My neighbor's 2012 Ford kept losing prime and stalling out on hills around Raleigh. I was set on replacing the factory pump with another Air Dog since that's what I know. But the parts guy at Diesel Specialists convinced me to try a FASS instead. Took about 4 hours to swap the whole assembly and reroute the lines. Fired it up and the pressure held steady at 65 psi right away. We took it up a 7% grade outside town and no hiccups. The filter housing is easier to drain too. Has anyone here run both brands and noticed a long term difference in reliability?
I was changing a oil separator on a Detroit 60 series outside Gary Indiana last summer. This crusty old dude walks over from his Pete, watches me for a minute, and says "you letting it idle 10 minutes before shutdown every time?" I said yeah I was. He laughed and said I was cooking the bearings because the oil pressure drops before the turbo spins down. He showed me his trick: idle down to 900 rpm for 90 seconds tops, then kill it. Been doing it that way ever since, no more hot shutdown issues. Anyone else hear that 10 minute rule was wrong?
I was running conventional Rotella in my '01 Cummins for 7 years and after swapping to a 5W-40 synthetic the injectors stopped chattering and my cold starts dropped from like 4 seconds to instant, anyone else see that big of a change or is my truck just weird?
Spent $140 on three filters over 6 months and had a injector pump fail on my 7.3 Powerstroke last Tuesday. The shop bill was $2,800 and the mechanic showed me how the bypass was stuck open. Anyone else had bad luck with the white box filters?
I ran into a 2015 F-250 last week with a dead cylinder on bank 2. Figured it was just a stuck injector, maybe an hour or two swap. Started pulling the valve cover and found the harness was chafed right where it rubs the glow plug rail. Took me another 3 hours just to find the break in the wire because it only showed on a wiggle test with high pressure in the rail. Had to pull the whole harness and repair it with solder and heat shrink. By the time I got the injector out, the copper washer was smashed flat and the bore had carbon build up. Total time was about 10 hours for what should have been a 4 hour job. Has anyone else fought with those harnesses hiding shorts on the 6.7s?
I always figured factory bolts were good enough for the 6.0L Powerstroke builds I do on the side. A guy named Dave at the shop near Spokane kept telling me to switch to ARP studs but I blew him off. Last month I had a 2005 F-350 come back with a blown head gasket after just 8,000 miles on a fresh rebuild. Pulled it apart and found the stock bolts had stretched on cylinder 3. Now I'm kicking myself for the 15 extra hours of labor. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way?
Been doing heads on 6.7 Cummins motors for about 5 years now, always went to the final torque in one smooth pull. This crusty mechanic watched me one day and said I was crushing the gasket, told me to do it in three stages instead. Has anyone else had their method totally wrecked by some old timer's advice?
Put remanufactured injectors in a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia six months back. Saved $800 upfront. Had a misfire at 40k miles. Swapped to OEM Bosch injectors last week. Smoother idle, better fuel mileage. Anyone else make the switch and see a real difference?
I was working on a 2012 Cummins ISX last Tuesday for a local fleet guy out of Tulsa. Old engine, but it had a weird low oil pressure reading at idle that just bugged me. I pulled the factory paper oil filter and swapped in a Wix synthetic filter (XP series) I had on the truck. Literally fired it back up and the gauge read 8 psi higher at hot idle, from 22 to 30. The paper filter was collapsing a bit under pressure, restricting flow. Took me 20 minutes total and the guy thought I was some kind of wizard. Has anyone else seen a big swing just from the filter media change?
For 15 years I ran the standard 80w-90 in every big rig I touched. Switched to a full synthetic 75w-90 about 6 months back after a driver complained about hard shifting in cold Ohio mornings. First cold start the gears slid right into place, no grinding. Has anyone else noticed less heat buildup on long grades with synthetics?
I picked up a no-name injector puller off eBay for $40 back in March. Went to use it on a 6.0 Powerstroke last week and the threaded rod snapped clean off after about 50 foot-pounds of torque. Cost me $40 plus a whole afternoon waiting for a loaner tool from the parts house. Has anyone else had luck with the budget pullers or should I just go spend the $120 on a Matco?
