Anyone know how to programme Daf XF key with jailtest? Is it possible? Key buttons won’t lock or unlock doors, does not perform a light test. Light on key flashes orange when keys are pressed. Tried new battery to no avail. Cheers

I’ve had my 04.5 cummins for a while now and ever since I’ve bought it I’ve had an issue with the AC. When it’s on you can hear the fan working as it should and it sounds like it should be moving a TON of air, especially when it’s on high… however minimal pressure makes it through the vents. What’s really strange (to me as a novice) is the driver side blows super cold air (just with little pressure) but the passenger side blows with no cool air whatsoever (still with little pressure). I know I need to clean the vents out (to start with the pressure issue) but before I pull the dash id like to see your guys thoughts on what could be causing the cooling issue between the driver and passenger side. Thanks in advance!

Apprenticing heavy equipment tech, liking it a lot so far. Mostly working on Peterbilt 389’s, heavy haul trailers, and 1 1/2 ton trucks. Wondering if any experienced souls can lend some tips on how to work efficiently without putting extra strain on my body.

For reference I’m about 140lbs and can do wheel removal/mounts on semis with minor to moderate struggle however I’m sure that it will be borderline impossible in field conditions (very harsh winter here) and I do not plan to work in a shop forever. Apart from the basic lift with your legs/eat more, what can be done?

I’m hearing a whistling sound or a { tsssssss) coming from the passenger side/turbo when I accelerate around 14-15rpm and when It upshifts( rpm goes down) I hear it most. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. Any help would be appreciated

Sorry this is a long read. We’ve been intermittently battling this truck for about a year. It is a 2013 Mack MRU concrete pump truck, with an MP7. Started out with code SPN4094 FMI 1 (insufficient regen quality) and a mild derate. Ran forced regen as first step in trouble shooting, problem solved for a month or so. Same code came back as FMI 1 and 18(moderately severe) as well as SPN5246 FMI 0(SCR inducement severity) which is signifying it is in the 5mph derate. Through fault tracing with tech tool, we found and resolved the issues it revealed. New DEF Dosing Valve due to worn nozzle overdosing, new OEM NOx sensors, new EGR pressure differential sensor and Venturi pipe, serviced the fuel nozzle, spark plugs, wires, and coil in the bottom of the DPF. Verified the DEF pump can build and maintain pressure and is dosing correctly. At this point, going through tech tools fault tracing and every possible test you can run on tech tool, it says there is no issue found. The engine runs great until it throws the codes and is in derate. So we have the DPF professionally cleaned. All of this was over the course of 6 months. At this point we have outsourced to another mechanic we are friendly with that worked for Mack for 15 years. He came to the same conclusion as we did and got one of his buddies involved in Mack’s research and reliability department. After explaining our findings he said it has to be either the DPF, SCR, or an upstream issue(Engine issue) so we bought a new DPF, and had the SCR cleaned and tested. At this point we noticed the oil has a red tint to it. So now we’re down to upstream issue. We’ve used a combustion leak tester on the coolant reservoir, didn’t show anything, the EGR cooler is fine, we’ve even pulled the injectors, and pressurized the coolant reservoir with a block heater plugged in to check for cracked head. As far as we can tell, no issue there. Anybody ever dealt with something similar?

I’ll be starting a new job as an entry level diesel tech here soon, I’m coming from the automotive world so I have tools but I don’t know what all would transfer over besides basic sockets and what not. Any advice on some tools that I’d need would be greatly appreciated.

Truck from auction, in for king pins and an alignment.

I'm forewarning now this gonna be an extremely long long post it'll detail stuff about me. This for the new guys primarily. Stuff I've seen and how I worked my way into being one of the top 30 valuable mechanics not just in my shop in the company with roughly 1000 mechanics some it will be back story. Some of it will be how to handle shitty coworkers and a questionable boss. I'll do my best to break up each section into different parts almost like chapters.

