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Warning: a simple coolant line clog cost me a full shift
I just had a 6.7 Powerstroke in the bay with an overheating code, and the owner swore he'd flushed the system. Took the whole front end apart, was about to pull the thermostat housing, when I decided to check the heater core feed line first. Sure enough, a solid plug of that old orange gunk was right at the inlet. It was a 20 minute fix with a hose pick and some air, but I'd already burned 8 hours chasing the wrong thing. People keep thinking a flush is a magic fix, but if you don't run the cleaner long enough or use the right stuff, it just moves the problem around. Now I always pressure test the heater core circuit first on any overheat with a recent flush history. What's your go-to method for verifying a full coolant system flow before you start tearing into the big stuff?
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harperwright2mo ago
You mention a full shift lost, but that seems like a shop process problem. If a simple pressure test or flow check is your new standard method, why wasn't it the first step? That initial check should be part of the basic diag before any teardown. Burning eight hours on a guess is on the work order, not the flush.
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torres.pat2mo ago
Well, Harperwright, the pressure test wasn't the first step because the symptoms pointed hard to a failed flush. Sometimes the obvious guess is just wrong, and that's part of the job. Calling it a shop process problem misses how real world diag actually works.
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