Last month an old timer at a shop in Bakersfield spent 20 minutes showing me how to clean a set of injectors by hand instead of just swapping them, and he said 'you gotta learn the feel of it, not just the part number.' Has anyone else run into a mechanic who actually took the time to teach something like that instead of rushing through the job?
I've been putting a little automatic transmission fluid in my diesel fuel for years, figured it helped with the injectors. An old mechanic named Dave over at Bob's Truck Repair told me it was just gumming things up on modern common rail systems. I ignored him for about 6 months until I had to pull my injectors on my 2012 Ford 6.7 and found them caked with varnish. Cost me $340 to have them cleaned and now I just use a proper additive. Anybody else get bad advice from an old timer that ended up costing you?
I was working on a Cummins ISX15 last Tuesday over at Johnson Fleet Service in Tulsa. Had a buddy who always just ugga-dugga'd his head bolts and laughed at me for taking time with my torque wrench. Three years ago he blew a head gasket on a rebuild and it cost him $4,500 and three weekends. Now he borrows my Snap-on every time. Has anyone else seen a guy learn this lesson the hard way with their own engine?
For years I only ran OEM Bosch injectors on my Cummins builds, but a shop owner in Spokane talked me into trying a set of reman units on my personal truck. What convinced you to switch sides on something you thought was a bad idea?
Same fleet. Same driver. I found coolant in the oil on all three. Fleet manager said the kid was running them hot for a week straight without checking the gauges. Anyone else deal with driver neglect causing a whole day of work?
I started turning wrenches back in 2002 at a shop in Bakersfield. Back then you could tell a bad injector just by how the engine sounded and a quick pop test. Now every new guy wants to hook up a laptop and run diagnostics for 20 minutes before even touching the truck. Anyone else miss being able to trust your ears and hands more than the software?
Honestly I should have known better. Tried saving $150 on a no-name injector rebuild kit for a 6.7 Cummins back in October. Truck ran rough after 200 miles and started smoking like a freight train. Pulled them and found the plungers were already scoring. Had to buy the OEM Bosch set anyway and pay for the labor to swap them twice. Any of you guys ever had luck with the cheap rebuild kits or is it always a waste?
I was swapping injectors on a 6.7 Powerstroke last Tuesday outside Denver and one cup didn't seat right. Realized it after I torqued everything down and fuel was weeping from the bore on startup. Anyone else had a brand new cup fail to seal and chase that leak for hours?
Was grabbing parts at the local Cummins dealer and heard a guy tell his buddy he never resurfaces flywheels on clutch jobs, just slaps a new clutch on and sends it. Has anyone else run into shops cutting corners like this and how do you handle the blowback when the clutch chatter starts 20k miles later?
I spent 4 years fighting with brake fluid bubbles on my Peterbilt using the old pump-and-hold method, then last month I grabbed a $40 Mityvac and it pulled all the air out in 5 minutes flat. Anyone else have a tool they avoided forever that ended up being a game changer?
I was out in Lubbock last week on a 2015 6.7 Powerstroke, snapped two injector hold-down bolts before I realized the previous guy had torqued them with an impact. Had to pull the head and helicoil both holes. Took me an extra 4 hours on a job I quoted for 6. Has anyone else run into this crap or am I the only one dealing with other people's shortcuts?
I was working at a shop off I-24 and this guy rolls in with a 7.3 Powerstroke that was running rough. He pops the hood, pulls the fuel bowl drain, and pours it through a paper coffee filter into a glass jar. Showed me all the crud in the filter and said "this is why you change your fuel filter every other oil change not whenever the light comes on." He was retired, just helping his nephew out. Never forgot that. Any of you guys still do stuff the old way or have a trick someone showed you that stuck?
Guy with 30 years at a Cat dealer told me to stop being a snob about remans after I spent $2,400 on new ones that failed in 8 months. He showed me the test bench data and now I only run remans from certified shops - who else has had a change of heart on rebuilt parts?
