Jim Warman

In all honesty, for a running concern, if I see a chip or programmer, I wont waste anyones time. They can remove the offensive features and do their own concern verification..... After that, then they can bring it to me with enough info to verify the concern for myself. If they can't or wont return at least the PCM strategy back to stock and then ascertain if they still have a problem, they had better be ready for some sort of charge if Ford wont cover my wages.

Jay-D... you need to temper some of what you see in the demos - Lord only knows how many "takes" until they get the film the way they want it. The smoke machine is really good for vacuum leaks.... but we need to remember that we must recreate the problem conditions. I've seen a lot of guys get burned on the 4.0 intake gasket problem simply because they tried smoking the intake when the motor was warm. The vacuum hub tools are useless.... if I have a concern with a PVH equipped truck not holding vacuum at a knuckle, it's getting a spindle service.... both sides. Install a new seal in the knuckle and vacuum test it using the tool kit... more often than not, your new seal will fail due to axle alignment issues. Ford has a lot of special tools that make life easier... they have tools that don't work any better than stuff we don't need to go to the tool crib for... and they have some real stinkers.... tools that will lead you astray, tools that don't do anything that you can't figure out (the 7.3 CMP sensor tester.... why would I try this when all I need is to crank the engine to see if the tachometer "tickles" - 99% of the time it's going to be the sensor). Don't get me wrong... if I was paid straight time, I'd do every test I could think of and have most of our tool crib scattered around my bay. But it would be nice if Ford would put as much effort into correcting errors in documentation as they do into designing tools that don't help.

I was in Edmonton at school most of the week.... Thursday, the mercury hit an unheard of +7C and I saw three guys on scooters. Friday, it made it to +8C and I saw four scooters.... I was delirious.... I'm going home and I'm going to go for a ride....... I left Edmonton about mid afternoon and the further north I drove, the more I could see that there was no ride in Jimmies immediate future. By the time I pulled into my driveway it was -10C with a wind that cut to the bone... How was your Friday, indeed... bah... humbug

While replying to Kevins post about the hard/no start 05, I suddenly remembered that I was in the midst of another "old timing mans" episode. One of the things hotline didn't like about my recordings was that they felt my IPR duty cycle was "stagnant".... this was a series of engine running recordings (of course these thing wont do what you want when needed). I pulled the IPR and found debris in the screen and replaced that. At the same time, I realized that this was a late build and found that the ICP was mounted in a special elbow under the air compressor... it was 0.01 volt out of spec and I replaced it at the same time simply because it's so hard to get to. Many lessons were learned on this one.....

I'm always at a loss for some of these things... Do we do the TSB first or do we do manual diagnostics first? If I do the air test and it comes up TSB related, can I be sure I wont get charged back for the air test? We've come across several with debris and/or holes in the IPR screen.... or the IPR screen stays in the pump.... We've come across several with the retainer ring blown out of an injector (the one that was supposed to have been fixed in production). I find it easier to access the IPR if I undo the ground wire at the back of the intake and remove the stud... occasionally, I need to call the apprentice with the "girly-boy" hands, but usually I can get my old bones to bend in enough places.

Well.... let me back up a square... the CMP and CKP codes I pretty much ignored... I chalked them up to the stalling concern as a symptom rather than a cause.... I've already gotten used to the SEIC mod for guys with engine or PTO driven acessories (I suppose it would have helped if I hadn't been so frustrated and remembered to mention the work body and air compressor) so I had a brain fart. I decided to check the connection at the pedal and discovered an aftermarket high idler which I promptly disconnected. By this time, of course, I had a lot of stuff ripped off the top of the engine... including that @*&%#&* scroll air compressor. So, I forged ahead with looking for wire chaffe issues. To mount the compressor, the GPCM had to be moved.... to move the GPCM, the injector harness had to be displaced. I found a tiny rub through on the wires to the #7 injector connector. If the FICM detects a short in the injector harness, it wont allow the buzz test. I'm also assuming that it wont allow the truck to start even though all the no start pids look good - I'm wishing that I had thought to monitor injector fault pids, now. Unfortunately, I finally got this truck back together late Monday night and was due at the raining centre in Edmonton first thing Tuesday AM so I had no time to "play" with any of my findings. There is the chance that the aftermarket idle up figured into the deal.... I'm sure the customer will reconnect it and we'll see (though I'm going to recommend the SEIC mod). I must have fixed this truck too good, though. I stopped by the shop on Saturday and I see the truck on a hoist with the rear diff out of it. Naturally, the customer has several of these trucks as well as an alcohol funny car with our dealerships logo in a couple or three places... and I still have to tell the FSE what I found and try to make it look like it's warranty.... It sucks to be me....

