Jim Warman

Not sure what you mean... For the shop we have our own wireless (D-Link, bought from Circuit City) router. This enables us to use our laptops to access OASIS as well as other URLs, we can use OASIS quick start using the IDS, access workshop manuals using IDS.

There desparately needs to be some form of checks and balances in place... sometimes referred to as common sense. We can't just blindly plunge into something... there has to be some thought, some air of professionalism and some admissions of resposibility, in some part for the job... If we are told to do <something> and that <something> is inappropriate for what is needed - someone has to speak up - waiting until after the dust settles to pick up the pieces is going to be counter-productive. Think of this.... if the tech can't figure out if a repair is going to be warranty or customer pay (and in most cases this isn't hard)... he needs to find out and he needs to find out fast.... simply because a customer pay repair cannot proceed without the customers consent - if for no other reason. We are drifting away from Mikes original post... but I feel it important that we, as techs, cannot abdicate out moral duties and professional responsibilities - we are that final step in the process - whether it be quality control for Ford while doing a PDI or process control for my store. It is up to us to bring up what is wrong so that it can be made right. A lot of employees (from handyman to middle manager) can lose sight of the fact that this should all be a team effort... Your reputation and the reputation of your store are hand in glove. If the store does good, we all do good... Why does this shit need to be repeated?

Bruce... we're talking monkeyhouse, here... most of those guys are talking "big oil" or suffering with P1211s as the chip proves that the HPOP is sized about right... Some of those guys agonize over the oddest things. Not to try and hijack the thread, but I'd be interested on seeing how many shops use distilled water when servicing cooling systems?

Less than a litre in 200 miles? Or less than a litre in two days? I guess the question with that set of statements is "Does it leak cold, warm, running, at rest?". Seeing as it is a shuttle bus (a cutaway with coachwork, you say?) I'd be looking hard at the auxillary heat (especially if it has one of those diesel fired heaters in line). Rather than trying to pressure test it, see if you can pull a vacuum with your airlift and have it hold. If it can't hold a vacuum, load the sucker up with die and start a healthy set of road test/cold soaks to try and establish where the "pecker tracks" are. If worst comes to worst, there is always <GASP> Motorcraft VC-6 - this would be similar to the stuff they put in at the factory.... not my cup of tea, but.... Speaking of what they put in at the factory... I have yet to see any truck/bus/ambulance outfitters that use gold as antifreeze fill on these vehicles when they add coachwork and/or work bodies. I even doubt that the addition of green antifreeze gets any VC-8 to help...

My first one involved cylinder #1 - that was quite some time ago and I recall writing about it though the details are a fog, now... An intake manifold full of crap could account for the poor showing #4 makes on the power balance... but it doesn't account for the relative compression.

We currently have an 08... obvious valve concern going on with the thing popping out the air cleaner. Power balance says #4 is the culprit and relative compression backs it up... Power balance shows #2 as "dipping" but not enough to get your shorts in a knot... relative compression says #2 is good.... With the valve cover off, the exhaust valves on cylinder two don't open... I have to wonder who taught the PCM how to count????

Actually, Bruce, you have once again caught me with my pants down... I still like the 15 seconds in order to build the heat into the starter... but by the time a battery gets under 11 volts, the 150 rpm will be out the window anyway... As it stands, the critical consideration cranking rpm at the end of the test. I'm at my best when I don't have the time to overthink what I plan on doing.

