Learning to use a scope without Pre-Sets. HowTo

Working without pre-sets is something you quickly get used to it is very like tunning in an old style radio --- just twiddle the knob.
With Time base (X) and Voltage (Y) scales start with a higher voltage and slower time base than you need and adjust down untill you see detail .
To start out the Trigger should be set to "Auto" -- which really means the trigger is off and the scope will continually sweep across the screen without needing trigger.

The order to work in is (1) Voltage. (2) Time. (3) Trigger /

(1) So for most automotive work a 20v scale is a good starting point -- then adjust the voltage scale down until you get the waveform at a nice size. At this stage you may not see any detail in the waveform just concentrate in getting the voltage a nice size on screen
(2) Time base (Seconds/div or Screen Size in Seconds) is how fast the trace sweeps the screen -- again start with a slow setting for example a 5 second screen which is suitable to capture a cranking compression test and adjust the seconds/division down until you see detail
(3) Trigger Think of the trigger as a trip wire that starts the oscilloscope sweeping the screen set the trigger level to about halfway up the waveform voltge and then set the trigger to "Normal" --- this should give a nice stable image that refreshes every time the trigger is tripped.

Once you get a stable capture go back to the first step a see if you can improve your settings.

There is more for example using the Trigger Level and Trigger type setting to "Single" to capture misfires and using the AC setting and Filters but that should be enough to getting things rolling.

It is a bit like getting a new cell phone after a day or so you get used to it.