Spent a whole day chasing a coolant leak on a 6.7 Powerstroke that wasn't there

Customer complaint was a slow drip under his F-250. Pressure test showed nothing, dye test showed nothing. Finally found the 'leak' was just AC condensate dripping onto a crusty oil spot from a past valve cover gasket job, making it look fresh. Took me 8 hours to figure that out. Anyone else ever waste a ton of time on a problem that turned out to be something stupid like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucasschmidt18d ago

Oh man, that's the worst kind of day. Spent half a Saturday once convinced a customer's car had a major electrical drain. Turns out they just left their kid's portable DVD player plugged into the back seat outlet. Felt like a real genius that day. Those simple answers are always hiding after you've checked everything complicated.

patricialee18d ago

Classic case of looking for zebras when you hear hoofbeats. I bet you checked every fuse and relay twice before even glancing at the back seat. It's always some silly thing like a phone charger or a dash cam left on. The customer probably felt so dumb when you showed them the cord.

markt2318d ago

Honestly, those simple answers always feel like they're hiding until you've checked everything else twice.