If you have the Ford workshop manual, check section 03-06 / Diagnosis and testing / Component tests for procedures and section 03-06B/specifications for the numbers... Factory spec for starter draw is 230 to 630 amps. Obviously, the spec is a bit too "loose" to be of much help.... Get down and dirty for a "better way"... disable the engine (keep it from actually starting) and crank it for 15 seconds... It should maintain at least 150ish rpm for the complete cycle and battery volts should not drop below 9.6ish volts - remember that the glow plugs must be operating normally for this test and the motor should be at ambient when the test is run. (Remember the whole idea is to recreate 'normal' operating conditions). The reason we crank for 15 seconds is to build heat inb the starter - a cool starter can spin quite fast while a hot starter can drag like a SOB... HTH

Francois, every place I've ever worked has been cost plus ten percent (plus shipping if applicable) on anything I buy... My boy gets cost plus ten percent on anything he buys, too. Thankfully, they always ask before allowing my kid to charge to my account (even though Dad is usually a soft touch). Tell your boss that this is a perk that doesn't cost him anything and to stop being such a f!cking tightwad... Our employee parts account has to be paid in full (we just OK the payroll deduction) at month end unless you make arrangements with the appropriate authority... Back when I used to sign the front of the cheque, 10% was the figure I used, as well..

I can always depend on you lot for some encouragement... But, we are past the holiday... and, this afternoon, I will be past the beginning of my year.... When I started this thread, I had a foreboding, I guess... but I can't even be sure it was that.... All I knew was that it just "wasn't Christmas".... Yesterday, I attended a funeral... Larry Battenfelder and I had always meant to ride to Hogg Flatts together - this is a celebration of motorcycling held every year near Athabasca - but we never did - and now we never will. Today, I am about to attend a funeral... a man that was one of the first to befriend me when I moved to Slave Lake in the very early 80's... we had nothing in common and rarely saw one another... but we still had a "bond". Do not feel sorry for me.. that is not the intent of this fucking ordeal.... Look deep in your life.... Is there something you've been meaning to say to someone? Is there something special you always want to do or a place you wanted to go with someone? Is there someone that you've deep down had the need to forgive for a slight or a misunderstanding... big or small? My mother died in the early 90s.... During the very last conversation I ever had with her, we argued and I never got the chance to apologize.... Life is NOT about YOU..... life is about the people you affect.

So I'm trying to answer a question for a fleet customer (hell, I'm just trying to figure out if he needs to even ask the question) concerning Motorcraft Gold antifreeze.... While perusing the MSDS document for the product we see "do not allow this product to freeze..."!?!?!?! HUH!?!?!?!Do not allow your antifreeze to freeze - words to live by.. So.. let's jump to TSBs 08-25-07 and 08-25-08. Sadly, the wording for these (item 7) was corrected I have just discovered... For those that haven't had the pleasure, item 7 deals with PCV/VCV look up tables which have been revised with the current flash. In the early release of the TSB these were called the Positive Crankcase Ventilation valve and the Vapor Control Valve... IIRC, I may still have a hard copy of one of these TSBs on hand that I can scan and post. But... if that isn't enough... why do we have TSBs 08-25-6/7/8 when we have FSA 08B07? If a truck comes in for a concern, which should I perform first? Do I apply the TSB to fix the running concern and then do the FSA? Jeez... instead of giving me duplicate crap - reduce my chargebacks.. Ford has a lot of examples of overstating the obvious, belabouring the idiotic and just plain missing the boat... What little gems have you found?

While not a saying, there is always the tale of a tech named "Jeff". Jeffs coveralls proudly proclaimed "Mike" over his left tit. If he was approached by someone calling him "Jeff", he would take the time... if the stranger called him "Mike"... well... we know where that's going to go.

