Keith Browning

If I recall, the official stand on that from Ford is to change the brake fluid every two years. I learned this during the STST brake course at the Ford training center. I asked why this is not in the service manual or service publications? The instructor just shrugged his shoulders! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif But this is the recommendation. I have seen the brake flush machine in action and it works just dandy! Never used it though. Thought about using it on my own cars... but who has time to work on their own stuff? I just bought the wife a Freestyle and I vow to maintain it and her old Explorer I just inherited in a much more regular fashion. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Anybody catch the new poll on the DTS Mainpage ?

Matt, I don't know what your experience level is but there are a few of us that have had some tough ones that kept us hunting and digging. The unfortunate thing is that you have had this engine apart already and put it together only to have gotten nowhere. I feel your pain but I never had this happen to me with an E-series. The tough part is it sounds like you created this concern or disturbed something that was already on it's way out. The two real tough ones I fought with had deteriorated o-rings in the oil rail supply tubes and the block off tubes. I think many techs overlook these seals including the drain plugs and end caps. I know I used to. If you have the rails out, remove the plugs, clean the seals and inspect them closely. It does not take much deterioration to cause a pressure loss. The lesson here is don't just look for the obvious. If it's apart, take advantage of the access to related components even if it means just a few minutes extra time. The small investment in time is worth preventing the big loss in time having to take it all apart again.

The only problem I have experienced was a VCM communication issue I created by unplugging the USB cable. But I did a lot of things during that afternoon. One thing that I did notice is that you should limit programming to it's own session because when you are done, the IDS/ECM seem to be stuck in time - the time when you first hooked up to the vehicle. I noticed that after programming and ending the session, deleting it and then beginning a new one I experienced no further problems. My point is I guess I learned the same thing that "they" were recommending you try. And... who the hell has time to stop working and watch these programs in the middle of the day? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif IF they turned these into web casts I might be able to watch at my toolbox in my bay otherwise I have to catch them off of the PTS web site!

The link Jay posted still works and It is also up in FMC Dealer. Maybe the Motorcraft server took a nap.

Gas or diesel?

No, I did not. I felt like a prisoner held against my will. Tied up two of my team's lifts for three hours and killed all productivity for the afternoon. First was a demonstration for a trans fluid exchanger that we are not buying. On top of it, they dragged the car techs and techs from the other car lines over... to see how to service a diesel truck... which none of them will ever do... it was no different than the machines we already use. The diesel flush. Crap in a can. The engine stalled three times and the flush canister leaked. The guy demonstrating the product told us nothing the bottle already had. I began asking questions but the answers were the same thing he had just said. So I asked ME: "What does this stuff actually clean? Does it clean the injector?" BG GUY: "It cleans everywhere the chemical touches. It removes carbon." ME: "carbon? If there is carbon inside the injector then there is a problem!" A flush won't fix that! BG GUY: "It cleans the injector tip and the combustion chamber. And for additional cleaning, you add this bottle to the fuel tank." ME: "So it doesn't clean the injector really, does it? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif How does it remove carbon?" BG GUY: "It works with the fuel but most of it does not burn. It combines with the carbon, softens it, turns it into a liquid and then vaporizes it so that it can be burnt off." /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif I was going to ask more questions including the ones Jay listed... I just couldn't after that. Bastard wasted two hours of my day and never looked me in the eye! They talk so fast you almost cant get a word in edgewise. We are talking about diesel engines here. With all of the repairs I have made to these engines I have yet to see a carbon problem in the cylinders deeming this crap as not required and if I had to guess, not effective. This gets better! Next month I might get to play around with the new EGR valve and port flusher. I can hardly contain myself. Guess where all the cleaner and the carbon goes? Any takers? They tried it on VW's and discovered that if the engine starts clacking you have to shut off the flush and wait for it to quiet down to continue. I swear, I am not making this up. I was also told that FORD was helping them develop this. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cover.gif Since we pretty much know that more than half of all diesel owners perform their own maintenance, I just got an idea for an new poll to go on the DTS Main Page.

Well, the Dog and Pony show just left. Nothing but unnecessary crap in a can.

I need professional opinions - preferably from "insiders" concerning these products. Possible bad effects, good effects, Fords official stand on them. I have a BG product demonstration coming today. I am not a believer. Anybody have any suggestions for questions I could ask? Am I a jerk for thinking this is potentially bad for these engines, a waste of money and lacking in professional integrity? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/whattodo.gif

I just read something elsewhere and I thought of this a few weeks ago when my dealer got a round of chassis cabs in with bodies installed. For some reason this body manufacturer decided to place the rear mud flaps behind the tail-pipe on theses 6.4L equipped trucks. Not quite sure how long they are going to stand and fight. Anybody seeing problems yet or too early to tell?

