Had a supervisor tell me my injector timing was off by 2 degrees, changed everything

I was doing a routine rebuild on a Cummins ISX at my shop in Tulsa and the boss came over, watched me set the timing, and said I was chasing the wrong mark on the gear train. Turned out I'd been using the camshaft timing mark instead of the injector drive gear mark for like 6 months on these engines. Anyone else have a simple fix like that that made a huge difference in how engines run?

3 comments

3 Comments

hunt.rowan26d ago

Using the camshaft timing mark instead of the injector drive gear mark" that's wild, totally changed how I see timing now.

palmer.henry26d ago

Yeah I picked that up from a diesel tech forum a while back. Amazing how one little mark can throw everything off if you use the wrong one.

the_henry26d ago

Had a buddy down in Oklahoma City who did the exact same thing on a CAT C15. He spent two weeks chasing a rough idle and low power, replaced injectors, swapped pumps, the whole nine yards. Then a old timer walked by and asked if he checked his gear train alignment against the right pin. Fixed it in ten minutes. @hunt.rowan I bet that moment felt like a light bulb went off, because my friend said he almost kicked himself. Little stuff like that keeps you humble in this trade.