This one gleaned from iATN... Gawd.... we're surrounded. >This is my Son's truck. The Main concern is High Exh. Temp. under a load. He says he needs to back off the accelerator most of the time he's pulling a medium grade even when he's being conservative with the accelerator. He has a Banks performace device that plugs into the MAP and I think the Inj. Control Pressure sensor. The codes will come up with or without the device hooked up. He bought the truck used. It's very evident that it had a chip pluged into the back of the PCM board. There was a small sticker on the door from the chip Co. I think it said Superchip. He know's he will need to replace the PCM for the P0605, but could that be causing his High Exh. Temp? He said recently the hose at the bottom drivers side of the intercooler poped off while he was on the freeway. Until he pulled over to reconnect it the Exh. Temp. was getting too high. He doesn't think that the continuious high Exh. Temp. problem started at that time. He said it was shortly after that. We took a long road test yesterday with the scanner connected. The following data was read while pulling a fair grade with the truck in 3rd gear about 2000 RPM, Light to Medium throtle. With the Banks Device hooked up so we could monitor Exh. Temp. Exh. Temp. 990 Degress Exh. back pressure 24 PSI Inj. Control Pressure 1600 PSI MAP 16 PSI Inj. Pressure Regulator % 25 VFDES 46 If you floor the accelerator at any time the Exh. Temp. will easily and quickly rise to 1300 + degress.< I don't know about you guys... but buying a diesel with a chip is a lot like buying a car from a "little old lady that only drove it Sundays - 1/4 mile at a time".... and this guy let his son buy this hobby.... Jeezus... I am turning into a rotten old fart.

The strange part.... BOTH FICMs AND 6.4 radiators.... we are only allowed to order "so many" at a time.... So... let's say we are only allowed to order two of each a week.... but three a week show up on our doorstep.... and now we are in shit because we can't fix these things in a timely manner.... Bailout or not.... re-aligning the industry or not... somewhere - somehow... a little bit of common sense is going to be required.

There is something we appear to have missed.... don't get me wrong, we had a water in fuel concern not too long ago... Saved the owner a humongous chunk of change by just getting rid of the contaminated fuel.... And now he is back with running concerns... "Oh no - it was doing this BEFORE the water".... Ayup.... Now... we can handle this in a way that makes us look like assholes.... the water MAY have damaged a lot of stuff.... we should change this stuff and get the customer back to square one.... I'm an asshole and I have money in my jeans.... Or... I can save the customer a bunch of money and forget to think about tomorrow or next month or next year.... What it boils down to, in the end, is that I will still look like an asshole.... but there will be no money in my jeans. Of course, if Ford has been notified and proper record keeping done and all the other "good" stuff (whatever 'good' stuff we might find in a serious WIF invasion), this post might not be necessary.... Bottom line... if you are going to look like an asshole... at least look like a rich one....

Keith... something I have mentioned several times on different venues.... When it comes to the EOT/ECT variance... what would make 24 good and 26 bad??? At 24 degrees, we could say that our girlfriend was only a "little bit" pregnant.... at 26 degrees, she is full blown pregnant? The disparity in the TSBs that Dwayne quotes are an eye opener.... If we get into replacing the oil drain tube "every" time the turbo is off... you will get in trouble.... You cannot replace the tube to avoid coking... but you can replace it to avoid a repeat concern... Let's get people mad at us first... long before we try to do anything about it... I doubt that the people writing TSBs know any "customers".

>Grampy, I can assure you the o-ring was installed correctly... Lubed with engine oil prior to installation and inspected for possible damage. I had just done an oil change last week with a, yes, Motorcraft oil filter ( I will not use any other brand). I'm very worried that Ford did not put any type of warning system that would let you know there is a problem with the oil pressure/level. The only way I found out was I stopped for gas and noticed the rear of the truck extremelt oily, looked underneath and baddabing!< I had replied that Ford had given him a "low tech" oil level indicator... It's called a dipstick. Ahhhh... I've been kicked of the monkeyhouse before, too.

Bruce.... Yes, I would like a scope like you.... With my coffee cup in hand and you as a "leg" man???? The PVT.... With the WDS, I had few connections getting underfoot in the cab on a road test. With the IDS... whoa!!!! The power cable for the VMM... the USB cable... the VCM cable... the PVT cable.... my God!!!! I'm sitting in a snake pit!!!! The enormity of the project makes the graphing capability pale. What, in Yawehs name (no, I'm not a religious oddball - I just like keeping you on your toes), kept them from 'plumbing' the PVT directly into datalogger? This would have increased the tools utility - if they hadn't hired Rube Goldberg to design it. In retrospect - what would it have taken to make the VVT tool and the PVT "dual duty". Both of these can be used in situations that are dependant on rpm or load... being able to connect them in either data logger (directly to the laptop) or in a VMM session would add utility.

