Keith Browning

Good job Brandon. Sometimes it is necessary to access all of the injectors and inspect every seal - that means pulling all of the plugs on the oil rails as well. If you are going hunting, it is wise to check everything.

Ahhh, it's good to see Jims's frosted side again!

I have driven one or two that you wouldn't have noticed other than a slight loss of power with a bad fuel pump... and then I have had a few towed in that wouldn't run at all. Weird.

Interesting observation and you are correct. If I think about this for a moment, what could Ford offer? I think to be worthwhile any classroom course would have to offer general systems and component training. The basic trucks are fairly simple and straight forward... its the major sub-systems like the engines, transmissions, air brakes and ABS that present the challenge in that they are NOT Ford parts and systems and therefore support for them is limited at best, usually non existent. I personally learned that hard lesson first hand in dealing with Caterpillar and Allison. I suppose when it comes to the F650-750 a general familiarization course similar to the LCF launch class would be nice, but the LCF, despite being a Blue Diamond truck, is assembled from familiar Ford and International parts. A F650-750 has major parts content from Cat, Cummins, Navistar, Allison, Dana/Spicer, Wabco, Bendix...

This week's adventure was a 2 for 1 special. It's a 2008 F550 that runs rough and smokes and misses when cold - intermittently after warm up. Originally diagnosed as injectors because the symptom was erratic and initial base engine checks showed nothing relative compression was almost perfect, cylinder #2 only showed a meager 2% drop which one might attribute to a washed cylider... yeah, I know. Later after injectors 2 and 8 were replaced and the condition did not improve I had to retest from the start. Running relative compression HOT showed cylinder #2 now down 14% if I recall and #8 down 9%. I followed with a manual compression test and #2 was 350 PSI and #8 was 375 PSI and the remaining cylinders around 425 PSI. Off with the cab and the head. Cylinder #2 had a wrist pin retainer problem Cylinder #8 has some unexplained scoring going on The crankcase oil level was not elevated. Well, not beyond the typical 2 or 3 quarts anyway and there was no oil in the charge air cooler and CAC tubes. The EGR coolers were dry as well. I really don't know what to think about #8.

I bought a step from my MAC distributor a few years ago that has worked out really well. A couple other techs in the shop bought one too. The accessory handle/tray is an add-on but well worth the extra $$$. Shop around for this one as I have seen drastic variations in pricing. Google "K & D Step Stool" and you will find many listings for it though not every store shows the add on tray. I think I paid about $175 for the whole set up about 3 years ago.

Interesting how we pick up on this stuff isn't it? Look at it this way, you were involved with some in field testing and learned something... er, or at least came to a conclusion. Case and point: Having run into some of these myself I was able to determine that if the sensor reads too high, whether it be because the EGT's were actually excessive or the sensor had failed the engine would shut down. I think I have seen only one where the sensor was flat out bad and the engine would not start. Three others did but only after they had time to cool back down. Knowing this strategy helped understand what was going on... and reading post by you fine people!

Okay, that's fine if it is true and if those models are tuned differently than 250-350 trucks then that makes sense. But! Wouldn't you think SOME ONE at Ford would fucking know this and say something?

At this point what are you really going to do? Have a thin magnet that will fit down in there? Clean up as best you can. If you really want to be anal about it you could drain the oil, leave the plug out and run some fresh oil down the in the area and hope to flush it out but you would need a decent amount of oil. I guess you weren't watching the day I was repairing in a broken valve cover bolt in that LCF eh? Next time I will make sure I show you how I prepare for these instances... I placed clean rags in the head neatly and TAPED around the edges sealing off the head around the broken bolt. I was able to drill and tap the hole for the Heli-Coil insert without any concern. Blow it all off with compressed air when finished and remove the tape and rags. I have much to teach you my young Jedi!

Good show Bruce! The reluctors are cast to the rotors if I recall correctly... maybe Mr Dupont remembers?

He mentioned that this "happened" after the reprogram recall so I would assume the truck is displaying a regen message in the message center? It is possible this truck may have had this problem for some time and the owner may not have been aware of it... until now... that he has an instrument cluster that keeps him informed of regen events. There is an older post about frequent regens started by Greg Kneupper that has some useful information you might be able to use. http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=15386#Post15386

It's the same post over and over again. I try not to put people down but if you admit that you have no clue what you are doing WHY would you waste your customer's time and money like that!?!? GOD FORBID you defer the owner to the dealer or at least someone who knows these diesels. The lack of test data alone scares the shit out of me.

