I was doing an injector swap on a C15 Cat last week and grabbed my old beam torque wrench by accident. Figured I'd just use it anyway since my click type was acting flaky. Got all 6 injector hold-down bolts torqued to spec but when I double-checked with a different click wrench, three were about 3 ft-lbs low. Learned that beam wrenches are fine for rough stuff but I need something more precise for injector work. Anyone else had weird results switching between different torque wrench types?
I was at a shop in Tulsa last month helping a buddy with a 20-year-old compressor setup. Nobody had touched the air dryer in 5 years. We spent 3 hours chasing a moisture problem that was blowing seals on his injection pumps. Water in the air lines wrecked two pumps before we figured it out. Why do so many guys skip basic air system maintenance until something breaks? Has anyone else had a similar issue with water damage on sensitive diesel parts?
Saved me 3 hours last week on a Cummins ISX by finding the cold exhaust port right away, anyone else use one of these for diagnosis?
Always did the star pattern on cylinder heads. Thought I had it down. Then an old Cummins guy watched me at a shop in Nashville and said I was skipping the stretch sequence on wet bolts. He showed me the factory manual. I was torquing to final spec too fast and never letting the lube settle. That $2500 mistake on a 5.9 taught me more than any class. Anybody else get humbled by a crusty old timer like that?
I dropped 600 bucks on that snap-on scanner thinking it'd be a game changer but it still can't read half the modules on my 2018 Freightliner and now I'm stuck with a paperweight - anyone else get burned by overpriced diagnostic gear?
I brought it into the shop for a routine service and the guy showed me the reading on his machine, I had been over-torquing injector hold-downs for probably 6 months without knowing it. Has anyone else ever had a calibration surprise that made you question all your previous work?
Was at a parts counter in Tulsa last week and this older driver was telling the clerk he only swaps his fuel filters when the truck starts acting up. Said he's been doing it for 20 years. Made me think about how many guys actually follow the maintenance schedule versus waiting for problems. How often do you guys change yours?
Honestly, I was always hesitant to spend the money but after 20 minutes of frustration I caved and grabbed one from the shop. The pedal felt solid first try and saved me at least 30 minutes of back and forth. Anyone else made the switch and never looked back?
For like 3 years I just did the old trick of listening for a knock and pulling lines one at a time to find a bad injector. Thought spending $400 on a pop tester was a waste for a small shop like mine. Then I had a 6.0 Powerstroke that would misfire cold but ran fine warm and I couldn't pin it down no matter what. Borrowed a buddy's tester at his shop in Austin and found one injector was spraying uneven at low pressure. Replaced just that one and it fixed it. Anyone else ever get humbled by a tool they swore they'd never buy?
Last month I had a week that almost made me quit. Monday morning a 2015 Freightliner rolled in with a rough idle, turned out to be a bad injector on cylinder 4. Wednesday the same truck came back with another injector shot on cylinder 2. By Friday the driver called me from the side of I-35 saying cylinder 6 just let go. Three injectors in one week on the same engine, all different cylinders. I pulled the fuel sample and found water and debris, turns out the fuel cap seal was cracked and letting crap in. Anyone else had a run of bad luck like that where one small thing causes a domino effect?
I picked up a cheap ultrasonic cleaner off Amazon for 80 bucks to clean some injectors from a 7.3 Powerstroke. Ran them through a couple cycles with Simple Green and they looked great, but two of them tested worse than when I started. Learned that you have to pull the o-rings and do some disassembly first, otherwise the crud just settles deeper in the passages. Anybody else run into this with ultrasonic cleaning?
I was pulling a old reefer trailer back to the yard when the return line on the injector pump just split open, spraying diesel everywhere, and I had to patch it with a piece of rubber hose and two zip ties just to limp it 30 more miles.
Last Tuesday I had a 1999 Cummins roll in with a stuck injector that I got loose in under 20 minutes, felt like a hero. But two days before that I spent 6 hours chasing a ghost crank no-start on a 6.0 Powerstroke only to find a chafed wire under the harness. Which kind of day leaves a bigger mark on your memory, the easy win or the nightmare?
