Diagnosis And Repair
Before anyone can fix your truck, they need to understand what’s wrong.
First we diagnose your truck just like a doctor diagnoses a person, then we know what’s wrong, how to fix it, and we can give you an estimate of the repair cost.
For instance, what is this (below) and what does it mean? We don’t guess, we know.
It’s the fuel bowl in a 2003 Ford 7.3 L diesel engine, with a LOT of sediment in it, and it means that there was so much dirt in the fuel that the fuel filter got overwhelmed and clogged so badly the truck sputtered and coughed when it ran, if the owner could get it started. The fuel tank needs to be replaced, or at a minimum, removed, cleaned thoroughly, and reinstalled. AND you need to figure out where you got the load of dirt in your fuel from, so it doesn’t happen again.
You don’t want a doctor operating on you before they know what’s wrong, and you don’t want a mechanic wrenching on your truck before they know what’s wrong. This can lead to “throwing parts at it”; where an inexperienced mechanic just starts replacing parts based on some videos he saw on YouTube.
Example: your backyard mechanic “is pretty sure” your IDM (Injector Driver Module) and your PCM (Powertrain Control Module) are bad, so he replaces them. The IDM is $659 and the PCM is $897, and you just spent $1,556 on parts.
(Below) I’m a backyard mechanic!
But that didn’t fix it; the truck still chokes and coughs. We put the computer on it, it tells us the CPS is going out (Camshaft Position Sensor, $87.99 at NAPA), it takes us less than an hour to put one in and it fixes the truck.
If your truck is newer than 1996, we put our computer on it and talk to the engine’s computer. We look at other things that give us more information about what’s wrong, then give you a diagnosis.
Often we can understand what the problem is just by talking story with you, so book a time to talk with Tim on our Calendly page, or email Tim at skipper@oceanpeople dot org.
Also, you can shoot Tim a photo of your VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), like the photo below, then he can pull up information on your vehicle such as engine size, month and year model, which is sometimes necessary.
(Below) A VIN photo contains all kinds of useful information about your specific vehicle so you (and we) don’t have to guess or make mistakes.
