Fredsvt

Pull the PCM and check it for green death. 1999 and 2000 had issues with the PCM itself letting water into the box, and through the plugs, rotting them. Might be worth a look on your '02. There are all kinds of chafe points on these, where the PCM is, follow the harness over the cowl, and down to the abs modulator on the frame rail. There's also chafe points at the left a pillar area, causes all kinds off odd issues.

Got one I've not seen, hopefully someone here has. Customer calls last week, saying she can't get it out of park. Prior to towing, she tries again, it shifts and she drives it down. We check out her concern as she stated it, the interlock works fine. Later on, when she picked it up, she went into detail she should have. The selector moved, but in any range it wouldn't move. She took the car, after we scanned it, no codes present. Today (about 3 days since above) She starts it this morning, the o/d off light is blinking. She freaks, and has it towed. The tow driver did start it and moved it to the flatbed. He pulled it up and brought it to us. When he got in it to unload, it would start, but the front wheels were locked in all ranges. It sounded like, even in park, as if it were in drive and reverse at the same time, as the engine labored in all ranges. We had to lift the front of the car to get it off the flatbed. The rear wheels and rear axle are free. I scanned it and got P0731 (gear 1 error). I cleared the code and tried to move it. It went into drive, but didn't feel like first. I slowly moved around the lot and stopped. I put it in reverse and it went in with an audible gear crunching sound and when I went backwards, it bucked heaved and locked up a couple of times making horrible sounds. In drive it went into what felt like 1st, and went fwd, with the same noises. When I got an open lift, I backed it up, no noise or issues, and then drove it slowly on the lift. No metal particles seen in the fluid, I checked the pto and the fluid looks clean from the drain. I also ran it in 4wd, in reverse up to 30 and through all 4 gears in drive up to as fast as you want. No odd noises. I'm a bit fearful of an actual road test if it locks up again. I'm thinking its toast. I'm assuming a hard part failure of some kind. Other info: 3.0 V6 180,900 miles original trans. Svc every 30k. Actually original lots of stuff, save rear shocks, belts, a few coils and brakes/brake hoses. Only on its 3rd set of tires.

What brand of ignition parts are on it? The flat cap Vortec engines don't like any aftermarket caps. They will internally bridge the contacts in the cap, sometimes causing minor hesitation issues, to dead misfires and in time they cook the module. Same goes for the wires and plugs. It'll eat up the module over time with junk parts on it. Fuel trims? What's base fuel pressure? 62-66 koeo? Running? 55-60 would be nice. The poppets don't like to stay open if it drops too low.

Well, he did say that 10 yrs ago there were no cats on diesels, so I went a little farther back. I still can't believe '95 is 16 years ago...... I still remember seeing the first 94.5 7.3 DIT and thinking, wow, does that thing look hard to work on! Ah, the good old days! where has the time gone? We got a throwback, a farmer's 1984 6.9 C6 pickup, locked up tight, every time it rains, as the hood/cowl seal was bad, and the water would fill the top of the air cleaner cover and run in the little vent cap. Enough water to bend 2 rods and break the nose clean off the big delco starter. It still runs, albeit a bit knocky, after pulling glow plugs and pumping out the water. Now that thing STINKS when it runs... I wanna puke. Makes a 6.0 idling smell like roses, well, almost. The farmer's still gonna keep using it.

Did it have a cheezy oil filter on it, that could have sent crap up into the passages for the phasers and valvetrain? I've been seeing a LOT of Jiffy Lubed 5.4/Mod motors coming in with a filter half the height but the same diameter of a FL400A instead of the FL820S (wix 51372). They seem to be consolidating all their part numbers down to a "universal" filter for all Fords. Amongst other brands too. Sorry if I used the wrong Motorcraft number for the first filter, but we use Wix, and it would be a 51516. (same filter as what a 4.2 V6 would take)

Um, didn't the 1995+ 7.3 have a cat bolted to the flange at the end of the down pipe? I think they did until 2001-ish or about then. In 10 years, if the current gov't has their way, we'll all be range limited in electric golf carts. They'll just tax us to death if we try to drive anything that uses an ICE.

