Keith Browning

Not long ago I had the pleasure of watching one of our techs chase two baby squirrels around the front end of an Escape. Apparently there is a lot of space in the fenders. LOL!

Come to think of it, the exhaust terminates just past the axle on all of them doesn't it?

My dealer has all of the ford trucks and diesels run through my team - now this. Our Dodge service department is struggling to get the bigger trucks in and finish them in a timely manner. So the idea struck somebody to begin combining the two and guess who has to deal with it? So now, since I am the only guy willing to make the effort, I now get to train for Chrysler and take on this extra work. It's either really smart or really fucking stupid on my part but I have never been one to turn down a challenge. So here I am. But I really just wanted to share that it seems the Dodge trucks suffer from similar problems the Fords are. Aftertreatment issues, EGR problems and extended idling, turbochargers. At least I have Cummins training and experience with the medium duty Ford trucks. Two weeks ago I limped in a 5500 from PSE&G that was smoking badly. Turbo came apart and dumped 10 of the 14 quarts of oil into the exhaust. One turbo, DPF and SCR I have an EPA compliant truck that is driveable... except the engine is making rattling noises. One of the codes I pulled from the PCM was for "low oil pressure." I am in deep now!

I have questioned that myself.

The VCM works fine. It's the IDS license that affects your use of it. Without a valid license, you will not be able to update the firmware on the VCM (not normally a big deal) but when your IDS software is one or two versions out of date you start to lose functions like module programming and configuration as well as others.

Our Lexus dealership has this but I don't think they supply the tools. You have to ut your own stuff in it.

Less than that. The only thing that bothers me about this is that you lose the IQA codes

Now the big question, would you do this on an engine you plan to reinstall in a truck? I should think that if the adapter is timed correctly and the runout is good there should be no problems... but I don't want to be the guinea pig. Nice write up and thoroughness in thinking this through.

If memory serves me, in the front, it's HSR's for 2WD and HDR's for 4WD

Probably your best bet is to purchase a GENUINE VCM-2 from your local dealership that you deal with and buy parts from. If you have a good relationship with them you might get a really good deal. My dealer ordered mine and charged me cost. Maybe you could ask for a deal like cost +10% The IDS software is subscription based and a license can be purchased from Motorcraft.com

2013 Dodge 5500 6.7L with a failed turbocharger. Dumped 10 quarts of oil into the exhaust fouling both filter assemblies. What a mess!

I remember trying the regen thing too. I also have just continued to drive the truck up and down the side street here at 4 MPH and twice doing that it cleared after an additional 5-10 minutes. (yes I was is in a stubborn mood when I discovered this)

Have a 2017 F250 in my bay for a PDI. Got to crawl around and put my hands on it. Not bad. The price sucks, but not bad.

Like everyone else I have seen my share. They usually stick open but I have had at least one, maybe two that would not open... which seems to be the exception.

I don't know who frequents any of the public forums but an interesting situation was posted on a couple of forums. A couple on vacation were on vacation, towing tier 5th wheeler with their 2013 Super Duty. The description of the incident was: I immediately thought "fuel filter line popped off and covered the hot turbocharger and pipes with fuel." I had that happen to me once but without any fire. Ever since that happened I push and pull on the secondary filter lines to be sure they are in fact locked onto the fuel filter. This incident reminded me of mine and how it could have turned out for my customer. Just another reminder to us all to be absolutely sure those lines are secure... assuming that this is indeed what had happened, I feel bad for the guy as his truck was consumed as well as much of his travel trailer.

I didn't, never said that I did. I SAID that I UN-installed it first... to point out that I wanted to be sure that it was removed because I am unsure if uninstalling IDS would remove it. I wanted to be sure to reload everything fresh.

I didn't. It comes with IDS and loads automatically.

I finally fixed mine by un-installing everything manually starting with the Bosch software, then IDS. Reinstalled it all and it has been working flawlessly for a week now. AND I am finally using those new dongles I bought and I can connect from about 100 feet. I figured I would try it and it worked... dont know how much further I would need to connect but at leas not I know I can beach a truck outside and do a manual regen with my computer in the shop. Personally, I do not think these problems are a Windows issue. I blame Ford. EVERY time I have problems it's after an IDS update.

Is there an explanation for this? I have heard this a couple of times and I think this idea has been propagated on the FMC boards. If the concept is that the DEF is crystalizing and clogging the lines then we need to be reminded that DEF will not crystalize without air. Liquid DEF in the fuel will never do that directly. I also believe that if there is DEF contamination that causes rust, pitting and metal flaking far worse things are likely to become evident before a return line failure, especially repeated failures on a single truck over time - BUT - I would subscribe to the excessive pressure theory which could be the result of DEF contamination. Just thinking out loud here.

Grab a camera!

I don't think this has anything to do with the fuel here in North America. This does not affect all of the vehicle's production - only a specific date range. "In the affected vehicles, scuffing of the g-rotor within the fuel injection pump may create metallic debris which can contaminate the fuel system." That statement tells me there is a known defect with certain fuel pumps. Funny though, this notice was posted a week ago here in the US.

What Brad said. And yes there is a TSB for the concern. You can diagnose this easily by verifying the noise goes away while driving off - I think around 1500 RPM the noise stops. If you have a breakout box you can ground the TCC solenoid while idling in Park - this applies the converter and the noise stops. This condition does not affect the transmission operation however the noise is very annoying. I am surprised there are still some of these rolling around out there.

Interesting that they chose to put that into a dragster. Perhaps we might see a new class of drag racing in the future? But I think they will need to clean up the exhaust a little though it did not seem to belch as badly as many of the redneck racers we see.

Looks like they moved some things around on the right side.

Yes we were. Wanna borrow my turbo sockets?