Jim Warman

Make that three identical trucks..... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/sick.gif

I have, on my doorstep, two 08 SDs... damned near identical... F350, 4X4, crew cab, 6.4... Both pull to the left... both with Continental tires (I have my own opinion of these gems)... The first one I got with 3000 kms and rotated the tires (properly - not just front to back). No joy... Checked alignment - I couldn't have picked better numbers. Hotline was closed for Friday and I decided to try some "unique" numbers... For those that know.... I set my caster split at minus a half degree... Truck drove great when it left.... Then, the second truck showed up - rotated tires properly with no change.... Hotline asked me to do the "unique" thing again - caster split to the wrong side and if that didn't work, time for tires... They've had "some" reports of this or similar conditions... Anyone else seen this?

Like the subject say.... "bending wrenches".... I like to keep a supply of "decent" combination end wrenches on hand for the sole purpose of "customizing".... SnapOn and MAC are not really my first choice for "quality wrenches" anyway... But there are many very good tools to be had away from the tool trucks.... for much cheaper.... In my area, Cambodian (err, I meant Canadian) Tire has a couple of lines of what I would consider "professional" quality wrenches and they often come on very good sale.... (important to sort out the professional quality from the "consumer" quality) and there are other brands.... Westward, Husky, Proto, Hazet (if they are still around) amongst many others.... good tools at good prices.... Anyway... the idea is to have wrenches in the "popular" sizes on hand.... wrenches that we wont feel bad about applying heat and force to.... wrenches that we can customize to make a particular task easier..... Now.... we knew there would be a downside.... I have a LOT of customized wrenches.... A lot of those I can't remember what they were customized for.... Some of those can serve multiple purposes.... Some of them are so poorly designed that they barely suit the original purpose.... None of them fit neatly in a drawer..... But they are a necessity of life.... Plan for them... have some "benders" on hand... A few minutes with a torch, quench them in oil and some tough jobs can be made easier....

Well.... I know I used to get paid 5.8 for something..... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Eight hours, IIRC, would give a smooth working tech a bit of gain time as long as nothing went sideways. I try to keep up on what TSBs, FSAs, SSMs and those curious little broadcast messages that sound important but never make it in to the real world (read that as "searchable"). And that has just started a new thread in "Tools, Computers and the Internet...". See ya there....

Jake... I don't get many of these mundane tasks any more.... that's NOT a "neener" - they have been replaced with much "better" tasks. Last STC fitting I did, I recall being paid at 5.8ish hours. If the guy down the street can do one in an hour, sublet all of yours to him.... He has my BS meter ringing. Turbo and pedestal come off, high pressure oil pump cover just sneaks out and then, of course, we need to make a final air pressure check to be sure of what we are up to... Yes, I know this is a common repair.... And yes, I know further testing might show that we are doing the branch tube, too.... And yes... that one last test might even show us we are in the wrong place....

If it's a 4X4, make sure you aren't dealing with a siezed u-joint at the steering knuckle....

I can just see it now.... "PCM is attempting to send DTCs... allow or deny?"...

Dwayne.... as a boy, I went to school on an army base in BCs lower mainland.... The only insulation in the place was asbestos... on the steam pipes, in the walls... asbestos.... Tobacco became a habit in my early teens... Recreational pharmacology occupied my late teens.... "Accepted industry practice" was to open the bay doors and blow the dust out of brake assemblies.... Since the late 60s, I have been almost bathing in, breathing in and, occasionally, swallowing petrochemicals.... Sometimes, I'll dab a "drip" with my finger and taste it... if it's sweet, it must be antifreeze.... I routinely cut myself in the line of duty (some of the things I do or the way I do them - I just know I am going to leak) or do other things that some might find "surprising".... I have frozen, I have baked and I have burned myself... all with the good knowledge that these are things I can expect from my actions.... God only knows what my liver is doing right now.... I can assure you that it is going to take more than a piece of popcorn to gack...... GACK..... GAAAAaaaaaAAAAAaaaa.......

One of our guys managed to score a "known good" tester FICM that hasn't failed to start a truck yet... without any reprogramming AFAIK. My best guess would be to program one of these with "as built" data and see if that makes the difference. If you don't have access to "as built", post a pertinent VIN and someone here should be able to give you the code. Not a real common failure, we have changed several FICMs for various concerns....

