Old timer in Tucson said don't trust the looms, he was right

Had a 2008 Cessna 172 come through with intermittent static in the comms. A senior inspector, Jim from Tucson, kept saying those factory looms were garbage after 12 years in the desert sun. I ignored him, chased the antenna coax first. Tore out the overhead panel three times over two weeks before I finally pulled the main harness through the bulkhead. Inside were four cracked shields and two broken grounds just past the firewall grommet. Jim was right, and now I check every loom longer than 6 feet before touching anything else. Has anyone else had a similar call from a senior tech that ended up costing you more time than trusting them early?

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craig.tessa20d ago

And here I was thinking "trust the looms" was just Jim's way of testing if new guys actually listen, turns out he was just tired of watching people waste two weeks on coax. Classic old timer move, save you the headache but let you learn the hard way anyway.