Jim Warman

Zone alarm is good in some cases.... but it has created concerns in the past.... Most routers will incorporate a firewall that works very well without some of the trouble that zone alarm brings... Please note that I haven't used ZA for a few years and some of these issues ma have been resolved. One thing that is important is to consider pop-ups and ActiveX controls. ActiveX makes our web browsing experience more enjoyable... but, if we allow pop-ups a rogue window can carry an ActiveX command in past our firewall. Security isn't a one point deal.... we have to be careful every inch of the way...

IIRC 14 to 20%ish @warm idle.... maybe some crap caught in the screen?

Picking the service manual apart.... it says "MAY" result in damage..... We see these sorts of warnings scattered all through various documents and they are, I have to assume, inserted for the benefit of some of the more sophomoric techs simply because they are so basic in nature as to be nearly insulting. Thus far, the only degas caps I have had to change are after an oil cooler failure. All of the ones with the tattletale white streaks have held pressure as evidenced by the distinct hard hoses after a road test and the tell-tale hiss as the cap is removed. Also absent is the word "WILL" damage the cap... Many of these warnings are inserted into publications to ensure that there are no opportunities for litigation or to "scare" the gullible into being sure that they don't make basic mistakes... That's one old farts view, anyway....

Keith.... are you going to post that link??? Enquiring minds want to know!!!!

Perhaps Manuel Patron could shed some light on it... I would have thought that one of the coolant loss TSBs would have mentioned it.... either that or I fell victim to "flat rate reading" again...

Thanks, Keith... we have a fleet customer with 6 new units - all with the same concern... Ford does post these to the Canadian site but usually about a week after you guys see them....

Here in the great white north, we always seem to be a few days behind getting TSBs and such up on our tech website.... I heard about 06-19-15 regarding plugged evap filters.... Can anyone PM me a copy? I know Ford frowns on cut and paste stuff, but I'm going to get it... eventually.... When the Glass House remembers us Canucks...

Just a heads up on something I haven't seen before.... One of our general techs working on an older Exploder - pulled the front wheel speed sensors and the right hand side had three metal shims - obviously some sort of factory stamping.... "Never seed that afore....".

No real reason to change the cap, Paul - the system holds pressure quite well. Besides, company policy is to avoid working on units if a chip is installed.... They can take it home and remove the chip and return - but we don't do anything if the chip is "there". FWIW, where did you see that these caps are "one time only"? I'm sure that'd be news to most of us...

With my luck, it would have been a third different reading.... then I'd be confused instead of interested. I wish I had thought to check MAP volts (suddenly remembering that PSI will be a computed - or possibly substituted value in this case)since this should be the value af the sensor. I wisj I had a little more time for experimenting but that's just not in my schedule these days.

With everyone scrambling to cover their asses from any possible litigation, we may soon see 3 ounces of product in a one gallon container simply because they needed that much room for the warning label.... And it's not just the customer that is in a state of confusion..... If someone asks me about a product, I like to be able to snap the answer back off in no time flat... It's getting to be that there is just way to much info (that may or may not seem trivial)that is buried in the bowels of some obscure tome that no one has a copy of. Even doing a search om Motorcraft.com turns up no hits on pm17... (but if you enter a 2007 F350 with 6.0, the fuel system heading will offer a "choke parts" option). With the internet, computers and all the wonderful gadgets we take for granted, is there not some way that Ford could put this information into a database that is at our finger tips? I don't like it when I am left looking like a drooling idiot in front of a customer because of some of these oversights...

Already did, Kyle.. but thanks for the heads up. It's always a surprise when folks learn that the old dog in the shop is showing the pups how to work a computer... something about this stuff enthralls me and I try to keep up (wireless network at home for several years now). Still, nothing is perfect so we choose to keep the shop networks as stand-alone with no capability to access the Ford network. It limits the utility a bit but we can still accomplish lots over the DSL connection.