No reason you can't.... When I had my own shop (and this piece somehow got in to the wrong bin) all I had was a locking filler adapter with several feet of hose connected to an old blow gun - no gauge. Absolutely nothing fancy and I still had to get my face in there with a tire gauge (not as scarey)... but there was a great peace of mind being that far away from the "blast zone" during the crucial part of the process....

OK... we know the EBP rod doesn't move... what position doesn't it move from is the question.... Default is open (rod extended). What can you get for boost when driving? Not sure where you are getting 2PSI MGP from.... Where does the smoke from under the hood come from? Without codes, we get into symptom driven diagnosis... we need to take all the data we can get and assess it carefully.... some data we will discard... some data we will concentrate on and some data needs to be remembered as being "possibly" relevant.... like an "acquired taste" - sometimes it comes easy and sometimes hard.... Sometimes, what we need to do is fire up a batch of popcorn (you do have a microwave in the lunchroom, yes?) and watch "movies". And I think a lot of guys overlook this... Forget "live data", shit happens too fast for us to drink it all in.... Take movies.... lots and lots of movies. Sometimes you are looking for "events" - sometimes you are looking for "trends". View everything with an open mind... Worst comes to worst, post your movies here.... that way we all can learn. Good judgement comes from experience..... unfortunately, experience comes from bad judgement....

I forgot to add that at least this gives me an excuse to drink....

Where to start and what to say????? This will probably be "supersize".... Guys that should know better but assume their knowledge is correct - without ever "proving" it to themselves.... The exhuberance of youth seems to have "I think...." and "I know for a fact..." as interchangeable terminology.... AAAKKKKK!!!!! A freaking AutoZone commercial was just on the tube...... Now there's a train of thought killer.... Anyway.... we start the week out 3 days behind.... I need to do paperwork... my own ROs and the odd piece of creative writing to get a warranty claim to go through.... I can't do that now... <this> has to go right away, <he> needs help, <he2> is in over his head, there's a lady in the parking lot you need to take a drive with, a guy at the counter you need to speak to and line three and line six are for you.... an hour later, I'm asked if <this> is ready to go.... "NO???? What have you been DOING????". An hour later... "You need to turn your paperwork in on time... it makes our work hard when you don't". Repeat this dosage several times daily... Don't let <he> take advice from <he3>... a sawzall is not a recommended tool for most anything we do, I tell them.... Guess what.... Don't give <he2> electrical unless you have lot's of spare time in the schedule.... guess what? "You gave the lube tech a power/memory mirror concern?????". I am forced to micro-manage a job and I am in sh!t because I didn't need to.... BECAUSE NOTHING WENT WRONG!!!!! I don't micromanage a job and I am in sh!t because I DIDN'T SUPERVISE and things went wrong.... In another thread, you tell us about your "little pr!ck" (well, not YOUR "little pr!ck" - A "little pr!ck"). But you were lucky enough for him to bail.... MY "little pr!ck" (a new and improved version after my superstar left) was off for a week with blood poisoning... during that week (which was THIS week) - we had to rebuild the front diff in a truck he replaced the front pinion seal in.... the diff was already toast when he did the seal.... but, if we had let this get out of the shop, this bad diff could have been on our nickel. Another truck got new rear rotors.... but we missed the leaking wheels seals, bad e-brake shoes and managed to get a coarse thread bolt in to a fine thread caliper pin hole.... There were a couple of other, more minor concerns on other trucks.... In the lads defence - he is green as grass. What is bad is that he is so overwhelmed that he has been given something he hasn't done before but immediately goes on "autopilot" once he gets the hood open..... Yesterday... good old Friday.... I didn't get home before 7:00 all week.... This is the "little pr!cks" first day back and he was given a steering box R&R on an 06 550 4X4. My day was busy, busy, busy and I supervised as best I could.... Did I mention that the steering gear R&R took OVER SIX hours? I managed to deflect a couple of minor concerns and kept him up on any "gotchas" and soon the truck went for a road test.... SM was concerned about the steering wheel being straight (something I'm anal about) and she was told "good"... Customer is back just after my "little pr!ck" abandons ship for the day.... Steering wheel is off 1/4 turn... cold side CAC tube is ready to blow off.... ATF is dripping off the bottom side.... reservoir is overfull.... So, I stay late to make things right, safe in the knowledge that I can chastise him today.... his Saturday to work.... the Saturday I worked all alone in the shop.... I'm not allowed to call myself a "babysitter"..... I'm not allowed to call an idiot an idiot.... I'm not allowed to get mad enough to raise my voice.... and I am supposed to turn this young "man" into a useful employee..... STRESS.... this is the result of the mind overriding the bodies overwhelming urge to choke the living shit out of someone that desparately need it....

