Jim Warman

Just before he went on holiday, Dwayne slam dunked a long block into an 05ish F550. Not 200 kilometers later, this marvelous feat of engineering that we love to call a "Ford Quality Repaint" insinuated itself into my universe. Hydrolocked at least twice that I know of, the crankcase was about 2 inches overfull... With a contribution code for #4, I figured I had it made in the shade and popped the glow plug out of #4..... Oooops. So I popped out ALL of the glow plugs and managed to blast a geyser of fuel nearly halfway across the shop from #6. #6 injector is loose and when it came out, the lower O-ring was burned and the injector was carboned badly on the outside of the barrel. #2 was nearly in the same shape. Got the go ahead for a cylinder head and, when I got it off (heh-heh.... heh-heh... he said "got it off"... heh-heh...), I found the bottom broken out of #6 injector cup. Put it all back together and it ran like a champ.... That was a little over a week ago (I had to stay late on Saturday to finish it). Fast forward to Wednesday. Truck is back with identical symptoms... Now... I was rushed putting this thing together.... they even kept sending me helpers (and then promptly stealing them back after I gave them an assignment). I felt sick to my stomach... could I have missed torquing the new injectors? Turns out I have an injector cup on #7 with the identical problem as I had on #6. The bottom is broken out - quite neatly I might add.... The engine has been hydrolocked a few more times.... the crankcase is about 2 inches overfull. Both the customer and I are a bit leery of FQRs right now.....

Well.... you have a code for one cylinder and one cylinder only. The EGR valve affects all of the cylinders (EGR in what I assume is a 4.6 car isn't ported). I'd start be eliminating (or confirming) that something to do directly with cylinder 2 is it. Inspect the spark plugs and wires, use a spark tester or ignition scope to determine if the wires can carry high voltages, test compression... skipping the basics has hung more techs than you can imagine. Check your fuel trims to see if there are any clues there... mode 6 data to see if any other cylinders are indicating misfires. FWIW.... when you full throttle the car, it drops into open loop. This can alter many symptoms - concentrate on whatit DOES do not what it doesn't. "Throwing" parts at a problem. There are several parts that we consider as "sacrificial"... spark plugs in particular... unless there is a fairly fresh batch of Motorcrafts in there, it wouldn't be a bad idea to "throw" some in. If the concern is fuel related, there is a possibility that a insulator can become etched. When required voltage climbs about some figure, the gap no longer ionizes and the spark follows the etched mark in the porcelain. These etched marks can often be too faint to see with a magnifier. HTH.

The keyword is "teamwork"... if somebody else drops the ball (any ball) then it is NOT the time for anyone to stand back with crossed arms, tapping the foot with that big shit eating grin thinking "boy, that guy's a dismal turd". Teamwork is somebody else picking the ball up and trying for a goal anyway. A parts department may not even realize that sales is flogging 6.7s.... a simple "We PDI'd some 6.7's last week... do we have filters and stuff for them yet?" kinda statement should be enough to joggle most parts departments. The whole deal isn't about any one of us... it's all about the customer. If his experience wasn't a good one, it isn't time to feel smug and point fingers - its time to fix something.

It's Friday afternoon and I am out in the driveway doing driveway diagnostics (what else) and I have them stacked up in a holding pattern. Mister pulls up with about an 01ishishish 7.3 - goes inside and comes back out "I'm told I should speak to you..". Well, I can talk and work at the same time so.... Seems Misters truck stalled so he replaced the CMP sensor because that's what you do when a 7.3 stalls (so the internet says). But now he has a complaint.... <drum roll please>.... ever since he replaced the CMP - his truck stalls intermittently - never did it before he replaced the sensor. Everyone should be allowed to own guns.... it's tools they should require permits for.