HOW I GOT HERE

A little bit about me, born and raised in Michigan. I went college have a double major associates degree in auto and diesel repair. I've briefly worked in automotive and hated. I've worked for roush performance contracted out to Ford motor company. My primary position at roush for was a prototype mechanic. Part of my agreement with roush and Ford is I'm not allowed to work for any Ford dealership anywhere in the world for 5yrs. I've worked travel centers of America, it sucked ass. I've worked Penske wasn't terrible but and I quote from my boss "you will live in die in the pit" meaning I'll never go above a tech 3. I thought I knew it all and could do anything but I had attitude problem.

From there I worked for a small regional trucking company and that's where I really grew, it was just me and my supervisor on 2nd shift and he taught me a lot. He let me do a lot of stuff most inexperienced guys probably wouldn't of had a chance to do. actually considered staying except being flat broke 27 days out of the month wasn't cutting it

HOW I BECAME VALUABLE

I took a job for a car hauling fleet. I was hired on as B tech/tech 2 whatever you want to call it. After like 3 months I was bumped to an A tech/tech 1. My lead tech was a good friend of mine I took this job 3 months before covid happened in 2020. I was eventually laid off for obvious reasons. Didn't get called back til August that year. My attitude improved. My lead tech was fair our boss was hands off in the shop and just worked the computer. I primarily work on tractors I do everything. After treatment, electrical, engine performance, pms, tires, brakes, lights, steering and suspension, driveline, hydraulics, I'm the primary go to for all these things.

My lead tech essentially handled giving out work when I started there was 7 of us including my lead. 1 retired at the start of the China virus to save one of our jobs. So we were down to 6. The one old timer has his own bay that is spotless you could potentially have surgery. We had the red headed menace, the old Asian, me, the shop idiot, and our lead. My lead was supposed to take over when our boss eventually retired. However he didn't want to give it to our lead. Cost of everything started going up and 2 us myself and the lead both put in our 2 weeks. I was offered 2 other jobs. 1 was a shop supervisor and co-owner of the company after a year(there was something shady going on) the 2nd was a shift supervisor and 3 guys under me that I would vet and mentor. I declined both when my boss shot more money at me. Red headed menace got fired because he dropped a trailer and he fucked up the axles on an owner ops trailer. Lead quit and went somewhere else further up north. Last I talked to him he's miserable and unhappy and makes less than what he did. So that left us with 4. My near retirement boss promoted the village idiot to lead. This dude is the laziest, unstable, hostile, pain in the ass I've ever dealt with(I'll circle back to this). But a jobs a job and it paid well enough. In fall of 2022 we hired 5 guys. All 5 had anywhere from 0yrs to shade tree, 1 was a shade tree 1 has 6 months 1 was a former plumber but worked in his dad's shop or something 1 was in school 1 was a truck driver trying to play mechanic

We split them up between 2 shifts, shade tree and school boy came with me

6 months, plumber and truck driver went to 1st. 6 months was moody always late, would call off and always had the craziest excuse, that dude always had an excuse, didn't want to listen for shit. He quit because he didn't want to go to 2nd shift

Plumber was decently smart and could figure most shit out but he started to get lazy partially because the lead mechanic in 1st didn't want to teach anyone. Lead mechanic was always out to shaft this dude for any reason. He faked an injury and found another job

Truck driver was always moody, explaining anything to this dude was like trying to talk to a wall. He threw a punch at me because he was arguing with me because he didn't want to a wheel seal and oil soaked shoes, I said quit being a bitch and do the wheel seal and shoes. He didn't like that I said bitch and referring to him as one.

School boy, idk how he thought school was going to help him he wanted to be on his phone and I basically had to hold his hand daily. I had him do a light on trailer and he somehow couldn't figure out 2 wire light. I tried with this dude for more than a month. The final straw for him was we were doing steer tired id shown him at least 10 times prior to this what should take an hour was turning into a 2.5hour ordeal. There was other things but this is the one that I said he's unteachable.