Do you have the MD truck software bundle and the IC3 or IC4 comm cable? You can download the software for free from FMC Dealer. If you think pushing in the wheel sensors had an effect you might want to check your wheel bearings for excessive play and in inspect the tone rings for corrosion. The last F650 I had in for ABS problems was caused by excessive rust and I mean extreme rust causing too large of an air gap. I also have some diag sheets from Merritor I can look at when I get to work. Those Merritor Wabco ABS systems are fairly trouble free from my experience and pretty much any time I have a run in with one it is a sensor issue, beit a failed sensor, wheel sensor gap as mentioned or a sensor wire has been damaged.

I like the fact we are looking this up. I am so used to doing little else than warranty work I usually short myself when asked unless I go look the time up in the Motors labor time guide. I wish I could get my Service Adviser to to this. At least some of the techs I work with are catching on. I think using these guides also keeps us all in line to a fair and more standard amount of labor. Good for karma and good for business.

Uhhg! 2008 F550 losing compression on #2 and #8. Comes and goes depending on engine temperature. I am about to pull the heads - suspect sticking valves.

I ran into this with several trucks when the LCF first came out. We had delivered many in the beginning and three of our customers had problems. I wrote an article about the harness problem I discovered (LCF Wire Harness Chafing) which also became TSB 05-26-22.

It's the newest article published in the Articles section... but unfortunately, the video is one of those little things that "happened" when I moved the site that needs to be fixed.

No. Fuel that is red has had dye added to it which designates it as non-taxed fuel. Non taxed fuel is designated for off road use like construction or state/municipal use for example. I don't know what home heating oil looks like but you most likely are looking at dyed diesel fuel.

But EP is still a valid PID and is useful for diagnosis. Disabling it or cutting it off seems unnecessary to me... but, since Ford disabled it I recall they won't pay to replace it. So, what do you do if the sensor shorts and takes doen that VREF circuit? It's rare but I do recall hearing of it happening.

F81Z-6N653-BA This is the hardware kit with the o-rings, bolts, nuts, the clip and a gasket... at least that is what our parts listing shows... may not be totally accurate but it did list the clip. The picture did not show the clip at all interestingly enough. I wonder if they are available separately somewhere. The kit lists for $78.49 which is a little steep if you just need the clip. Maybe someone will come up with something.

My guess would be the cap o-ring. I can't tell you how many trucks I have had towed in after a customer has changed his filters or BECAUSE they changed the filters. For 6.0L trucks the most common problem is that the cap is not fully seated and we all know that the filters in these trucks need to seat to open the inlet valves. I too have never seen an o-ring torn but I have seen one or two rolled and sticking out the side of the cap. Two problems here are one, that many people don't lubricate the seals before installing the caps and two, they don't use a socket to remove and install the cap. Using channel lock pliers takes forever, damages the cap and does not promote a fully tightened cap! I have had several 6.4L trucks towed in because they try to start the engine without bleeding the fuel system first. If they only knew to cycle the Key 6 times... had my first customer with a repeat fuck up on this today as a matter of fact. To make it more interesting, he didn't know that there is a filter in the frame rail and it was clogged. Are these people getting just the secondary filters or what?

A few things come to mind, does the truck have problems starting? If the customer is simply reporting that the wait to start indicator is not coming on you need to establish that. You need to be aware that the glow plug module monitors the system and during normal operation should set a DTC and illuminate the check engine light if there is a circuit problem with any glow plug. Also, the glow plug indicator light is controlled by the PCM and does not indicate actual glow plug operation. I recommend reading the introduction to pinpoint test AF if you haven't already.

I am not a sports fan at all. Many of my co-workers and friends are "real men" who eat sleep and shit whatever sport in in season and I get a kick out of the fanaticism. Hey, whatever floats your boat I suppose. I used to be really big into NASCAR but for some reason that too has lost something for me in the last year or two. My wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law and one of my daughters really get into NASCAR still so, maybe this year I will regain some interest. We like picking our favorite drivers and razzing each other. My daughter Toni has been a Kasey Kahne fan for the last three years... loves the newest Allstate commercial with him dancing in a heart covered racing suit... girls! Hope you guys enjoy the game - GO YANKEES!

I have worked on a diesel Escort but I have never even heard of a diesel Tempo!