That Tuesday that turned into a nightmare with a blown injector cup

Last month I had a 6.0 Powerstroke come in that fought me for three straight days. The customer said it just needed a simple injector job, but when I pulled the cups, one was corroded and started leaking coolant into the oil. I spent 8 hours on a Tuesday alone trying to get that cup out without destroying the head, using a slide hammer and then heat, and it finally popped at 4 PM. The whole job ended up taking 27 hours total, which is way over what I quoted. Have you ever had a simple job turn into a multi day battle and how do you handle re quoting the customer?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_vera10d agoTop Commenter

Ah man, that Tuesday sounds like an absolute beast. I used to be one of those people who would just quote a flat rate and hope for the best, thinking a bad cup was a rare thing. But after my last 6.0 battle where a simple injector job turned into a whole coolant in oil nightmare, I totally changed my mind. Now I always put in the fine print that if we find corrosion or rust in the cups, it's going to be time and materials from there. It's not fair to you to eat those 8 extra hours just because a customer thought their truck was perfect. Sometimes you have to be honest with them and say, "Hey, this is what we found, and it's going to cost more than we thought or you can take it somewhere else," but yeah, it's a hard conversation.

lewis.diana10d ago

8 hours on a single cup. That Tuesday sounds like pure torture. Reminds me why I always add a contingency clause now for any 6.0 work, those trucks just love to fight back.

wyatt_green10d ago

27 hours on something you quoted as a simple job? Man, that is brutal. I would have been pulling my hair out by hour 12, honestly. The real killer is when you've got the cup half out and it just sits there mocking you, like it knows you're on the clock. I've learned the hard way to always quote diesel work with a "time and materials" disclaimer in the fine print, because these trucks just love to surprise you. For a job like that, I'd probably be upfront with the customer about the extra time but eat some of the labor myself, just to keep them from running to the next shop. But 8 hours on a Tuesday alone trying to pop a cup? That's the kind of day that makes you question your life choices, man.