You guys can give me shit right now.... I sincerely hope that Mark will not suffer any detrimental effects nor disfigurement from his experience.... I hope he has a speedy recovery and I hope he doesn't suffer any emotional scarring from the event.... Because... if he has no legacy problems... we can give him supreme shit for sticking his fucking fingers in there in the first place.... A very dear friend nearly lost his thumb to a utility knife.. I spare no efforts to remind him of the fact when I see him doing something I wouldn't do. This advice isn't limited to a utility knife and can be "cross platformed" with little imagination... If that knife slips... where will it go? If something bad happens - what will be the result? If you aren't about to look out for your own safety.... don't look to me after the fact.... Sorry, Larry... I really do hope Mark doesn't suffer any lasting effects.... but....... DUH!!!! What did anyone expect? The poem "Invictus" comes to mind. Safety begins with "<ME>".

Mike.... Sometimes you ask the oddest questions.... If an outside garage brings us something they took on but can't complete - they get the full tilt.... show no mercy - take no prisoners. "Hey, buddy (you know what a "buddy" is, right?) - hand me that knife... I will help you slit my throat". If I have to travel to their shop (and I have had to do that) - it is "show no mercy - take no prisoners plus mileage". Why is it that everyone that profits from the 6.0s weak points calls them a piece of shit? "I work on trucks for a living.... I think the 6.0 is a piece of shit because it makes my mortgage payments".... Can anyone explain the meaning of "conumdrum"?

I've set out to reply to this post several times... but the whole deal becomes too complex... I did state that the innards of a fuel tank should not rust.. but they do. Is that a reflection on process? Or is that a reflection on profitability? Or could it simply be shoddy architecture? Ford was charging $40 for the park brake adjuster hole plug on a half ton... and we have trouble getting paid for spending a half hour adjusting tire pressures and retraining sensors. The world isn't fair. We, as customers, have driven the marketplace (which, in turn, will take advantage of us at every step)....

Here is where we get into that nitty gritty stuff... Of course the innards of a fuel tank should never rust (I imagine it is only a matter time before we see plastic aft axle tanks - or the small to medium size diesel engine is no longer economically feasible). The question remains.... how did the water that makes the rust get in there? Once the tank starts rusting, it becmoes a moot point and we all stand around pointing fingers at each other. Back in the stone ages, back when me and Ogg were chiselling tread patterns into them new fangled granite wheels, fuel tanks had a bung in the low point. It was rare to have the need to remove it... but it was there. The world I grew up in is such a very different world from the one I live in. There's a lot of things happen to a car that never used to happen... and it all centres around the almighty dollar being first and the customer being second. I'm shocked and amazed and disappointed in the world around me.... but I can't say I'm surprised.

Speel chock

What clutch was burned? Did any valve body bolts come out "too easy"? I like to take a straight edge and check the flatness of the worm trails. If you can do it with a warm trans, so much the better.... FWIW, my last victim, a 5R110 had a burned up forward clutch - over 1/2 inch of clutch pack clearance. I was surprised it would even move. This truck had extremely high pressure across the board. Pump and main regulator looked good. I couldn't cost cap it but there were no torque converters available and it got a reman.

Adjusting the drivers seat? What'd you do before everything came with power seats? Programming the seat position might upset your customer so I'd mention it to him before I did anything. Check TSBs real close... there is one for replacing cam phasers before a particular production date... may not apply to yours but you don't know if you don't look.... FWIW, I'm seeing a LOT of TSBs falling through the cracks lately (I saw the broadcast message about E-box air filter restriction.... and got stung by one about two weeks later - yes there is a TSB and it doesn't come up with expected search symptoms - old fart memory is kinda neat, I can remember shit that happened 40 years ago as if it was this morning..... but I can't remember what I did this morning). Modern diagnostics are getting very elaborate.. the info a scan tool offers is nearly astounding (except those new fangled HEGOs). But... if a concern doesn't happen often enough to at least set a "code pending", the VDR is nearly your last chance. Ours let's me down just as often as it offers good direction - but some of that has to do with refining your PID choices, customer attitudes and assumptions (often, simply installing the VDR can "cure" a concern) and honing your data stream interpretation skills. My use of the VDR is a lot like my guitar playing skills.... the drunker you get... the better I sound

Over $1000 now.... <insert sound of auctioneer babble here>.

