My lead told me to check the bleed air valve on a Citation X, and he was dead on
I spent two hours chasing a cabin heat issue, thinking it was the controller or a duct leak. He walked over, pointed at the valve, and said 'that thing's been sticking since last winter'. Sure enough, it was full of carbon and wouldn't move. What's your best story about a senior tech saving you from a wild goose chase?
Man, that's the best feeling. I was once trying to find a weird hydraulic leak for hours. Old timer came by, listened to the pump for like ten seconds, and said the case drain screen was plugged. He was right, it was full of glitter. Those guys just know the machines.
Sounds like a lucky guess to me. That glitter in the screen just means something is already wearing out, it didn't cause the leak. The old guy probably saw a hundred pumps fail the same way and took a shot. It's not magic, it's just a lot of broken machines.