Jim Warman

The planetary gearset is for HI and LO range.... It isn't used to couple front and rear... From memory - the rear output shaft is connected mechanically all of the time. When the speed of the front driveshaft differs from the speed of the rear, the viscous coupling will start to "drive" the front wheels through the chain and the lower sprocket. Removing the front driveshaft will have the front output simply "along for the ride" but the added stability offered by full time all wheel drive will be lost. Since you will still be changing the speed of a considerable amount of iron (axles, CV joints, cage, gearset), I'm unsure of what kind of mileage gains will be found. Not to sound like a dork, but the system has been positively identified as the AWD system and not the more common (from my experience, anyway) A4WD system?

I've been "drawn away" from much in the way of 6.0 diag for several months.... P0299 without any other "helper" codes is going to be gnarly but I might consider starting with the EBP sensor as a distinct possibility... Any intake or exhaust mods?

customer has a driveability concern... AND a programmer... We disconnect the programmer and tell him to drive it for a while and return so we can evaluate the concern... Customer comes to pick up the truck and insists that the programmer be reconnected... WTF? Doesn't he want this thing fixed? Under warranty? "Didn't know", I can handle... "stupid" is another story.

Kieth, I think you are quite right about Hotline... I call these guys looking for any "known" (aka "reported" concerns)... I also call these guys looking for a knowledgeable "sounding board"... Often, they will give me an epiphany... the tech will say something that strikes a chord. By and large, many that call Hotline are looking for a magic bullet... "take my pain away and make it so I don't have to think". As for the EGR valves... Both my diesel techs have had occasions where the first or even second one has given concerns right out of the box... Then we find the "magic" EGR that fixes the concern. Have they checked for spread pins? Other than visually, probably not. (I'm talking take a probe and check the effort it takes to insert and remove it). But we do find a valve that is going to work... eventually. Back in the 70s, the workplace was festooned with posters proclaiming the benefits of "zero defects"... perfection, if you will. Once they realized that the human animal is incapable of perfection, it became common for the consumer to be part of the "quality control" process... I might be off the mark here.... but for any given automotive product, there are only so many manufacturers. I have this mental picture of an assembly line producing <your part here>. At the end of this assembly line is an underpaid recent immigrant from God knows where... happy to be in North America. It is his or her task to take the final piece and assign it's destination (remembering that they have no idea what this piece is... only that it is clean, usually shiney and that it is a car part). This one is pretty good... it goes in the OEM pile... this one is iffy, it goes in the aftermarket pile... And the cnsumer remains to be part of the quality control process. There are no truly "guilty" parties... this is the vagary of "mass production". If we hold tolerances to closely, the price can skyrocket... Loosen up the tolerances, and the prices can "mellow"... But we run into a problem when part "A" is too big and part "B" is too small... Yes... my week was a ball of sh!t.... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif

Oh. Larry... if you only knew... Am I well recompensed? well, maybe.... I am living proof that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. If some of you guys could only "wear my boots" for a week.... It ain't about you or me or him... It's about "mutual" success... Let's make a loaf of bread..... without yeast... it ain't gonna be a loaf of bread.... Without flour... no surprises here.... Without water.... need I say more? A store is the same kind of deal.... The goal is "a loaf of bread" (aka "happy customer")... without all of the ingredients in the right proportions.... happy dining.... Back to me.... I put out fires... I keep stuff from going so far as to get out of hand.... I tell people "the bad news"... I figure out ways to mitigate the bad news. I stay late, I work through lunch, I work weekends.... This isn't a job for just anyone.... Now that I have finished digressing... I still have two diesel certified techs that do very well, thank you. We collaborate when we have to. As a "working" shop foreman, I keep my hand in on technology... I will not become obsolete unless I allow myself to become obsolete. Posts about wages can, sometimes, become tiresome... We can either make the best of our current situation or we can find a new situation... I'm probably a bit obsessive about my career... But if a tech wants to advance, he is going to have to stand head and shoulders above the crowd.... And that isn't going to happen without applying ones self. Put "U" in your "wurk".

There is a standardized pay scale for apprentices. In Alberta (not sure about other provinces re: percentages) a first year apprentice makes 45% of the base journeyman wage. A second year apprentice makes 55% of that wage, third year 65% and fourth 75%. Each shop gets to set their own journeyman base rate.. obviously, the vagaries of the labour pool can have a large effect on that. Our shops base rate is something like $36 or $38 per flat rate hour.... us being a small, outlying town. Shops in major cities usually pay less - anywhere up to nearly $10 per flat rate hour from what I have seen in the past. Most dealer shops that I know of offer raises for certifications earned and/or performance bonuses.

Dwayne... sounds like time to call the labour relations board. Just look in your local phone book for "the right government number" (toll free) and they can put you through... This sounds just plain illegal and it don't matter where your DP is... the board can put a stop to it.