For about the last four years, every time I air one of these up, I've been thinking the same thing... I used to do heavy truck tires (22.5 and 24.5) and they have the same bead angle as the 19.5.... I would never consider airing one of those up with my beautiful visage directly in the line of fire... and there I was.... doing it with a 19.5 (well, not doing "it"... but you get the picture).... Now that this thread has given the idea some life, I think one of the available units with the built in gauge is getting ordered (screw my damned budget.... had to order about $8G worth of stuff, including a new all make scanner to fulfill our out of province inspection and commercial motor vehicle inspection equipment requirements).

Ooooooohhhhhhhhhh, don't get me started.... this has not been a good week.... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hitthefan.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/flamethrower.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smhair.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/drinkingdude.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/drinkingdude.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/drinkingdude.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/drinkingdude.gif

It sounds like there are some shops out there that need to "cultivate" their retail customers.... Too often, I see shops that have this "we have them for the next three years" attitude that keeps them from seeing any real possibility of profits of a healthy nature.... The really bad thing is that this attitude often permeates the workplace.... with every level of the food chain doing just enough to "get by".... In our neighbourhood, we are roughly $30 per hour higher than any independant.... the customer should get something in return to prove that we are worth the extra bucks... better treatment - knowledgeable people - techs that know their resources.... The aftermarket are usually "all make" shops... with todays technology, you can't be good at "everything".... Not without a bazilliod dollars worth of dedicated tools, all the factory documents to go along with them and the people that will learn the systems they are working on.... Word to the wise... if you don't know how it works, how the hell are you going to fix it? We are left with this desparate need to earn the trust and respect of our customers... to be their first choice in things automotive (remember the "job thing" and the "career thing"?). Even good shops don't make as much net profit as many think... and we need to keep that in mind... If you are in a shop that isn't building for the future.... there is a good chance that they are keeping you from building for yours....

Mike, we see stuff like that all the time... every other shop in town wants to spend hours on the phone with me or one of my diesel techs... and they want to borrow tools, too (I do have a you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours with one shop)... None of them will invest in training or tools... none of the techs will venture in to places like TDS or such looking for clues.... I try to get the receptionist and the service desk to screen my calls (or at least to take messages) and have even givien them a list of "who may I say is calling?)s... never lasts long and I can get called to the phone for nuisance calls more than a dozen times a day... We often get vehicles (gas and diesel) that other shops just don't have the resources for... but not before they get most of the customers money and ALL of his patience... In most cases, the repair would have been reasonable in price and time if he'd come to us first (but customers rarely equate proficiency when making that decision between the 100 buck shop and the 70 buck shop).... We've even had sublet work... this bothers me a little since I pray that the owner knows where his truck is and what is happening - I hate being the middleman... And, we always get the "the other shop said" or the "I don't think that".... One right now in the shop.... every last pin in the fuse box is spread. Tech calls a new fuse panel, customer "knows" better.... All we have to do is tweak the pins on every last fuse and they'll be good to go. My answer is that we perform the repairs that WE feel comfortable with.... if you want a hack job, visit a hack shop.... "This" is our price.... feel free to take your truck elsewhere.... but please don't argue about it....

I have to agree... if I had talent like Vince, auto repair would be my hobby....

Not a thread, Joey... this is the stuff the techmail breeds... Several years ago, one "tech" had to ask if he needed to remove the steering wheel to replace the signal switch on a late 70s E-box... leaving me thinking they don't screen their members very well....

For some reason. I haven't unsubscribed from this wonderous resource... a classic example of the blind leading the blind.... but, what do I know? A recent thread dealt with an obvious ICP leaking concern on an early build.... Someone suggested removing the cab to replace the sensor and pigtail... and someone else agreed with it..... All I can think is...... OH MY GOD !!!!!!

That is for fuel injector test on Ranger (not sure what years/engine size/whatever)... IDS will ask for it when the time is right....

