Keith Browning

Of course, knowing to check for that in the first place helps!

And if there was only ONE word left in the censor list, Jim would find it! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rofl.gif Good advice though. It certainly looks like the theme here is to learn how to completely and accurately write up a repair order and document additional things you may find. Sometimes you have to go beyond circuit and connector numbers and wire colors! My descriptive write-ups have helped my SM many times during audits especially on diesel tickets that had M-time applied to special circumstances. If your findings, diagnostics and repairs require special handling or give you a reason to drop it like it's hot always back it up in writing. Got a digital camera in your shop? I have my old camera in my box. It only takes a few minutes to take a picture, load it on my laptop, print it and attach it to the RO. Wanna protect the photo? Put the repair order in the printer and print the photo right on it.

One. This happened way back when I had just started working out of high school, maybe a month into my career. Yes, he was the only one that "retired." Oddly enough, I have had three coworkers die in the last several years. One from lung cancer, another a heart attack but I am convinced it was his severe alcoholism. Lastly not too long ago we lost another that had serious spinal problems and surgery. He was on disability at the time... the pain was so bad he had a morphine pump. He was an addict that had years of problems. The Morphine pump was the last thing he needed. He died from an overdose. Sorry for taking this off on a morbid path. You got me thinking about the many people I have worked with over the years.

It is rather sneaky now that you mention it. Yes the seal is on the inside. After you cut the dipstick tube and bend it, loosen the nut while holding the stick. Take the nut off and slide it off the stick and then you will see the o-ring in the adapter. Pull it out the hole with a trans pick and up over the stick. This is when you realize why the dipstick has to be cut. (it's also cheaper than pulling the pan) Pack a little dielectric grease, trans assembly lube or whatever you have around in the adapter o-ring groove to hold the new o-ring in place. Slide the o-ring down the stick and work it into the groove. Then the nut. Hope you payed attention to the position of the adapter too. It is notched and can be installed in one of two positions. You might want to make a mark on the pan to indicate alignment. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

I KNOW I have done this in chassis two or three times and you do not need to remove the oil pan, starter or jack the engine up. The procedure requires sacrificing the dipstick tube to allow the nut and the o-ring to slide off and back on. The cut off tube also serves as a handle for the inner adapter and will prevent the adapter from falling into the oil pan. It has been several years since I last did this but I remember feeling like a freaking genius for pulling it off! A few things I remember noting: Remove the dipstick before cutting the tube or you will need to replace it as well. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/whistle.gif Bend the end of the cut off tube as a safety catch in case you have to let go of it... and you will need to. Clean the area with Brakleen after cutting the tube to keep dirt out of the pan. The new tube does not come with a new o-ring, remember to order one of those too! Save the cut tube for future jobs .

And welcome to the DTS! You don't know how many times I almost entered a reply on that topic/site. I actually did type one out but I fortunately stopped myself as it was late at night and after a few beers. I don't think I was lookin for a fight but I know my confidence was pumped up way to much to be objectionable. Probably would have been perfect tough!

There have been a few here and in the news but nothing concrete. The news articles do seem to indicate that something is in the works.I am sure there will be more on this in the future, especially if the rumors are true. Things have been a little quiet on this topic lately but here are the topics posted in our forums: Post one Post two Post three Post four Post five Post six Post seven

