Jim Warman Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 An 05ish with about 90000 kms (a little over 50000 miles) getting an oil change at another shop.... Stuck to the drain plug magnet is the head of an injector screw. Not the spool valve screw... the head of the screw that holds the solenoid body to the injector barrel.... Just the head... looks almost like a thick washer (with a torX shaped hole). No injectors have ever been replaced on this truck..... Customer is in a lather... truck is running good.... What would you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Upsell him a BG EGR flush. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rofl.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwayneGorniak Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Tell him about the 1-800 eat shit road side assistance number and that he has another 70,000km of warranty left before he trades it off /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif . Just kidding Jim. But what the hell else do you tell him right? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/scratchhead.gif Have you looked under the valve covers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I'm just kiddin', I had to get that one in /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/poke.gif in one of those moods. We have a big shop meeting with the owners tomorrow, looks like it's gonna be a real ass-chewin good time. So I'm trying to stay light hearted. I guess I would pull some valve covers and take a little looky loo around, can't hurt. Customer might not like it, after all it's his truck, but it could save trouble in the long run. How's he feel about opening up his virgin truck? I pulled a fill plug out of the rear dif on one of these and it had a giant piece of metal hanging off the magnet. Told the customer, got him a ride home, pulled the cover only to find it was a piece of slag off the case halves for the carrier. The guy was out of his truck for the day, but he got fresh fluid and the relief of knowing his rear wasn't gonna grenade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Ain't that a paradox! My frosted side says to stick the screw head back on the drain plug and let someone else find it. My plain side says that if it isn't broken, don't fix it and I do believe that is something we have been told by Ford. No? What if, just what if you pull out all 8 injectors and find not one screw missing... yep Jim, sure sounds like a paradox to me! What ARE you going to do? It came from somewhere right? I do hope you locate the injector under the first valve cover you lift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendpowerstroke Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I had a 1997 F350 7.3L once I found one valve keeper stuck to the drain plug. I told the customer then pulled the valve covers to inspect the valve keepers / retainers to see if one was missing, none were and the customer was happy to pay the hour to find out it was ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 Well... we pulled both valve covers and could find a dmaned thing wrong.... didn't have to pull any injectors since a mirror worked well for looking for the screw heads.... The customer has peace of mind... the tech was whissed about "wasting time"... It took over 50,000 miles of oilpatch roads to get this thing from where-ever it "was" to the drain plug.... Still unanswered in my mind... how far do we need to go investigating assembly screw ups? How far SHOULD we go? All I can tell Ford and the warranty nazis is that happy customers are repeat customers..... I don't want them for 3/36..... I want them FOREVER!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwayneGorniak Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 With all the crap like this coming out of the factory, I guess you could look at it as a new form of preventative maintenance. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hammer2.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGM Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Jim, I understand that there were no injectors on record (or customer recolection) installed in the past, but these bolts just dont break and hang out in the pan by accident.. What I mean is, if it was a factory screw up, it should be a complete bolt.. I'm confused too.... Now, did you check the fuel pressure? Thats what causes that bolt to break in the first place.. Just a thought.. As long as the pressure is good, it will probably be fine.. Worth a little peace of mind?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted September 15, 2007 Author Share Posted September 15, 2007 This was my first thought, too, HGM.... Bad enough when you can't identify stuff clinging to a drain plug.... but when you have something in your hand and know it is supposed to be somewhere else.... The tech didn't check fuel pressure and, in spite of the screw head magically appearing after this many miles, the truck runs great... We did have some EGR/turbo issues with it about a year or so ago (cleaning IAT2 "seemed" to help with some nagging issues), but it's been performing well since. Two of us got a definite visual on every screw head, so we know that they are all where they belong.... except, perhaps, for the 17th screw.......... The only other really interesting discovery I've had is finding the broken tip off a T30 socket on a drain plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 At least it wasn't a piston cooling jet, or as customers on the phone say "this pencil looking thing that came out while changing my oil". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted September 15, 2007 Author Share Posted September 15, 2007 Imagine finding a piston cooling jet... and when you get the pans off, all of them are alive and well and living in their rightful homes..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendpowerstroke Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 The only other really interesting discovery I've had is finding the broken tip off a T30 socket on a drain plug.Other than the aforementioned valve retainer I found what we believe is 1/2 of a wrist pin snap ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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