Brad Clayton

Well, it looks like 4 is the magic number on this one. I drove the car home tonight and she runs like a champ. Now to help smooth things over with the customer, one of our "retiree" used car jockeys is gonna deliver the car to the owner in Boston and bring back our loaner car.

So thats how you got that screen name. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

This is not a technical issue but more of a sharing process of the long journey I am having with this auto. There are alot of threads in the "on th job" section so I though I would put it in here. The vehicle is an '04 Taurus 2v 4f50n. The car comes in with no 4th gear and code to support no 4th gear. The funny thing about the whole deal is another tech was working on it to begin with and asked for some help then I ended up with it. Funny how that works. So we check the basics and the electrical and all is well, pointing torward some worn or broken hard parts. We pull the pan and bingo all the clutch material is in the sump. Customer is trying to get home to Boston (did I mention they were waiting on this?) so the advisor talks them into staying in town with some friends while we "black box" it. I mean after all the turn around will be fast and it comes with a kick ass 3 year 100,000 mile warranty. SOLD! Trans shows up next day and unit goes in without a hitch. Test drive goes ok, rechecks ok. Here's where things go south. I usually put some serious miles on trans, engines, dif overhauls, ect. But for some reason I cut the drive short and I also noticed a little tiny ity bity slightly firmer than normal 1-2 upshift. Well I wrote it off and the alignment guy didn't alert me of anything out of the ordinary. Against all better judgement on my part I released the vehicle to the customer. They come to get, quite pleased to be back in it the next day, which turns to displeasure, leaving a sour taste in their mouth due to the fact that they made it 30 miles out of town and the check trans message came on the cluster. Now they are back at the dealer and out a couple of grand and have no faith in the product. We give them a loaner and send them home. I check the car out and find p0718. TSS intermittent. I swap the sensor hoping it could be so simple, but no go. I then drive and monitor pid data and the TSS dips out every once in a while like a false activation event. Looking at the pinpoint test deals with a lot of electrical. This problem wasn't ther before so I went straight to the step dealing with the sensor and tone ring. The first tooth on the exciter ring I measure is 22 mm from the case, spec is 18.65. Uuuhhmmmm. I pull the trans and tear down to find the tooth laid right over and the others are fine. I fill out prior approval and get another unit. Alright twice is nice. I change the unit out again and all looks good. Eehhh.....until I start it up. Upon start up the car knocks like a freight train. I thought a rod was gonna come out of the engine. What the hell is going on here? By now everyone in the shop has taken an interest in what's going on.....great. Trans comes out and apart, the timing chain got right into the case. I fill out another prior approval and they send another trans. OK three times a charm!!! Not here it aint. I get the new unit in and go for a rip and guess what? Three miles into my test drive the check trans message comes on. AAARRRGGGG. Pull codes and p0718 is back. Oh jeez what the hell is going on here? Kinda having some experience with this I go straight to the TSS sensor and measure all the tits on the tone ring. All 4 are at 20mm. UUMMMM, how acurate is the spec? Well now I am questioning myself and so is everyone else. I hook up BOB and load test the wires from the TSS to the PCM good. I hook up a lab scope to the TSS and monitor what the sensor is doing while watching the datalogger on the PDA. They both read the samething, a signal so weak and garbled, that is totally useless. Now I am curious, so I take an old TSS sensor (I have quite a few laying around by now) and grind 2mm of the seat. I stick in the hole and hold it there, while someone else runs the car, and she works like a charm. It seems the thrust washer under the driven gear got left out. Now I am back at the computer and filling out prior approval for a 4th unit. They right back and want to talk to me on the phone thinking I am a retard. It seems that when I filled out the form I put in p0178 instead of p0718. This raised a little red flag on there end. I don't no what p0178 is but it aint trans related. I talk to the gang and they decide to send one more unit and they want me to check the TSS exciter ring before I install it. Imagine that. Who the frick is building these things, a blind man? This things' like a turd that won't flush.

Ah, the wheels of customization can grind ever so slowly.

Had a similar situation once, ended up having the tires "shaved". Whatever that means. I wanted to throw a set on them but they were so expensive my manager found a shop that performed the above stated operation and she ran like a thoroughbred after that.

Excellent find, thank you for sharing. I just got thru with one of those and wasn't that impressed with the Simple Green. Now I just gotta wait around for another one to lay down to try this stuff. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif

I would pull that exciter ring out and look it over with a magnifying glass, them things are stupid sensitive to knicks and what not. I'm having trouble believing the case is a problem but who knows.

Quote: I was just wondering if I was BEING a douchebag about it............ I can be a real prick sometimes Ooooohhhhh, that being the case, if you saw me watering a battery and came over with a better suggestion then I would tell you where you could stick it. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif

Somebody call you a douchebag down there Keith? Step on somebodys toes did ya? I guess some people don't respond well to ideas that aren't there on. Personally if you saw me using hot water only and came over and suggested using a nuetralizing agent also, I would thank you for your input and give it a try. Then I would make the idea available to anyone I saw that didn't know about it, giving you credit of course.

If she runs good and makes rated boost then punt it. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

Dead here in Vermont. We only had two guys Saturday and we ran out of work today at lunch, worked on my own car the rest of the day. Tomorrow doesn't look much better. Thank the Good Lord I have my part time job at the mountain. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

+1 /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say your dealer is not level 1 status. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cover.gif

"Ace Ventura" style! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

Jeez, could you give the guy in worse news? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif

Quote: My parts guys are telling me that they can not get any CVT trans fluid Sounds like your parts guys are yankin' your chain.

I robbed the PVT hose from the now defunct WDS. It works great, screw it on the shrader and open the shut off valve and it has the nice long clear hose that I put in my oil drain bucket. Same thing that Shlep is doing. In some extreme instances I have had to use the banjo hose tool number TKIT-2007AP-F screwed into the fuel cooler to get the air out, but it's rare.

xm radio has dedicated channel 51 to metallica, for anyone who needs their fix 24/7

Quote: Quote: NOTE: You may also want to pick up a Snap-On FRDHM15 because it's easier to torque the hp pump gear with this, not to mention easier for calculating the proper torque There is one wrench that is not there that probably should be added and that is for the 15mm fuel pump gear bolt, Snap-On #FRDHM15 Looks like Keith is still running a little behind /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/coffee.gif

Quote: I'm sorry Keith... this is something I feel too strongly about. Punt me if you need... but keep this reply I'm not sure why you would put this statement in your post. There is nothing in what you have said that needs to be censored or what not. Input like yours is invaluable as is anyone elses here. Notice in my post I did not mention anything about fixing a customers truck other than factory spec due to technician induced failure. If I step into my way back machine. I remember fixing 7.3l under valve cover harnesses with a zip-tie long before the fix of a peice of plastic wedge was approved for repair. the zip tie was a much better repair, because there was no chance of dropping it in the engine, which the engineers counted on because they sent 3 wedges with instructions on tearing the thing apart if you dropped one. I do apologize for straying so far away from the original topic. But I haven't seen the blood flowing around here in a while. Nice to know there is still a pulse.

Here is an idea for you...what if the nipples on the radiators were just falling off all by themselves and Ford not wanting to spend money came out with the exact same procedure Jeff has, would you still feel the same way? Think about if before you answer, because it has happened before. Crown Vic convertor repairs, 7.3l block stitching, ect.

That is the easy way to make a cutaway motor for training purposes.

This site has some video action. http://www.smacksboosters.110mb.com/

Uuuuhhhhhh....I'm glad I don't work at Sawgrass Ford. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/whew.gif