Don't get me wrong, Keith.. it isn't that the holiday was without it's pleasures.. but there were aspects that seemed to pale - some with and some without explanation (no matter how feeble some of those explanations could be). Certainly Xmas isn't Xmas without the glee and wonder of small children.. but we survived many years without having little ones under foot (isn't that an odd way to express endearment). No idea of when grandchildren may enter the picture... I see me giving them sweets and noisey toys and then sending them home /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif <SIGH> even my cooking was uninspired this year (I am the 'fancy dinner guy' in our house)... Oh - everything was tasty - I accomplished much but, for some reason, without the feeling of accomplishment. Even my pumpkin pies - they made everyone else feel they way THEY were supposed to feel... but they didn't make me feel the way they usually make me feel... I fell into a trap I warn others about..."be thankful for what you have instead of sad for what you don't...". I have everything I need.... (well, except for an Electra-Glide Classic) and I can't think of anything my life is lacking... <SIGH>... If I had to sum it up.... Xmas is all about "peace on earth - good will towards men...." maybe the lack of those basics made my pies pale in the face of life... That I feel this sort of sadness about some "missing" thing - don't feel badly for me - tomorrow will be a new and better day. Instead - appreciate those things that you have all the more... An odd observation.... I do santas anonymous at Xmas... I do food bank all year 'round... lately, I see these as a "duty" rather than a "passion"... I am ever so thankful that I don't rely on these things... but giving to them has somehow lost a bit of it's "lustre"... I have gone from feeling blessed that I don't need these things to feeling privileged that I can donate to them. Lucky to pompous in one easy lesson.... While I am no longer sure of why I made my initial post - commiseration wasn't something I was hoping to ellicit. Certainly, there is some sort of "missing thing" - a hole that isn't quite a hole in my Xmas... but it hasn't made the season a waste... I've done the "good" that I usually do - albeit without the passion I usually feel. A lesson in life? A vision of Xmases yet to come (apologies to Dickens)? An old guy looking for something that wasn't there to begin with? What is important is that each and everyone of us can look back at our Christmas and say, without reservation, "that was good". Odd as it may sound... I can do that this year.... It WAS good.. next year, the plan is for GREAT. Life is a lot like a pick up truck.... after a while, the paint fades and picks up a few rock chips.... but it's still pretty good transportation... Life is what you make of it.... some days you grab it by the horns.... some days by the tail.... grabbing it (carpe diem) becomes the important part... I'm in a philosophical mood of late.... Coalition dictatorship is the operative phrase....

Sad to say, my loving bride and I "lost" Xmas this year... not sure where it went or how it got there... but I looked up and there it was - GONE. Oh, we did the Santas Anonymous thing, like always... and the food bank donations are something we try to do every time we go to the grocers.... but something conspiredagainst us this year and that true Xmas spirit was spirited away. And, truth be known, nothing was 'out of the ordinary' this year. True to form, I was in the shop well after supper time Xmas Eve trying to do something with a towed in/no start. Shoulda-coulda-woulda turned into didn't (has to be that conspiracy thing, again) but his truck will be ready for tomorrow (Monday) morning.... I guess half-assed warm and fuzzies are better than no warm and fuzzies. Add that we'll finish up on a rad replacement today... this is on a young fellows work truck - he's 40ish and we consider him a family member - a son, if you will (did I mention that I could hold my family reunion in a phone booth.... whoa!! I'll bet some of you guys don't even know what a phone booth is - it's been that long since I've seen either phone booth or "pay phone"). Family members that are "chosen" in this manner are much 'worse' than family members that happen through accidents of parentage.... We are hopelessly bound together through lifes experience rather than some tenuous "Aunt Molly's second cousin twice removed gene pool syndrome". So... the old guy "lost" Xmas... what does that mean? In the grand scheme of things, squat. Tomorrow morning, the sun will rise - with or without any one of us. 'Carpe diem' (along with a healthy dose of 'illegitimi non carborundum' (don't let the bastards grind you down). In the mean time, I will continue to embarass myself by writing what I hope are thought provoking, inciteful, common-sensical (if not eccentric) and sarcastic 'sound' bites. If nothing else, I hope most of you find something amusing in some of my rantings even if the existing rhyme or reason ascapes you. The entire world is in a state of flux.... Lennon proclaimed "another year over and a new one just begun"... 2009 is going to be a tiger... all we can do is grasp it firmly by the tail and pray like hell we can hang on for a mere 365 and a quarter days. Whooo-eeee... this could be one fuck of a ride, gents. In the PS department.... if some of you guys on InFord could start throwing my name around (in a good way), they might re-instate me on message board.. I promise not to call Ralph a wiener - honest....

