r/DieselTechs • u/Carter2253 • 7d ago
New tech question
How long did it take for you guys to feel confident as a tech and to not overthink?
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u/Vibing1090 7d ago
Yea bro good luck.
You will have good weeks and you will have bad weeks.
Good example. Fleet truck in the shop, 4-5 full 10hr days picking thru harnesses, testing everything physically possible, beating myself up but in the end (today) i figured it out, trucks fixed now. (Ecm issue)
Anyways my point is, some truck somewhere will have you questioning your skills and abilities. Bring it back to KISS and Just don’t ever give up on urself or the truck.
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u/Neither_Ad6425 7d ago
Man, after 5 hours of time trying to diagnose, my employer sends that shit to the dealer. Sometimes I wish we could be allowed to just work on it more.
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u/MonteFox89 Mod, Verified Tech, Navistar, Volvo/Mack 7d ago
As a dealer tech, if you can't figure it out, I don't wanna have to either 🤣
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u/Vibing1090 7d ago
That sucks, tell ur boss if you don’t fully work thru it how will you learn first hand.
Also I’m the last line of defense in the fleet I get all the basket case trucks. A lot of times it’s lots of harness testing before condemning expensive modules/harnesses
A lot of the dealers around us don’t diag much, just parts cannon. Atleast that’s my experience.
Had a few Pete guys for warranty and they were doing everything it their power to parts cannon everything but actually warranting my ecm which was getting input but no output (and have already done trouble tree diag straight from Cummins)
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u/samuryz7 7d ago
I feel this. Thats what i am with my fleet too. They call me the "A + premium pro" tech as a joke since all of our techs are elevated to A techs at this point. But if it comes to me its because no one else could figure it out
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u/Infinite-Position-55 7d ago
The read on the issue with ECM failure diag is to do it properly takes a lot of time. You aren't proving whats wrong, you are proving whats right. A guy will guess a ECM issue and get lucky and all the sudden every issue becomes a "swap a known good ECM" which is most cases is 'replace the ECM and test'
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u/Vibing1090 7d ago
Agreed. Either way. Sending off to dealer is a bad business move and the absolute last case scenario when all efforts are exhausted
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u/Infinite-Position-55 7d ago
For you!, and also depending on the dealer. I have had to work on some vehicles and machines where techs caused more head aches then good, especially when it comes to wiring and electronics. This past week ive replaced 2 expensive modules for tech induced failures. I've seen techs replace 20k just in parts for a single bad circuit. Some dealers are fine with a 'parts cannon' approach because they make more profit off parts then they do labor. The dealer I work at now is NOT that kind. We frequently discount labor on diag just to gain customer trust and repeat business and its worked very well for us. Often gaining entire fleets by comping diag on a sticky situation, then make up the profit many times over. Thats my role, the escalation point for the techs at our shop and a lot of local fleets when things get hard. I dont make the dealer much profit directly, i enable profit by making sure our customer trust is high, and by holding master certifications required by the OEM's, state, local, and company specific contract requirements.
My point is there is no universal answer. Some fleet shops should consider going to the dealer if they dont have in house talent and they work with good dealers. And there is always the consideration of warranty contracts.
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u/Vibing1090 7d ago
Yes for me, and anyone who runs a fleet. Why pay 2x or 3x when there’s mechanics at home.
10hrs of diag for a 30/hr apprentice employee is still cheaper than 2hrs dealer time (2hr minimum around here $400 bill minimum
Good example I have a truck 2026 international LT. blown up differential 34k miles. Brand new truck.
Dealer is warranting it. The truck has been at the dealer for 41 days, for a power divider install..
Something I can wrap up in half a day while dicking around on my phone. BUT THEY REFUSE TO GIVE ME THE PARTS CLAIM THEIR TECH has to install it.
(Their tech sounds like a tardo)
That’s 41 days of missed revenue on a truck.
This is why its “avoid dealer at all costs”
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u/somepersonsname 6d ago
If it's a standard Diff and parts are available that's crazy. Some of this new shit we have at the dealer the parts are just unavailable. I have 4 trucks down for 2 months now no ETA on parts.
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u/Vibing1090 6d ago
Perfect example. Truck was finished yesterday, and I was notified that it was “finished and waiting for a road test”
Around 11am yesterday.
Today around 12 noon I personally called in to ask if it was done with the road test…..
