Jim Warman

exmod.... that's probably not a bad thing.... off brand work is going to be retail work..... and retail work always pays better than warranty work.... Every cloud has a silver (or sometimes gold) lining....

I've never met a distiller I didn't like..... At the very least, with my job, I don't need an excuse to drink. Work... the curse of the drinking class.....

Steve... Ma Ford treats these Yanks a tad different from us redheaded stepchildren..... Theyt get a cruise complete with shrimp dip (I have my sources /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif ), "ask Ernie" and the ultimate technician challenge (complete with some pretty buff prizes).... I think that's a fair trade, though.... where we live, Heaven is a local phone call /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif When it comes to Ford and their occasional little "attaboys", we must remember that some of the "suits" honestly think they are enriching our lives. Accept any and all trinkets as they come.... As for selling something like this.... that is going to be a subject that is polarized.... I don't want to start any hard feelings so "'nuff said".

Remembering that the ICP is a variable capacitance sensor.... and considering the EBP is also variable capacitance (but not knowing for sure what this truck will give you for EBP readings - I see VGTLRN PIDs), I'd consider comparing the two traces to see if EBP has similar hash.... If it doesn't, life goes on.... if it does I'd have to say "HMMMMM". FWIW, with all the green guys I have (and the intense supervision they require), I'm starting to lose "hands on" diesel stuff.... I still discuss a lot of stuff with my diesel guys, but I know that there's stuff they're seeing that I'm missing out on. I'm looking for you guys to help keep me in line on some stuff....

Does coking seem to be the issue with this one? Keep TSB 07-22-05 in mind... I've seen engines dusted early in life making coking one of the issues.... It is difficult to make a customer see that his EGR and VGT are giving trouble because of his fake-a-lou K&N piece of crap. Just as often, I see over 3500 hours on an engine with only 50,000 miles on it..... and the owners change oil by the odometer reading.... HTH

Dwayne, if I only knew.... Right now I'm up to mt ass in alligators.... One service writer that's about 2 months on the job... one that's conscripted from another department and one that's a dealer principal (there are times that he forgets there are words like "no" and "can't today"). We have more apprentices than apprentice suitable work orders... All the same, we are likely under the microscope or about to go under it.... I try to make sure we don't do something stupid but I'm sure that some have gotten through.... At least we don't have to deal with Clay, anymore...

Yep... IIRC it's a 16,000 km oil change..... just what an Alberta truck needs for a long and healthy life....

I read a release (SVB 2007-57N here in Canada) that tells us we can use CI-4 or CI-4Plus motor oils in the 6.4 if the viscosity we desire isn't available in CJ-4.... So.... Ford has had us tell customers that they must use CJ-4 oil in their 6.4..... and now we can look like dorks when we put something else in. Dealing with these engineers is like being married..... "OK, guys... we've made up our minds..... AGAIN!".

We do have a couple of young-uns who seem to like it tropical... Nothing worse than working up a sweat and then going out in to sub-zero.... I don't do anymore than keep the thermostats reasonable.... Both the big guy and myself get a little agitated when the heaters are on and someone decides it's time to leave the overhead doors open... If people aren't comfortable, they wont work too good... Not to mention the "human respect" angle.... after all, we don't bitch about the jungle of electric space heaters we have to avoid in the offices every winter (please unplug this one if using the photocopier and that one if using the fax).....

No offence taken, Larry.... but the liquor store discount is still a "neener" when you work in this trade /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif Until this job (and not counting the number of years I spent proving to the world that I was a better tech than a businessman), The longest I spent in one store would be a little over 3 years before my eye started roving, again - finding that the grass on the other side of the fence is usually the same scruff on that's this side.... 22 years.... TWENTY TWO YEARS!!!!! There's marriages that don't last that long. Makes one wonder if he should congratulate Kieth or cuff him upside the ear..... That kind of time in one place would give a tech respect and recognistion, I'm sure... Congrats, Kieth... Hmm, maybe we should start planning a 25th anniversary bash....

Larry, even though I'm not quite "there", I still get old farts discount at the liquor store on Tuesday... Once you leave 30something in the rear view mirror of life and start on that slippery slope we call the 40s... that is something of a "neener".

