Jim Warman

So, last week I updated one of our IDS' to 70.03. Today I updated to 70.03B.... I always get worried when they release two things that close together.... But to have a "B" release?

+1... the cam is about the first thing that goes into the block.... and about the last thing to come out.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckBBAS/non-html/Q173R1a.pdf Should be everything you need to know and more.

I just came across this from the monkeyhouse.... >I just found my notes from the day I set it up. The Barometric Pressure was 29.825 which converted out to 14.648635072 Psi. (inch mercury [inHg] to Psi. Being that I'm at Sea Level +5' I went with the FF6D setting. I donno where the sensor is for the FIA but it reads the same temp basically as the ambient temperature outdoors same as TFT, ECT & EOT in the morning dead cold before startup. As the engine warms the FIA may rise, i believe. I'm no expert or profess to be one, but just conveying what i've noticed. With the current temps around my area being teens to thirtys the past month or so I haven't noticed my FIA rise significantly. Then again, I really don't monitor it and I've got the Zoodad Mod which is allowing cold outside air to be drawn directly into the intake system and not through the engine compartment where the air temp may be warmer. Hope those Boost Codes work for ya. Post back and let us know for future reference. Best to ya.< OK.. so here is some guy that feels an overwhelming need to compute atmospheric pressure to 9 fucking decimal places. He also knows he is 5 feet ASL (I'm nearly surprised that the number wasn't something like 59.2574689 inches). FWIW, he is responding to someone that wants to know if he can use IAT or EGT to indicate if he has an EGR cooler failure... Man... these guys must be gooooooood!!!

At $33 bucks for 4 ounces.... still, a little more than anecdotal info would be appreciated. Back in my youth, there was the often repeated story that STP oil treatment was developed from German WW2 technolgy... Synthetic oils and synthetic fuels are mentioned quite often in technical publications dealing with that era. Since then, petrochemical technology has made advances...more in add pack than anything else. The Rev-X page doesn't seem to differ from the pages offered by so many other "snake oil" suppliers. Nothing beats regular oil changes... oil changes that happen before any add pack components are consumed.. that happen before any appreciable molecular shear alters the hydrodynamic properties of the oil.... FWIW, Smokey Yunick had a rule of thumb regarding oil pressure... 10 PSI for every 1000 rpm. A critical consideration in a competition engine would be the size of the oil pump. Too small and the engine could starve... too big and all you do is heat up the oil.... http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=33736 - this should be interesting. On edit. This sort of "testing" has little to do with the real world. An Edmonton taxi-cab could expect hundreds of thousands of miles out of an engine. Why? Cold starts.... it rarely has them. Keep an engine in it's intended temperature range and your engine will serve you well. Allow thermocycling to change those internal clearances - even for just a few minutes and the equation gains variables... Going out on a limb... I'll opine that thermocycling induced "dry starts" are a major cause of premature or abnormal engine wear.

My wife doesn't really have much of a spending leash... other than common sense and and nearly 40 years of learning how far she can push Women, by and large, do not need any extra opportunities to shop. I think most of them share the governments vision of "spending your way out of debt". "When the going gets tough - the tough go shopping!". is a familiar battle cry. I live in a smallish (7000 people) town... we are about two and a half hours drive from any appreciably sized city... yet my wife finds more than enough opportunities to shop.... My God, man... giving a woman the "opportunity" to shop is like giving an alcoholic a fifth of cheap bourbon.... Wasn't it Julius Ceasar that coined the phrase "veni, vidi, visa"? Happily married describes us to a "T".... She's happy and I'm married.... any questions?

Progress indeed. By the time I got into this business, the switch to 14 volt electrics had already been made. Twice, I helped my journeyman switch cars from 6 volt starting to 12 volt starting. I saw tube type radios disappear in favour of transistor radios, the disappearance of both DC generators and breaker point ignitions. Todays exotic new development will become tomorrows mundane standard feature.... but beyond that, if we look at automotive history closely, we can extrapolate where the car will be in the future... not so much to any timetable - but to an eventual state of technology. Materials and assembly techniques... stuff some already take for granted.... Let's look at head bolts... used to be a head bolt was a big, fat bolt that was somewhat re-useable and simply bolted the head to the block deck. Now - head bolts are long and nearly graceful.... they clamp the head to the block deck by being screwed, in a torque to yield fashion, directly into the main bearing web. "Exotic" materials and designs - road draft tubes, slipper skirt pistons. Bed plates (racers would fab up a main bearing stud girdle to stiff the engine assembly)... 20 years from now - highly skilled, knowledgeable techs will be almost a thing of the past. The OBD system will handle most of the diag process. We first saw bit-mapped DTCs in restraints control systems - now we are seeing them in powertrain control situations. How long before you and I are replaced by trained monkeys? We have cars with foward looking radar... we have cars with side looking radar.... we have cars with nav systems accurate to a few feet... How long before the right lane is for "auto-drive" car and the left lane is for "self-drive" cars.... A neglected 302 would be lucky to make it 150,000 kms before cold starts and harsh weather turned it into a mosquito abatement device... today, we see 5.4s with 500,000 kms on them and they still run good - even though the hood latch is damned near rusted shut (maybe an overstatement - but you get the picture). Not long before AMC (American Motors Corp) finally bit the big green wiener, they proposed a car with a "sealed hood". You would bring it in once every X months or XX miles and the appropriate maintenance would be performed. Hmmm.... now we have the IOLM system that may let you go a year without an oil change (and who can forget the coolant monitor on the 6.7). Progress? Yes... but I think we can already see where it is going. Some time ago, engineers decided that a 4.00 inch cylinder bore was about the limit for efficient flame propogation in the infernal (sic) combustion engine.The new 6.2 has a bore of 4.015" and dual spark plugs.... (has anyone noticed the minimum oil pressure spec?)... How long before we see a redesign that will turn this into a DI engine? Will blow down turbos ever be economically feasible?