I have two flat rate techs in our shop... both are diesel certified.... and there is no shortage of diesel work. Both of these techs do extremely well (six digits, boys and girls... if a couple of guys in Armpit, Alberta can do it...) without having to resort to flushes and dubious repair estimates... but you do need a combination of circumstances for this to happen... First and foremost is the traffic through the doors... If the shop sounds like a mausoleum, then it's time to find out WHY - and then "fix it". And this, Dear Reader, is the responsibility of everyone that works in the place. If the store does well... then the staff should do well. But it ain't gonna happen without the main ingredient.... customers. Too often, I talk to techs that seem to have that "we have them for the next <X> years..." attitude... Customers can feel that... and they don't like it. None of us do when it is us standing there with debit card in hand. Ford offers us training... Many accuse it of being inadequate. In reality, it is when we complete a training course in any specialty that our real training starts. A course can only lay the groundwork... the rest is up to us as individuals. We are "experts" because we have a bubble on a plaque or a certificate on the wall. We become experts when we continue to perfect our craft and hone our skills. I've been doing this for nearly 40 years - I don't ever expect to "complete" my training. And that brings us to FIRTFT.... Viewed by too many as company rhetoric. Viewed simplisticly, yes... Take a good look.... Give the customer those good things that we can. This is an industry where we seldom get to give a customer much in the way of "good news". The bill will, most likely be high (in the case of a retail repair)... to the point of adjusting his budget or changing his vacation or Christmas plans.... All we have left is to be good enough, thorough enough and concientious enough to FIRTFT and deliver the unit ON TIME. It's tough to take away some of the pain of an auto repair... but this is part of the job... We can't charge less or leave parts out... So we are left with making it up with things that still matter. All Ford is trying to reinforce is to make the repair experience as least traumatic as possible... And, if we please the customer in a warranty situation... we can continue to charge a fair dollar (in Canada, dealer techs "traditionally" make more than techs involved in the aftermarket) for above average work... and the work should be above average because we have the basic systems training, the documentation, the tools... that most aftermarket outlets can only lust for. That customer will continue to come to us for all of his repair needs... Why? Because we shouldn't use "bait and switch" tactics - promisising a brake job for a ridiculously low price knowing we are going to "fluff" the bill with rotors nad hoses and hardware that may not be required. Not to mention all the other tactics used by some "high volume" shops. When we cultivate this "crop" of retail customers, they will continue to visit us, giving our shop a healthy mix of warranty and CP work... Our bays shall surely runneth over and goodness and well being shall follow us.... Almost without exception, techs take a very narrow view of a very broad problem. And this is to their detriment. It isn't about "me" or you or him... It's about customers. Get the f@cking bays full... get them productive.... FIRTFT... do it on time... do it on the estimate.... And you don't have to give "it" away to do it. Charge what you're worth... but be damned sure you deliver what you charge for. There ain't no "I" in teamwork. Do that... and success should follow.

Thanks, guys. I just spent $840 on two VCM subscriptions... more scan tool paraphernalia is out of the question (especially for the only MD truck we'll probably ever see). "Day off" is a term that I don't think I'm allowed to use... so a trip to Bruces shop might be asking a bit much... This is one I will gladly punt....

Hmmmm, do I smell a pattern? We have two in the past week or so.

Topic should explain it... and, sorry guys, I forgot to get the year... This is an F650 and I have no idea how we wound up with this old "gem"... We aren't a medium duty dealer BUT.... everyone seems to think that this 6.0 is the same as any PSD.... Anyway, truck runs like a bag of crap cold... so I am told. Sales dept. has seen the wonder of the inductive heating flash. The question... Does Navistar have this sort of a FICM strategy? Will a reflash help some of this funky stuff or should I be looking at something else? I'm not about to recommend paying to activate the MD software for just one truck and I need to know if this is something a reflash might address or if there is something I can do with inadequate equipment before I ship it to a MD dealer?

In Alberta, ambulances ARE required to be inspected twice yearly... Not only that, the tech inspecting them has to be registered with and approved by the health authority. The guidelines manual is pretty comprehensive and doesn't leave much to "interpretation".

I'll have it delivered to your doorstep. It will be next January and it will be in "kit" form (some assembly required) /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif "forzen"? You're getting as bad as me....

The quintessential "redheaded stepchild" /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Looks like a bit of a buzz on message board over it... At least it shows that some guys read BCMs Just so you don't feel too bad, though... today we have thus far gotten about 1,143,000,000 angstroms of fluffy, white April "showers".... Just to tech it down a bit, thats about 11.5 centimeters (between 4 and 5 inches for our southern friends... the same southern friends that are up for more prizes.... lucky bastuhds...).