Shade tree, shade tree celebrated his 2yr anniversary last week, we sent him to do some training last year. I think they are getting ready to send both of us to more training. He did hurt his back last year so he was on light duty for 6 months. But he's been doing awesome both before and after I can pretty much give him anything and he'll do it even if he doesn't know how if he gets to a point where he thinks he over is head he comes and gets me. He always wants me to check his work. He actually surprised me today I missed something on a pm, he caught it and I was like no shit the apprentice is becoming the master right before my eyes. He can do most everything I do, there's a few exceptions pretty much anything with the laptop and electronics is left to me as well as HVAC, transmissions and engine diag, however he can do king pins, wheel seals, disc and drum brakes, leaf springs, dog bones, lights, hydraulics, air compressors, high pressure fuel pumps, oil pan, eld stuff, liftgate electrical, trailer abs, air systems, light fabrication and welding, drive line stuff(never seen someone so excited to do a u joint or carrier bearing), dpfs, egrs, rarely misses anything big on pm. Shows up everyday. Takes his vacation he gets a 2 weeks of vacation starting in January. Next year (2026) he'll get 3 weeks. I was so proud of him I invited him to my wedding a couple months ago. He ask questions, he's rarely on his phone. Was always willing to stay late when we were 2nds together and for a year and half it was just me and him on 2nds, our shift started at 2:30pm there was a couple times we were still at work at 4am. All we did was work and then work some more.

I was promoted to 2nd shift lead. Just me and another guy. We worked our dicks all last year worked well. Like really well. We worked way later than we probably should of, but we both like money and not much stopping us. Village idiot would go so far to try sabotage us, he convinced my boss at 1 point to change our start time to noon. Idk why I think mostly because he wanted to control us because he thought we didn't do shit all night. We were supposed to leave at like 830pm out of all those times I think we left twice at that time. Then it got moved to 1pm start same thing. It didn't matter when that didn't work he would stay late for no reason just to see what we do 1 of the 1st shift guys came on 2nd shift for a week and he was like fuck you guys actually do work. When I say work. Everything we would do in 1 night we out do everything 1st shift did in a week. We would have our own projects and pms plus we'd handle as many drive ups that came to the door. We'd be 5-7 trucks deep all loaded all had somewhere to be. We stayed late because we new someone was physically sabotaging anything we worked on but also because we also knew that if we left it in the bay it would still be there the next day because village idiot refused to finish it. Even if was just put the wheels on. Village idiot said every truck in the fleet needed kingpins and spring pins every truck. Me and shade tree got so good at doing them that most of the time the only thing left was put the hubs or wheels back on. We were at 1 point doing either king pins, spring pins, or both 2 or 3 times a week. 1 month it seemed like it was every day we were doing it. Again village idiot would write up but never would do the work. My close to retirement boss asked me before he retired something about how much money we spent on that repair and how we have the highest cost in the company. I told him that out of the 30 or so king pins we did. 5 of them were actually bad. When he asked why I did them then, I said ask the village idiot he supposedly knows more than me, arguing with him is like arguing with a wall that argues back and if you're right and he's wrong he does everything in his power to screw you in whatever twisted way so much so he's likely the one sabotaging trucks. Village idiot was so brutal he'd walk around with a coffee in one hand and his vape in the other tell you how your doing your job wrong and then when you didn't listen to him he'd set you on fire or chase you around with a can of brake clean. Yes he actually did this. I said something to my boss he didn't want to listen. When our corporate overlords wanted an opinion from mechains how the shop was ran on an anonymous forum. Me and shade tree let them have it we detailed everything. My close to retirement boss became my retired boss. My replacement boss fired village idiot. Me and shadetree worked with our new boss to fire him. Village idiot in the span of 1 month ran over 2 brand new jacks, damaged a brand bay door and tried covering it up, ripped the landing gear off a trailer and we finally caught him sabotaging 2 trucks. This dude maniac. I talked to his ex because I was friends with her before they got together shed tell me how village idiot would come home every night and plot to try and fire me, she was saying that he was obsessed with the idea. She ended up leaving because she found he was pedo.

Tldr, I became valuable by teaching the younger generation how to be a good mechanic. I had a play in firing 3 different people and forcing a 4th to transfer shops or as I like to call it getting rid of the cancer. I paid attention stayed up really late on my free time reading manuals and trouble trees for various code and faults that'd I commonly see. Watching videos of different common problems and reading forums like this with common issues related to what I worked on. I seldomly ask for help, if I do ask it because I've exhausted google, forums, YouTube, manufacturer trouble trees and I'm completely stumped. Also village idiot works for green and orange car hauler in Flint Michigan. So if you work for that company I feel sorry for you. He comes off as your friend he doesn't know anything he'll back stab you. If you run across him ask him to clock a brake chamber or to piggyback it, he also claims hes not an electrician. Sorry for the rant.