I've got a recent Kenmore side by side, with ice and filtered water. The fridge is made by Whirlpool for Sears. It's been very good so far. It's about 3 or 4 years old. The filters are pricey, but the water is vastly better out of that than from the tap. The one thing I've noticed, is that it uses far less power than the 15 year old fridge it replaced.

For those here in the US, here's some links: Hope everyone is ok. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/05/16/slave-lake-fire-evacuation.html http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/...ub=WinnipegHome

Where I work now, the part of the building I'm in was a paint shop years ago so it has 2 very large air/water separator filters on both air outlets. The first part of the building is probably 100 years old, my bays, maybe 35. I drain them about every 3 months in the summer. We've also got one 80 gallon compressor with a blown up compressor's 100 gallon tank as a slave to the first. The second tank acts as a good separator in itself. When I worked at the limo company, the compressors were in a lean-to outside the building and in the humid summers, the water was insane. In winter we had routine freeze ups. The compressors had to be on 24/7 in case a driver needed to air up a tire (yeah, right) I had to drain them daily all year long. I think they were probably 1/4 full (80 gallon) with water on bad days.

It's so disappointing to know that the shuttle program is ending, due to the stupidity of Mr Obama. I grew up watching the whole program start, the first launch all the way to the last one. Yes, it's 30 years old, but the shuttles were designed for 100 missions each. We're going backwards, relying on countries we can't trust for stuff like this. Add to that, what he's got the NASA director doing. Total crap.

Matt, Isn't yours the shop the 2 story one, with the flexible floors?

I think I'd rather listen to country than what they used to listen to where I used to work. Heavy duty rap, cop killa music. He was repeatedly told by mgmt to shut it off, and everyone else in the shop kept asking/telling him to kill it. It only got louder. Needless to say, I got a couple of forced days off after I took my largest prybar to the arsheole's radio that kept blasting that crap. I wasn't the only one that wanted to do it. He got fired though. Currently I listen to a local rock station. I'm isolated enough in the building that everyone can listen to what they want, without it carrying from area to area.

Hi Keith, Try doing something in NJ. It's a joke. We had a roach coach come in, begging for us to put 1 tire on it. The guy who drives it tells us don't lift it for any reason. I'm the unfortunate one to get to work on this fine 1992 F150 (yes, 150), 4.9 pulling more weight than it was ever made to. And it had a brand new state inspection sticker (when they still did "safety" inspections, from a private center. I look under it, see 3 bald tires, and 1 with steel hanging out and it was almost flat, the only one he wants. Along with that, I see the frame broken in 2 on BOTH sides with about 2 inches separating the parts, about 18 inches ahead of the front spring hangers. The large horizontal propane tank on one side (outside of rail) is holding the sections together and the mid-ship fuel tank on the other is attempting the same thing. I called my boss over, he says put a tire on it and put it outside. I said we should call the state or municipal police. He refused. So I did, the state and local police said, what are we supposed to do about it? I took the truck's information, called MVC, they asked for particulars and I gave them. They pulled the license of the place that did the inspection, and "recalled" the truck, via a letter to the owner. The guy never showed, and when they called me back, they said there was nothing they could do.

A coworker of mine didn't or wouldn't believe that a modern car is safer than an older car. He's a "full frame" person. Anything with body on frame just has to be stronger. I showed him the IIHS video of the '59 Chevy against the '09 Malibu. I then asked him, which car he'd rather be in. He sat there in shock.

I've got one '02 E350 7.3 midship tank, been on critical back order since January. It may be due in by April 28. No aftermarket tank companies seem to make one for this thing. Now I have an '02 E450 7.3 cutaway, with the huge aft axle RV style tank. This one is rotten outside and every weld inside is rotting. Is Ford kidding with the list on this thing, $2200? Finger's Radiator was of no help, they wanted nothing to do with the big tank. Nothing could be done with the midship tank, it has a plastic baffle inside. We're currently hoping a local rad shop can repair it.

