Lost a whole morning on a coolant leak that was sitting right in front of me

Last Tuesday I was working on a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia at the shop here in Tucson. Spent about 3 hours chasing what I thought was a bad water pump, pulling hoses, checking the EGR cooler. Turned out it was just a loose clamp on the lower radiator hose that I tightened the day before but forgot to double check. Has anyone else had a simple fix eat up half their shift before you finally looked at the obvious spot?

3 comments

3 Comments

mileslane2d ago

Used to blame the parts, now I blame my own eyeballs.

robinp892d ago

Wait, is that what this hobby does to you over time? Honestly @mileslane, I feel that way too but for a different reason. Tbh I spent three years thinking my scope was trash until I realized my astigmatism changed and cheap glasses were the real problem. Ngl though, the eyeball thing is cheaper to fix than replacing half your gear.

wesleyflores2d ago

Felt that one hard @mileslane. I actually think the real hidden cost of this hobby is how much it messes with your sense of what's actually good enough. Like, you start out thinking a cheap scope is fine, then you get a nicer one and suddenly your old stuff looks like garbage when it's probably still decent. I spent a whole year chasing perfect seeing conditions when really my issue was just humidity fogging up the corrector plate. Nobody talks about that, but dew heaters are cheaper than new eyepieces and way more helpful most nights. The real upgrade path is just learning what to ignore and what to actually fix.