I’m not much of an electrical guy. I know just the basics. So I’m working on a tractor. No start no crank. With key on verified all safety switches get power. Starter relay is good. Checked solenoid signal wire to see if it is sending power. It is. Starter engages with direct power. Without the signal wire connected to solenoid, starter fuse does not pop. I connect the signal wire to solenoid and try to crank it and the fuse pops . I think the solenoid/starter is internally shorted. Anyone have tips on what I should check or do? Thank u

Curious where y’all start searching when you’re looking for a new job? Marketplace, indeed, classifieds lol. I’ve read some posts on here where there seems to be some skilled workers, great attitudes etc out there that are looking for growth in their careers and here I am trying to hire and all I seem to attract are entry level guys that have little to no experience wanting $25-30+ and they ain’t got no tools, let alone common sense. End rant 🤣

Hope this question is ok. I am truly curious as times have changed so much from browsing the weekend paper classified section. Where does a skilled worker go to be seen, where can people that are hiring go to see them?

To make a long story short I work for a heavy equipment dealer as a field technician and I really am irritated at the fact we don't get any real training on the plethora of brands we work on half the stuff we don't have access to torque specs hydraulic pressure etc. Then our bread and butter equipment we have access to the diagnostic software and repair info but we will get sent to some jobs at 5pm when we are already 3 hours away from home I get home on an average of 10pm when I was told that I would be close to home everyday. Idk what to do I wake up wore out and just want to get out of this career. Been doing this for 9 years.

I'm a fleet mechanic for a construction company. We have quite a few Rams with Cummins motors. I'm looking for quality aftermarket parts so we don't have to pay $650 for water pump. Also any workarounds in Quickserve to access service information for 6.7. FCA has all the information locked down for those applications. I can lookup parts through Repair Link.

I have a 1998 international 3800 school bus. Everyone has told me something different regarding what th issue could be that I am having but here is an explanation and videos of the issue.

When I hit the brakes while the engine is off it does as expected and the backup brake motor comes on.

When I turn the engine on and I hit the brakes the backup motor does not come on which is correct and working properly however, when I hit the brakes and turn the wheel at the same time it stops without being fully turned and the brake pressure light comes on as well as the backup brake pump. Some people are saying to replace the hydro boost, others are saying the power steering pump. I just want to know what I should do here that would fix the issue As cheap as possible.

The power steering reservoir does not have a filter in it and I’m unsure if it is supposed to, however there is an awkward bowed out shape with what looks like tape? Around the hose coming out of the bottom of the reservoir and I’m wondering if the previous owner had maybe tried to do an inline filter or something, I have not yet taken the hose off since I didnt think it was sucking in air from it or anything.

Here’s some videos of the issue and the bus. All feedback is welcomed and appreciated. Thank you.

https://youtu.be/U-3ia6LFV_k?si=G15HFTLfGJTUAPMi

https://youtube.com/shorts/X7jI6Ejuocc?si=ZuCaAuxcOrCXh_kr

I'm looking for advice on how to transition from my corporate office job into the diesel mechanic field. I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands and grew up with a lot of labor experience, but I went the college route because that’s what my parents wanted. Now, I’m realizing that it’s not what I’m passionate about, and I really want to get into hands-on work.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of apprenticeship openings for diesel mechanics, but I’ve been getting denied quite frequently. I’m wondering what the best approach is for someone like me who has only office experience but is eager to show future employers that I can work with my hands.

I’ve considered going to UTI (Universal Technical Institute) for trade school, but the $26k tuition for a job where most of the learning happens on the job just doesn’t make sense to me. However, many apprenticeships are asking for ASE/Trade School certification and a CDL. I’m currently working on getting my CDL permit and want to pursue ASE certification, but I’d love to get my foot in the door while working on these things instead of spending more time in school.