If it's warranty, you have to pull the heads anyway... or at least have a supply of parts they might ask for. I just went through an FQR with one broken injector cup - the bottom of the cup was gone... MIA.... made it 200 kms before it nearly grenaded... Dwayne can tell you a bit more about the cab removal.

What you are seeing with the seat is probably the easy entry/ easy exit feature. The memory recall feature is actived with the integrated key transmitter. There is a procedure for programming seat and mirror positions to the keys - page 95 in the owners manual gives the procedure. I've seen a few vehicles that the owners appear to be unaware they have this feature... None of the transmissions I was dealing with had problems at speed - I have to wonder if you aren't having a torque converter issue or some funky phasers? No codes? VDR out of the question?

<When the primary filter in the HFCM becomes restricted, or the secondary filter for that matter> as in "I've put 50,000 on my truck - maybe I might change the fuel filters on my truck next month"? I would opine that, by the time we sucked that little nipple outside in, there should be some driveability issues.... Having said that, I remember that many DIYers will post "I've been trying to fix this for nearly six years now... and the stealership expects me to pay to fix it...".

Hotline has called this a "normal" condition.... I would be pissed if it was my car... I never did get a recording with a "smoking gun" on it... but some interesting actions the odd time. I'll try to remember to post one or two - I think they are still on an IDS.

I have one that still worked when I turned it off.... it has a sister that said "not today" a long time ago. Truth be known, the biggest reason I kept it alive was for the PVT. Everything is for sale... everything has a price (including ones integrity)... all you need is to find a customer. FWIW, I have a OTC Monitor 2000 for sale.... Oh..... And a GM "code key" that I will toss in for a modest extra charge.....

There is an inherent problem with ASE certifications.... it reminds me too much of having the fox minding the henhouse.... FWIW (and I am sure I have said this before) ASE tried making a push into Canada.... Why, I'm not sure because we have GOVERNMENT CERTIFICATION. Yes, we also have many techs that appear to have chosen the wrong career path. ASE is a "for profit" endeavour.... am I the only one to see a problem here? When ASE made their push in Canada, I spent a bunch of money (and time) to take some ASE tests.... Not bragging, I passed easily - you would have to be unique not to. Five years later, ASE tried to make me take these same tests over again.... 'Scuse me? have the laws of physics changed with the passage of time? If you knew air conditioning basics five years ago... it stands to reason you know air conditioning basics today.... How you use this knowledge and IF you use this knowledge... Make the cheque payable to ASE... you can take the test often enough to eventually be right.... Look at it this way... if you passed an ASE test five years ago - why wouldn't you pass it today? FWIW... I have enough certificates to paper the biggest wall in the biggest house. If I didn't fix the problem.... what do certificates mean? Lucky guess testing should have NO PLACE in todays marketplace. Training is good.... what you do with it......

Yes indeed.... but the people with cash in hand and the people that have already spent the cash expect US (us being the stealership techs) to be slightly more with the flow than aftermarket techs.... these being the techs that will spend an hour or so ripping the filter out of a NAPA cap in order to install a Ford filter in it's place... Say what? Adam didn't mention that yet? Gosh. If a customer comes in asking how to switch his EATC display from Celsius to Fahrenheit... how does he reset his oil change minder (seeing as we forgot to when we serviced it this Ayem)or why does his motor continue to crank even after he lets go of the key... All of these are those basic things that we should be able to answer "on the fly". If a customer asks about what oil viscosity he can run.... we can say "ABBA, ABBA, ABBA... read the cap" and leave it at that.... later, after he reads his manual (IF that ever happens) he will say "That stealership tech is a fucking idiot... Thank God I can go to Cambodian Tire...". We need to blind them with brilliance.... not baffle them with bullshit.