Actually, I don't really have a toolbox..... That big red thing in my bay is "the tool crib".... There isn't anyone in the shop that doesn't borrow <something(s)> from me..... Going back to another thread.... I've been too avid at collecting tools over the decades and I have many tools that are no longer available... Many tools that were originally designed for other uses but now are reborn (valve tappet wrenches are a good bet)... even my collection of distributor wrenches. I have guys that borrow the same tool over and over and over (tools that ARE available) ad infinitum. I explain that if I borrow a tool once... that's life.... if I borrow the same tool twice... I should sit up and take notice.... if I borrow it a third time, perhaps I might actually need one of my own. In return, I receive a blank look.... What is very irksome is having to go look for those tools I bought to make 'my' life easier..... My time-saving tool turns into a time wasting tool. Explain that this isn't what I bought it for.... yep - blank look. Ahhhh, tools.... touch them...... admire them.... caressssss them....... ummm, where was I? Fetish? What fetish?

The key to the spring clamps is to get them back in their original position..... quite easy to do if you have one of these.

No... the hole in the injector cup is pretty much the same size as the hole in the head.... I came back to this thread to mention that patience is going to be a virtue.... but I guess I'm a little late. From experience... set yourself a time period - "I will spend <point whatever> trying to fish this thing out"... make this a reasonable amount of time and don't get swayed by "AAAAAKK! -almost had it!!" things. After that time has run out, resign yourself to removing the head.... In this business, even the simplest things can take a giant leap sideways in a heartbeat.... If your are feeling frustrated... walk away from it for a while.... frustration will only breed more frustration... If you find yourself rushing.... stop - getting in a rush breeds mistakes.... While some extra patience with the GP may have kept things from getting this far, there is no assurance that it wouldn't have broke off, anyway.... It isn't really your problem and, unpleasant as the idea may sound, the customer needs to be told that there is a problem and that he will have to pony up for it..... We didn't design them.... we didn't build them.... and we didn't break them... When any of us got into this trade, did we ever consider that we rarely (if ever) get to give anyone good news???? Years ago, I spent a good portion of my youth engaged in recreational pharmacology. During that period, I didn't really care what I said to who... One winters day, a woman had her car towed in to the Chev dealer I was working at. There was a thump, a "horrible sound" and the charge light came on in the cluster.... Being the tactful young man, I wandered in to the customer "lounge" and asked if she used to have an orange cat.... "Yes, I do..." sez she..... "No you don't", sez I.... And that got me one step closer to changing jobs....

Well.... let's see.... I got my start at an auto wreckers.... circa 1967.... I wasn't real good at it since enthusiasm isn't a real good replacement for experience.... One of the counter guys set me up with an employer looking for an apprentice and the rest, as they say, is history.... Using simple math, we can see that this was 40 years ago.... In the past few months, I was told (by someone with about 3.5 years on the service desk) that "I don't know anything about this business"..... Now.... I spent over ten years as a proprietor.... a shop owner... a businessman.... I can walk down the street and not one of my customers will shun me.... I'm a lousy businessman - but I do know a thing or two about this trade..... Try and explain, to the service desk neophyte, that the scan tool is not a magic wand.... I do a lot of "driveway diagnosis".... I either suggest that we have certain parts on hand for when the unit comes in to the shop - or I tell them that we need more diag time.... One truly sad part is that between the driveway diag and the service visit, the part(s) I felt we should have on hand to speed the repair process (should we happen need those parts) suddenly turn into a "proper diag" and the tech is going to blindly bolt those parts on... Maybe she was right.... I can't figure out how to keep from being trapped by our own system....

Idle thoughts, late at night..... I haven't seen the GPM rating of the 6.0 oil pump..... I do know they stop running when oil in the pan gets to about 3 or 4 litres..... (compared to the 7.3s I have seen at about 7 litres). From this, I "assume" that the pick up is closer to the floor of the pan.... Is there a chance for cavitation? I don't know.... But the volume of oil "consumed" by the injectors is going to be significant. The opening on the 6.0 oil pick up isn't any larger than any others I have seen - and this includes gas motors that don't have the high volume demands HEUI injectors are going to demonstrate..... Bottom line.... somewhere there is an engineer... he has a particular point of view..... I would like to see things from his point of view.... but I can't get my head that far up my ass..... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/whattodo.gif

