Diesel Injectors, the Dummy Version

Cummins 6BT 5.9-liter 12V engine

We took a little poll at the office and learned that no one on our staff at the Antisocial Network has ever owned a diesel vehicle. Heck, some have never owned a gasoline-powered vehicle, either. "Uber rules!" the kids tell us. Back to the original point, though: none of us has ever performed a tuneup or done any other mechanical work on a  diesel engine, including the 5.9-liter Cummins Diesel 12V, the one used in larger Dodge (later Ram) pickups. That being said, eHow's Greyson Ferguson likely has never done any either, but that didn't stop him from publishing "How to Set Injection Timing Marks on a 5.9 Cummins 12 Valve."¹

Truth be told, the topic makes no sense: you can't "set... marks." You can, however, set the timing, and on this particular diesel engine (we know nothing of others), you can set both the ignition timing and the timing on the fuel injection pump. Ferguson, however, did not do his research and – although the topic specifically references the injection timing – published instructions for the ignition timing (half-assed instructions, at that).

According to Greyson, all you have to do is

"Turn off the engine and open the hood. On the underside of the hood is a list of specifications regarding the vehicle. including the correct timing. If you do not have this printed list, consult your vehicle's owner's manual for the correct settings..." ...to get your specs, then you play with the distributor and a timing light. Heck, Ferguson even got the instructions for using a timing light more or less correct (at least for a conventional gasoline engine, that is), rewording them from an online source. The problem, of course, it that the OQ didn't want to time the engine, the OQ wanted to time the fuel injection pump -- an entirely different kettle of fish.

If Greyson had done a little research -- you know, plugging something like "timing fuel injection cummins 12v" into a good search engine -- he could have come up with the right answer. We don't know if this one's correct, but we can at least say that it's hella different from Ferguson's ignition timing instructions!

Greyson, however, never went beyond his own simplistic understanding of the question, never bothered to wonder why the word "injection" turned up in there, and consequently provided a completely useless answer. You know what that makes Greyson Ferguson? Right: our Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_7979319_set-59-cummins-12-valve.html

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