Two IDS and two PDS for 8 guys! Lucky bastard. We have one IDS for 10 guys. No wonder I am putting my own together. Still waiting for my VCM... ordered 8 weeks ago! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/whattodo.gif

Like the guys that replace their fuel filters because the truck just stopped running or all of a sudden wont start. These are also in many cases the same stooges that can't seem to get the HFCM filter cap screwed on all the way to open the valve. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/boink3.gif

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif Excellent! And a first post too, welcome to the DTS Zman.

Yeah, but you know what? I think Jim hit the nail on the head about the training being a starting point with "all it can do is lay down the groundwork..." We at the dealer level specialize in these engines and for most of us, these are all we see on a day to day basis. Having said that, look at the difficulty many have had in learning these Power Strokes and then getting to know them. I feel for any guy attempting to learn and service PSD's, CAT's, Cummins, Duramax all out of one shop. Thats a lot of tools, service manuals, training to take in AND THEN get sufficient experience in all of them to worth anything. You had better be one sharp Dude to try that!

Ford has recommended dipping the injectors in oil before installing which is something I have always done and continue to do...well, I have progressed to a Poland Spring sport bottle with the snap top. I still get the injectors and o-rings completely coated but the squirt bottle makes less mess and I don't have that open plastic container hanging around the bench anymore. For what it's worth, I also use that squirt bottle for lubing fuel and oil filter cap o-rings. Almost forgot my question: Does CAT recommend dipping the injectors?

Jim, Most of the cries for help I hear emanate from our retail parts counter. We sell a lot of parts to local shops, body shops and other dealers keeping a full time driver on the road all day. This is a great source of income for the company which I do try to keep in mind when one particular parts counterman comes to visit my bay... whom for a few years would avoid me because of the viciousness of my responses to his constant questions that would seem to never end. I have matured over the years. I can judge by the questions being asked that there are many guys in the independent shops having trouble with these "modern" diesel engines. A few should not be in the business to begin with and I do not care to waste my valuable time trying to educate them or diagnose their customers truck for them. I have had the pleasure of speaking with a few very knowledgeable independent techs whom I could have an intelligent, to the point conversation with. Since we sell large numbers of trucks to local business fleets that have their own shops I have no problem lending an ear. I too like that warm and fuzzy feeling but there is a line between free advice and being leeched.

According to the latest news I was under the impression that Daimler is looking to dump Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep. Anyone else hear this or is this just some rumor floating around the financial markets? No sense in dumping the engine if you are dumping the entire company. Quote: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 DCX investors: Dump Chrysler, restore Benz Christine Tierney, Mark Hornbeck and Josee Valcourt / The Detroit News STUTTGART, Germany -- With the sale of the Chrysler Group looking increasingly likely, some critics of the nine-year merger are looking ahead to the next step -- restoring the German automaker's old name. Two German shareholders will propose that the company's name be changed back to Daimler-Benz AG at the annual meeting April 4 in Berlin. The change could take place after a Chrysler sale, but no later than March 31, 2008. "It will be a very popular resolution among the individual German shareholders," predicted Ekkehard Wenger, a longtime shareholder activist and business professor and a sponsor of the resolution. DaimlerChrysler opposes the resolution and urged shareholders to vote against it. "The DaimlerChrysler name is established all over the world," the company said on its Web site. "There are no grounds to change the name of the corporation." But what if Chrysler is sold? That seems an increasingly likely prospect as potential buyers are brought in to examine the Auburn Hills automaker. "We don't speculate on what would happen if we chose one option," said DaimlerChrysler spokesman Thomas Froehlich. "Up to now, all the options are open." With investors pushing for a Chrysler sale, Gov. Jennifer Granholm met with DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche in Germany on Tuesday to urge him not to abandon Chrysler or Michigan. United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, in separate interviews with two Detroit radio stations, reiterated his hope that Chrysler will remain part of DaimlerChrysler. Meanwhile, speculation mounted about a potential Chrysler buyer. The Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital Management, private equity firms, have emerged as the lead contenders to buy Chrysler, and Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. could be a minority partner with a private equity firm, Wall Street analyst Brett Hoselton of KeyBanc Capital said in a report Tuesday. Although Zetsche is clearly responsive to shareholder discontent with Chrysler's performance, investors are likely to be as vocal this year as they have in the past at the company's annual meetings. Critics fault Zetsche A group calling itself the Critical Shareholders because its members opposed the merger from the outset faults Zetsche for failing to sell Chrysler in 2004 and 2005 when it was profitable. "Instead of that, Dr. Dieter Zetsche reacted far too late and waited for Chrysler's latest loss" of $1.5 billion for 2006, it said. On Tuesday, Granholm said Zetsche offered no clues about what might happen with Chrysler, nor did he commit to a timetable for a decision during their 45-minute meeting in Zetsche's Stuttgart office. "I asked about the prospect of selling Chrysler, but he's not in a position to talk about that at the moment, so we did not go very far with that," Granholm told reporters in a conference call after the meeting. But she said she was optimistic that, whatever happens, "there will be a strong DaimlerChrysler or Chrysler presence in Michigan in some way, shape or form." Granholm pushes investment Granholm, who is on a trade trip to Germany and Austria, also urged Zetsche to consider Michigan for Chrysler's planned $3 billion investment in more fuel-efficient powertrains, which includes building a V-6 engine plant. "He was very open to that," she said. "However, the decision has not been made." Whatever the impact on Michigan, it is far from clear whether DaimlerChrysler will ultimately sell Chrysler. In his report Tuesday, Wall Street analyst Hoselton said Blackstone and Cerberus were among several suitors that visited Chrysler's Auburn Hills offices last week to review the automaker's finances as part of a process that could result in an offer as soon as the end of this month. He wrote that the likely scenario could be a partnership in which Magna would have a 30 percent to 40 percent minority stake for about $1.5 billion, with a private equity fund as the majority investor. Magna, which does about 25 percent of its business with Chrysler, would be responsible for running Chrysler factories for the private equity buyer, the report says. "While we believe (Magna) remains interested in taking significant action toward Chrysler, our sources indicate the likelihood of such actions is now much reduced," Hoselton wrote. Magna spokeswoman Tracy Fuerst said in an e-mail that Chrysler is one of the supplier's largest customers, involving many contracts and thousands of employees. "Any preliminary discussions which Magna has had, or may have, with Chrysler regarding potential alternatives would be conducted on a strictly confidential basis, and will not be disclosed publicly," Fuerst said in an e-mail. Hoselton said there's a 50-50 chance that Chrysler will be sold. "To really make the combination valuable to Daimler, you have to start really integrating the two companies and that would be a pretty significant choice or decision for Dieter to make," he said. "My sense is it's pretty risky. " Union leaders from the UAW and Canadian Auto Workers would rather Chrysler not be untangled from its parent company. "We want to keep the Chrysler Group in the DaimlerChrysler family," Gettelfinger said in an interview Tuesday on WJR-AM in Detroit. "But we're realistic, we know there's a lot going on and we'll deal with it as we can." CAW chief Buzz Hargrove sees no alternative but a sale. "Once they went public and said everything's on the table including a sale," Hargrove said, "that not only put the company in play, they put it in play on the cheap."

