Keith Browning

I was wondering what the typical pay type is for technicians these days. We need to stay away from discussing actual pay rates and limit this to how we are paid. The poll is anonymous.

014-00761 Does not appear anywhere in the Rotunda website. I guess it is not important anymore. ...there are some listed on EBAY ...you could always make up your own.

That must the revised procedure. You used to have to hop around the vehicle clockwise after raising your left foot.

The manometer is not a gauge you would need very often however it is crucial to diagnosing cylinder sealing concerns... damaged cylinders or an engine that is just plain old worn out or dusted. Excessive crankcase pressure no matter what the reason means major engine repairs or replacement is necessary. But I suppose I am preaching to the choir here.

Those specifications are hard to find but they are listed in the Coffee Table Books under the Special Torque Chart. Could not tell you why this was not included in the WSM - or at least I could not locate it. Although I have had several apart I do not recall whether the bolt is a left or right hand thread and I do not want to guess. This is not something that is normally supposed to be serviceable as the pump is typically serviced with the gear. Anyway, from what I can find, the specs for ALL 6.0L and 4.5L HPOP Drive gears is: 95 lb/ft or 129 Nm

Well then it is pretty simple. You tell them that you cannot diagnose the truck because you do not have the required test equipment that you are supposed to have. Is it YOUR fault that a previous manager lent out the tool?

A Beydler Drill Guide would have prevented that situation. Good save though! It is interesting when you come upon somebody else's fuck ups.

I dunno if this is your problem but when I perform any reset function on these things (including CMDTC's) I shut the ignition off for 3 minutes. This is necessary to allow the PCM to fully perform all shut down procedures and turn off.

What kills me is that these knuckle heads just keep driving it until it stops. Truck ran well when I was done with it. Upsold some service work and MAY have gained a new customer - has 14 trucks. For this owner I enabled the manual regen request in the cluster.

Are you just looking for a magnehelic or a new gauge bar? Although I don't use anywhere near as often as the past I still find it useful to have the bar. Diagnosing pressure and restriction issues is easy when you can hook up multiple gauges at a time. As a Ford Dealer you really should have the gauge bar. http://www.dwyer-inst.com/Product/Pressure/DifferentialPressure/Gages/Series2000

Try the engine mount approach. Practically puts the manifold in your face.

Power Steering rack recall

I too discovered that I bolting the engine mounts and jacking up the side of the engine I am working on provides a lot of room and access to work in. Not to mention it's quick and easy.

I love when I see shit like this.

Funny you guys bring up Mac... I saw something recently in a tech mag/news where Apple was showing production inside one of their factories. In the background the assembly line on a computer screen... with a Windows operating system. DOH!

Good to hear from you! Keep up the fight Jim.

Hard to tell sometimes. I have a 2012 F550 in with a lack of power complaint which manifested itself into a cranks, starts and stalls condition. Long story short the aftertreatment filter is PLUGGED, tailpipe loaded with soot, the cold side CAC tube is broken off at the throttle body. Codes for DPF Pressure circuit, MAF and low boost and not much else. It's got 11K and 900-ish hours In order to diagnose this one I had to repair it by installing a new filter assembly, DPF Press sensor, CAC, reflash and reset the DPF and SCR parameters. While I had the session open I enabled the DPF Regeneration Request option in the IC for the guy. Long story short the truck runs perfectly and I cant find anything else wrong. So what happened? Too much idle time? Damaged DPF? Faulty DPF Pressure sensor? Cracked CAC tube? (Hot-Line believes the CAC can blow off when DPF restrictions get too high) Needless to say this customer needs to be instructed on how NOT to operate his modern diesel truck and that the "Check Engine" light does not mean open the hood to make sure the engine is still there then just keep driving. Now I just need to locate the instructions for that manual regen...

I know we have touched on exhaust this and exhaust that here but damn it just seems like all of a sudden 6.4L trucks are now developing all kinds of exhaust leaks and are becoming a more common repair. Turbo up-pipes, exhaust manifolds, turbo... anyone else making this observation or am I late to the party? We have had a rash of them in the last year and currently I am replacing a HPFP gasket and observed a few broken manifold bolts which has be come more common than the flex joints in the up-pipes. <sigh>

Oh no! Don't get me wrong - Windows 8 is fantastic so far. It's supposedly a totally new code and filing system. I haven't had one hiccup yet, not one compatibility issue and the performance is mind blowing. The basic Windows is still there, they just decided to put on a new user interface based around the start button and some slick looking stuff to take advantage of touch screens. But, with some settings changes I have my laptop looking and felling just like I expect/want my PC to interact with me. The only part that needed tweaking was the start button. They replaced it with this tile screen and your programs list is now a list of "Apps" which requires a lot of scrolling and hunting to find what you want. These little shell programs restore the start button and familiar programs list. I still pin most of my commonly used programs right to the task bar anyway. I like many people wish there was a choice in the matter. A simple setting to chose between the new "Metro interface" and a "traditional interface." For crying out loud - There are some small programs like the ones we are discussing that make this happen - so why not just include it? Yeah, I know. Change is inevitable.

This is more about the new User Interface in Win 8 that Microsoft has decided to go with. Unfortunately it is quite a pain in the ass for regular PC users - especially if you are not using a touch screen. I happen to be using a touch screen but I still hate the interface which is intended to be more aligned with smart phones, tablets and X-box. I fucking hate it. I want my PC to act like one as that is how I use it. Well, I did some research and some reading up on this, there are ways to set up your PC to interact with you in a more classic manner but the start menu is something that will not change unless you install a shell program that restores this look and feel. Totally compatible and customizable too. Start8 is the one I recommend - you get a 30 day trial and it's only $5 if you decide to buy it.http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Yesterday one of our Dodge techs rolled one of these 1500's in to PDI it. I snapped a few pictures of the engine. Not much to look at as it's kinda small snd tucked way under the cowl. The tech commented that it is similar to the engine used in Sprinters. Makes me wonder if Ford and Chevy will follow with a diesel. What engine would ford use? I recall pictures of a V-6 but that was some time ago. Would it be conceivable to see the 3.2L in the F150? Whatever happened to the rumored F100?

V-belts sonny!

That was quite an insightful piece of advice!

Yeah I ran into that scenario once a few years back. Killed the fuel pump it did!