Last month I was pulling injectors on a 6.7L Powerstroke and my old puller snapped. Had to choose between a Bosch kit for $180 or a Snap-on for $340 on the truck. I grabbed the Bosch because my wallet was hurting. First two injectors came out easy but the third one stuck and the threads stripped right off. Ended up borrowing a buddy's Snap-on the next day and it yanked that stuck injector out in 5 minutes. Anyone else had luck with the cheaper pullers on rusted up engines?
Was working on a 6.7 Powerstroke the other day in my shop off Route 20 and kept fighting a rough idle after swapping injectors. Turns out I wasn't getting the cups clean enough around the lower o-ring seat... spent 20 minutes with a brass brush and some brake cleaner on a drill and it smoothed right out. Any of you guys run into this on the newer common rails?
Watched their old mechanic drop an injector cup into a cooling system and fish it out with a magnet on a stick in under 2 minutes, convinced me that working clean isn't just for show, it saves your butt on the clock.
My mentor Jack who worked on Cat engines since the 80s always said to let a turbo diesel idle for 5 minutes after a hard pull before killing it. I did that for 2 years religiously. Then last month I found a service bulletin from the engine manufacturer that said modern turbos with water cooling don't need that extended idle time, and actually prolonged idling can cause cylinder glazing and carbon buildup. Now I'm wondering if I did more harm than good following his advice. Who else got handed down shop wisdom that turned out to be outdated or just plain wrong?
Helped a buddy do one two months ago over in Tyler. We followed every step by the book, torqued everything right. Thing ran smooth for maybe 3 weeks then started puking coolant at stoplights. Pulled the heads back off and found the studs had actually stretched. Never saw that before. I always thought aftermarket was better but I guess not always. The OEM head bolts held up fine on my old truck for 120k miles before I sold it. Has anyone else had aftermarket hardware fail on them like that?
Turned out to be a pinhole in the fuel return line I missed because it was hiding behind a zip tie. Anyone else waste a whole shift on something this dumb?
I was finishing up a headache rack install on a 2010 Freightliner at the shop out by I-80 in Iowa. Guy said it was running hot and losing coolant slow. Pulled the valve cover and saw a tiny bubble trail on #5 cylinder at idle. Used a bore scope and sure enough hairline crack near the top. Caught it before it let go. My foreman said I got lucky but I think it was just paying attention. Anyone else see coolant loss that looked like nothing but turned into a major issue?
Bought a no-name puller kit off Amazon last summer and the claw twisted like butter pulling stuck injectors out of a 6.7 Powerstroke, so now I'm wondering if anyone else has had good luck with a specific brand that won't cost an arm and a leg?
I was doing a head gasket job on a 1996 Cummins 12 valve last week, the one where the block is filthy and you can't see the torque specs worth a damn. I kept having to re-torque bolts because they'd click early from dirt or rust on the threads, and I figured that was normal. Then my buddy Dave who's been doing this since the 80s told me to run a tap through the bolt holes and wire brush every bolt before starting. I tried it and the torque was consistent across all 26 bolts, no more guessing. Has anyone else had issues with dirty threads throwing off their torque wrench on these older blocks?
Was going over my logbook for a routine check and noticed the odometer rolled past 500k somewhere between Cheyenne and Laramie. Didn't even catch it at the time because I was too busy dealing with a frozen fuel filter. That engine has outlasted two trucks I've owned and still starts on the first crank in single digit weather. Anyone else lose track of mileage milestones until way after they happen?
I was chasing a no-start on a 2005 F-450 over in Albany last Thursday, pulling my hair out for like 2 hours. Finally remembered an old timer showed me years ago - unplug the ICP sensor and see if it fires. Sure enough it started right up, got a new sensor on it and ran perfect. Any of you guys still use that trick or is it too old school now?
Last month I overheard this old timer telling a new kid to use 10W-30 in a Cummins ISX for winter. I pulled the kid aside and told him that's a quick way to trash the injectors. Anyone else run into sales guys giving bad advice just to move product?