AFAIK, IDS will not load on your computer if it doesn't like your operating system. I've heard of guys looking for ways to fool it, but nobody seems to have the answer... My own take is to do things the way they need to be done... anything else might hurt.

Oh... I get the feeling that the tale of the toolchest is not going to be pleasant... I used to manage a combination ESSO bulk station/Mohawk propane distributor... I had a loaded tandem propane truck lying on it's side in a ditch down an oilpatch road... a broke down 5 axle fuel truck about 300 miles up Albertas asshole and two drilling rigs about to run out of fuel and a brand new card lock that didn't like cold weather.... Our accountant looked at me and said.... "Cheer up, Jimmy... things are never so bad that they can't get worse". I spend a significant amount of time helping people on the phone, in the driveway, at the counter.... one tries to screen calls so that the time he spends is with people that "matter" - but we know how that works... The monkeyhouse always seems to have a better class of idiot than we can ever hope to meet in real life... Aaron... 2009 is going to be a whole new bundle of joy.... the 6.4 fleet is aging and will start to show those things it hid from field testing... pretty soon there should be few cab bolts left with sealer on them.... and many people are going to realize that maybe gas engines aren't that bad, after all... I raise a glass to you.... you attempted what most wont and you survived... Na zdarovje!!!!! No, I'm not Ukrainian... but you can't beat nalysnyky at Xmas.

>i recently had to replace my FICM and Ford reflashed it now i have lost a lot of power and 3mpg because of the emmision they put on it is there a way to reflash the flash i saw one website on here the other day and now cant find it any help would be appreciated< >Slight Accident, Now Steering Problem -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My son just has a slight accident whereby he rearended another truck, basically a tap. The front bumper is slightly pushed in on the left. There is no other visible damage. However, the steering no longer turns fully to the right. When he wants to turn back to the left the turning will stop well before the wheels are even straight. When this happened we jacked up the front end and turned the wheels all the way to left, but not before there was a snapping sound when we turned left. You should also be aware that the left front drive axle was in need of replacement, but I am assuming that would affect the drive train when placed in 4 wheel drive. Presently, the hubs are unlocked. You also need to know that the steering wheel no longer is in the proper positon for the wheels to face foward. Is the steering rack and pinion? And if so, is it possible that the pinion jumped several teeth on the rack? Your help is greatly appreciated.< "Thought" is on holiday, too... I realize some of this stuff is a litle bit technical for some folks, BUT.... I used to have an uncle that blamed our changing weather patterns on Sputnik - up there in space "making air".... Suddenly - I feel very, very old.....

Yep, Aaron... took a brief look at it earlier... Some of the extra tags on the page had me wondering if a picture of "ask Ernie" was about to appear.. the page reminded me that much of when you could sneak into some of the US stuff.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday... Happy Hannukha, merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa... Christmas isn't so much about Jesus Christ as it is about his teachings and beliefs. I am not a deeply religious man - but Christmas is about peace - understanding - tolerance.... While Christmas is for Christians... we should extend our feelings of good will to everyone.... race, colour, creed - unimportant....