Prime example.... AC suction hose.... earlyish 6.0s.... I may be mistaken on some of the details but this is a true story... only the names have been changed to protect the guilty... FWIW, this wasn't brought to my attention until AFTER we embarassed ourselves, terribly.... In mitigation, the truck (F550) did have a V-Mac compressor installed.... The AC suction hose rubbed through on a compressor bracket (the original hose was, I believe, inscribed with "Packard" on the rubber)... The replacement did not ressemble the original other than the terminations... Nor did the subsequent replacement hose that was ordered.... One tech decided that the failed hose was not "original equipment" and the apprentice doing the work took up the battle-cry.... After spending most of the summer without AC on very dusty roads, the customer sought me out and we investigated.... With very little legwork, I opened a hood and discovered the sister of the "non-OEM" hose... early 6.0. Another early 6.0 revealed a hose identical to the shipped replacement hose.... MicroCat isn't the best thing to hit the streets... and we need to realize that.... Like the early Superduties... we need to realize differences with hubs and rotors and wheel studs (and front drive axles) and work with what we have.... It doesn't happen very often for my shop... but we need the ability to adapt, to remember, to envision things in our minds eye... having at least one savvy partsmonger helps immensely. And with the plethora (are you guys sick of "them" words, yet?)of customer requirements we see, Google (and my partsmonger) are valuable resources.... The latest acquisitions (still enroute)... the parts for a latch pin gauge, a pintle hitch gauge, a horse cock gauge... and I'm thinking that it may not be long before I need "hoisting certification".... Sorry to hijack the thread... My wife is gone until Saturday and you guys are stuck with me.... But.... many times we are stuck with "you need to replace these parts as well...", we need to know or learn this and we need to realize that nobody told the bean counters that the replacement cost had to be reasonable.....

My understanding.... correct or not... was that manufacturers were required to make available parts for 10 years.... Creative number crunching might skew this a bit... but for parts to be obsoleted in less than half that period..... "Be afwiad... be vewy, vewy afwaid", Elmer Fudd, circa 1974.

This kind of crap (and I mean that in a good way depending on the forum/venue).... I'm not a television watcher, these days - bad enough the commercials insult our intelligence - the shows had to start doing the same thing.... I am a voracious reader.... Steven King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, technical manuals.... name it - these give ample opportunity for the much revered "alcohol abuse" syndrome (and I thank Ford for supplying me with three new drink coasters every month....). I am always up for the opportunity to learn and try to make the best of every one..... I love camping and being alone on my scooter... but neither fits my schedule these days.... Last weekend, I put the holiday trailer to bed and, if our current weather holds, I will be riding through snow to put the scooter to bed... Still, we spent the entire month of July "living" by the river... The new convertible I bought for my loving bride also offers brief respite from my day, though not often enough... I'm also in the middle of a 700 square foot addition to our home... a very long term project.... the only part not done nearly totally by me is the shingling... this is the only part that I have farmed out... for the rest, there have been several parts done twice and even three times as I fall victim to the learning curve... Like Kieth, I enjoy cooking.... a big part of the reason for this renovation was to improve the kitchen... In fact, the whole project started out as a redone kitchen and a 12X12 "mud room"... and then it took on a life of it's own.... Then there is "my" fleet of old Dodges. Here, I get the opportunity to spend money as if it were my own... A 65 Dart, 67 Coronet, 69 Charger and (the king of the hill) a 69 Roadrunner that the fabricator has spent too long caging and back-halfing - this one is getting a 500 inch RB stroker... As a certified curmudgeon and journeyman dick, I find that time can be spent or time can be wasted... it cannot be saved. We all do those things that we find important to us personally... if we don't do that, we are wasting time (even if we sometimes mistake our priorities.... ). My 19 year old son still struggles with long term gain and instant gratification... but we all do that.... And I have to wonder if Greg considered that his question might have philosophical overtones.... I'd love to see what others do with their off time (I'm always up for a learning experience... maybe I'm doing it wrong)... but it is important for us all that life be gratifying, satisfying, fun and fulfilling....

Setting a new, all time record, at 7:30 Monday AM, I will be three days behind for the week.... The job that most has me in this enviable position is a late 04.... black smoke, no power and a P1102 on a KOER.... what little bit it let's run. Looks like an open in ground ckt 570 between the MAF and G101 (pin 3 on the connector).... V_REF (pin 4) *seems* to "come and go" as well.... There's going to be some harness wiggling here just to see if it's me or not..... If we look at ckt 570, there is a splice (in a Gawd-awful place) that shares G101 with the AC high pressure cutout.... So... we can go to this connector and see if the concern is upstream or downstream from the splice.... though it doesn't make the splice (S106) any easier to get to... unless someone has hints.... I'm the kind of guy that doesn't like to overlay a circuit for anything other than testing purposes.... too much chance of other circuits being involved. I hope your Monday is going to go better than mine looks....