G. Bedford

TSB 06-17-1. Came out yesterday.

We started lifting the cabs to do the head gaskets on the oil leaking 5.4l wayyyyy back when. It was a natural to move on to the Super Duties and the 6.0l. We have body lifting down to a fine art in our shop. Once when it was slow in the shop I lifted the body on a Crown Vic to replace the engine, just as a lark. We have a large spreader bar to use with our cherry picker so we can lift the engine out as a complete assembly and swap in a complete engine that was sent. Just plug in the wiring harnesses and fuel lines and you're good to go. I have some pictures of a new body style 150 with a 5.4l 3V we exchanged complete engines in. I could post them if you want.

According to the list of priorities of the 2006 PSMAC, one item is raising the diesel warranty rate Ford pays. I doubt it will happen with Ford's finances as they are and its past history of warranty costs. http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0510/23/A01-358226.htm If the dealers do get the increase, the question is, do you think any will trickle down to the technicians?

What bothers me is, there is still VRef supplied to the EBP sensor even though the PID is deactivated. Electrical shorts to the EBP sensor within the harness or the sensor itself can still cause problems. But we no longer have the PID's to help us in diagnosis.

As part of the tensioner there is a small lever that will hold the tensioner so the belt is slack. Feel around below the pulley with your hand to find it. While standing at the pass. fender pull the belt towards you with your left hand, this will collapse the tensioner. Now with your right hand, reach under the tensioner pulley and flip the lever up and hold it there. Now slowly release your hold on the belt(while holding the lever up) and the lever will jam against the tensioner holding it slack. Flip the belt off the alternator pulley and change the alternator out. When you get your new alt. on, just yank the belt at the center span you held earlier and the lever will drop and the tensioner will be tight. Sounds harder than it is.

In our shop we check fuel pressure by using the PVT PID with the WDS. Since most of our techs grab the WDS for the self tests, why go find the gauge bar, too? If I leave the shop to monitor PID values of the different sensors, I just set it to capture/record if my fuel pressure drops below 45psi.

Some pictures of the innards of an injector damaged by low fuel pressure. fuel injector You can see one section broken off the return spring and the plunger retainer has shattered to bits.

Glad you liked the picture. The turbo blew apart on this one and the oil just ran out the muffler as the engine idled.

A couple pics of a 6.0 marking its territory, the service bay! Oil Leak

We have replaced alot of gaskets since the parts have been available from the TSB. Early on we had one head we did not like so a new one was ordered. The new head had .004" warpage out of the box. Hotline said to use it, so we did. No problems resulted so we rarely do anything but the gaskets. According to TSB 05-24-09 the torque sequence was changed and the torque was increased(on the lower row of bolts). What warpage/pitting we have come across has not resulted in a come-back at this point.

We had a week of -20 mornings that played havoc with the 6.0l. One local customer traveling in Texas last week called us from there to say the dealer was appalled we had put 10/30 in her truck during an oil change. Now that she is home that 15/40 Rotella they put in just ain't spinning up fast enough. We had a gas station in the area decide since #1 was in short supply they would just cut the #2 with what they had available, namely gasoline. Took out 8 rigs from one fleet. Injectors on back-order so there they sit. One other truck came in very noisey and missing terribly. Checking fuel quality from the top filter you could smell gas, but the fuel was still slippery like diesel. Customer was called and he stated he still had the fuel slip with the pump number. He went back to the station, sure enough it was the gas nozzle. He and the wife came in and talked. She was just giddy it wasn't her mistake. He was so white around the gills, I thought he was gonna blow chunks. Engine has low compression in a couple holes, fuel sender reads full at all times and the fuel pump and injectors are suspect. Gonna be almost a $12K boo-boo. And that's just the high points this week.

Well, since Ford is considering a cab off procedure for repairs, I'm not getting my hopes up that the 6.4 has been thought out any better than the 6.0. As long as warranty times can be cut back and novel tool configurations can be used to perform repairs in cramped quarters there is little reason to change direction at this point. If training were mandatory would many tech's even want to work on the 6.4, after seeing how diesel techs are treated now? What is the incentive? When I started in this business over 20 years ago I fully believed the mantra, "the more you learn, the more you'll earn". Lately, it sounds more like, "Yeah baby, I'll still respect you in the morning". /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

We also had a gross overheat that melted the oil stand pipe. I have some very good, clear pictures that I would post if Kevin wants'em. The vehicle had been to another dealer for the overheat. Of course it couldn't be a crappy EGR cooler or back-breaking head gaskets, so the tech shotguns a t-stat. Thirty miles down the road it overheats again, so back to the same dealer. Of course it can't be a crappy EGR cooler or back-breaking head gaskets, so the tech shotguns a fan clutch. Thirty miles down the road it starts to overheat again. This is the man's work truck. He has lost too much time away from the worksite, so says screw it. Drives it till its puked out and quits. The truck gets towed back, but they go past that dealer and another 20 miles to us. Now we are staring at a 126 busting job, when we are already so high in diesel warranty that the techs wear oxygen masks to work at the altitude. Now, I don't condone the customers actions but that techs' incompetence started this scenario. It went warranty and our actions smoothed things over enough that this customer was saved.

