Keith Browning

I think it would not be easy as the required wiring is up in the air. BUT! Theoretically, you don't have to button up the cab re-install to run the engine. You could drop the body down, restore the two harness connections near and at the PCM and the three connections at the left front spring tower. Then all you need to do is temporarily lay the driver's side battery in the engine compartment to connect the chassis power lead. Then you could purge the system of air and run the engine a minute or two and check for leaks. It would take probably 10 minutes? If there is a leak you saved time from not having to re-remove the body and if there are no leaks then the 10 minutes is really not lost... just continue buttoning up the cab.

So this leads me to stop biting my tongue on this topic and thread. I read this as mocking the very documents we MUST rely on to perform our jobs. Some of us proclaim that the manuals are so fucked up that we are going to be incapable of diagnosing or repairing something properly with them while out of the other side of our mouths we bitch about fellow techs not reading the manual. Sometimes it seems so. Hmmm. The unequivocal truth is that service manuals are your second most important tool for diagnosing and performing repairs. The most important is your brain. We need to be encouraging each other, especially young techs, that the service publications are important. As we do this we need to understand that like anything else in life, we need to be thinking about what we are reading and what we are being instructed to do. We need to ask ourselves questions like: "what is being described, does this make sense, what is this test asking me to test, do I know how to perform this test properly, how am I supposed to interpret the results?" Thinking outside the box is great. Finding better or alternative test methods and more efficient repair procedures are important but let's not just dismiss the manuals. This does not mean that we shouldn't recognize that there are some screwy things in the manuals. Just sayin...

These are the low pressure supply lines Bruce. All that is happening is the HFCM is being run to circulate fuel though the system. If those fittings are leaking this should make this evident

I could get worse guys. Ford could be out-sourcing the manuals to India. If that were to happen I am sure the Hot-Line would follow.

Excellent tip. I have been using rubber line plugs that don't always seal very well or stay in place.

Great idea! You could purge the system and then check for leaks before lowering the body. I have never been bitten by thisbut I don't want there to be a first time. Great topic!

I'll tell ya Bruce, there have been numerous times when I have replaced fuel filters in an F-series 6.0L that I cycled the key 5 or 6 times to prime, only to have the truck start and make it just out the shop door with an air locked fuel system. A quick crack of the secondary fuel filter cap with a "pssssst" and a few more cycles of the ignition and all is well.

Absolutely. Where my engine is concerned, the piston smacked the valves, the turbo is "tight" and there are shiny flecks in the oil cooler reservoir - along with 2 panels in the reservoir screen torn up... meaning the HPOP and all 8 injectors are scrap as well. Gotta run the cost cap tool on Monday and get prior approval... like a trained dog jumping through flaming hoops into a pile of dog shit. <sigh>

I have a bus engine out right now with a similar scenario. #3 intake lifter is destroyed. The roller failed and ground the cam lobe. My gerotor gears have a few heavy impressions in them from a needle bearing, metal flake in the oil filter element and on the drain plug magnet. I cant get the lifter out of the block - we used a boreoscope today to survey the damage. The front cover is gouged which I attribute to the loss of lube oil pressure... of which I have none. At this point for you I would access the valve covers and inspect the valvetrain...

Absolutely Jim. With these two "events" we are experiencing here on the east coast it conjures up images of devastation in Haiti... California, Hurricane Catrina... While what I have experienced is minor it does make you think. I live approximately 40 miles due west of New York City and the Atlantic coast. Far enough and high enough for tidal surge to not be of any concern but but we are being told that this time the wind and rain is something to be prepared for. Up to a FOOT of rain and 80 to 100 MPH winds. Not exactly kite flying weather. I have friends that live FEET from the Shark River inlet, Barnegat Bay and the beach. I hope they have homes worth returning to after this blows by. The thing is, here in NJ we are simply not used to this shit nor are we prepared for earthquakes and hurricanes... nor forest fires or rolling fuel bombs for that matter!

Isn't life fun?

Holy Mother Nature having a PMS fit Batman! First the ground shakes and now a Cat 2 hurricane? WTF? Maybe I will go crabbing at Sandy Hook on Saturday...

Gonna be a fun month for you!!!

I wouldn't necessarily blame the adviser. I get that kind of helpful information after I fix stuff from time to time. You tell the customer what you found and you get "you know, it was doing..." I know how you feel Brad.

Same here, but I was in my shop cleaning a connector while standing, heard the bus in my bay squeaking and I thought the same thing. I wasn't in the mood to screw around with anyone so I turned around. THEN I started getting a disoriented feeling and a mild anxiety attack started to kick in. Had no explanation for it then I noticed other employees coming out of the building. They yelled "get out! The building is shaking!" So I did and then realized it was an earthquake. Holy shiz! So everywhere you turn this evening it's the topic. Others say it's no big deal - we're all over-reacting. Well, a 5.9 earthquake on the east coast is a big deal and like myself, most people out here have never experienced one. It reminds you of the tremendous power of nature and the planet. I'll pencil this one in on my bucket list. It's not the kind of thing you go looking for, but I can scratch it off none the less.

E.G.R.

Don't forget to calibrate your finger first.

An 08 E450 6.0L bus towed in for crank / no start. No ICP... ferrous metal in the oil filter... <sigh>

Well, the causal part was a BROKEN rocker.

I had a valuable reminder this week. Don't assume new is good. I repaired a Torqshift that had a bad fluid pump which sent debris throughout the unit resulting in a slightly burnt up overdrive clutch among other things. The repair included of course a NEW fluid pump and a re-man torque converter. After the repair, the TCC failed to apply, flashing Tow-Haul light and Check Engine light. "Wonderful." I said. "What did I screw up?" Just to be sure it wasn't a solenoid issue, I swapped the OD and TCC shift solenoids. No change. Out comes the unit again. Out comes the pump. I disassembled all of the valves in the pump and checked them for binding, incorrect assembly missing/broken pieces. All good. Run it by the Hot-Line (Hi guys!) and it was decided to Service Install a converter. I get the converter and proceed to re-assemble the pump to reinstall it. And there it was. Evidence of some rough handling. Not one, but two marks on the aluminum control body of the pump. One actually created a flat spot in the outer diameter of the pump and distorted the sealing surface... right at the TCC hydraulic circuit causing a leak between the pump and the case. A closer look at the gasket confirmed that a seal was never made. I was concentrating on the valves so intently that I failed to observe the rest of the assembly missing what should have been obvious. If you are still with me, the point here is to remind us all that just because a part is new does not mean that it is good or otherwise undamaged. To add to that, the correct part. How many times in our daily routine do we pull a part from a box and just install it without really giving it any scrutiny? In this case, I know I did not drop the part. I do not recall the packaging damaged in any way. In fact I recalled how well it was wrapped in plastic and surrounded with the anti-corrosive paper and cardboard. This was a quality control error on Ford's part for sure but mine as well. Needless to say this is a reminder to me and hopefully to you to make it a point to look at things a little closer. Complacency. - The monkey wrench in the gears of success.

I have done a couple of Econolines too but I don't remember the fuel tank being an issue. Not sayin it wasn't, I just don't remember. I do recall heating the nuts and that doing so was absolutely necessary.

And another one picked off the Garden State's highways with a broken rocker and an overheated DPF. Pull the covers and all I see is black. I don't know what is the bigger piece of crap here, the design of the rockers or the customer for not changing his oil frequently enough.

Ya gived him a breathing mask eh?

Kool! Me an Gym posted at the same time. Huh!