Automotive and diesel
Diesel, Trucks and 4x4s
This page is the pickup and the work truck: the vehicle that tows, hauls, plows or gets driven somewhere a car would not go, and the one you cannot do without for a week. A motorhome on a diesel chassis is a different animal and has its own page.
What it usually turns out to be
You do not need a diagnosis to call. Describe what it is doing and we will tell you whether it is a shop job.
It smokes under load, or takes longer to start than it used to
On a diesel both usually point at fuel delivery: injectors, the pump, or a supply problem upstream of either. Color and timing narrow it, so tell us whether it is black under acceleration or white on a cold start, and whether it clears once it warms.
It has lost power towing, but feels fine empty
Load is the test a diesel passes or fails, and around here there is plenty of grade to fail on. We look at fuel delivery under demand, at the turbo and its plumbing for a boost leak, and at the cooling system, because heat and power loss travel together.
The transmission shifts hard, or the truck shudders at a steady cruise
In a tow vehicle this is worth catching early. A shudder at cruise is often the torque converter clutch, and a transmission that has been hauling is a transmission that has been hot. Fluid condition tells us most of it.
There is a clunk in the driveline, or a whine that changes with speed
U-joints, carrier bearings, or the differential. A whine that tracks road speed rather than engine speed is a gear noise, and on a truck that tows, the differential is the part that has been working hardest.
It is a 4x4 and the front axle has stopped engaging
Could be the actuator, the vacuum or electrical side of it, the transfer case, or the hubs. Worth finding out before the day you actually need it, which is generally not a day when you want to be diagnosing anything.
What we do
- Diesel injection service
- Engine replacement, gas and diesel
- Transmission overhaul
- Cooling system flush, exchange and rehose
- Hydro-boost and hydro-vac units
- Driveline and differential repair
- Trailer wiring, hookup and diagnosis
- Scheduled maintenance for work trucks
Will it fit
The question owners ask first and almost nobody answers on a website.
- Service bays
- 7
- Sized for a Class A
- 4
- Yard entrances
- 2
Two yard entrances is what makes a long rig easy to get in and back out of. Call with your length before you drive over and we will tell you whether it fits and when the bay is free.
What we do not do here
- This page is pickups and work trucks. A motorhome on a diesel chassis is a different job with different access problems, and it has its own page.
- We do not do performance tuning and we do not publish power figures. Getting a truck back to working properly is the job here.
- We are not naming a list of diesel platforms we specialize in. Tell us what you have and we will tell you straight whether it is work for us. We would rather do that than publish a list and have you drive over on the strength of it.
- We do not hold DOT inspection authority and we are not claiming a commercial or heavy-duty rating.
- We do not do emissions or aftertreatment work as a specialty, and we do not do emissions testing at all. That is a licensed program in Nevada and we are not a station.
Before you call, have this handy
None of it is required. It just gets you a real answer on the first call instead of the second.
The engine, not just the truck
Power Stroke, Cummins, Duramax, Sprinter and the rest are different animals with different weak points, and the badge on the tailgate does not always tell you which year of which one you have. The plate or the VIN settles it. If you are not sure, the year and the model get us close.
What you actually do with it
Towing weight, plowing, gravel, idling for long stretches, short trips. A truck that idles all day and a truck that tows over passes wear out different things, and it changes what we look at first.
Whether it has been modified
Tuner, exhaust, lift, larger tires, a different axle ratio. Nobody is judging. It genuinely changes the diagnosis and it is much better said than discovered.
How long you can be without it
Say it up front. If the truck is how you earn, that changes how we sequence the work and what we order first.
Questions
Questions we get asked
Do you work on my engine specifically?
Tell us which one you have and we will give you a straight answer before you drive over. We are deliberately not publishing a list of platforms we claim to specialize in, because a list on a website is easy to write and we would rather you got a real answer on the phone.
Is my motorhome this page?
No. If it is a coach on a diesel chassis, the diesel coach page covers it, mostly because the access and the size problems are completely different even where the engine work overlaps.
Can you do the emissions system on my diesel?
Not as a specialty, and we are not an emissions testing station either. Nevada testing is a licensed program. Ask us about your specific problem and we will tell you honestly whether it is ours.
How long will you have my truck?
Tell us how long you can be without it and we will be honest about whether we can work to that. If the truck is how you make a living, that is the most important thing you can tell us, and we would rather order parts before you drop it off than after.
Do you set up towing on a work truck?
Yes, hitch, wiring and brake controller, and there is a whole page on that. Doing the towing setup and the truck's own service in one visit saves you a trip.
Will you work on a truck somebody else has modified?
Yes. Tell us what was done and by whom if you know. It changes what we expect to find, and knowing it up front means you are not paying us to be surprised.
Talk to someone who works on these
Call the shop and we will tell you the soonest realistic date rather than book you and hold your rig. Mon-Fri 8:00 - 5:00, Saturday 8:00 - 12:00.