I think I work at the wrong dealership...

[Alex Bruene]

Yesterday, we had a customer pull up to our door with a 2008 F-450 with a knocking 6.4L. He had just left one of our local dealerships (Chan, you should know the one, as it is one of your "partner" stores). It just had it's annual safety inspection done, new brakes, ball-joints, maintenance, radiator and thermostat. The customer was told *** Ford could not look at the engine knock, as they are not certified to do diesel engine work. I often wonder why I work at a place where I have to fix stuff, rather than work somewhere I can pick and choose my work.

[mchan68]

Alex, please don't tell me this. If what you're saying is true, they're probably going to hang this one onto ME!!!! I already had my 6.4L hooping once. But in all honesty, if I had to R & R another one, it likely wouldn't be nearly as painful as the previous experience. Picking and choosing is rampant at my store too. The only difference being, I don't CHOOSE the work I do. It's pretty pathetic that lately I've been banking pretty close to the "favoured crews'" hours by doing the bullshit work I do, while "they" do it, doing the gravy retail brakes, ball joints, tune-downs and every other wallet flush under the sun.

 

If I had to guess, this would be Formula Ford in Pickering, correct? I'm guessing THAT dealer because they are close to your neck of the woods.

[Keith Browning]

So that dealership is not diesel certified yet they have no problem performing customer pay service work? I hardly see that as right on several levels. I would send the truck back to them and call BS on them.

 

There have been times when a strange vehicle has darkens my dealer's doorstep. Strange as in the customer lives pretty far away or we did not sell the truck and have never seen it in 50,000 miles. I discovered some time back that my FSE was "recommending" my dealer (me) to a few choice customers that were having trouble getting their trucks fixed at other dealerships That seems to have stopped and I am hoping it is because there are competent diesel techs in the area actually fixing things.

 

I think we all still hear horror stories from time to tome.

 

It sounds to me like MIKE is working at the wrong store!

[Jeff Clyde]

We get that all the time Alex. Trucks towed in from around 1 hour east/west of us. Customers get towed to the other dealers and either get told "we cannot get to it for at least 6 or 7 days", or we don't have anyone certified to do diesel warranty. Funny part is that the customer often says that their shop was empty.

Alex, have you had the pleasure of working on the "Friendly Bus" that the TTC uses ? Front wheel drive F-550 drop frame buses with more wiring and plumbing alterations than the space shuttle, what were they thinking?

[Alex Bruene]

Chan, I won't mention the name of the dealership, but you might be right. The better part is, I have a really good friend there who I called after we showed the customer the door. He informed me that their diesel tech. still works there, and they are certainly still certified to do it. 2 things factored in to the truck being sent to us; first, it doesn't sound like said tech. wanted anything to do with it... second, they don't want the "warranty expense"... whatever that means. We get "reject work" and comebacks from this dealership on a more than regular basis. I had a rant at my service manager earlier this year when a repeat comeback of theirs ended up on our doorstep. It had apparently (according to OASIS) just had a new EGR valve and the intake manifold removed for cleaning just a week before. It didn't look like a single bolt on the engine had ever been touched, and still had the orange EGR cooler hose, and the gaskets were definitely not new. I asked why I waste my time actually fixing things, when I could go work somewhere else where I could do the gravy, scam tonnes of (warranty) hours, and send the job elsewhere when it isn't fixed. Ford was contacted, asked us to submit some pictures and they would handle it from there. I don't know what, or if anything ever came out of it, but I don't imagine so.

 

Jeff, we know the "Friendly Buses" all too well. The TTC used to send them to us, until our dealer principal sent them packing when the brought us one with the dreaded fuse blowing. We gave them the option of removing the cab themselves, and sending the bus back (because of all the modifications, and mainly because of the fact it has a fire suppression system, and we didn't want anything to do with the liability if there was something wrong with it afterward)... or finding somewhere else to do it. They called every dealer in the GTA, all said no-way. So, they were then going take it to their selling dealer, which is somewhere in Kingston, so I get the feeling it might have been you guys. If that's the case, I apologize, as it was not my idea to send it away... Nor was I the tech. originally assigned the job.

[Alex Bruene]

It sounds to me like MIKE is working at the wrong store!

