I used to laugh at guys who swore by infrared temp guns for diagnostics

Been wrenching on diesels for about 8 years now and always thought those cheap IR guns were a gimmick. My old mentor would just feel hoses and manifolds with his bare hand after a cold start and he was never wrong. But last month I had a 2016 Freightliner Cascadia with an intermittent EGT issue that had me chasing my tail for two days straight. Finally borrowed a buddy's IR thermometer, pointed it at each runner on the exhaust manifold, and found a 150 degree difference between cylinder 3 and 4 in under 10 seconds. Turned out to be a clogged injector dumping raw fuel. That little $35 tool saved me probably 6 more hours of guessing. Has anyone else had a cheap diagnostic tool prove them totally wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_morgan13d ago

Nah, still think they're overhyped for most things.

kevin_adams12d ago

Tried telling @the_morgan the same thing at a LAN party once, but he was too busy arguing with someone about frame rates to listen.