Volvo Repair: electric, fluke 87, digital multimeter

Question
hi, how are you? i have couple of questoins regarding to auto electric.

how to check any electrical compnent if it's no good in your car. such as alternator, starter, wiper motor, etc. (and which equipment or meter to use in order to check any electrial in the car)
can you also please suggest any good websites where i can learn about auto electric and electric trouble shooting. thank you so much.

Answer
Well the number one component you'll need is a digital multimeter.  The best one to get for automotive diagnostics is the Fluke 87 or 88.  With this you are able to do all voltage tests, resistance readings, and amperage draw testing.  A component itself is only one thing that is tested when isolating a problem, you are checking for power, ground, voltage consumption by the component, and current flow.  You may want to invest in a oscilliscope if you a real interested in it.  Snap on makes an inexpensive on the vantage for only a few hundred dollars.  This is just a fancy voltmeter that graphs the results.  It allows you to freeze frames and measure voltages in fractions of a millisecond.  This is espescially important in testing components like fuel injectors which are activated for only 3-5 milliseconds at a time.  A good site to check out is veejer.com.  They offer one day at home courses that will educate you in all aspects in electrical testing, particularly automotive applications.  Its a valuable skill that alot of technicians are lacking.  If you get good at it, you may consider a career in it.  Hope this helps.

James