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Watched an old guy rebuild a DT466 at a county fair
Went to the Johnson County fair last weekend and there was a guy from the local tech school doing a live engine teardown on a DT466. He pointed out how the injector cups were worn and said that's why the truck was blowing white smoke on cold starts. Never really thought about how much you can tell from just looking at the cups before. Has anyone else picked up tricks from watching old timers work in public?
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karenb971mo ago
Oh man, your story reminds me of something that happened to my buddy Tom. He was at a tractor pull last fall and this old timer was rebuilding a carburetor right on a picnic table. The guy showed Tom how to tell the jets were clogged just by looking at the brass color. Tom said he learned more in ten minutes watching that guy than in a whole semester of his ag mechanics class. Now he checks his own carburetors the same way every spring.
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charles6401mo ago
Geez, that old timer sounds like a real gem. Reminds me of the time my neighbor Frank tried to fix his lawnmower by listening to the engine idle. He swore you could tell if the valve was sticking by the way it would hiccup on the third beat. Spent a whole Saturday with a stethoscope on the block, muttering about "phasing" and "harmonic timing." Turned out he just had a loose spark plug wire. But now he's convinced he's a mechanic and won't let anyone touch his mower but himself. I think he's just lonely and enjoys the excuse to sit in the garage with a cold beer.
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kim.nina1mo ago
Frank's your classic case of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." That whole listening-to-the-engine thing works for some guys, but it's usually just confirmation bias. He probably heard that trick from some YouTube video and now he's convinced he's got mechanical superpowers. Good on him for keeping himself busy though. Better than sitting inside watching TV all day. As long as he's not trying to fix my crew's paint sprayers with the same methods, I say let him have his garage time and his beer.
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