Quote: Ford keen on diesel for popular pick-up 12:00AM Wednesday July 05, 2006 The F-150 is a favourite on the track as well as leading pick-up popularity stakes. Ford is developing a 4.4-litre V8 diesel engine for its F-150 pick-up. It is a scaled-up version of a 3.6-litre V8 diesel Ford began producing for Range Rovers in April at a plant in England. If the 4.4-litre engine is approved, Ford would almost certainly need at least two or three years before it begins production. Company spokesman Nick Twork declined to confirm Ford's plans. "The best thing to say is we intend to maintain truck leadership," Twork said. "We have some great diesel engines in our line-up." Diesel engines are available in a variety of larger pick-ups from Ford and other car-makers. Now several companies are believed to be considering diesels for use in half-tonne pick-ups. For several years, Ford has considered proposals for a diesel F-150 pick-up. The company had considered buying the engine from an outside supplier. Now Ford wants to produce its own engine. Ford may produce the 4.4-litre engine in Britain and ship it to the United States. Although Ford has not settled on the engine's production volume, suppliers and analysts say it could produce 100,000 diesel-powered F-150s. Ford sold 901,463 F-series trucks in the US last year. Quote: UK: New Ford turbodiesel V8 debuts in Range Rover 26 May 2006 | Source: just-auto.com editorial team No obvious exterior changes for 2007 view 2 related images The Range Rover gets an all-new British-built V8 turbodiesel engine and a series of other technology and styling improvements for the 2007 model year. Technical upgrades include Ford Premier Automotive Group-owned Land_Rover's patented Terrain Response system, which extends the vehicle's offroad capability beyong (impressive) current levels. The new 272 bhp/PS (200 kW) TDV8 diesel makes its debut in the Range Rover, and is claimed to be one of the world's most advanced engines. Compared with the six-cylinder bought-in BMW diesel it replaces, the V8 is 54% more powerful and delivers 64% more torque, yet has the same fuel economy. Land Rover managing director Phil Popham said: "Its balance of performance, refinement and economy is unmatched. We believe it makes the Range Rover an even more desirable vehicle, especially in strong diesel markets, and will appeal to many customers who've never considered a diesel before. "Performance is similar to many more obviously sporty vehicles and fuel economy is comparable with a lot of petrol saloon cars." Acceleration is significantly improved, compared with the previous diesel engine: over four seconds has been cut from the 0-60 mph and 0-100 km/h (60mph) times (now 8.5 sec and 9.2 sec respectively). Maximum speed is raised to 124 mph (200 km/h), electronically limited. In addition, the TDV8 is up to 75 per cent quieter overall, more refined, and brakes and handling have been improved. The new engine is matched to a six-speed ZF 'intelligent shift' automatic transmission, already used on petrol Range Rover models (which were switched from a bought-in BMW V8 to an in-house Welsh-made engine largely shared with Jaguar a year ago). The diesel V8's suspension set-up is similar to that of the Range Rover Supercharged and large Brembo front brakes are standard. The two petrol engine alternatives - a 396 bhp/PS (291 kW) supercharged V8 and a normally_aspirated 306 bhp/PS (225 kW) V8 continue for the 2007 model year. Terrain Response is now standard for all 2007 models, together with a centre 'e' (electronic) differential and the availability of a rear 'e' differential. Terrain Response allows the driver to select one of five settings on the rotary switch, to suit the terrain. The vehicle's electronic and mechanical controls are then optimised to tackle the specific conditions. Other enhancements include better cabin stowage space (including a new twin glovebox), an enhanced airbag package, a cleaner centre console design, an electronic parking brake, a new upper facia and substantially improved air-conditioning and ventilation. Switchgear and the audio system have been improved. Front seats now offer an optional cooling function, as well as a standard heating feature, and active head restraints contribute to improved safety. Quote: Jul 13, 2007 Spy Shots: 2009 Ford F-150 Those hoping for an all-new F-150 may be disappointed as this appears to be more of a mid-life facelift. That being said it sounds like the changes will be rather significant, so let's call it a "major" facelift, okay? From what we know, the SuperCrew will get a larger bed, and the cab itself will be larger; think Tundra CrewMax in size. On the diesel front, it sounds like the F-150 may not get the 330 hp 4.4L V8 diesel until perhaps 2011. Also delayed is the the "Boss" 6.2L V8.

