Using your hands to repair various mechanical devices is one thing but having the information on how things work, how to troubleshoot and what parts make it tick is priceless. Sometimes you can not find any information and it turns into a guessing game. Eventually it gets fixed but how long did it take and how much money did you spend to get there?
Working with Cummins engines you need to find resources to help manage a repair properly. There are definite steps you need to take when these engines go down. First and foremost checking codes is the first thing to do and you need insite lite software and the Quickserve online website. We have a subscription to both services that helps us with parts and service information.
Once the engine serial number is added the proper information comes back and you can go into the latest manuals and troubleshooting procedures to tackle any problem. Insite lite software allows us to test electrical circuits knowing what they do and where they go throughout the engine harness. You might as well put on a blind fold without this information.
With Quickserve Online you can find out the engine code number and specifically troubleshoot that one and only code. You can also put multiple codes into one of the quickserve options and it will tell you which code to troubleshoot first. With parts you can find them on the site and it will give you a small, medium or large photo with all the part numbers at your fingertips.
Once you capture the part number you can save a lot of time phoning the parts person at the dealership and even phone around to other parts suppliers for pricing. Technical service bulletins are extremely important to have on hand especially if it’s related to the job you’re performing. In the past I have started some jobs and struggled to finish them because of going down the wrong path. Once this happens you start to waste a lot of time.
Carefully analyzing a job before you begin saves tons of time. Getting the exact story on what happened and when, getting engine codes, looking at the history of the vehicle and possibly the failure if it happened before will get you on the right track and reduce frustration if any. One last important point I would like to make is to get to know the dealership reps in the shop.
Ask questions…. and I suggest to not overdue it with a barrage of queries. If you are a customer most lead hands and service managers will gladly help you out. Thanks a bunch for reading this post and comment below if you have something to add or you have a question.
