A customer told me my injector tick was just 'normal noise' for a year

I had a 2015 Cummins come in last month with a loud tick at idle. Customer said his buddy told him it was normal until he blew a hole in a piston. I pulled the valve cover and found a cracked injector hold down clamp. Swapped all six injectors with reman Bosch units and the tick disappeared instantly. Now I tell every owner with a 6.7 to bring it in if they hear anything different on cold starts. Anyone else run into injector issues that sounded like a valve tick?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenny1983d ago

Good for you catching that before it grenaded. Had a similar scare with my own truck last winter, sounded like a sewing machine on crack. Turned out to be a loose injector return line, but I was sure it was the end. That cold start tip is gold. Noise is never just noise on a diesel, especially with those 6.7s.

miasanchez3d ago

Wait, hold on... a loose injector return line? That's it? Man I would have bet money that was a full rebuild. You're telling me that demonic sewing machine noise was just a loose line and not a rod trying to escape through the block? My mind is blown right now.

felixhenderson3d ago

@miasanchez yeah I went through the same headspace. Thought I was looking at a weekend engine pull and a few thousand dollars. Turns out a 10 cent o-ring and a wrench were all it needed. The paranoia makes sense though because on these diesels little problems sound like big ones and big problems sound like the world ending. It's the same deal with a lot of stuff in life really. The noise always seems worse than the fix once you know what to look for.