We pretty much have a blanket policy but with a few loopholes... If the owner is stupid enough to bring a truck into the shop with the tuner installed.... the SM will more than likely say "here's your sign"... If the customers concern can't be duplicated with the chip gone, there's nothing to fix. We have a few locals with flagged VINs... they accept this as part of their desire for more power. These guys have over $100K CA "invested" in these trucks showing that some people do have much more money than brains. Now, Let's say I'm doing something on a truck with a 6 inch lift and monster mudders.... no chip. Depending on who you are and depending on how close to being an *sshole you act.... you might have two ROs on your truck.... one for what Ford covers and one for what your lift kit costs you out of pocket.... or, you might only get one RO on your truck and be very unhappy that your mouth wrote a cheque that your bank will have to cover. Either way.... a customer can do whatever they please as long as it doesn't affect my earning potential or increase visits from the warranty nazis...

Fresh back from school.... latest rumours. Cab lifts are indeed in.... The 6.4 is not being set back another year.... apparently the 6.0 can't be brought up to 07 emissions standards. The hard starting concerns have supposedly been addressed. Film at 11 /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

The instructor we usually get likes to have us use manuals that SPECs (Service Publication Error Correction) hasn't fixed. Sometimes he'll tell us we're the bad step(s) exist and other times he leaves us to figure it out ourselves for a while. It keeps us on our toes and adds a bit of fun to the equation. Interacting with techs from other dealer is great to...especially when we get to put a face to the names we see on the message board.

Fords training isn't a good example of step by step procedures.... Where it excels is in (hopefully) teaching us to see what we are testing in a different light than written... If we are performing an electrical test, we are taught (in Canada, anyway) to view the test requirements and decide if the published method is appropriate for the test... if we blindly follow the manual we may be disappointed. I just finished a transmission course that has little to do with what I work on.... but I managed to learn a lot.... How I should look to other model year manuals when the pertinent manual leaves me wanting for information.... Basic things I should do above and beyond what the manual tells me. We will only ever get in return if we look hard for the return. My work group (three techs) included two techs that couldn't read a depth micrometer... Ford made out like Jack The Bear. If we didn't complete a task, I couldn't go for a smoke-break... I taught those guys how to read the mike... These two thought they were Gods gift to auto repair and the last thing they expected was for the old dork to teach them something they should have known long before setting foot in the classroom. I've been doing this sort of stuff since about 1967..... If I come across a day where I look back and decide that I didn't learn anything new, I will call that day a failure. We will never and can never "know everything there is to know"..... if we pretend to the throne, we will set ourselves up for disappointment. This is my chosen career... I practice the art of auto repair. Others view this as a "job" and pray to God that they never get anything harder than a brake reline..... I was young once... as I recall, I knew everything back then....

Training is nearly untangible.... we train ourselves on nearly every job we get.... this includes reinforcing test routines, seeing something we never saw before and just realizing that no matter how much we think we know, we will never know everything... I'm currently in Edmonton taking the basic auto tran course. I'm working on transmissions that I wont work on in real life. Still, the lessons learned are invaluable. Something our instructors in Canada focus on in depth are "inappropriate procedures" outlined in the manuals..... When we set out to perform a test, we need to decide if the test we are told to perform will deliver the results we desire. I was once a young man.... I felt that I didn't need to understand how something worked in order to fix it.... what could be simpler.... broken is broken. Now, more than ever, we need to pay attention to not only what we are being taught, but the underlying message.... With the complexity of todays machines, we desparately need to reproduce the concern, measure what is happening when the concern exists and form an opinion of what condition(s) we expect to find when we get into our "exploratory surgery". Ford puffs me up with little rewards for taking courses... my DP puffs me up with rewards for training... whether I actually learn anything or not is entirely up to me... The bottom line is that this is what I do to earn money. Why wouldn't I strive to be the best I can be? There are things to be learned in each and every course..... we only need to see them.

Same here... all the failures I have seen have been because of things associated with the recalls.

The engineers put limits on these sorts of things and usual err on the side of safety... since it is their bosses nickel, why wouldn't they? I find it very hard to recommend anything that the factory engineers wont back me up on. Well, I also find it foolhardy, but who is to judge? The 6.0 in Navistar trim is a far cry from the same motor in FMC trim.