Some time ago, a customers new F150 (2007ish) suffered some sort of radiator failure (can't remember the details)....... With a new radiator over a week away, I was given a new, donor unit to steal the rad from.... The coolant from both of these trucks contained a brown "silt" that plugged off the screen in my coolant funnel. I assume that this "silt" is the stop leak that is put in at the factory. Cooling system service isn't a big consideration for many of our customers because they wont have this truck for all that long.... In three years, they'll have over 200,000 kms on the truck and in the blink of an eye, there'll be a new one in their driveway.... For my own part (and I really shouldn't admit this).... I don't buy "new" any more - I buy something one or two years old and hang on to it for probably 10 or so years. It turns from my "good" vehicle to my second vehicle. Everything (except for the cooling system) gets treated quite well. Oh, I check hoses and such, but neglect coolant changes - though I test the pH yearly - clean the cooling stack airflow path regularly - stuff like that.... and haven't had a cooling system failure in well over 20 years. Now, there is an important consideration.... my temperature extremes come at the "south" end of the thermometer. Last summer, we had a few days that entered in to the low 90Fs (and they just about were the end of me) so our cooling systems rarely see the loads that those in the south see. As long as your coolant strength is 50% or 60% and your block heater works, you're good to go.... For a long, long time, I've held that demographics plays an important role in what we see for a vehicles service life - and in what we will see for some pattern failures or when some pattern failures will happen. FWIW, I've outfitted our push truck with a 3000 watt genset, a construction heater and a shop made duct for directing the hot air from the heater under the front of a truck. The block heater, a battery charger and the construction heater are plugged in to the genset.... takes about an hour at 45 below. Like bypass oil filters, I sometimes feel that "redistributing" oil or coolant flow, there is a chance we might be setting ourselves up for some future disappointment.

Now... believe me, I'm not trying to be contrary... and we both have to realize that all we are getting is the pap any of these shops i smeering on you.... and I've had my fair share of electrical concerns and apprentice concerns that I'm losing touch with some diesel stuff... But if "unreliable starting" is a concern - I don't think head gaskets is going to change that.... I think this could get interesting... and I wish you the best of luck.....

I don't think we have the catalogue (or our partsmonger acted like we didn't).... Ditto on the salvaged harness connectors... But, once again, you come through.... You da man /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/notworthy.gif

Our partsmonger is looking for a P/N or source for a waste gate solenoid connector... any suggestions? TIA...

Deep breaths, Bruce.... take deep breaths.... Remember that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single ste..... wait!! What's that shiny thing over in that booth????? Oooooooooo..... how much?

Lemmee grab my credit cards.... Taking a page from my loving brides book - when the going get's tough - the tough go shopping!!

Steve.... no snapshots..... still good without the feature... Larry... like a true "junkie" one is too many and a thousands not enough.... I can't ever tell when I might look at something and be overwhelmed... One week it was those fan clutch wrenches that you use with an air hammer... http://tinyurl.com/27ezwx Another week it was a pressure gauge set like in one of Bruces pics.... Auctions, pawn shops, lumber yards, department stores - there is no "safe" place for me.... I'm looking for a 12 step program...... "Hi.... my name is Jim and I'm a <SOB> toolaholic". /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cover.gif

Bruce... I'm starting to hate you again... as a show of good faith, you could send me your fitting for closer inspection.... Of course I would return it very quickly.... Not to hijack the thread but, if we are to remark on the depths of depravity, I am reminded of the symptom chart for the tow command TBC controller.... For the symptom "Knob is missing", they felt the need to tell us to replace the controller....

Eric... there isn't one amongst us that hasn't entered that "alternate universe" known as the tool truck . I'm like a crow... if it's pretty and especially if it's shiny - it will be mine. Both MAC and Snappy visit our shop regularly and I usually owe 1 or 2 hundred to either or both. Offer up payment in full and they can't seem to make that transaction in your bay - you HAVE to enter the tool truck . And, with both feet firmly on that slippery slope, we prove, once again, that we have all kinds of willpower.... but no wontpower. I've never resorted to company financing... I pay my bills good enough and quick enough that our toolmongers will carry me "on the cuff"... and this is a double whammy.... It can be hard to resist when the pusherman sticks that shiny toy in your hand and says "I'll catch you next trip".... For one of my hobbies, I'm an avid woodworker... there is no end to what damage you can do to your budget with this monkey on your back. Woodworking toys are more proliferous (and generally spendier) than their mechanical cousins.... Sh!t... now I feel like going tool shopping. Time for a "fix"....