Remember when, in no uncertain terms, they told us mixing Mercon and Mercon V was a big NO? Remeber just a few short years ago when they told us that MerconV was the replacement for Mercon? Who do we believe, anymore... and, more over, why do we believe them?

Just out of idle curiousity, has anyone read TSB 10-25-03? Pay particular attention to step 4 in the "Service Procedure". I keep forgetting to check if the body bolts for 2011 are the same as 2010. And while I am in the middle of highjacking the thread, check out the locking hubs - the "CVH" locking hubs - on the 2011 Sooper Doodie. Tell me we aren't going to see some royal screw ups there.

...to come. Back in about 1985, I wondered aloud "what will a pick up truck look like in 25 years?". While I did expect the smoother looking aerodynamics of the 02ish/03ish F150, I don't think my flights of fancy took me to overhead cams and variable valve timing. and now this "FORD TO EXPAND FUEL-SAVING START-STOP TECHNOLOGY FROM HYBRIDS TO CONVENTIONAL CARS, CROSSOVERS Ford’s popular fuel-saving technology that automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle comes to a stop – a feature found today on the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid and some Ford cars in Europe – will soon be added to conventional cars, crossovers and SUVs in North America" I certainly never envisioned working on "My Mother, The Car" ( a cheesy reference to a talking car ).

Could be worse.... SnapOff can sell you a $500 timing light (c'mon guys, once upon a time we NEEDED them ) and forget to tell you it can't deal with multi-strike ignitions

Look at the bright side.... it'll keep you out of mischief for an evening....

Well, it can be confusing... until we put everything into it's perspective. At the moment we have spark, there are a lot of things happening. As for the spark plug (not shown in my simple and very stolen illustration)... we will use current flow theory. Current flows from the spark plug cable terminal, through the spark plug. The gap ionizes and the spark leaps from the centre electrode to the side electrode. Our current then flows back through the common (negative ground) circuit, through the battery and back through the positive terminal of the coil (making the positive terminal the coils "ground"). The "waste spark" system is given it's name because one spark plug in a running pair is sparked during it's exhaust stroke making that spark event "wasted". If we deal with the 6.2, (in the abscence of anything to tell me I'm mistaken) I think we have 8 positive spark plugs and 8 negative spark plugs. However, no spark occurs on an exhaust strke so no spark is "wasted". All the while that this is happening, there is some nifty shit going on inside the coil. The magnetic field is collapsing across both the primary and secondary windings of the coil. This induces current flow which induces a magnetic field which forms and collapses which induces current flow which induces a magnetic field.... At this point, what does collapse is my understanding of the circuitry required. I am unsure if the semi-conductors we have now can withstand the PIV (peak inverse volts)induced in the switched side of the coil primary without the buffering effect of a capacitor (condensor). There will probably have to be some sort of "clamping" device built into the circuit - but our "need to know" stopped before we got this far Anyway... the circuit HAS to be complete. Even though there is a spark plug gap - what we might normally consider as an "open" circuit - this circuit is completed when the spark plug gap is ionized and spark is occuring. Long story short... if we consider current flow theory.... current will flow from a point that is more positive to a point that is less positive. What matters is VOLTAGE DROP across a device not total potential of the source voltage.

Christmas gift.... November 25, I received what I thought was the best Xmas gift ever.... Today.... I find out my son is engaged.... There is nothing more amazing than a fat old curmudgeon with a tear in his eye. Sometimes... life might be nothing less than overwhelming.

Whoa.... clean underwear and socks is the only reason I go married.... What's this "some are sausage"?

Ooooohhhh, the places I could show you.... My life was, until '96, a move in process.... Between '62 and '67, I lived in 8 towns in 4 provinces. The places I have lived have spanned nearly half the planet. I moved away from Slave Lake once... and here I am.... back again. Interesting sidebar... I am a grade 8 drop-out even though I was, at one point in time, in grade 10 (long story). I have attended 8 different schools and resided in some provinces twice (or more). Sorry for the digression.... It makes me glad you have taken the time to add that knowledge to your life. Sarah Palin thinks Africa is a country (but she is DAMNED cute). Even my wife doesn't "compute" all of the places I have lived....

