes to get it right. Thanks again.” From here I went on with life which includes writing articles. As I was preparing my November ERE article I decided to include the ASE question, without — giving their answer, sort of as a brain teaser. Wow and how, it has become just that! ASE finally made changes to the question (as seen in the bottom half of Figure 1) on their Web site and ERE printed a cor- rection on page two of the February 2009 paper. In my opinion, the HORN DELAY 3. The horns in the circuit shown above only blow when a jumper wire is connected between terminals #1 and #3 of the horn relay. Technician A says that a bad horn relay could be the cause. Technician B says that a ground in the circuit between the horn relay and the horn switch could be the cause. Who is right? * (A) Aonly (C) Both A and B (B) B only (D) Neither A nor B Pace 34 ASE Scuoot Bus Srupy Guive 3. The horns in the circuit shown above only blow when a jumper wire is connected between terminals #1 and #2 of the horn relay. Technician A says that a bad horn relay could be the cause. Technician B says that a ground in the circuit between the horn relay and the horn switch could be the cause. corrections that sees ae * ( , where made by ae B only ASE and ERE are only a BAND-AID | ?*4 ~~ Figure 1 approach at best (C) Both A and B (D) Neither A nor B ASE Scuoot Bus Stupy Guine and the question is still flawed. This puts us back at square one and my question for you, “Can you find the problem with the ASE question?’ For what it matters, I did send ASE another e-mail detailing the problems with their question and their attempted corrections. I have yet to receive a response. Clutch vs. solid In my article last month I came across a situation that left me with no other choice except to manipulate yet another industry warning. Replacing a clutch- type pulley with a solid version has become an interesting topic as of late. It is my opinion if the OEMs built it with a clutch-type pulley then it should be rebuilt with a clutch-type pulley and from the original manufacturer if available. This brings me to a recent problem I have encountered. A previous customer of mine brought in the alternator from his 2001 Plymouth Prowler. He told me that he would like to have it tested because he was getting low voltage at the battery. As I picked the unit up by