It all started, actually, the week before. A 5R110 in a 550 picker truck. Symptoms and test results lead me to believe one thing and I dove into the trans confident I would see what I expected to see.... At this point, I assumed problems with the low reverse clutch and the low reverse OWC (six months ago, this truck had a PTO line chaffe through and it ran to the point of "don't move" from oil loss. So, in all confidence I dove right in to the low/reverse clutch... which is fine.. The forward clutch, however, is a different tale. over 1/2" clearance on the clutch pack and looking close at the in pan filter (this is a late build trans) the filter medium is sucked up into the neck. I don't understand how this truck could even move under its own steam. Couldn't cost cap it but.... converters are "no stock Milky Way galaxy"... I get a reman... And it is remans that trouble me.... A 6.0 complete installed in January comes in with a miss... I diag a #7 injector and another tech shows me the gibbled O-ring on the old one... obviously damaged on initial installation, it took this long to become a problem. We installed a new O-ring on the old injector and reinstalled it to rule out any injector cup concerns... we looked at the cup with my See-Snake and didn't see anything.... but I get anal sometimes... Just before that one.... another FQR installed just 200 kms ago. Hydro-locked.... oil pan overfull... #6 injector is installed finger tight (new Canadians can always find work at mechanical rebuilding shops... they accept minimum wage quite happily... it's more than they ever got in southeast Asia or the Philippenes... I am sorry if that statement offends anyone). All of these are work trucks.... while we are dealing with these concerns, these people are not working.... Just to put the icing on the cake..... a local RCMP cruiser struck and killed a pedestrian while responding to a call. Standard practice in any fatality MVA is to inspect Vehicle A to determine if the vehicles condition had any affect on the event. While inspecting this cruiser, my fave SA asked "How can you do that all the time?". "It beats the hell out of what I had to do when I was on the fire dept.", sez I, referring to picking up victims with a shovel.... "Oh... I found him..... Wow.... I found some more of him....". But... truth be known... every time you do one of these, it steals a tiny portion of your soul.... Irony... the car was roadworthy at the time of the incident... but I did sell a rear brake reline and a maintenance 2.... Lifes a bitch...... and then you die.

Page 42 of the 2011 diesel owners supplement... 4th printing is the one I accessed. For oil viscosity index, there is really nothing written in stone... API classification is a whole 'nother ball game. FWIW, the diesel owners supplement suggests when to use 15W40, 5W40 and 0W30/0W40 in addition to the factory fill of 10W30. (0W30/0W40 might be an eye-opener for some). I hate to keep on harping on a subject (well... that might not be totally accurate) but we do need to consider what the engineers decree and what we tell customers.... "Ah hates tuh go tuh them stealerships"....

Webasto?

Checked valve body.... replaced OSS.... air tested (as good as you can with no factory test plate and those wierd openings). NADA.... ZIP..... ZILCH.... MUKWAY.... Ford has announced (to us, anyway) that this is the nature of the beast.... HOOAH

Jockey tanks.... bed mount tanks... tidy tanks... call them what you want - in our area we see these as a ready and handy supply of water. Could be snow packed around the vent caps - but that doesn't account for the few months we don't have snow. Could be that the owner is "stealing" his fuel from dubious places... A rig will have several tanks... the incinerator tank isn't looked after near as much as the motor shack tank... I see guys getting fuel from the junk box (incinerator) too often. Some guys get fuel from "on site" storage.... this would be a remote location where a grader or two or some other roadbuilding or forestry equipment is parked. Condensation can be a problem... but, once again, I am straying. I have yet to see anyone be vigilant enough about in bed fuel storage... YMMV

So.... I'm in another forum and the subject on the power increase comes up..... And it struck me... right twixt the eyes.... We tell people that a reprogrammer that increases power might void their warranty... but you drive that puppy into my bay and I will install a program that will increase your power and wont affect your warranty. Congratulations!!!!Ford has got you talking out of both sides of your mouth at one and the same time.... I'm pretty sure that the main reason I go to work in the morning is because I want to see what happens next....Ford is offering ample opportunity