<title>Adam Pollard — Hybrid & Vintage Powertrain Diagnostics</title>
<metaname="description"content="Field notes and diagnostic procedures from 20 years turning wrenches. Verify power, verify ground, then trace signal — from distributor caps to inverter-driven motors.">
<metaproperty="og:type"content="website">
<metaproperty="og:title"content="Adam Pollard — Hybrid & Vintage Powertrain Diagnostics">
<metaproperty="og:description"content="Field-tested diagnostic procedures for hybrid battery state-of-health and vintage engine teardowns. Sparks, Nevada.">
<pclass="sub">ASE Master Technician · Hybrid & Battery Electricomotive · Vintage Small-Block Resurrection. Twenty years in the bay, now bridging distributor caps and inverter-driven motors. Sparks, Nevada.</p>
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<ahref="#diagnostics">Diagnostics</a>
<ahref="#vintage">Vintage Shop</a>
<ahref="#principles">Shop Principles</a>
<ahref="#films">Films</a>
<ahref="#tools">Reference</a>
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<figure>
<imgclass="hero-img"src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/37177072/pexels-photo-37177072.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940"alt="Electric traction battery inside a vehicle engine bay, harness and cooling lines visible.">
<figcaption>Fig. 01 — Traction battery in place. Handle it like it has a loaded gun inside; because it does — 300+ volts that don't flinch.</figcaption>
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<pclass="lede">Field notes from the bay, published as I do the work. The diagnostic discipline that keeps a 1973 small-block idling also keeps a 2022 hybrid inverter honest — and the saftey habits that keep you alive on high-voltage systems are the same ones that stopped you shorting a coil years ago. Everything here is grounded in what I've actually tested or torn down.</p>
<h2id="diagnostics">On the Bench — Current Field Guides</h2>
<divclass="cards">
<divclass="card"data-tag="FIELD GUIDE · V2">
<h3>Reading Battery State-of-Health</h3>
<p>How I actually judge a hybrid pack without trusting the dashboard: module voltage spread, internal-resistance rise, capacity fade curves — and the equipment that does the judging.</p>
<h2id="vintage">In the Other Bay — Vintage Small Blocks</h2>
<divclass="cards">
<divclass="card"data-tag="TEARDOWN LOG">
<h3>1973 Small-Block Resurrection</h3>
<p>Scrape, sand, listen. Reading the grain of forty years of carbon and seats before reaching for the reamer — same discipline as reading a DTC.</p>
<p><ahref="vintage.html">Read the teardown log →</a></p>
<pclass="data-line">Next: cylinder head valve job</p>
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<h2id="principles">Shop Principles</h2>
<divclass="quote">
<blockquote>
"Verify power. Verify ground. Then trace the signal path."
<cite>— The rule that scales from a dead 1964 points ignition to a hybrid inverter that won't latch. Half the time what's 'dead' was never fed in the first place.</cite>
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<divclass="safety">
<h3>⚠ High-Voltage Safety — Non-Negotiable</h3>
<ul>
<li>Class-0 insulated gloves, rated and re-tested, before touching any orange connector.</li>
<li>Disconnect and WAIT — inverter capacitors hold lethal charge for minutes after cutoff.</li>
<li>HV isolation test with a megohmmeter, not a continuity beep.</li>
<li>One hand in pocket near the pack. Always.</li>
</ul>
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<h2id="films">Films</h2>
<divclass="cards">
<divclass="card"data-tag="FILM · 60s">
<h3>Diagnostic Logic: Combustion to Electric</h3>
<p>A short on the method that crosses the whole shop: verify power, verify ground, trace signal — from points to PMSM.</p>
<p><ahref="https://4ort.mov/adam-pollard">Watch on 4ort.mov →</a></p>
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<h2id="tools">Reference & Data</h2>
<pstyle="font-size:.85rem;margin-bottom:1rem;">The numbers I work from — live facts pulled into this page on every rebuild, plus machine-readable twins of my tools.</p>
