Last Thursday was my worst day on the job in 5 years

I had a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia come in with a check engine light, and I thought it was just a simple EGR issue. Turned out the turbo actuator was stuck and the DPF filter was completely clogged. Took me 4 hours just to get the old actuator off because two bolts snapped inside the housing. Then I had to drill them out which took another hour. While I was reaming the holes, my tap broke off inside one of them and I nearly threw my Milwaukee drill across the shop. I ended up having to helicoil the whole thing and the customer was standing there watching the whole time asking if it was gonna be done by 5. Anybody else have a job that just kept getting worse the more you dug into it?

2 comments

2 Comments

quinns2011d ago

...and the customer standing right there the whole time is the part that gets me. That always makes a bad job worse, having an audience. But let me ask you this, when you were drilling out those snapped bolts, did you have a moment where you seriously considered just telling the customer you couldn't finish it and handing them off to another shop? I've been in that exact spot, staring at a helicoil I didn't want to install, and it's a real test of patience.

shane_nguyen11d ago

Three hours into drilling those bolts out @quinns20, I straight up considered welding the damn thing shut and telling the customer a bear did it lol