I was helping one of the other diesel techs chase a coolant puking issue the other day... late build with an Edge programmer with the fancy electronic readout... chip was set on "3".. When I got on the throttle, the Edge reported 32 PSI and the PDS reported only 22 PSI MGP. Remember, this chip has the cheater T'd into the MAP connector.... More food for thought...

I think I read that exhaust from the weep holes was a "normal" condition. Up until the valve can't hardly move any more. A couple of years back, we tried cleaning some when the valves were hard to get... all we got from that was repeat repairs.... Maybe if they got cleaned BEFORE the CEL turned on..... But then there'd be no reason to clean them.

Anyone catch this one yet? EGR cleaning....

Eric... you made me remember why I'm not familiar with the tools.... We just air up the high pressure system through the ICP hole, ramp up the IPR and use a small diameter hose to localize the concern.... FWIW, this is how w do the early builds now, too...

Nearly $400 for an over the top creeper from MAC in Canada... I'd want to try before I buy but it would be silly for me to buy one, now... The other two diesel techs want the shop to buy one but that would just cause hard feelings.... the shop will NOT buy two... For the pass side wave rail.... the T30 is available in 1/4 drive from many sources - the tool mongers only need to look a little harder. I also took a couple of fairly cheap Torx screwdrivers and bent them in the appropriate locations... HTH.

Posing my once a month question to our Edmonton instructor, I hear January as the soonest we will see 6.4 classes up here... Three of us will need the course and January is our busiest time of the year.... We have several customers with miled out trucks that are waiting patiently and nursing the old ones along (the Alberta oil patch is a hard life for a truck).

There are some block off tools available... On the early builds, you block off the hoses... not quite familiar with the ones for late builds... yet.

If, like us, you see a fairly high incidence of CD audio unit failures, you can become frustrated with the usual "can you just pop this radio out and get the P/N" requests. There is a TSB (sorry, can't remember the number) for 05 and up audio units. If the display is still working, turn the radio on - hold preselect buttons 3 and 6 until the speaker walk-around test starts and release. While the test is running, press button 6 again. Press the up arrow at the top right of the unit.... And from here, the button sequence becomes a fond recollection in the old guys memory (I think it is the "menu" button a few times until the P/N displays in the read-out). FWIW, the TSB pays .2

... into the 21st century, that is, We finally have our wireless LAN at work... My DSL modem at home crapped out so I decided this would be a good time to upgrade to enhanced DSL - especially with our local telco offering a free wireless gateway for the change. My old wireless router went to work and now we have connectivity beyond my dreams including the PDS and IDS stations. Our toughbooks and our PDAs have built in wireless. The really neat part is that this old dog has to show the pups how to use this new found power... This is great since I can now access the on line PC/ED and OASIS without leaving what I'm working on. Now, if Ford can allow us instant messaging to hotline....

Fire rings work... the ARP studs come with a torque procedure... and special goo.

Have you checked base oil pressure and oil condition/level/etc? I have to assume you mean a motor with the ICP at the back? Is the sensor biased or the connector oil soaked?

One thing you can be sure of on TDS.... someone is going to try and "long-cock" the other guy... Then again, my wifes hairdresser is related (about 126 times removed) to a guy that cut the lawn of a guy that owns a dog that is related to a dog that once chased Bill Fords cousins pharmacists mechanics brother in laws Honda and HE says that the 6.4 is out the window... there are no plans to resurrect the 7.3 and the competition is down to a converted Briggs and Stratton (no cooling system = no cavitation) or a redesigned 6.9 IDI that will run on cod liver oil and minty flavoured TUMS.

Last week, something happened to one of our IDSs.. no idea what, it just stopped communicating with the VCM (our laptops are the Toughbooks)... IIRC, it was LED 4 that would prove out and "go to sleep"... Did the usual swapping routine and finally decided to reload IDS software - works fine... Yesterday, the other IDS didn't update right.... goofy crap on the screen.... We're hoping that a software reload will cure it... This is starting to make the WDS look quicker....