Just Another Day...

...in the life of a shop

Posted April 7 2011 11:46 AM by Jason Sands
Filed under: Editorials, Editor's Blog

While hanging out doing some work at Brown's Diesel in Riverdale, CA, I decided to have them give me a quick tour of what trucks

were in here, and why. The results were surprising, and the repairs ranged from minor, to very major.

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03 Dodge.....transmission upgrade to support 500rwhp (converter, valvebody, etc.)

08 Dodge.....bad injector

03 Chevy....all injectors replaced

06 Dodge....cracked head from excessive egt while towing

04 Ford......engine rebuild....melted pistons from running the truck w/o water

06 Ford....engine rebuild (forgien object in the engine)

06 Ford.....hard starting (oil supply issues)

01 Ford....wiring issues (horn would honk when cruise control was activated)

99 Ford....bad PCM

Reader Comments:

1. This would be a good segment for the magazine. Although if you had a couple years worth of data mapped on a graph with the different repairs...even better.

jason.thompson - Posted April 7 2011 11:50 AM

2. Lots of common-_ails in their shop, huh?

I also noticed how the 7.3L issues are pretty minor and the 6.0L's are there for a complete teardown (except for the second '06 I guess).

Looks like Browns has a pretty good size shop, too.

Good shop + lots of customers = big shop

Mike McGlothlin - Posted April 7 2011 12:02 PM

3. @ Mike- Common-_ails, LOL!! I like the quote floating around CompD that says "your a *** if you havent melted a common-rail", haha.

Lots of 6.0L's down...color me shocked. Just glad mine still hasnt had any big issues, but I dont push it either.

@ Jason- I agree!! I love hearing about the really good (knowledge, customers service, parts, cost) shops operations! That'd make a great mag section IMO.

SmokenGun - Posted April 7 2011 12:17 PM

4. The picture only shows the "Ford" side of the shop...they have two more bays that they use to work on Dodges and Chevys on the other side of the sign.

I was surprised to see both the 6.0L engine rebuilds were something that probably could have been avoided. Also since I've been here, one more Dmax came in for some tuning, and another common rail Dodge got dropped off. All the techs here say DO YOUR MAINTENANCE and change fluids all the time on the newer trucks....and don't ignore little problems (like excess smoke on a stock truck) it could lead to something catastrophic. The new stuff just isn't tolerant of things like bad fuel or dirty oil.

Jason Sands - Posted April 7 2011 02:09 PM

5. The newer diesel trucks are like the super hot chick you take home from the bar and sleep with, then tell her she can feel free to leave anytime. Then you find out shes bat *** crazy and she tries to stab you with a bottle opener....huh, wonder what Taras doing these days..

What what was I saying?..

Ya the new truck looks great and are nice and tight/ have awesome interiors (how far is to far with this? lol),but they just cant complete with the tried and true trucks. All that technology and fine fine tolerances leads to a whole bunch of potential weak links/ problem areas. Like EGR, I dont know how people stand driving a truck with EGR. When my 6.0L had it (when I fist bought it) I was always thinking about how the EGR system was dirtying it up inside.

Now on this issue of fluids...haha, ill leave that alone ;) (damn this is a rich area for jokes).

I think a good number (even most) 6.0L PSD problems are the owners fault. Either poor maintence or pushing the engine way to much without the supporting mods.

SmokenGun - Posted April 7 2011 08:56 PM

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