Hit 500 engine rebuilds last week, still surprised by what fails

Finally crossed 500 total diesel rebuilds over my career, been at it since 2001. I expected injectors and turbos to be the main culprits, but it's honestly the little stuff like harmonic balancers and idler pulleys that leave people stranded. Did the math and that's about 24 rebuilds a year, not crazy but still a solid number for a solo shop in Tucson. What really got me was tracking the last 50 jobs, 18 of them came in with broken motor mounts that nobody checked first. For anyone who's done this trade a while, what number did you hit that made you stop and think? And do you keep a log or just go by memory like I used to?

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murphy.aaron21d ago

Harmonic balancers, man. Had a guy swear his truck was possessed last month, spent a week chasing ghosts before we found the crank pulley wobbling like a drunk at last call. Motor mounts though, that tracks. Nobody ever thinks to wiggle the engine before they start pulling parts off.