Has anyone here gone through a similar transition? What steps did you take to break into the field? I’m looking for any suggestions or advice on how I can gain the necessary experience or credentials without diving into full-time school if it’s not necessary.

Any help would be appreciated!

I want to start off by saying I hate these transmissions. 2018 Peterbilt 579 mx13 I have 4 faults 639 fmi 2(1 count) 751 fmi 2 (4 counts) 752 fmi 2 (4 counts) All inactive the last code will be at the end because there's a story

Driver stated when coasting with Jakes on an exit ramp transmission would fail to downshift and he'd be stuck in gear, pull over shut truck off and would restart and would continue on without issue

Chased 639, which led me to software being out of date, doing my due diligence and can bus codes I check batteries, found 2 to be bad and all 4 were loose and multiple corroded ends replaced all 4.

Then chased 751 and 752, following the trouble trees wanted me to check the shift stalk plug under dash and j1939 volts at 9 pin as well as the ohms. All checked good had 5-5.2v combined on high side, ohms was right between 50-70, more so 60-65. So in spec. Trouble trees said because it's an intermittent fault it's likely a shifter stalk.

Installed new shifter stalk, rechecked software in Davies 4 sometimes there's an update for shifter stalk when you replace it. Truck shifts fine to 1st and reverse figured that was the end of it. Driver backs out and takes off, truck won't shift out of 1st gear.

The last code that comes up active is 630 fmi 13 performance goal out of calibration

Help

Hello everyone

Considering a career change. Not that it matters but I'm 27 been driving trucks for 7 years, and I'm tired of it. I've been running my own truck for the better part of 5 years so I do have some YouTube certifications. Question is I have an opportunity to become an Ag Tech Apprentice, just wondering if I go through with it, become red seal and what not, do I get a 425A license or 421A license? Can a 425 do what a 421 would do and vice versa? Thanks.

Vmac is coming out to $6,300

I like the idea of a lighter air compressor. Is there anything that performs similarly if not better?

Is it worth that much money?🥲

Hi everyone. I’m a mature age apprentice applicant (25) in Australia with 2 job offers on the table.

The first is for a role as a Mechanical Plumber with an aircon company and the second is for a position as Heavy Diesel Mechanic with a civils outfit.

Both of the jobs are with highly respected firms in their industries and seem to have well set up apprenticeship schemes.

I was looking for some advice. I’ve done a lot of research into both positions however I am still struggling as to what role will be best long term when taking into account earnings potential and work balance for family life

Cheers for any help in advance

Hey everyone back with another issue. 18 international lt625 216k miles. Cummins isx. When im bobtail at 50-65mph front end is shaking side to side pretty bad. It’s shaking the whole cab and steering wheel is moving back and forth as well but clears up a little as I go faster. Passenger steer was in rough shape with inner and outer wear and alignment was terrible. Replaced drives and steers and alignment and still the same issue. All tires balanced. Also when I have a trailer the problem is much less noticeable. I’m in Chicago doing rail containers and I bobtail a lot but the shaking is so bad it’s hard to drive the truck. Since the issue gets better when I have weight I thought it was in the back but it’s felt very heavy in the front and I watch my hood shake left to right. With new tires and everything in alignment idk what else it could be. Any insight is appreciated

Hey everybody, I have a Cummins isl9 that keeps dropping fuel pressure in the rail after being shut off, also it feels like it has a miss and idles rough. No codes. It seems like everything has been replaced before I got it, all injectors, pressure relief valve on the back of the rail, the injector return check valve on the back of the head, Even the fuel pump itself was replaced. Any ideas what to look for?

In need of a refractometer for DEF. Tried a couple off Amazon but returned them for manufacturing issues; scale was wrong, poor optics, etc. I'd prefer a DEF only scale. I don't need battery or coolant. Only one I've found is OTC. Any others I'm missing?

Former co worker who's an absolute hack did this shit. He now works for jack Cooper. The reason I know it was him and not the driver because of all the electrical tape wrap around it. The driver I know would of said something. This dip shit twisted the wires because he was too lazy to go get more butt connectors