ErickBaker

I would be interested in trying one of these conversions. I'm still partial to the Powerstroke though being a former Ford tech. But I do think that is an intersting conversion though. I also spied an adapter plate to put an Allison behind a 7.3L. Intersting website.

Thanks, I too have seen him in other forums. Most recently IATN where I've just begun to browse. His help is always valued, as well as your's and Keith's.

I recently left my local Ford store in search of a place where I didn't have to worry whether or not I was making a paycheck each week. I took a job with a reputable independent where I didn't have to deal with all the BS that had become common at the dealership. Anyway that's another story. I know there are a few independent techs and trainers here so I thought you of you guys may know where I could find some information\training on other diesel engines.(Duramax, Cummins, CAT, Izuzu) We work on pretty much anything that comes in the door and I really enjoy diesels. I only have experience with the Powerstroke so any information would be helpful.

Quote: AE updates are only $50/year, which is probably less that the tax on your Snappy updates. I totally agree with this, Snap-on's updates are kind of a scam. If you decide not to update the scan tool for a few years, when you finally decide to upgrade you have the buy all the previous years as well. I'm not sure if this is true or not, I only know what my Snap On dealer told me. FWIW, the MODIS is lightyears ahead of "The brick".

I like my Matco scanner a lot, I also like the Modis scanner. One thing to make sure you consider in your purchase will be the cost of software upgrades. Snap on requires you to purchase upgrades each year while Matco will let you purchase upgrades whenever you deem them necessary. As for the PDS it utilizes a pocket PC with an interface device called VCM. You can choose to purchase everything from Rotunda as a kit. It is a very good scan tool and comparable to what the NGS used to be. It is a very good scan tool for doing light diagnostic work. It will also only do OBD II or newer vehicles.

I bought a Matco determinator for my personal use and the shop I just started at uses a Snap-on Modis. Both are very good scan tools. However, these scan tools are not nearly as capable as a factory tool. If you are planning on only working on Ford vehicles only I would seriously consider purchasing a PDS system, which will do everything except fuel system tests and relative compression. One word of caution though, if you purchase a generic scan tool you will more than likely still not have access to misfire data on Fords. I learned from OTC reps that Ford is very secretive when it comes to giving out their information. If you will be working on all makes and models either a MODIS or Determinator will be a very capable choice. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

Awesome, I thought the service manager would have to tell you your score. I had no idea you could check it yourself. Looks like it rates the tech and service advisor as a team. My only poor score came from the service advisor question.

I'm just wondering about how many miles you guys are getting out of the stock air filters? I have never seen one look really dirty and the filter minders never seen to change. I saw some literature from Ford that said the should be changed at approx. 30k miles. Sorry for the dumb question, (I'm still relatively green) I just try to keep my diesel customers up to date on maintenance.

I always forget to tighten the two oil supply tube bolts on top of the turbo. Or forget to tighten the manifold to inlet pipe bolts on the intake manifold.

I haven't noticed any specific injector broken. I may venture to say that I have noticed the driver's side injectors seem to break the most though. Haven't really had many as of late, mostly had heavy engine failures.

Oh well, I guess having an E series with room to work was a naive idea anyway. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif The 6.0L in a van isn't that bad unless you have to change injectors I guess. Only time will tell. Actually I'm really looking forward to the new launch.

Has anyone heard any news about this engine going in an E series? Back when rumors first started I heard that engineering was having a tough time fitting it in such a tight space. Just wondering if they would still option the 2008 E series with the 6.0L or better yet use an even smaller engine in vans. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif

I've noticed some aftermarket filters come apart as well. Hows this for food for thought? I just did an oil change on a 2003 that came in for an oil leak. Customer brings in his own case of Amsoil and an Amsoil filter. The oil I drained from the engine was very black and dirty looking. I was reading some of the literature that came with the oil and filter and learned a few things. Amsoil says you can change your service interval to every 25,000 miles with their oil and filter. I also learned this oil comes at the handsome price of about $135 dollars. Yikes!