By all means!

[Jeff Clyde]

Alex, we aren't the selling dealer, but "we" are the dealer in Kingston. They are sold by Leeds Transit just north of us and we get enough of there units that get problems induced by the body builder in the U.S. Lucky us.

The other tech here just got finished doing a HPP in one, cab on of course, then got wrote up by the manager for having too much time on the job. I have one sitting outside for the last 2 weeks for a RH uppipe, but havn't had time to get to it yet.

We are paid hourly, so it is not too bad for jobs like this, b ut we constantly take flak for being over on jobs, albeit they are usually the nightmare electrical problems, or like you get, someone elses hack job/ scam, that you actually fix for the customer bet get reamed by Ford because it has been already "fixed" 2-3 times previously somewhere else. Anymore I just document the sH!# out of the repair, fix it properly, and move on to the next one.

It is almost time to move on, just havn't decided on whether to move east or west !

[Alex Bruene]

We got the run through from some dude at TTC about those buses. They are sold as a 450 chassis somewhere around here, I guess Leeds. They don't use 550s because the back half gets lopped off. It gets shipped somewhere in Indiana, where the frame mods and driveline is modified, then sent somewhere in Michigan, where the body is put on, then sent back to somewhere around here... Probably Leeds, again. From there they get delivered to TTC... We've done a few transmissions and up-pipes. A few no-starts that are normally causes by the body-builders modified fuel system, and some oil leaks. We're lucky enough to have a hoist that is able to lift them. Once it came time to do something major, such as a fuel pump gasket, the bosses said sayonara! Keep in mind, our bosses don't want us doing ANY warranty on a vehicle we didn't sell and/or don't service.

[Jeff Clyde]

Sometimes i wish our bosses would do the same, especially on trucks that are from dealers in the immediate area. Alot of our customers (warranty) don't service them here just because they are fleet maintained, and have their own facilities.

What kind of hoist do you use for these ? All we have in the truck shop is the portable stand alone hoists- we only have 2, wish we had 4.

[Alex Bruene]

We have a twin post in ground hydraulic. The one with the sliding front post. We also have 2 post above ground electric, but it won't lift those.

[Fredsvt]

Can you post pictures of this nightmare of a bus?

 

I thought the backyard Trident front/mid engine IH buses were a disaster. Imagine a DT466 sitting in the passenger compartment and the driver climbs over it to get into the seat. To replace the engine fan, which gets destroyed every time the half assed auxiliary a/c compressor tosses its belt, you have to remove the front end, rad and a whole mess of home made junk. Minimum 5 full days to do it.

[Jim Warman]

We have a twin post in ground hydraulic. The one with the sliding front post. We also have 2 post above ground electric, but it won't lift those.

This post is worth a whole 'nother thread.... If I forget... someone remind me.

[mchan68]

Can you post pictures of this nightmare of a bus?

I believe the buses that Alex is referring is the one pictured below:

I get a good laugh every time I pass one of them on the road, knowing that I will NEVER have the "pleasure" of having to wrench on them.

[Jeff Clyde]

I am envious of you Mike, right now our lot looks like a depot for those and 6.0 E- buses. I'm thinking that this would be a good time for some holidays, my sister lives in Whitehorse; I may not return !!!

[mchan68]

I am envious of you Mike, right now our lot looks like a depot for those and 6.0 E- buses. I'm thinking that this would be a good time for some holidays, my sister lives in Whitehorse; I may not return !!!

The only thing preventing me from jumping ship at my store is due to the fact that I don't wrench on a lot of diesels. I would guess that for every one diesel I wrench on Jim, Alex and Keith likely wrench on about 200. Therefore, I'll likely never get as good at working on them enough to be able to tolerate having to work on them on a daily basis like most of the members here do. I do all the work on anything to do with engine removal, disassembly etc. as well as the rare gravy retail work that comes my way. About the only jobs I don't do, are automatic trannys, gas engine driveability and alignments. Yet, for the few diesels that I do wrench on, as well as the engine work, it seems that some in my store perceive me to be the "ass kisser" which is bullshit. I don't by any means consider myself to be anywhere close to being the best tech, but I'll at least put a concerted effort into any vehicle (Ford vehicle that is) that crosses my path be it a Focus or an E-Series 6.0L.