Who is your FSE? Being fairly close and the FSE's and Rep's being so thinned out... I am shocked that they said to fix it. I am confident we would have turned him down. Then again, shit like this has happened here too. They might say "well, if he is a good customer, the choice is up to you." Way to go in upholding the terms of the warranty. And they break OUR chops?

Jim the reason the young lions are not asking the questions is likely due to the fact that using a scope, while not very difficult, is not as common place as it once was. An old fart that goes way back in this industry that used to use scopes daily to diagnose ignition systems has a leg up on this one. When I started in this business, many of those scopes were already beginning to collect dust. Only recently have I begun to start using the scope functionality made available to us. The problem is that getting the scope set up properly requires me to do a little research and then connect everything while reading an instruction sheet or by the book. Then, interpreting the data... well if the display is set correctly we can compare what we have to some "examples" saved in the IDS utility. I wish there was a web course for using the scope that would at least give us base knowledge to work from. If I knew what the hell I was looking at and understood what the graphs represent then I would definitely use the scope more often, and have something intelligent to add to this topic. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rotz.gif Oh, and /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/puke.gif

To be honest, I am not that impressed. If you are going for smoke them make it smoke! I am just waiting for this guy to get his license tag in the picture. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif

Quote: Bad enough that this can happen with small storage.... Once we get out to "Green Acres" or some construction sites, things can go real bad real fast. That is the one thing that training instructors and my own experience have impressed upon me with dyed fuel. The increased possibility that it may have come from less than favorable storage and handling. Water, dirt, rust, used engine oil, chemicals are all bad things and can be easily dumped into a sitting tank on a job site or corporate/fleet/farm fuel tank. Most of the time, it's good clean fuel but it still deserves scrutiny.

BINGO! We have a winner. The comments about mandatory National certification and doing our part in changing the industry I can support. Todays sighting of Mr.Know-it-all included a pinion being hammered out of an aluminum differential case with an air chisel. When asked why he commented that the press, a mere 75 feet away was "too far away." Ohh I cant wait until he comes over to my truck team. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif

I rolled into my parking spot this morning and glanced over at our inbound stock lanes and saw one ugly ass van parked in the line. Its a 2008 with commercial trim. All grey plastic and like the F-series done in similar fashion it is hideous! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/puke.gif Mind you, in contrast I really like the all chrome version. Really! As I am told, they only come with full trim or commercial trim.

Cool stuff Bruce. It is interesting to "see" what these things do while they are running and it would be nice to be able to play around with one. Unfortunately, these 6.4's don't seem to be breaking around here. If I wasn't so backed up and short handed I might go out to a salesman's demo and disconnect something. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif We had a discussion going about regens and temperatures that fizzled... likely due to the lack of hands on. I failed to make another post with some road test screen shots I made with a customers vehicle that was at the end of regeneration. It is interesting to watch the temperature changes through the system like you mentioned. Even with normal driving it would be s good idea for a tech to make a few data recordings just to get a better idea of what is happening. If I have time I will post my screen shots. Oh, the customers truck? It was in for a high idle at stop lights. This was due to the first regen he and his truck were experiencing. I updated his PCM with the update to address the regeneration issues and idle... also printed out the customer information sheet and placed it on his dash. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Quote: Is this diagnostic routine viable and productive? Or is it a waste of time in the grand scheme of things? My opinion is "no" and then "yes" to answer your question.

UPDATE: My best team mate's last day has come and gone. I am now dealing with myself and another, with a 6.0L Econoline bus getting an injector and another Econoline getting a 7.3L oil pan resealed, choking the shop. I have a stack of 9 repair orders filled with no-starts, oil leaks and "cooling system problems" that keeps getting thicker. We have since hired two new techs. The first is a younger car tech, keeps his mouth shut and looks like he does decent work! The "new" guy started Monday. He was put on the car team until Thursday, then he is mine. I spoke with him yesterday for about 2 minutes. Arrogant know-it-all-idiot. Yes, I got that from two brief minutes. He has already earned a reputation as Mr.Know-it-all with the gift of gab. I may need to make it clear to him I don't need him in my bay talking shop. I predict he won't be singing Christmas carols in our dealer this year. He lasted at his last job one short week... wouldn't work on a limo on jacks and didn't like his team leader telling him what to do. Any predictions? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hitthefan.gif