I was under a 2015 Peterbilt outside of Tulsa last Tuesday, and it kept throwing a camshaft-crankshaft correlation error even after I replaced the sensors. Turned out the wire harness was chafed against the engine block right behind the fuel filter housing, just barely grounding out on vibration. Has anyone else run into random wiring issues that looked like a sensor failure at first?
I was fighting with a seized injector on a 2004 F-350 for two days. Tried heat, penetrating oil, the whole nine yards. Finally broke down and snagged a cheap OTC puller off eBay for 600 bucks. Worked like a charm on the first try. Anyone else have good luck with used specialty tools or do you always go new?
Was helping a buddy swap a water pump on an old Pete. He swore by that purple additive stuff. I always thought it was just snake oil. But the pump we pulled had a ton of scale and crap built up inside the water jacket. His rig had been running the additive for years and looked clean as a whistle inside. Still not sure I'd use it on every truck, but for high-mileage ones it might actually help. Anyone have good or bad luck with that stuff?
I was digging through old Caterpillar service bulletins last night, just killing time in the shop. Found a spec sheet from 2007 comparing the C15 and C16. The C15 maxes out at 625 horsepower from a 15.2 liter block. The C16 is only 0.6 liters bigger at 15.8 liters, but it cranks out 575 horsepower max. That's 50 less horses from a bigger engine. I always thought the C16 was the stronger motor, but the numbers say otherwise. Both are 6 cylinder, both use the same HEUI fuel system. So what gives with the lower rating on the C16? Was it a reliability thing or did they just never tune it right? Anyone else got old Cat power data that tells a different story from what you assumed?
I've been working on trucks for 20 years now and I've always heard you should never use starting fluid on a 2-stroke Detroit. But last winter I had a 8V92 that wouldn't fire at 10 degrees, even with the block heater on for 4 hours. I sprayed a short burst into the air intake and it started right up, ran fine, no damage. Now I'm wondering if the old timers were being overly careful or if I just got lucky. Has anyone else used starting fluid on a Detroit and had it work out?
I pulled this engine apart last Tuesday in Fresno and found 3 helicoils stacked in one cylinder head bolt hole from previous rebuilds. Has anyone else seen hack repairs like this holding up surprisingly well?
Ngl I always thought those oil sample kits were a waste of money. Like you just send oil to some lab and they tell you stuff. But after my 2000 7.3 started knocking last month on I-35 in Austin, I pulled the filter and found copper flakes. Sent a sample to Blackstone and they found high lead and copper. Told me the rod bearings were on their way out. Caught it before the motor grenaded. Has anyone else had a oil analysis save them from a major repair?
Was hauling a load of gravel down I-35 near Denton when I heard that whistling sound change. Pulled over and found the wastegate actuator arm had snapped clean off. Has anyone else run into this on the newer Detroit DD15s?
I learned this one the hard way last winter. Bought a magnetic block heater off Amazon for 25 bucks, figured it would do the job for my old Cummins 5.9. Stuck it on the oil pan and left it overnight. Came out to a frozen engine anyway and the heater had fallen off sometime during the night. Lost a whole day of work waiting for a tow and then another 60 bucks for a proper frost plug heater from the Napa in Billings. The cheap one just couldn't hold a tight enough seal with the magnet, especially with road grime on the pan. Has anyone else had bad luck with those magnetic stick-on heaters or is it just me?
I used to zip valve covers down with a 3/8 impact set to like 10 ft-lbs. Thought I was saving time. A guy I work with, been doing this 40 years, pulled me aside after I cracked a gasket on a Cummins ISX. He said 'that gun is still too strong, the gasket swells uneven and you'll get a leak in 6 months.' So I switched to a T-handle 1/4 inch ratchet and do it all by feel now. Has anyone else had an old timer's advice on torque actually save you a comeback job?