[Alex Bruene]

Originally Posted By: Fredsvt

Can you post pictures of this nightmare of a bus?

I believe the buses that Alex is referring is the one pictured below:

I get a good laugh every time I pass one of them on the road, knowing that I will NEVER have the "pleasure" of having to wrench on them.

A.K.A-The New ELF!

 

BTW, they've purchased '11 chassis with 6.7s, and are having issues with the exhaust clearing the floor. I can't wait to see what kind of "system" they come out with next. Good luck, Jeff!

[Fredsvt]

How do they make it fwd only? I'm guessing that poor transfer case is being put under some awful stress. Along with the whole front end, it must steer oh so well.

 

I wonder if it's built in some guy's backyard, like the Tridents I see. He had a small barn on his Georgia property to build them, it couldn't hold the bus, so he did them on the dirt in his yard with a rented crane to drop the body on the frame.

 

Of course, now that I've seen that thing, one will show up on our doorstep on Monday, I'm sure.

[Jim Warman]

Mike... been a while since I really wrenched much on diesels.... well, that may be a bit inaccurate and I should retract it simply because Monday is another day... I am involved with more diesels that I would like to be sometimes.

 

Having said that, many of the jobs I do get make me wish I had something dieselish instead.

 

We have two techs that rarely work on anything but diesel - Kyle and Dwayne have nearly forgotten what a spark plug looks like. I try hard to remain aware of what they see and do but probably fail miserably at it.

 

Neil Young reminds you not to sell yourself too short. You are here on DTS and that puts you above most of the commoners out there.

[Aaron]

My buddy buys the rear axles out of those stupid fuckin' buses, DIRT cheap.

 

I mean DIRT cheap.

 

I can probably buy a complete axle from him (calipers and everything) cheaper than I could buy pinion bearings for one.

[Aaron]

Minimum 5 full days to do it.

I hope this is just an exaggeration for the sake of humor.

 

Just how nonchalantly it was kinda thrown in at the end.... I was laughin' my ass off.

 

MAINLY because it's not me workin' on it.

[Jim Warman]

Yo... eat your fucking rice pudding and get better. Watch TV... you cell bill will haunt you

[Aaron]

Fuck I wish I had some rice pudding...

 

I think the best flavor of Jello so far has been purple.

 

They sent my un-well, un-diagnosed ass home after pumping me full of drugs for a couple days.

 

And I had to pay for the TV, too. $10/day, and they had that shit timed to the MINUTE. You bought 'er at 5:41PM? 5:39PM she'd start to go all blurry (no, it wasn't the drugs) and at 5:41, blackout. The scramble for the wallet to call in your CC number again so you could catch the end of whatever stupid mindless drivel you were watching would then commence.

 

Next time I'll be sure to bring my laptop with me.

 

I'm sure whatever was giving me grief ain't gonna get better on it's own.

[Jim Warman]

Debb has spent too much time in hospiddles.. she would never eat her desert (amongst other things) and having me eat her cast offs (rice pudding without nutmeg close to the worst) seemed to become a way to prove my love.

 

I can tell you about hospital shit lots.... especially the TV part... if you ever finally move to Gods country, ask me about morphine..... morphine is a wonder drug - NOT... You might be getting sick because you are allergic to liberals?????

[Aaron]

Morphine doesn't do a damn thing for me anymore, unfortunately.

 

Jello wasn't desert, it was the main course

[Jim Warman]

A long, long time ago Debb was in University of Alberta Hospital for yet another operation.... I told them "put her on Demerol right away after the procedure". I was entering the nurses station for my first visit and the head nurse asked "Is she always like this?". I asked if she was on morphine or demerol... "Morphine" came the reply...

 

I turned around and, on my way out I said "I'll ask tomorrow if she's on morphine or demerol"

 

Debb and morphine are not a good combo - this is testing the limits of one humans love for another...

 

If they aren't serving rice pudding - there is probably a very good reason for it.... of the two possibilities.... it will either kill you or, for some perverted reason, it has some flavour left in it...

 

You can always dine on them dry lollipop kinda sticks...