I just stood there holding a $400 injector and wondered how many customers think the same thing when their truck won't start. Has any of you had to explain to a younger guy that it's compression and fuel, not fairy dust?
Checked injectors, compression, fuel pressure, even swapped the ICP sensor - turns out it was a chafed wire hidden behind the valve cover harness that only grounded out when the engine got hot. That damn wire took me 6 hours to find and I was about ready to set the truck on fire. Anyone else ever have a wiring gremlin that made you question your whole career choice?
Spent Friday night through Sunday afternoon chasing a no-start on a 2005 F-350 that would crank but never fire. Turned out the ICP sensor was reading 0 psi while the actual oil pressure was fine, just a bad connector pin. How long did your longest diag job take before you finally found the dumb little thing causing it?
I was chasing a low power issue on a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia and swore it was the turbo actuator throwing codes. Turned out a banjo bolt on the charge air cooler line was barely hand tight, took me all afternoon to find it. Anyone else ever waste a whole day on a simple loose connection?
Guy I know runs a fleet of dump trucks and told me he just lets them run until they clog or blow. I asked about the bearing damage from bypassed debris and he shrugged it off. Has anyone actually seen a motor fail from this or is he just lucky?
Was at the Cummins dealer in Fresno last Tuesday picking up a rack for a 6.7. Old guy behind the counter probably 70 years old looks at my part number and says I was wasting money on replacement o-rings. He told me I should be lubing them with motor oil not diesel fuel because the fuel swells the rubber unevenly. I've been doing it the diesel way for 12 years and never had issues. But he insisted his way lasted twice as long on his own fleet trucks. So which method do you guys actually trust long term for injector cup seals back in high miles?
Two weeks ago I was doing a routine oil change on a 2007 Cummins ISX in my shop here near Louisville. Everything was going fine until I saw coolant mixing in with the oil I drained. That told me right away the head gasket was blown. I had put maybe 500 miles on that engine after a rebuild last fall. I pulled the head off and found a crack in the cylinder wall near the number 4 piston. Had to order a whole new block from a salvage yard down in Nashville. Ended up costing me around $3,200 and three full days of labor. Has anyone else run into a cracked wall on a rebuild that seemed solid at first?
Last Tuesday I had three trucks lined up for brake jobs and by lunchtime I had skinned my knuckles on two slack adjusters and dropped a spring brake chamber on my foot. It was like each truck knew I was coming and decided to make my life miserable with seized gladhands and frozen caging bolts. Has anyone else had a day where the equipment just seemed to have it out for you?
Working on a 6.0 Powerstroke last Thursday and had an old timer walk by my bay. He watched me for a minute then asked why I was using a torque wrench with no angle gauge. I told him I just go by the ft lbs. He laughed and showed me the FSM I had sitting right there on the bench. Turns out I been skipping the final angle step on damn near every engine rebuild I've done. Never had one blow but still makes me wonder how many of them are walking around with loose heads right now. Anyone else find out they been doing some basic step wrong for way too long?
I was out on a job last week in Lubbock checking out a 6.7 Cummins that sounded a little off at idle. Didn't have my blowby gauge handy so I figured I'd just cup my hand over the oil fill and feel for pressure. Seemed fine to me so I told the guy his engine was good. Well he brought it back two days later after it started smoking bad on the highway and I finally put a proper gauge on it. Read 12 inches of water at idle and almost 20 under load. Lesson learned - stop trusting hand feel for blowby, it's way too easy to miss something until it's late. Any of you guys ever get burned by skipping the proper test?
Been chasing a rough idle for weeks on my 2002 F-250. Took it to a shop and they wanted $800 just to diagnose it. Watched about a dozen Youtube videos and decided to try pulling the injectors myself last weekend. The number 8 cylinder was carboned up bad but I got it out without snapping anything. Has anyone else had luck with ATF and acetone mix for freeing up stuck injectors?