GregH

Ok, went through the wiring harness, found a few faults and fixed those. Reconnected to the PCM, and found no ground present on the sensor ground wire. Supplied a ground on that circuit, and all my sensors came back and read properly. My automatic shutdown relay turns on for one second when I turn on the key, then turns off. It supplies power to injectors and coil for that one second, then cuts the power. During cranking, the shutdown relay remains off - so the engine will not even try to start. I jumped the coil side to ground to force the relay on, and the engine still will not start with power to the injectors and coil. Check the ground signals from the PCM to the injectors and coil. The PCM is not triggering the injectors or coil. So, my question, if the PCM cannot read engine speed or sync on the engine, from a faulty CKP, CMP, or a wrong year model engine, will the PCM keep the automatic shutdown relay open? Does the PCM wait to turn on power to the injectors and coil until it sees the engine cranking? Thanks for the help!

You're right about that! I researched a bit before diving in, and found this out. Big differences in sync patterns!

Maybe this http://www.tigertruck.com/ This is one... Non street legal, even though it has lights and seat belts. Four cylinder engine with an EVAP system. No EGR or other emissions controls. Speed limited to 20 miles per hour. Our school has a half dozen of the four door pickup models. Found the problem with this unit, failed ignition coil. From the manufacturer, they cost $7 each. Gotta buy them in lots of 10, with $80 shipping from overseas... Fixed the golf cart, had to rob steering linkage parts off another down unit. This golf cart has slotted rotors!

I'm working on this for the local shop. Someone else put an engine in it, and it wouldn't run after that. Codes for ECT and TPS high input. PIDs show -40F ECT and 100% TPS. Unplugged sensors and grounded the signal return, I can make the signals change. VREF is holding at 5.0V Sensor ground, though (BK/LB wire) is showing 5V... I would have expected 0V. I supplied an auxillary ground on the sensor ground wire, and my sensor readings came back into line. Load test power and ground to PCM - lit a turn signal bulb just fine. The harness was in a bad way. Dirty, broken connectors, pierced wiring. I took the harness off and am cleaning it up on a table. With a restored harness, if I still read 5V on the sensor ground wire, am I looking at a failed PCM? Do these PCMs fail often? I know with Ford, if the pinpoint test leads to a PCM, I'd better go back and redo the test - it's never a bad PCM. Is it this way with Dodge? Thanks for the help!

ha! I'll chime in. Got a no start hot on a 2009 Tiger Truck and two golf carts. One won't charge and the other has a broken steering linkage. Probably jumping too many medians chasing speeders! Storing my mustang there too, does that count? Oh, and a recumbent bicycle build. My first one! Gotta love summertime!

I've got a crack in my fiberglass tub that no one is willing to touch - it's down in the curve where the vertical transitions to horizontal. I did an ugly patch to it and it seems to be holding... Drilled both ends so it wouldn't spread.

Not to be the naysayer, but the Dorman products I've used have worked out well. Intake manifolds for the modular engines, cooling fan assemblies, blower motors, and other electrical parts. I don't teach diesel here, so we don't use any of their coolers...

I'm in one of the poorest demographics in the poorest state in the US; some of the things I've seen here would make your hair stand on end. Two-thirds of this county's population is on public assistance. While I'm swiping my debit card at Wal-Mart, the person in front of me and behind me both swipe their EBT cards... The neighbor across the street from me was without water for six months - because they couldn't afford the bill. One of my daughter's friends has a refrigerator with a broken thermostat. They have to manually close a rigged up switch to turn on the 'fridge, then turn it back off before it freezes up. Oh, and they still haven't fixed their burst water pipe from last winter - they just shut it off at the meter. Tuition for my school is $1040/semester. 80% of my students are on financial aid, and half of them can't afford the one textbook required for my curriculum. Take a look at the houses in your neighborhood: How many DirecTV antennas are there? How many houses have coaxial cable from Comcast running to them? Around here, it is the rare household that has more than over-the-air television. High speed internet has a market penetration of maybe 25%. Most everyone here just applies for and recieves an Obama-phone. And we're paying $3.40 for gas... One of the subjects we talk about in class is economics. I'm all for developing a well-rounded graduate, one who can see past what is under the hood. We talk about basic budgeting, how credit cards work, how to balance a checkbook, how to write an accurate cost estimate. One of the discussion starters I use is the cost of gas. I ask them how much they are buying per week, and how their lives would be affected if there was a significant change in fuel price. The inevitable discussion leads into how much they could pay off bills, how much more beer they could buy, etc. if the price dropped. I then ask them to consider how things would change if the price increased - $4, $5 a gallon. Whoa, that's a mood killer! One of the activities I have them do on that day is to research alternative transportation schemes - public transport, electric vehicles, alternative fuels, etc. They have found in the past that the current technology for alternative fuels is way, way more advanced and mature than they thought. I show them the fuel cell car Kia is leasing in California - with all the fuel already covered. I show them the all electrics - the th!nk neighbor, Saturn EV-1, Ranger EV, and the Focus electric. And then we delve into the homebrew alternatives - transesterification of second use oils, biodiesel, even ethanol/methanol. And I ask them if these technologies would be as mature, or even exist at all, if fuel wasn't already $3.40/gallon. The argument being that pinching the customer drives up demand for cheaper alternatives. The market delivers. And then, out in the workshop, we'll try to diagnose a check engine light on a late model Chevy pickup with "straiyt paiype, no cats" exhaust. Ugh, gotta love the south... But I am proud to say that 100% of my graduated students are employed full time. A couple are working at AutoZone, but at least that's still in the right field. The ones working on cars aren't making more than about $12/hour, but at least it's a 40-hour, 8-5 job. If they have the right integrity, and spend their money with their community in mind, maybe we won't be the poorest demographic...