Joey... I went back over this thread... something that's been chewing at my mind... The defualt position for this solenoid is <OFF> (i.e., no vacuum sent to the hubs). With no vacuum commanded to the hubs, the IWEs should be locked. It is when the PCM commands the solenoid <ON> that the hubs unlock for 2WD operation.... And this, I think, may be the reason for some of the pain you are enduring. We are used to having a circuit turn <ON> for us to get a desired action... In the case of the IWEs, it can become easy to forget that we need the circuit to turn <OFF> in order to get our desired action.... Your stuck customer only ever needed to unplug the electrical connector from the solenoid to get unstuck. You diagnosed a PCM... quite correctly from the sound of it since the IWE solenoid driver appears to have shorted to ground. But it becomes painfully obvious that the dealer tech didn't road test the truck to verify the repair (for this concern, this would be to drive in a tight circle in two wheel drive and then try to drive in a tight circle in 4WD) nor did he follow the PPT for the code retrieved. In any industry, we will find those that are good, those that get by and those that made poor career choices. It ain't about the sign above the door... it's all about the man walking through it... Ya done good, son... but when the truck failed that last time, I would have gone into shit deflection mode and involved the dealer that called down my diagnosis. Good luck on recovering your expenses... "illegitimi non carborundum" (don't let the bastards grind you down).

Keith... remember, all I've done is make some bold assumptions.. It would be interesting to see the hotline notes for that one...

Plausible, Keith... Let's not forget that the ICP IS a capacitor to begin with. And, one of the reasons that an oil flooded connector/wiring is such a concern is that the oil can change the capacitance of the circuit. As far as the "mechanics" of a failure like this is concerned, I'm in way over my head... but, let's see if I can embarass myself anyway... A capacitor is simply a temporary storage device.... storing those same electrons that make up the flow of current in a circuit. Once the oil has reached it's "saturation" point, all it will need is some "trigger mechanism" for it to give up those electrons it has stored... in James' case, perhaps the sudden change as 1500ish PSI drops to very low PSI at the end of an injection event is this trigger mechanism. Once the path is established (much like it takes high voltage to ionize a spark plug gap), the electrons can flow until the storage medium is depleted. For why it would take out injectors rather than FICMs.... one can only assume that the PIV (peak inverse volt) characteristics of the FICM circuits could withstand whatever voltage it took to create the path to ground. For James.... The injectors that this truck "ate".... did you have the opportunity to find out how these injectors failed? Was the failure electrical or mechanical? Open coils, perhaps?

Alex... after idly flipping through several of the associated sections, the list of "discards" will astound almost anyone... from the pinch bolt on the steering column to God knows what else... It just blows me away that you can't get most of the O-rings separately but I imagine that will change over time.... For now, it's time to go back to work and see if I can't finish that abortion today.... To make matters worse... this WAS my Saturday but one of the other techs owed me a Saturday. I was going to take the day off and putter around the house (it's trying to snow right now). So now I have an oxymoron wrapped in a conumdrum... It's my Saturday to work but I have it off because someone owed me a Saturday so, with my new found day off, I'm going in to work.... My head hurts.....

Tony.. posting your lists on DTS would be a wonderful resource... With the truck being apart so long and having to play "fastener roulette" on re-assembly, I see there are more and more discard fasteners that I missed in my initial work up... Now... the big concern.... Do "they" have a recommended list. Could they deny the claim based on re-used fasteners? Or, if there is a subsequent (though not a fastener failure), could the call a chargeback? <Smiling sweetly> .... I'll buy you a beer.... Or a wee taste of Mr. Seagrams fine offering....

Blake... I feel for you. I'm in the process of reassembling one of these travesties... It took three weeks to get a cylinder head... and another week to get me back on the damned thing.... Can anyone spell "fastener shock"? They have us do the fuel cooler as described so we don't have to piss around with bleeding the secondary cooling system... We changed one secondary rad (Bambi played a role in that one) and there was more than one attempt to ensure that the system was properly bled.... Something I think they could make a lot easier if the secondary water pump PID was an active command. This one is also getting a rad.... WSM keeps talking about using only banjo bolts with a green paint mark on the head as these are without check valves... I had three without green paint marks but close inspection revealed no check valves.... But it leaves you with the feeling that you may have "missed" something. WSM is also full of "remove and discards"... for many O-rings, the only way to get the is with some spendy looking assemblies.... I had a page and a half of "required" small parts and came up way short according to the manual... Good luck....