I was rebuilding a Cummins ISX15 last month and my old torque wrench started acting up. I stood at the tool truck staring at a $400 Snap-on or a $70 Harbor Freight option. I went cheap to save money, and of course it clicked way too early on a head bolt. Now I'm pulling the head back off to re-torque everything properly. Has anyone else had a budget tool cost them more time than it saved?
I know everyone says never to mess with the stock fuel system setup on a 7.3 Powerstroke, especially the lift pump. But last spring my factory pump started dying while I was hauling a trailer near Flagstaff. Cost for a new OEM pump was $450 plus labor. I was stuck, so I wired in a cheap $80 AirDog knockoff from Amazon and rerouted the fuel lines myself. Ran that setup for 8 months now without a single hiccup. Cold starts are even better than before. Has anyone else tried a workaround like this instead of going with the recommended replacement?
Rolled over to 10,000 engine hours on a 2015 Kenworth T680 I've been working on for a fleet in Houston. That's about 350k miles of heavy haul work without a rebuild. The owner wanted to swap it out but I told him compression was still solid at 380 psi across all six. Has anyone else seen these ISX motors run that long before needing an inframe?
Guy brought in a 2014 Ram 3500 with a rod knock. I gave him two options: a reman from Cummins at $8,500 or a used engine from a salvage yard in Phoenix for $4,200. He went with the used one to save money. Got it installed in about 18 hours total. Truck fired up fine but had a slight miss on cylinder 4. Ended up pulling the valve cover to find a bent pushrod. That added another 3 hours and $80 for a new one. Has anyone else had luck with salvage engines for these newer high pressure fuel systems?
I've been turning wrenches on diesels since 1998 and I kept seeing guys swap out perfectly good injection pumps just because they wouldn't return to idle right. It's not the pump itself most of the time. I worked at a shop in Tulsa for 5 years and we'd get trucks towed in where someone already threw a $1200 pump at it. Turns out it's almost always the fuel return line check valve getting clogged with that black gummy varnish from old diesel. I cleaned one out with brake cleaner and a pick last week on a 1994 Ford 7.3 and it ran smooth as new. Who else has seen people throw parts at a simple fuel system issue?
I was doing a roadside call for a guy hauling produce who broke down just east of Billings, Montana. Took me forever to find the issue because it was leaking air, not fuel. The crack was tiny, right where the copper washer seats. Now I always carry spare copper injector seals in my truck. Anyone else run into weird air leaks that turn out to be injector related?
Last month I had a 2015 Freightliner with a ISX that kept cutting out under load. I was dead set it was the CP4 pump going bad, had the whole fuel system teardown planned in my head. Turned out to be the crank position sensor glitching when it got hot, really simple swap once I actually checked the waveforms instead of guessing. Anyone else ever chase a ghost fuel problem that was just a cheap electrical part?
Picked up a reman injector from a place I'd never used before, figured I'd save $200 over OEM. Installed it in a '07 Cummins 5.9, truck ran rough for about 8 weeks before it started knocking. Pulled it and found the spray pattern was way off, basically trashed the cylinder. That $400 injector cost me another $1200 in labor and parts to fix the damage. Anyone else had bad luck with cheap reman parts on common rail engines?
I was digging through some old fleet maintenance reports from a shop in Nebraska and saw a pattern I'd never noticed before - they tracked fuel economy before and after injector replacement and the gain was almost exactly 2 mpg every time. Has anyone else seen that kind of jump or was this just a freak case?
It threw the bendix right through the housing and sprayed metal everywhere, has anyone else seen a starter grenade like that on a highway job?
Walked out back at a Penske depot in Phoenix yesterday. Saw three guys rebuilding a DT466 in the yard. No bay, just dirt and a tarp. They had it torn down to the block in under 4 hours. Impressed me how fast they moved without all the fancy tools. Anybody else ever see a roadside rebuild that actually went smooth?
Ngl I never expected to hit that many but counting back through my old job books from the last 12 years really put things in perspective, anyone else ever tally up a big number like that and surprise yourself?