The difference in water blowback from my sandblaster was night and day, no more clogging my media nozzle every 20 minutes, has anyone else made that switch and noticed how much drier the air actually feels?
I had this 2015 Freightliner with an ISX that kept throwing a cam sensor code but the sensor was fine. I swapped the sensor, checked the wiring, even replaced the ECM and nothing worked. After 3 full days of pulling my hair out I finally found the issue. The tone ring on the cam gear had a tiny crack that only showed up when the engine got hot and expanded. Cost me about $400 in parts I didn't need and 20 hours of labor before I caught it. Has anyone else run into a phantom code that drove them crazy like this?
Got a 6.0 Powerstroke in the shop last Tuesday with a cold start issue. Had to decide between a $8 no-name glow plug from the parts store or a $40 Bosch one. I went with the Bosch because I didn't want to pull the intake again in six months. Think it was the right call or am I just wasting money?
I was reading through some old service manuals from the 90s the other night, and saw that a single inline injection pump on a 1994 Cummins N14 had about 2,000 PSI less fuel pressure than newer common rail systems. Found it in a dusty binder at the shop in Omaha. Makes me wonder how we ever got those old engines to pull a loaded trailer without cracking the injectors. Anyone else run into wild numbers like that comparing old and new gear?
For years I swore manual was the only way to go. I figured auto-shift was just for guys who couldn't handle a stick in traffic. Then I helped a buddy out on a run from Denver to Salt Lake last month. His '22 Freightliner had a DT12. I drove it for about 400 miles and honestly, it shifted smoother than I can on a good day. It kept the engine right in the sweet spot for torque on the grades and saved us almost 2 hours on fuel stops. I still think a manual gives you more control in weird situations, but for straight highway cruising the autos are way better than I gave them credit for. Has anyone else switched over and found they actually prefer it for certain routes?
My fancy Snap-on 3/8ths digital torque wrench died on me mid-job rebuilding a Paccar MX-13 in a yard outside Bakersfield last Tuesday. Had to grab my old $40 Pittsburgh unit from the truck and it clicked right at 89 lb-ft every time. Anyone else still keep a cheap backup around for when the nice stuff gives out?
I ran cheap reman injectors in my '97 F-250 for about 8 months and they were straight garbage, rough idle and no power. Finally bit the bullet on a set of Alliant Power injectors from a shop in Denver and the truck runs like a whole different animal. Anyone else get burned by going the budget route on injectors or am I just unlucky?
Last month I had a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia come in with a rough idle, and after two days of chasing my tail I found all three injectors on the passenger side had burnt tips. Customer was pissed about the $1800 quote, but I showed him the carbon buildup and he finally agreed to let me replace them all. Anyone else run into a batch of bad injectors like that from a specific fuel supplier?
Honestly, I tried saving money on my 7.3 Powerstroke last fall by grabbing a no-name rebuild kit from eBay for $400 instead of the $1200 OEM one. Got it all together, truck ran rough for about 2 weeks, then the pump started leaking bad from the seals. Took me another weekend to pull it all apart and put a quality kit in. Anyone else get burned trying to cheap out on fuel system parts?
I was changing the oil on a 2015 Peterbilt 579 at my place and the drain plug gasket decided to give out halfway through. Oil went everywhere, about 7 quarts all over the concrete before I got the new plug in. Anyone got a trick for getting oil stains out of asphalt without using a whole bag of kitty litter?
Ngl, I had a guy last Tuesday bring in his International and swore up and down that soaking the DEF injector in white vinegar would fix his clogged spray pattern. I just stood there for a second, then showed him the $280 bill for the three injectors I replaced the week before on a similar rig. He got all defensive, saying his cousin does it on his farm truck and it works fine. I explained that vinegar can actually eat away at the internal seals and cause more leaks down the road. Has anyone else dealt with customers pushing weird home remedies for emissions parts?