I've been doing a fair bit of side work during the school holidays and summer, and I've been seeing first hand that the training I'm providing for my students is not what the market wants... 2001 Ford Expedition won't charge the battery. Charge battery, check and replace alternator. While testing, I hear a tremendous vacuum leak from the PCV tube. Owner doesn't want to repair that; it'll run with the leak 2002 Dodge Neon crank no start. Another hack put a used engine in it. Been to two shops since then. Intake manifold full of dirt and water, exhaust not hooked up, compression numbers were abysmal, wiring harness hacked to pieces. Installed new ignition coil and started it up. Owner didn't want to address the other stuff. 2008 Ford Crown Victoria with a noisy A/C pulley. Advised of repairs, declined. Brought it back to me a few months later with a locked pulley, broken belt, and smoked A/C clutch. 1999 Ford Ranger, stuck on heat. Blend door cracked. Advised of repairs, the owner decides to step hard on the brake to flip the door to cool instead... Mid-'90's S-10 with a leaking radiator. Owner provides a new radiator. Inspect, and its a junkyard radiator. And it's broken. Gets another "new" one, install, it leaks... but not leaking as bad as the first one.... 2009 Tiger Truck hard to start. Fuel is contaminated with dirt. Advise cleaning the fuel tank and flushing lines along with replacement pump. Decline the cleaning, just put a pump in it. And this is what I've come up with in just a few minutes. I am astounded almost daily at what kind of junk people drive around here. There is never a vehicle I work on that doesnt have a check engine light on or flashing. Everyone's brakes squeal and shake the vehicle. Slipping transmissions, broken windshields, bald tires... I am surrounded by crumbling transport... I use an MPI sheet on everyone's vehicles so they see what I see... It's resulted in quite a bit of repeat business, but people here don't have any money for vehicle upkeep. I advise my students to address the customer's primary concern first. But, look over the vehicle for additional work that should be performed - using the MPI as a guide. That way they'll only need to talk to the customer once. Several of my gradutes have gotten back with me to say they way they were taught doesn't jive with how their shops operate. They tell me so many horror stories of "set the toe and let it go" that I could write a book. When I worked in a more affluent part of the state, the customers who were on the receiving end of a red MPI were pretty grateful - glad that we were looking out for their best interest. These customers around here, its almost as if my students are insulting them when they go over an MPI. It's as if the vehicle owners in this area just want the vehicle to make it down the road a little furthur - not be ready to drive to California tomorrow...

I've been away from here for a while, doing this teaching thing. Going quite well, students are learning a lot, placing graduates in industry, summers off, much easier on my body... Got the news the other day, one of my sophomores, Guy Loper, was murdered after class: http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/Suspect-in-Custody-for-Newton-County-Homicide-245611361.html Killed by a single shot to the head and left in his car by a friend of his family. His wife is also one of my students. Young couple, about to start their first real career...

Something else to consider - the high pressure system does not recieve oil from the oil filter. Engine oil that is filtered gets sent on to be lube oil throughout. The only filtering the high pressure oil gets is from that small screen (you know, the one with the torn out windows) under the oil cooler. Still have to track down the source - but make sure before the vehicle is released that there is a new screen under the oil cooler.

Agreed, please post some pictures!

I've worked hard to develop a teaching style that engages as many of the students as possible. Workgroups with scripted lab activities and computer assignments have helped. I maintain a consistently structured environment with regularly spaced breaks, and the students know what to expect when they come into class. I'm teaching automotive technology to post-secondary students. I'm the only instructor in this program here, so I teach all 8 areas - brakes, electrical/electronics, automatic transmissions, steering and suspension, etc. The first photo above was taken during my engine repair class - you can see the students working to get down to the crankshaft on their provided engines. 4.6L in the background on the right...

So I've been doing this teaching thing for three semesters now, and I'm really enjoying it. Coming back around to teach the same material to a new class in the fall, and the school decided to act on a suggestion I made some time ago. They are building me a climate controlled classroom! Here's how the shop looked last semester: 10 bay shop, with the "classroom" on the north wall. The four post rack seen in the background did not operate, and you can see a projector screen erected in the middle of it. To the left of that rack is seating for my 30 students. Hot in the summer, cold in the winter, not an ideal learning environment during class time. Over the summer, they've come in and cleared the classroom area and removed the non functional four post rack: And erected walls: Here's the plans: My desk will be on the west end of the class. Built in desks and computers for 30 students. I've found that I like to walk while I'm talking to the students, so I asked to have this layout so I'll have a circular track to walk. 65" flat screen television mounted on the east wall with a large whiteboard (drawing shows the TV centered, it'll actually be centered on the north aisle, and whiteboard centered on the south aisle) The doorway is large enough to roll an engine through, and I'll have bookcases built by the physical plant mounted along the west wall. I would like some decorations for the class, so if any of your dealers have old sales banners (I've got the old long one advertising the 2009 F-150) I'd sure pay for the shipping! I'm stoked about it... I'll post more pictures as construction progresses.

I've used Matco for years. Find they seem to hold up better than Snap-on, less spreading on the smaller (8-10mm) stuff.