I would think that something like this would be a rarity. Other than that, he were watching a thread on another forum as a guy gutted his catalyst and DPF starting a new set of problems for him. This also brings up what we have been hearing about an upcoming emissions recall on 6.4L equipped vehicles... something about EPA compliance and DPF issues? Anyway, if these trucks exhaust I think the fuel issue will eventually go away as high sulfur fuel becomes rare. We had a topic going somewhere here by a military tech dealing with plugged DPFs assumed to be attributed to severely extended idling. (did I get that right?)

Jim its in the PCED. I am used to using it for 7.3's because Ford took away power balance from us. I AM STILL REALLY PISSED OFF ABOUT THAT!!! On 6.0's we still have power balance among other tests to help us find troubled injectors. I find that if I have gotten to this test, the performance of the troubled injector is so minor that this method becomes worthless. It has never worked for me and I have trouble pinpointing actual MFDES values because the fluctuate to quickly. In theory its a great idea but unless an injector is really deficient you need to be a computer to come up with an average MFDES for each cylinder, let alone an accurate baseline. Maybe its just me? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif

We have had many hydro locked as well, but I just never saw water pouring out the tailpipe. Then again, I probably would not just keep pouring water into the engine until it does!

Bite your tongue! Ford has several policies that include, "If it ain't broke, we ain't payin to fix it" and "hear no evil, see no evil and preemptively fix no evil." Let us not forget that Ford is probably still bleeding by the million$ if not billion$ and is not in any position to be replacing anything that "might" be going bad. All kidding aside, I am not aware of any program and like most dealers, our warranty claims are under heavy scrutiny with many parts being called back for inspection. If we replace any of these parts they had better be bad! This is good to know stuff however so we should keep an eye open for this concern when we have one of these apart.

Had one come in for overheating or something like that. Tech puts three gallons of water in the cooling system and it started coming out the exhaust pipe. I guess it was full! He also had to pull the glow plugs so it would crank. Ever see one that bad?

Yeah, Jay, I read your posts with interest because you seem to have a lot of inside knowledge. Since we don't know who you "really" are it is only natural to question your sources sometimes but I never doubt you! As for Ford supposedly not meeting emissions to the liking of the EPA I would think that there would not be much if any accessible information on it. They cant let that kind of information out now, can they? No. I would think that stuff would get buried deep in corporate circles. Then again, I could be wrong!

Brad, one good piece of advice I can give you is that "getting up to speed" is not going to happen overnight and you need to approach this with patience. If you have been avoiding computers and high tech systems because you are not computer savvy you have to change you attitude toward technology. For most people, simply jumping in and using computers is the best way to learn. You will learn by making mistakes, you will learn by asking people for help, you will learn by getting training but mostly, you will learn by doing. Sense a theme here? Computers and the diagnostic equipment we use have reached a level of user friendly interfaces that you almost can get away with not being very computer savvy. If you can learn the systems on the vehicles and understand the data the tools are giving you, that is really all you need to know. Use the manuals religiously but as always, think about what the book is asking you to do and why. Lastly, don't be fooled by by some guys that look like they are breaking technological barriers and making grand achievements in their ability to fix cars. Most of them are just screwing around but sometimes, that is how new ideas are born.

There used to be a lot of trucks that would pop out the intake under a load before we started reconditioning turbos. The majority of those trucks did this while towing. I discovered that a sticking turbo that causes an over boost condition will cause the PCM to open the EGR to slow down the turbo. When this occurs, the engine stumbles and boost backs out the intake. I don't necessarily think this is your problem because this condition does not produce smoke, but it is something to consider.