Automotive Electrical Schematic: How to Diagnose Issues in Your Vehicle

Every driver eventually has to fix issues in their vehicles. In this course on electrical schematics, I focus on helping you detect problems in cars by following a series of steps. Occasionally, it might be enough to analyze a proper schematic, and the diagnosis for your car will become clearer. 

At first, we will focus on the elements that every electrical circuit must have: power, load, and ground. Without them, the electrical circuit becomes faulty. This issue can be clearly depicted in the electrical schematic, from which you can draw conclusions regarding the issue in the vehicle. This course on how to read electrical schematics will help you identify information on electrical schematics and use this data to determine the problems. 

What is an electrical schematic? 

An electrical schematic is defined as a representation of connections in an electric circuit. It shows how all of the components are connected. Therefore, the analysis of an electrical schematic can help you detect issues in a specific circuit. However, you need to be aware of the symbols to learn how to read electrical schematics. When compared to the pictorial circuit diagram, the electrical schematic is more complicated due to the use of schematic diagram symbols to indicate different components. 

More on the components of the electrical circuit

Every electrical schematic in the car must have three things: power supply, load, and ground path. What do these terms mean? Well, power supply refers to a source of electric power that allows the mechanism to work. In turn, the load is the one that uses electric power. Lastly, the ground component refers to a specific point in an electrical circuit that is used to measure voltages, a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the earth. 

What will you find in this course? 

The process of learning how to read electrical schematics and diagnose inoperative circuits means that you can answer several crucial questions. For instance, you can state the expected voltage, the currently present voltage, and what the voltmeter reading indicates. Furthermore, learning how to read wiring diagrams is another goal of this course. 

This course on learning how to read electrical schematics focuses on the most common faults that disturb the circuit. One of the common issues is a disconnected wire or component or a physical break in the wire or component. Another fault might be that the circuit has a connection to the ground where there should not be one. These and other possible faults are going to be discussed in a separate lecture. 

To make it easier for you to learn how to read wiring diagrams and electrical schematics, I will provide some faulty examples and analyze the issues they present. In terms of diagnosing issues in cars, I will show brake and park lamp, and a horn schematic. Let’s start learning from this course to make it easier to detect the issues in your vehicle!