I would also disconnect the sensors that use the 5 volt reference and see if the PCM comes "alive". I have had EBP sensors short internally and kill VRef which will shut down the PCM. Good luck.

tecanic1, have you tried the in-vehicle rocker arm removal procedure using tool 303-1170? I tried it and wasn't too successful, but it may work better for you. Gawd, I hate Econolines!

The last intake set I got the hose was orange. The cylinder head gasket kit and the EGR cooler came with a blue hose. The blue color and feel reminded me of the high temp. silicone heater hoses you see. Is the orange being replaced by the blue?

Do any of you remember the finger bristle type(yellow in color) disc that Ford sent out to do the 3.8l front cover gasket recall? Works good here ,also. Plastic scrapers are a joke. Ford gets their panties in a bunch over surface prep, but notice they a always come out with a new GASKET to cure the issue. The original gaskets fom the factory leak, but I have never had a come-back after I had done the repair. This goes for the oil leaking 4.6/5.4 head gaskets,too.

We have to admit that the 6.0 labor time situation is a very big issue. The discussions can get quite heated, but not talking about it makes us like the family that nobody mentions the "funny" uncle. The family is more concerned with how it may look to outsiders than dealing with the actual problem. Last week we had two techs at school for transmissions and they said another group of techs were taking the diesel course. Guess the main issue that group griped about at every break/lunch was? The diesel group was comprised of young techs and they were already upset. I like this site, and feel we should discuss diesel issues even if they make us uncomfortable. By facing it, we may be able to find solutions to allow many of us to survive in the future. "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."G.B. Shaw

Noticed on fmcdealer that the TRP had been apprised of this action(cutting the number of certified tech operations) at their last meeting. Certainly was kept quiet, until Ford posted it on the site. Did you see the TRP also reviewed a cab off procedure for '07 models? Re-designed mounts, relocated hardware and flex-lines to accommodate the removal/installation. Wonder what that will pay!!!

It won't change much in our shop, those techs that aren't diesel certified want nothing to do with them. They see us doing head gaskets and oil/EGR cooler failures and go about doing their maintenance job with a smile. They have got it figured. Some dealers around us have lost their diesel techs and those customers now come to our shop driving our 126 through the roof. Not to mention having all this extra diesel work(warranty,warranty,warranty) with some other dealerships sticker on the tailgate! I think Ford would have been better served to reward the current diesel techs so others in the dealership would want to rise to the need , but Ford will just further the problem with this action.

We had a '04 S/Duty with fairly low miles come in for a missing/rough running complaint a few monthes ago. Tech checks it over and finds a couple holes low on the relative compression and blow-by above specs. Runs OASIS for history and any known concerns, all up to snuff. The tech tears the engine down to find the bores scuffed severely and pieces of the piston tops broken off and floated into other cylinders causing extensive damage. Base engine is toast. Tech goes on-line and does an engine exchange request only to be told the request is denied due to after-market mods! In the intervening time between the first OASIS run and the teardown-costcap-request(maybe two days) the situation changed. It turns out this guy just bought the rig from a used car lot. The previous owner, around Denver, took it in for repairs only to have the rep deny it at the dealer there for mods. So the original owner quickly trades it off elsewhere rather than pay for the repair himself(after removing his add-ons, gotta keep those cause their so valuable, ya know!). The used car lot in Wyoming that took it in trade has access to OASIS and sees it is clean and sells the pickup to the fella that brought it to us. This poor fella is stuck. The engine is tore down and no warranty! He wants to just re-ring the two holes since he is paying for the job. This leaves quite a bit of other questionable components unchecked/not replaced. Ford says unless the repair is done properly he will still not have any warranty. No hack jobs allowed. He can't resell it for any decent coin unless it has a warranty and he knows it. The truck is down a week and he finally has a Ford engine put in it cause it is no good to him just sitting. Felt sorry for him and have no good words for the SOB that bailed on it. Most of these modders are blowin smoke when they say "you play, you pay". 10 grand for an engine sure takes the starch out of them. They will wiggle out at the first chance. It amazes me how far this rig got before the Ford system got up-dated and flagged it.

Most of the hybrid vehicles get a one time $2000 tax deduction yet for those bought this year. One company I read of, Hyperion Solutions(software company), will give any employee $5000 to buy and drive a hybrid vehicle. That certainly closes up the cost gap.

If you are certified for diesel you should have recieved a $50 certificate just recently. Mine showed up at the dealership this last week, and the SM handed them out.

If you are certified for diesel you should have recieved a $50 certificate just recently. Mine showed up at the dealership this last week, and the SM handed them out.

And that is why the diesel techs were "stroked" with the $50 certificate before it is announced. Our rep was in today and said the same thing about a recall soon. Hold on to your bootstraps boys and girls!!