Last month I had this one Tuesday where a 6.7 Cummins rebuild just lined up perfect. Liner heights were all within .001 inch on the first check and the head gasket didn't leak a drop. Has anyone else had one of those rare days where nothing fights you back?
He said he went 18 months without changing his coolant filter and ended up with a clogged oil cooler on a 2021 Freightliner, cost him $3,200. Has anyone else seen neglect like that wreck an engine component?
My 2005 F-350 was running hot every time I towed my trailer to the yard in Phoenix. I tried flushing the cooling system twice and it didn't help at all. Finally swapped out the stock oil cooler for a new genuine Ford one and followed the Ford procedure to the letter. Temps dropped about 15 degrees under load and it's been solid for 3 months now. Anyone else had good luck with just the stock cooler replacement or did you go with aftermarket?
Last month I was servicing 14 reefer units for a grocery chain out of Atlanta. I had to pick between setting up an automatic oiler system or just hitting each one by hand with a standard can. I went with the auto oiler because it was supposed to save time, but halfway through the third unit it clogged and started dumping oil everywhere. I ended up having to clean the mess by hand anyway and lost an extra 2 hours. Has anyone else had an auto oiler fail on them mid-job like that?
Everyone I work with swears by buying new injectors for a rebuild, but I put a reman unit in my 7.3 Powerstroke six months ago and it's running smooth. Has anyone else had good luck with reman parts or did I just get lucky?
Had a guy with 40 years in the trade point out my Cummins was idling rough after a rebuild last spring. He said the timing needed a half degree adjustment but I figured he was just being picky. Finally tried his method last week and the thing runs smoother than ever why do we fight advice that costs nothing?
Was fighting a stuck injector in a 6.0 Powerstroke last week for like 2 hours. Kept trying to hammer and pry and nothing moved. My coworker Dave walks over, grabs a torch, heats the bore for maybe 45 seconds, and it comes out with my bare hands. I always thought heat would warp something or damage the head but he showed me the service manual actually recommends a localized heat cycle for seized injectors. Been doing it the hard way for 3 years lmao. Anyone else got a trick they fought against using for no good reason?
Bought a gallon of Opti-Lube XPD last month at a truck stop in Alabama just to shut my buddy up. Figured it was snake oil like all the rest. Three weeks later my 7.3 Powerstroke isn't knocking cold and I'm getting 2 mpg better on the highway. Any of y'all had a product you wrote off that actually worked?
I used to just guess on the torque specs with a cheap clicker that was probably 50 lb-ft off, but after snapping a bolt on a Cummins ISX head last spring I grabbed a Snap-on digital one and haven't had a single issue since, anyone else wish they'd just paid up earlier?
I used to blast every bolt off with a 1/2 inch impact during tear downs, thinking speed was king. After I snapped a head bolt on a 6.7 Cummins last Tuesday in our shop near Nashville, I slowed way down and started using a torque wrench by hand. Has anyone else switched up their tool approach after a costly mistake like that?
I watched a kid fresh out of school spend 20 minutes with a feeler gauge on a set of Cummins rings last Tuesday, and the whole time I was thinking about the old guy who taught me to just look at the light passing through. You can't buy that kind of know-how in a tool catalog, and I swear half the new guys blow ring gaps because they trust a manual over their own two eyes. Anyone else see this shift away from hands-on judgment in the last 5 years?
I heard a guy at the parts counter say he never changes his fuel filter more than once a year and I thought he was crazy. But I've been running a 7.3 Powerstroke for 10 years and only do mine every 8,000 miles, and it still pulls fine. Has anyone else seen lower engine wear from skipping the 5,000 mile change interval?
I rolled over 5,000 engine hours last Tuesday on a truck I rebuilt myself back in 2018. The EGR cooler was starting to weep a bit, but the bottom end is still tight. Did a compression test and all six cylinders were within 5 PSI of each other. Has anyone else had a motor that just refuses to give up on them?
Was helping a buddy swap a head gasket on his 5.9 Cummins. He pulls out a little bottle of ARP assembly lube. I'm like what's that for. He just stared at me. Turns out I've been getting inconsistent torque readings this whole time. Fought with stretched bolts and blown gaskets more times than I can count. Has anyone else had one of those moments where a simple step made everything click?
He swore it would wake it up and fix the cold start stumble. Tried it on a customer's truck last month and it ran worse, threw a code for injection timing. Anyone else had that advice backfire?
Saved $400 going with a reman from a shop in Ohio, but after 3 months of chasing a rough idle I'm wondering if I should've just bit the bullet on a factory new one, has anyone else gone the rebuilt route and regretted it?
Went with the junkyard motor from a 2000 F-350 with 180k on it instead of a reman from a shop in Dallas. Six months later it's still running strong, no blowby, and it cost me $2,800 vs $5,500. Anyone else gamble on a junkyard engine and get lucky?
Spent years just using a multimeter and chasing wires by hand, then a guy I trust told me to try a Power Probe on a bad injector harness last week and now I'm wondering which side of the fence you guys are on - do they actually save time or just make you lazy?
I used to think any coolant was fine as long as it was the right color. Then I pulled apart a 6.7 Cummins last month that had been running the cheap green stuff for about 4 years. The cavitation damage on the cylinder liners was BAD, little pitting spots all over. The owner finally switched to the Fleetguard ES Compleat after that and the next tear down at 300k miles looked CLEAN. Has anyone else seen cavitation damage clear up after switching coolants?
He said torque sticks and a breaker bar are the only way to go for aluminum heads, and now I'm stuck heli-coiling a $3,000 engine job - has anyone else fought the urge to use air tools on critical fasteners?
I was there last Friday trying to find a fuel line coupling for a 2008 Pete, and some random mechanic in line behind me just handed me the exact part number off his phone. He said 'you're gonna waste half the day hunting if you don't grab the V band clamp too.' Has anyone else had a total stranger at a parts counter bail them out like that?
He had a 2005 Ford 3910 that kept cutting out under load. Turns out the fuel filter was so clogged you could barely blow through it. Has anyone else had to diagnose equipment in a weird spot like that?
Had a guy maybe 60 years old watch me slap a injector cup seal in dry on a 6.7 Powerstroke. He just shook his head and said 'lube it or lose it, son.' Took me 20 minutes to fish that seal back out after it rolled on me. Now I always use a thin coat of assembly lube on every o-ring and seal, even if the manual says it's optional. Has anyone else had a quick tip like that save them from a do-over?
Been fighting a 2002 F-250 that wouldn't start after a fuel filter change. Tried cranking it over for what felt like forever, no luck. Filled the filter housing with diesel before putting the cap on, cracked the lines at the injectors, and it fired right up on the third crank. Anyone else do this or am I just slow to figure it out?
The sludge in the oil passages was so bad I had to scrape it out with a pick... finally convinced me to switch after seeing the difference side by side with a buddy's truck. Anyone else hold out on synthetics for way too long?