I can do KOEO and KOER (if I let it cool down to start). I can't inititate the buzz test warm r cold.... The only codes I did retrieve where the P0299, P2614 (?) and p2617(?)... I'm unsure exactly of the last two but they were CKP and CMP codes. During the no start, FICM powers look good, ICP volts and pressure are where they need to be, FICM sync is "yes" and FuelPW is a tad over 2ms. This thing had a new EGR and a reflash about 2 weeks ago... by another tech. Of course, lukewarm line comes up with the usual "try a known good....". Unfortunately, the only "known good" PCM I really want to try is a new one... and we know how much of that Ford will pay for...

Working on an early build 04... Customer states poor performance, stalls, no restart.... of course he is busy using his crescent wrench to find red herrings.... It was running out front when I got it (thankfully). Took it for a spin and it ran NICE... Back in the bay, I shut it off and scanned codes.... P0299 along with a CKP and CMP code... Like I haven't seen that before. Tried to initiate a KOER... wont start. Tried a buzz test... "Conditions not met...."... That was with PDS.. tried with WDS, same sad story. It was late so I went for dinner with my loving bride. Back in this AM.... Unit starts easily and absolutely purrs..... still can't do the buzz test. Of course we ALL know how much help "lukewarm" line is..... FWIW, monitored all the "no start" cranking PIDs... this engine should run.

Brian... there is either a TSB or SSM regarding fuel tank delamination... haven't had the pleasure yet.

"Steam explosion" technology is already being used to make wood pulp and to treat other raw materials. I can see where there is a possiblity that even small amounts of water could flash into steam... the volume change is tremendous between liquid and vapour.... with enough force to cause damage.

We've seen quite a few with cold injector concerns. Check MF_DES and LOAD and I think you'll see that both are way high. Perform the enhanced power balance to take the FICM adjustments out of the picture and you'll see which ones you need to change.

Oh, you have brought back a memory.... my last shop.... the one that had me swear off of being self employed. It was Fox Creek, Alberta... At that time, our electric authority was Alberta Power. They had a small office with two field operators... I was their "fleet mechanic" of choice. They would often get into 90 days on their bill and even make it into 120 days. They refused to pay my late payment charge. However, if I was tardy in paying my electric bill, they would add their late payment charge. For a period of time, I allowed my payments to be as late as theirs... net result? They would cut my power if I didn't pay the late charges... If I insisted on them paying my late charges, they would go down the street to the other shop.

That cool sucking sound is the coin getting syphonned out of the customers wallet... they spend so much on money crap like this that they can't afford to treat their trucks properly.... Jeez, ain't I bitter old SOB....

TSB 05-22-01 lists all the new camber slugs. Notice that we've gone from a handful to nearly a wheelbarrow load. The only ones available so far for the 250/350 4X4 are 5C3Z-to a -CCC/DDD/EEE These are a half, three quarter and one degree respectively.

I do go to other forums even though I speak my mind..... Y'know... it sure don't take much to get some of them guys going.... you can boink their wives, you can kick their dogs but don't diss their rides.... Speaking of rides.... nice scooter, SNW.... kinda makes my Sporty look like just another Sporty...

gasgasman....you're just echoing my thoughts... (remember, I just worked until midnight tonight and I still wont have this years work done when new year strikes so I might be a little "Knarky"...) I look at other forums and see the sheer number of people that want to violate any terms of use provisions outlined in the waranty provisions and, when they realize things are broken, it is the product and not the misuse that must be faulty. In many cases, it comes right down to fraud... FWIW, if these people threaten to buy "the other trucks".... all the other make techs I talk to are going through the same stuff we are and these customers will find things aren't any diiferent with another brand.

Doc... this stuff does pretty much the same as motor oil.... goes through a viscosity change. I don't imagine that there's a waxing concern like summer diesel but I sure can't see ths stuff doing well in our annual cold snap. It was last year or year before we "enjoyed" a week straight of -50.... We usually get a few days of -40, but......

I'm not totally sure but... I know what a bottle of Crisco oil and what a bottle of olive oil look like when my groceries spend too much time outside in the winter. Personally, I like the idea of bio-diesel. Like other fuel alternatives, I'd prefer that manufacturers address the fuel directly rather than have some of the off-centre crap we hear happening with regards to warranty and such.