I was reading a SAE paper last night and it said 70% of DPF failures come from trucks that never get fully up to temp on regular runs. My buddy runs a local delivery fleet and has been pulling clogged filters every 8 weeks - anyone else see this pattern in their shop?
Was doing a 6.0 Powerstroke job last Tuesday and figured I'd save some cash with the cheap puller. Got one injector out fine but on the second one the threads stripped halfway through, left me stuck in a dead pull. Had to torch the damn thing off and replace the whole bore. Lesson learned: spend the $80 on the OTC tool or just make your own from grade 8 hardware. Anyone else have a cheap tool fail at the worst possible moment?
Was working a mobile repair on a 2020 Freightliner outside Atlanta and the owner started timing me on his phone. Took me 45 minutes to track down a bad ECM ground and he told me to pack up and leave. Any other mechanics dealing with customers timing your every move?
Had a 1995 5.9 in a dodge that I was rebuilding for a guy near Albany. Got it all torqued down, fired it up, and coolant started pouring out the side. Turns out I reused the old head bolts instead of getting new ones... saved maybe 40 bucks but cost me a whole weekend tearing it back apart. Anyone else ever cheap out on hardware and regret it?
I was doing a clutch job on a 2015 Peterbilt 579 last week out in Bakersfield. Got everything lined up but the flywheel bolts would not budge. Not even with my 1/2 impact. Went and grabbed a 24 inch breaker bar from my box and put a cheater pipe on it. Broke all 8 loose in maybe 10 minutes. That thing paid for itself right there. Anybody else keep a long breaker bar handy for the tough stuff?
I spent 3 hours fighting with that stupid HPFP gear alignment last Tuesday before I remembered a guy at the Iowa diesel show swearing by zip-tying the chain to the sprocket before removal, and it lined up perfect on the first try. Has anyone else found a weird shortcut that actually works better than the manual says?
I got into this trade back in '98 when everything was mechanical injection pumps and no computers. Now I mostly work on common rail stuff with all the sensors and wiring harnesses. But last month I had an '89 Dodge with a 12-valve that needed a P-pump rebuild. That truck had over 400k miles on it and the pump was still original. Made me realize how much simpler things were back then, even if they were harder to diagnose without a scan tool. Anybody else find themselves getting rusty on the old mechanical stuff?
I was swapping injectors on a 2005 F-350 and figured the $20 amazon puller would work fine. It bent on the second injector and I wasted 3 hours wrestling it out with a pry bar. Is this just a case of you get what you pay for or did I miss a trick with the cheap ones?
Watched a guy on a Cat 140M use the heel of his blade to knock big rocks loose instead of digging in with the cutting edge, and it cut his cycle time by about half from what I could tell anyone else ever try this trick?
So I was helping this guy Jim who's been turning wrenches since the 80s on a Cummins swap in a pickup over in Brighton. He kept saying those electronic torque wrenches you buy online are garbage, that you gotta stick with the old beam style or snap-on click type from the truck. I was using my CDI that I got on Amazon and he just shook his head. Fast forward a week later, I checked my torque specs on a head bolt job and found I was off by like 15 ft-lbs with that electronic one. But then I tested his old Proto beam wrench and it was even more off. So which old school advice actually holds up? Has anyone else noticed the old timers being right about some stuff but way off on other things?
I was out in Bakersfield last month on a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia that kept losing power on hills. After 3 hours of chasing codes and testing injectors, I finally swapped the fuel filters even though the gauge said they were fine. Has anyone else had a bad filter that didn't show up on the pressure gauge?
I was reading a thread on the Cummins forum and a guy said his truck lost power climbing a grade in Colorado last summer, turned out the cups were cracked but it never blew white smoke or sounded rough, has anyone else run into a silent injector cup failure like that?
The lifter valley was so clean I could eat off it compared to the sludge bomb I pulled apart from a truck that ran conventional its whole life, anyone else seen results like that or was I just lucky with this particular engine?