Watched an old diesel mechanic fix a bad injector with just a wrench and a piece of wire yesterday

At a shop outside of Des Moines, Iowa, this guy had a 1990 Cummins running smooth in under 20 minutes without any fancy tools, and it made me wonder how much we overcomplicate these repairs with all the high-end diagnostic equipment.

2 comments

2 Comments

perez.willow1mo ago

Under 20 minutes with just a wrench and some wire" sounds like pure skill. Does that mean most of our diagnostic tools are just making up for a lack of real hands-on knowledge?

olivia_allen1mo ago

Oh boy, you're giving me way too much credit. I've spent ten minutes staring at a sensor before realizing I had the wrong voltage setting on the multimeter. My "real hands on knowledge" is mostly just knowing which end of the screwdriver hurts less when you grip it wrong. Diagnostic tools are basically the training wheels for people like me who can't feel the difference between a loose bolt and a properly torqued one by vibes alone. If anything, they're the only thing keeping me from accidentally creating a new type of electrical fire.