I thought his name was "Jack The Knife." At first I thought this was the result of my friend Jim spending some quality time with Mr. Seagram... or maybe just a really bad case of fat fingers but then I realized that he is just as clever as a fox!

Now that you mention it, I left with unanswered questions myself that I still haven't found any answer to nor do I expect any at this point. The potentially scary thing is that if you get into a conversation with a HotLine Engineer, you might hear them admit that "they" learn a lot from "us" in the field and from our calls. Works both ways and I guess thats a good thing.

I feel for the instructors. First, dealing with a corporate environment where you never know if you will have a job when you wake up and now being spread really thin. I remember my instructor commenting that between him and one other instructor they are booked every week for the next year. I think they even have to travel all over the zone, NJ, NY and Boston. As for the 6.4 class I wish it got into more advanced hands on. The excercises were fine but more hands on really would have been worth an extra day. But, I have yet to see a single broken 6.4 as of today. Only two false MIL's... and 28 recalls! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/flamethrower.gif

It works nice. I understand what Jim was saying about the height of the frame. A lower frame would lower the loading higher in the rear. The idea of an ambulance chassis might be a good one. Changing the suspension can get expensive though. What if they mounted the axle on top of the leaf springs? I have seen that on Mack trucks... just thinkin out loud here.

19683 replaces the one I loosely outlined... but it is better! The original gives you instructions to get the A/c working but all those trucks are being recalled for the recalibration so, it is pointless to perform the steps now. It he new calibration does not fix it then it's DIAG TIME!

I know this was mentioned here not too long ago and there was an SSM out on this but I can't seem ti find either. It's a known concern. The original fix was to disconnect the MAF and turn on the key for 3 or 5 seconds then shut the key off. Reconnect the MAF and then clear the generated DTC's. It worked... but the new PCM calibration fixes the concern.

Well I have read a lot about Ford pissing off suppliers. Maybe they have to go off-shore to find manufacturers willing to produce parts. It could be as simple as economics though. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif besides, Ford makes cars all over the World so it really is not a big surprise. I will admit that some of the counties of origin raise an eyebrow though. I don't recall seeing China yet but I recall Mexico, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Germany, Spain... and I swear I have seen the Philippines on a part.

No video, but I found this! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/flamethrower.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif Hey, Ford has the hottest truck. This flaming thing just proves it!

Interesting thought. I think that would definitely work but you need to be careful not to damage the rubber insulator under the nut. Regulating temperature would be crucial but not very difficult. A hand-held propane torch would do the trick and I doubt that would be enough heat to change the temper of the steel. Then you would need to wait to let the heat travel up the bolt and allow the thread lock to soften. It would still be quicker than accessing all those nuts! Certainly less aggravating and of course you could be doing other things... You get a gold star for that one! I'll have to test this when I get the chance.