B5 books? Are they written versions of the tv show or new stories? I have a bunch of stuff I read: F1 Racing, Holmes magazine, Autoweek, R&T, C&D, Automobile, Race Tech, and a few others that sit a bit like National Geographic, TOH, and Roadracing World. And a whole bunch, when I have time lately, mind numbing TV, especially F1 and the laptop. I need to get out those dvds and watch B5, Farscape and a bunch of others, as what's on tv now is mostly crap.

Hey, looks familiar! This one came off a V10. The kid who owns the truck did this, then didn't change the oil for about 30k and ran it out of oil till it spit a rod.

I guess I'm lucky, all my wisdom teeth came in when I was 14. All straight too. I did though skip a long time of routine dental work. Went to a new dentist last November, ended up spending just over a grand for 7 fillings. All my first. I guess the torture as a kid my mom put me through was worth it. All those fluoride treatments and 3 month visits to the dentist until I was in my late teens. She didn't want me to repeat her dental issues, she's probably spent nearly $100k over the years to correct problems caused by a dentist who screwed up 45 years ago.

I wish I had a missile launcher... On my way to work each day I drive down a 2 lane divided highway. This particular road is known for higher than "normal" highway speeds. I'm in the left lane, passing people, mind you, I'm doing north of 80, south of 100. Up comes a Chevy pickup, so close all I could see in my mirror is a chevy badge, and part of the front bumper. He sticks there for a good mile as I'm passing people and accelerating. I finally get an opening in the right lane, signal, and he's already weaved right, then left, and blows past me with his Duramax with straight pipes howling. Remember I'm now at ~110 mph. Those LT tires must love those speeds. Arseholes like that are ones I wish for my last employers old wheel lift, with that nice half inch thick, rubber covered push bumper.

Yep, about 5 minutes from where I work. Too much money and too little brains. You should see their 2010 Jeep Wrangler. 3.8 minivan engine and all, with 38" tires on it too. Talk about SLOW....

Exactly, it's useless off road, as the torsion bar x-member is at or lower than stock height with the truss system to lower it. Even with the bypass shocks, it's got about 1.5" of total suspension travel in the front. The bump stops when lifted have just about that much before they hit the lower arms. It's not like you can load the bed, as the bed floor is at my head level when it's parked. It does have a 12" drop hitch on it. More stupidity. It amazes me, with what these things cost new, to do such things. Then they call it a POS when all the aftermarket garbage causes failures. Those 38x15.5x20 tires will, I'm sure destroy the stock sealed front wheel bearings in aftermarket knuckles. Its got easily double the turning radius of a 1999-2004 super duty. It rides like an old leaf sprung dodge power wagon. Ouch. Keith, what does it perform? It's a huge tax write off for the kid who drives it, as he's a co-owner of the place that sells all the crap that's on it. I'd rather have a stock Raptor, to go with my Lightning.

Well, we got a nice one in today. A 2007 Silverado HD duramax truck. Every possible add on and gizmo added to it. It came from this place: http://www.xtremediesel.com/ They use their own trucks as "showcases" for how much junk you can throw at a truck and make it useless. This is the truck: http://www.xtremediesel.com/gmduramax66l075-08lmm.aspx He have all the crap added, with all the stickers all over the truck. But he can't do an oil change. That's what it came in for. On the truck, of course, is the initials of the place. XDP. We had so much fun with that today, as did our secretary. XDP, Xtreme Double Penetration or as our secretary said, without any prompting, "that truck looks so dumb, who's is it?" We said "XDP's" She replied, "Oh, Xtremely Dinky Penis" and walked away. I never laughed so hard! Fits perfectly for the kid owner of it too!

Make sure the wastegate solenoid is not allowing boost to get to the actuator prematurely. I've had a couple that have gone bad and they run like pigs as they can't build proper boost with the wastgate open.

As Bruce said, start at the supply end. Is the filter housing all corroded and stained inside? Does it act like a gas engine with bad secondary ignition, along with a lot of blue/white smoke if you rev it in neutral as it goes through the 2000~2800 rpm range? Is it much worse when cold? I've had several that have had tank/pump/filter issues that damage the injectors and they run like I described. They actually start cold fairly easy, but have no power, build little boost, and smoke quite badly until hot.

Wow, the original pledge! It's a shame those in Washington now don't seem to comprehend it.