For those of you that are special (like me... again)... You can see what the Canadian Ford message board is all about.... One thread (with the odd digression) started out with a 6.0 EconoBox that "sucked too much" (WTF is THAT???). It collapsed intake hoses all over the place. A "little birdie" told me that Ford replaced the engine on this thing... with no cure.... and, to keep the thread from dying, people started posting "stuff". Eventually, the original poster replied with a terse "It's fixed"... no explanation... no cure.. just "it's fixed". The first thing that comes to my (unencumbered by schoolboard pap) mind is that someone finally took the cellophane wrapper off the air filter element... And that brings us to the "other stuff"... Now, I could go back to InFord and refresh my memory as to how the thread went to where it did... but, there is the chance I might embarass myself (yeah..... right...). Anyway... talk turned to "basics" and I mentioned a truck I had.... FIVE EGR coolers in a year and a half or so.... Still overheating.... Still puking coolant. Customer wants a new motor.... What he got was the radiator cleaned (it was wearing a thick "fur" coat) and the promise of head gaskets if the concern persists. I brought this one up on InFord.... Someone mentioned that the TSB doesn't tell us to check radiator airflow..... Was this one of "my" prechecks? Ermmmmm.... I replied with the truth.... As apprentices (in Canada which used to have an extremely good system (but, I understand is being bastardized a la UTC, etc. in the name of fast-tracking people into the trade... people that may not be adequate - DAMHIKT).... As apprentices, we are taught to CONSIDER any and all causes for our concern... and restricted airflow is always a concern... especially in the land of mud, leaves and cardboard winterfronts. So the TSB doesn't mention looking at the rad for restrictions.... DOES IT NEED TO? I've seen motors cooked because of plugged air flow.... Moral of the story... check the basics.... check them first... Understand what it is you are checking... Something as simple as looking for debris in the rad doesn't take much experience... This is a hard "test" to misunderstand... but we can easily believe what our senses tell us.... When a test procedure gets a little more technical, we need to gain a firm grasp on what it is we a testing for... and apply the appropriate test (the PC/ED and workshop manual are strong on what needs to be tested... but are often weak on appropriate procedure). Word to the wise... Often, 10 minutes spent reading the "Description and Operation" subsection of the WSM or the "Introduction" section of the PC/ED can be worth an hour in the service bay.. We desparately need to understand the "logic" of what we are working on if we are going to make it work as intended. Reading.... (man, can I take a simple statement and drag it all over the map)... For many years, school systems have "fast-tracked" students through the system.. When is the last time you heard of a kid having to repeat a grade? Those that design and apply the school curriculum (I'm a grade 8 drop-out, remember?) aren't about to fail a kid... because it might mean they are a lousy teacher.. and we can't have that... In their defence, they always remind us that many famous people couldn't spell.... Problem is, they could f@cking READ... and, in the quest for passing poor spellers, they pass poor readers. But you aren't going to survive in this business if you are a poor reader. Now... poor comprehension skills are NOT something to be ashamed of.... It is a social epidemic created by the teachers onions and is designed to perpetuate the belief that the school system is "good" and teachers are "adequate" (there's more to it than that if you have ever observed classroom dynamics). With the state of the industry today... and the looming changes.... If your reading skills are marginal - find ways to improve them. Good comprehension can mean the difference between being driving a Fiesta because you HAVE to and driving one because you WANT to. You don't need to be "smart" to be successful in this trade... but you do need to be "structured". Develop a logical thought process.... and read everything carefully.... very carefully. Success? All you need to do is reach out and get a firm grasp on it....

Leave it to Larry to ask a prickly question..... Of course the customer is always right... but only if you have him seeing things from your perspective.... Other than that, he is, most times, an abject idiot.... you just can't say that to his face.... DAMHIKT!!!! I know my customer base well.... many of them first started coming to me in the early 80s. Mine is a small town and you get a feel for those that have placed you last on the list of "places to try" for those problems the bargoon stores can't fix. You can road test it AFTER you pay the bill.... WTF goes through a SAs mind when they hand someone the keys saying "OK Mr. Absolute Stranger, sir.... Here's your keys.... You hurry back, now...". Like the song says.... "here's your f@cking sign...". This opens up other avenues of discussion.... maybe later....

Mukluks are for pussies /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif It don't hardly ever get much below -30 or -40C where I live. Hardly worth the effort to do up your windbreaker....

Bruno... with the things that I do intentionally to my liver, I'm not sure avoiding a few petroleum products is going to turn me into a picture of fitness... While some consider their bodies temples, mine has, unfortunately turned into a "tavern"... On the serious side, I think that it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.... already have tinitis so the ear plugs wont help... For the rest of it, what can I say... I insist on things like CSA approved footwear and eye protection for everyone (pisses me off to no end when a service writer parades into the shop in sandals)... the rest I warn and leave the guys to it.

I don't think backward or forward matters.... The PDS or IDS expects the VCM to be at a compatable level and will flash program the VCM to suit. If it doesn't see what it expects to see... it changes it. I have four VCMs so I don't have to swap and change.... I still dislike the PDS for it's small display and limited capabilities. For "driveway diagnostics" it's size makes it a little more manageable but isn't a real Godsend. I'm a big fan of voluptuous women.... The IDS is that woman... Soft and curvy and easy to look at.....