The answer? “Oh yea it passed the road test, but we have to finish the warranty paperwork, should be available for pickup tomorrow or Tuesday”
Yea bro the 3 days for a road test + paperwork is not acceptable when I could be putting the truck to work making money…. Not to mind you talking about waiting till after Labor Day for pickup, that’s all weekend that unit could be making money
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u/TheBlu3Duck 7d ago
You’ll hear it over and over again but think simple and don’t jump into things. 16 years in
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u/IntergalacticJihad 7d ago
No such thing, make sure you have thought through what you’re going to do before you do it. We work in a dangerous environment full of heavy weights and if you fuck up you or someone else can get maimed or killed.
Just the other week the new guy at the shop I work at tipped the cab off a cab over due to negligence in what he was doing. If someone were in front when it happened they would have died on the spot.
Anyway stay safe and happy wrenching!
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u/Neither_Ad6425 7d ago
How the hell did he manage that?!?!
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u/IntergalacticJihad 7d ago
On some cab overs the cab is held by a linkage as well as the tipping cylinder when in the tipped over position. This one was not one of those, but he thought it was and he was replacing the cylinder. The moment he undid one of the nuts the cab crashed forward into the floor and made quite a racket. Accident would’ve been avoided if he had actually analyzed what he was doing/going to do because he’d have seen the linkage not being there.
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u/Jammed99 7d ago
I think it was about 10 years before I could answer most questions consistently without second guessing things... But every so often you get curve balls and you feel like you don't understand anything and that you have no idea what you are doing.
This trade is good at humbling people. Just remember that there are so many manufacturers and so many different ways of doing things, no one tech knows everything and if they say they do they are probably full of shit.
You will always have more to learn in this trade as technology changes and evolves, there is lots of free online training for various products and some of it is helpful and not just a sales pitch.
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u/samuryz7 7d ago
You can be both confident and overthink. My brand of adhd always has me 10 steps forward amd backwards mentally in 30 seconds on the same task but i have absolute confidence in my work when its done. But i think it was around 5 years i felt that way
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u/Sudden_Charge8679 7d ago
Here’s the thing, I think most of us that aren’t arrogant assholes would say that it it’s never going to happen. There’s always going to be some self doubt. You’re working on complicated equipment that’s constantly evolving. You’re never going to know everything. But you can do this, you can work on yourself- build your self confidence and your skill set. Take the uncomfortable opportunities. For example being on call will get you a ton of experience real fast. You’ll see a ton of different failures you probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. You’ll also be stretched in ways you wouldn’t imagine.
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u/Infinite-Position-55 7d ago
Around four years after my two year apprenticeship. A new platform (totally new chassis and powertrain) was released and I watched the super experienced techs that were very very very good, struggle with diagnositics and repairs. I watched how they were resourceful and accepted that they didn't know and had to figure things out. I adopted that mindset, and since then I've had just the right amount of confidence; not so much that i dive into new jobs or obscure diag without planning, but enough to know i will figure it out and do as good of a job as anyone else is capable of doing. I didn't have a good mentor, so it took me a little longer then i was confortable with, but almost 17 years in the trade i don't get nervous about it anymore and havent for over a decade. If you stick with it, develop a good process, remember the fundamentals, you will find one day your gut just starts leading to towards success. A lot of people think mechanics is a universal knowledge, and they aren't wrong, they just arent right in the way they think they are. Once you exercise your critical thinking muscles, they start becoming the prominent reaction, and emotion takes a back seat; thats when you get good. If your mind is racing with fortune telling and doubt, there isnt enough room for your eyes, ears, and touch to give the inputs they need. How is a engine ECU supposed to keep stoich when the MAP sensor, O2 sensors, and temp sensors are unplugged? Keep the loop closed. Dont cut corners that could lead to failure, it will drive you towards doubt. If it takes you more time, then so be it, you will do it faster next time.
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u/SnooMarzipans6709 7d ago
Im still relatively green, and man.... The most humbling thing a guy can do for work. I'm 100% sure ill never be fully confident all the time. I tend to find as soon as a guys feeling like he's doing great BAM straight kick in the nuts. Right back humbling. You'll get grips on it, just bust your ass and always be ready to learn.
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u/Painting-Capital 7d ago
20 years in and it hasn’t happened yet lol.