Showerthought: I lost a whole afternoon and $150 chasing a phantom turbo whistle that was just a loose intake boot clamp.

I spent hours pulling the turbo on a 6.7 Powerstroke before my buddy pointed out the simple clamp, so has anyone else had a 'dumb fix' that cost them big time?

4 comments

4 Comments

ivan4622mo ago

That's just how you learn. My first diesel was a 7.3 and I replaced the whole fuel bowl assembly chasing a hard start. Turns out it was just the glow plug relay the whole time. Cost me over four hundred bucks in parts I didn't need. You gotta tear stuff apart to see what's broken, and sometimes you find the easy fix after the hard work. No shame in it.

william_craig710d agoProlific Poster

Oh, the 7.3 doesn't have a glow plug relay that causes hard starts like that, it has a controller on the valve cover that usually fails instead. You probably just had a bad harness connection or a sticky injector. Still, I guess $400 is a fair price for a lesson in how these old trucks actually work.

beth_kelly2mo ago

Sometimes the most expensive tool in the garage is the pride that makes us ignore the ten cent clamp. I replaced a perfectly good water pump on my old truck because I was convinced it was weeping, only to find the leak was a loose heater hose right above it. The universe charges a stupid tax for those moments, and we all pay it eventually.

tessap972mo ago

Man, that stupid tax is real. Spent a whole weekend swapping the alternator on my Civic, positive it was the cause of the dim lights. Fired it up and the belt was just loose. Felt like the biggest idiot. You're right though, we all get that bill.