I hit the 1,000 mark last Friday rebuilding a 6.7 Cummins for a farmer near Lubbock. Never thought I'd keep count that long, but it's wild seeing how many diesel engines I've actually torn down and put back together over 22 years. Anyone else keep a running tally of their rebuilds?
I was swapping out an injector on a 6.7 Cummins last week and this older guy who used to work for a fleet of delivery trucks stopped by to chat. He told me he never bothers with the fancy electronic testers for common rail stuff, he just listens to the return line flow with a stethoscope. At first I thought he was full of it, but he showed me how he does it on a spare engine and honestly the sound difference was pretty clear between a good injector and a bad one. It hit me that sometimes we overthink this stuff with expensive tools when a simple trick from experience works just as good. I tried it on my truck the next day and saved myself a trip to the shop for a diagnostic. Has anyone else run into an older mechanic with a trick that seemed too simple but actually worked?
Guy had 40 years in the trade, watched me bench-test a set of injectors for 45 minutes, then just walked over and said that before walking off. Has anyone else had a senior tech just shut down your troubleshooting without even looking at the numbers?
Was at a shop in Nashville last month helping a buddy with a fleet of box trucks. He watched me hit the impacts with the torque stick and just shook his head. Said I needed to hold the stick in the middle, not let it spin free. I had always just let it whip around, figured the stick was doing its thing. Sure enough, my nuts were all over the place spec-wise, 50 to 120 ft-lbs on the same wheel. Anyone else learn a basic tool trick way later than they should have?
I picked up a OTC 7050 injector puller set off a guy near Nashville for $900 cash. Looked barely used but after pulling three 6.7 Powerstroke injectors with it, I'm wondering if I should have just rented one from the parts store instead. The slide hammer feels a bit sloppy on the last one, maybe it's just me but does anyone else think these kits get overpriced on the used market?
I was hauling a load of produce southbound when the temp gauge shot past 230 in under three miles, steam pouring out from under the hood. Turns out the fan clutch had been slipping for weeks and I kept putting off the replacement. Anyone else learn the hard way that ignoring small noises leads to a $4,200 repair bill?
I had a 2014 Ram 3500 come in with a weeping pump, threw a new OEM one on in about 4 hours. The old pump had 180k miles on it and the coolant was all crusty. Anybody else notice a solid temp drop after swapping one of these out?
Three shops I know of had injector cup leaks come back within 6 months because they just cranked them down by feel instead of pulling out the book. Has anyone else had to re-do a job because the first guy guessed the ft-lbs?
Guy I met at a parts store in Dallas watched me tune my 12 valve and said "you're dumping too much fuel for that turbo." I was running 250hp sticks with a stock HX35 and wondering why EGTs hit 1500 degrees on a pull. Backed the fuel plate down and added timing and the truck actually hauls better now without melting pistons. Anyone else had a old timer save them from blowing up their own engine?
Guy comes in today, 2015 Freightliner, says he poured a whole quart of stop leak in the coolant and drove 400 miles from Austin. Now the coolant is thick as pudding and the water pump is grinding like loose gravel. Anyone else deal with this kind of shortcut?
He was on a 6.0 Powerstroke and said he saw it on TikTok. Has anyone else noticed the younger guys skipping the basics and just guessing?
I was grabbing injectors for a 6.7 Powerstroke and this old timer starts ranting about how all the electronic controls make these engines less reliable than the old mechanical ones. He said he can fix a 12-valve Cummins with a screwdriver and a hammer but needs a $5k laptop for anything after 2010. Do you guys think the trade-off for better emissions and fuel economy is worth the extra complexity in diagnostics and repairs?
Been running Wix filters for 10 years on my trucks but Dave claims he's never had a failure with the cheap store brand - who's actually right here based on your shop experience?
Always figured once you crossed half a million, you were looking at a full teardown. Truck hit 502k last Tuesday on a run to Chattanooga. Still pulls fine, no blowby, oil pressure steady. Now I'm thinking maybe these things just run forever if you actually maintain them. Has anyone else pushed past 600k on a stock short block?