<shopping opportunities for wives> Are you nucking futs?

Limiting our discussion to modern, e-core type ignition coils.... First and foremost, we need to remember that these coils are positive ground devices. (occasionally, you will run across a coil that has isolated windings - that is to say that the primary winding has two poles and the secondary winding has two distinctly separate poles - I don't know of any modern ignition coils wound this way). Here is an extremely simplified diagram.... You already know that the secondary and primary windings are joined, so let's concentrate on the path(s) our electrons can follow. FWIW, this breaker point diagram works no different than a system using electronic "switches" (transistors, triacs or any devices I will surely miss) along with any current limiting circuitry (ignition coils always used to be 9 volt devices - in a 14 volt system - and I don't think that has changed). Long story made short. if you follow the path of power through our ignition coil, you see that the "spark" finds it's ground through the positive side circuitry - ignition switch, fuse panel, battery. FWIW, modern e-core type ignition coils are wound in this same manner. The tech that opined that the loop is not closed should take his resume to MacDonalds.... current will not flow if there is no complete circuit (In the case of a spark plug circuit, the circuit is considered "complete" as long as the spark plug gap is ionized). The tech that opined that the return path is through the PCM will, one day if he uses a spark tester grounded to the wrong place on a plastic intake manifold, find that the PCM can handle that kind of abuse once and only once (some hapless bugger did it at the Edmonton training facility... Darryl loves recounting that story). Greg... that beer should taste mighty good for you.

I have a bay picked out for you.... see you Tuesday

Cool..... Dwayne left Innisfail to come up here. Some of the best hunting and fishing you'll ever find are up this way.

Ask Dwayne and Adam what they think of the place. As a teenager, my son could hardly wait until he was old enough.... He was gonna "blow this pop stand" and move to a real place like Edmonton.... Instead, when he turned 18, he bought his home and moved in with his girlfriend. Give me a couple of days.... I'll send pics of my friends new "hobby room".

Back in the 80s... this would be the first time I worked at this store (different DP at that time) we had one crusty old guy in the shop. The SM asked him when the customer could take his truck.... Bear in mind that, at this particular time - the wheels are off... the brakes are apart and the front diff is laying on the bench.... Ol' Bill says... "He can fucking take it right now if he wants it bad enough". Now that is one fucking funny story... but it serves no purpose. We are all members of the same team - much like your favourite sporting team. It takes everybody to be a winner.... if one person fumbles the ball and somebody isn't there to pick it up (ooooo, it isn't MY job....) - EVERYBODY looks bad. When will the truck be done? Your service advisor needs something a little more definitive that "when I'm done".... The SA is asking because the customer is asking (remember the customer... the guy we are here for? ). You think "If I told you I would have to kill you" is a reasonable answer? Let's say your toilet is broken... you can't take a crap.... let's say that the plumber answers your question "you can take a shit when I say you can take a shit... fuck off". Feels good... dunt it?

You would just rather work on diesels????? Get in touch with Kenny. We just lost one diesel tech (for those that haven't heard _ Dwayne is going to be a toolmonger in Lloydminster). We pay in the high end of the spectrum in Alberta... training bonuses... cert bonuses.... Slave Lake, if you haven't heard, is diesel town. The 6.2 is gaining a few converts.... but - fuck it.... e-mail k-riddel@dealeremail.com. Tell him grampy sent you... We pay more than GP does, anyway....

Before I moved north I was skinny.... now I'm a husky fucker..... I told "them" to fix our career opportunities page but I see that hasnt happened. Dwayne has left us to become a toolmonger and we are actively seeking a diesel certified tech.... NOW DAMMIT!!!! This shortage is making my life a living hell....

Basing a diag on a differential reading of 0.00050 volts isn't something I am prepared to do. Set your DMM to a mV scale and simply wave the test leads around in the air... the reading on the meter is most likely doing its version of the funky chicken. Given that many ( if not most ) electronic modules will exhibit some sort of "keep alive memory" current draw, how will we distinguish between "good" draw and "bad" draw? Feel free to use this method for determining parasitic draw if you have the cojones for it.... Most of the techs I watch can't seem to remember to check their base voltage before setting out on testing. And most of them don't either do anything to maintain system voltage during testing or fail to regularly check system voltage to ensure it isn't falling intop that region where modules started doing wierd things. Near microscopic voltage variations would be lost on them. One half of a milliVolt? I've used DMMs that can't resolve a reading like that. As an addendum.... I recall another situation from several years ago where a tech was using a voltmeter to find an open fuse.... Even though the truck did have an open fuse, through some kind of fortuitous feedback, the open fuse wasn't discovered until, in absolute desperation (having wasted many hours in diag time), the fuses were visually inspected.