Has anyone else done this reflash? I did one Friday morning that had a slight miss on cold start up. I did the reflash and on Monday morning it didn't miss, however it wasn't as cold as I would of liked it to have been. I was just wondering about some of your experiences with the reflash because this customer traded the truck in and it's probably going to the auction. Also have you noticed any driveability changes? It seems like this truck ran much better after the reflash. That could of been all in my head though.

I'm working on a 2005 F-350 with about 65,000 miles on the clock. It came in for white smoke and coolant leaks. I diagnosed it as headgaskets and during tear down I noticed a waxy substance caked on the inside of the valve covers. I originally thought it was from water and oil mixing but the oil doesn't appear to be milky. I've never seen this before and was wondering if any of you guys have run into it. FYI, the EGR cooler also appeared to be leaking and the truck was over loaded. I was just curious if there may be something causing this (i.e. problems with the crankcase ventilation system) that I need to adress before putting the engine back in.

The caption I have says Ford will be building these units at the Dagenham Diesel Centre in the U.K.

FWIW the PDS is a great scan tool. I purchased mine when they first came out and I have had no problems other than a faulty program version once or twice. The only gripe I have about it is that the hardware(i.e. docking station, travel charger, synch cable) aren't as sturdy as I'd like. But since I bought all the warranty I could get with it thats not really an issue. This is just my humble opinion. For the record I think the IDS is an amazing scan tool even though I've heard a lot of complaints about it. Oh yeah one thing to consider is the VCM software renewal. If I recall correctly it $350 for two years of support and updates. Seems like a scam to me. You can find out more about the software renewal on PTS.

We have a work history and OASIS attached to every ticket. I suppose he could use the work history to show that this has been ongoing. I agree the OASIS with FSA's on them are nice but most techs in our shop tend to ignore them. It all comes down to taking pride in your job. Techs ignore things that they don't want to do (i.e. 4.0L headgaskets and recalls) and only accept gravy tickets. It really burns my ass when techs want to do driveabilty work as long as they can make 4 or 5 hours off the ticket in about 30 minutes. Meanwhile you have a handful of techs in the shop doing heavy line work, other tech's comebacks, and diesels while struggling to get 40 hours a week. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif Sorry just venting.

He may have the bills from his previous three or four visits. He paid for the first tune-up but after that they SPW the plug on cylinder 4. This being the first time I've looked at the truck I'm not positive about all the details of the past visits. I agree with your statement about keeping the customer informed, but as I'm sure you know, sometimes the powers that be aren't on the same page as us. Bottom line is that the shop dropped the ball and we should goodwill this job to make the customer happy. Today when I left the were talking about getting one of the hourly guys to do the job. It looks like I'll be out the next three days due to a foot injury at work, so it will probably be gone when I get back.

I feel pretty confident that it is the head. Now I'm just waiting for it to go through all the red tape. Nobody wants to pay for repair. Customer feels we dropped the ball on diagnostics which allowed his ESP to expire. Just for the record I agree with him.

I just saw those pictures tonite on TDS as well. Looks like you beat me to posting them. Those are probably the best quality pictures to date. I put the picture as my wallpaper to get used to the sight of that mess. Oh well. Does this mean we'll we'll be worth more?

Anybody heard anything about a new 3.6L twin turbo? I was reading a diesel magazine about all the 2007 emissions stuff and it had a picture of this engine. It says a Ford plant in the UK started building it and it makes 265 hp and 472 lb-ft of torque. Possibly for an non-American application??

Well I got concrete evidence today that the truck has a blown head gasket. I put a cylinder leak down tester on cylinder four and it began pushing coolant out of the radiator. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif For information purposes, I put the copper plugs in and the engine idled rough as hell and they caused a random misfire. This is one of the few cases where hotline was a bust. Now we'll see how this gets paid for. This gentleman's ESP expired while our other tech repeatedly "mis-diagnosed" the vehicle. Can you say P05?

Customer was just concerned with the way the vehicle ran. I just happened to catch the gauge after reading this post.

Well no signs of coolant dye in the cylinder or on the plug this morning. I guess I'll try hotline's flakey idea about the copper plugs. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif I appreciate all your help. I'm sure I'll be seeing this truck again in about 3,000 miles.