SteveS

This response is from a tech with 30+ years experience, regardless of where the experience was gained. Are you with me so far? More than half of my time on the line has been at a dealership, and although working at an indy shop right now I am still insulted by "stealership". Point 1: "while I was underway (Navy)" earns the guy extra slack. Unless you have done it you have no perspective to criticize. If you have, THANK YOU! We are typically unappreciative of the people that assure our freedom. I take every opportunity I have to show appreciation to military personel (yes, I put my money where my mouth is). Point 2: It is difficult, with our experience and knowledge, to put ourselves in our customer's shoes. The guy knows that the truck was working OK when he left and it was not when he returned. What he sees as different is that the wife took the truck in for an oil change. Point 3: There actually are people at dealerships that screw customers. Just like there are people at independant shops that screw customers. I have worked at dealerships where there were merchandisers who "found" necessary repairs that just happened to be gravy jobs. All the time. Exclusively. When the actual problem that brought the customer in to the shop "was not happening during the testing". As a tech that is now hearing how the dealership did not treat a customer right I take any chance to inform the owner that the dealer techs are limited in what they can do. When I tell a customer that the technician won't get paid if Ford does not think the repair was needed they are surprised; they seem to think the tech is all-powerful and makes the decision to deny the customer his rightful coverage. And let's face it, Service Advisors are usually interested in moving on to a better paying job, too, aren't they?(as are some techs) Isn't this the customer's link to the dealership? In my experience many of the dealership SAs are not mechanically inclined, they are salesmen. In the indy world it seems to be more common that the person with which the customer has contact has shop experience. In my last dealership life, a shop that had about 30 techs and (as I recall) 7 Advisors, the advisor with the most shop experience had moved up from a lube-tech position. (In my early days it seemed like toward the end of a mechanic's career he would write service, move up to management. It does not seem to happen that way now.) By necessity the emphisis is on sales, not figuring out the problem or helping the customer understand the complexities fo warranty coverage and aftermarket systems. I guess the bottom line of the point that I'm driving at is that we should put ourselves in the position of the customer. I am fortunate that presently I can do that and not loose money (and I realize that that thought process can be costly in some cicumstances). And the costomer needs to be open minded, too!

I used to have a night shift job and listened to Art Bell, the originator (I believe) of "Coast to Coast". They really have some interesting guests. We had a night security guard that believed everything he heard on that show; and had a map of world destruction to prove it. The date came and went and the world didn't end. Through that show I learned of the UFO and Paranormal Expo . My gf at the time had a passing interest in UFOs, so we went. WOW; I never realized that I was so "normal". There were some genuinely odd people there. Picked up a Tee shirt "Shift Happens: New Paradigms Emerge". Wore it to my shooting club for a pistol match and got a few looks and comments. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/scratchhead.gif

Wow, Jim, unbelieveable that people would stick to a concept that obviously was not going anywhere. Did you ever learn what they are doing now?

Very cool website! I was trying to think of an old movie to watch, all that came to mind was Duel . Got part way through it and had other stuff to do (I'm home on vacation but still need to get things done). Added it to Favorites for later; THANKS!

I'd bet that it would be impossible to recoup. I suspect, though, that none of the original employees were remaining there on the picket line, probably (what I'd call) "professional pickets". I encountered a business like that, where I knew they had been on strike for a long while (certainly NOT 8 YEARS, though!) and I happened to be walking past one of the guys (walking by, not crossing the line) and asked how it was going. At least that striker that I talked to had never been an employee at that business, just sent by the hall to carry a sign. It's too bad that emotions get involved and guys picture themselves as Sylvester Stalone (I forgot the name of the movie), instead of a realistic evalaution of the situation's positive and negative aspects. In my experience the hot-heads start trying to rally everyone to their David/Goliath mentality. Especially surprising in a profession where we are expected to evaluate the facts and make a logical decision!

My wife buys enough dog food that she buys directly from a distributor, 20+ bags at a time (AND she makes home-made food for almost half of their meals; that's all I'll say about that). The guy said that he added an HHO system to his Diesel Isuzu box van. On the initial trip across our pass while pulling a trailer (truck and trailer filled with products) he was able to pull 6 MPH faster. I was talking to him at a dog show and he didn't have time to show me the system. He had not done the math on the fuel consumption yet. That is pretty respectable on something shaped like a brick with about 2/3 as much engine as it should have. Edit: If you are seeing increased economy and he is seeing increased power it seems like there is a strong indication that it creates more energy than it consumes. So, then it seems to come down to how much it costs to make and whether it does any long term harm.

I was working in a union dealership shop about 25 years ago when the contract proposal included higher employee contribution for health insurance. As I recall we would have accepted the wage offer but the insurance was a sticking point for the guys with families. I was a DINK (double income, no kids) and would not have been effected by a larger contribution for my spouse since she had insurance with her employer. But I was willing to walk the picket line with my "brothers". Solidarity, right? There was a dealer organization that would negociate for the owners and it represented a considerable number of dealerships. A GM store across the street from us had a sweetheart contract where the owner agreed to whatever was settled between the union and the dealer organization, so they kept on working. One of my co-workers, "Rick", couldn't grasp the concept and as we were picketing he was always annoyed about "those scabs". No amount of talking could convince that they weren't scabs since they weren't on strike. Then after a couple weeks Rick took a withdrawal from the union and went to work at our own store as a strike breaker. At the end of the strike he just rejoined and went back to work with no penalty. I took it as a double kick in the nuts: he was making a wage while we were getting strike pay, and he had no loss for what he'd done. As I recall we were out for almost 2 months. Maybe the guys that needed to buy medical for their families got something from it but I wouldn't have made up the loss in wages with the raises over the course of the contract. I found another job that was not union and have not been back since. I think that the union has improved a lot of the aspects of our trades (and similar trades), but If I were going to be a member again it would be because the job required it. And although I wouldn't cross the line for work, I'd probably only walk a picket line if it benefitted me.

There are forces in the world that defy logical explaination. If you have found a way to appease the gods I will not argue; I'm sure that I have what many might consider rituals, too.

Does that stream into ported vacuum? Or just in the intake duct between air filter and throttle body? Like the generator is running all the time that the key is on, producing hydrogen gas. Then when there is sufficient air flow it is drawn into the intake air stream, right? Is there any shut-down ritual needed where you turn it off a certain time before you stop the engine so that there is no residual gas when the engine is off? Have you noticed any change in the driveability? Is there a warm-up time before it starts working?

There are entirely different worlds out there, aren't there? At least you got to see another reality, even if it does not become your reality. I am sure that they have their good/bad points, good people/total flakes, good projects/complete loser jobs. Still, when I took college classes (as an adult) a number of years ago, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. All the assesment tests indicated that I was doing what I am best suited for. So if you can find something else that you like (or even love) doing that is more challenging and rewarding than what you have now, grab it while you can!

AWESOME! It's great just to be considered when you were not even looking for it! I hope that it leads to something exciting and rewarding; GOOD LUCK!

That was the first thing I thought of, too! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif

Fair enough! I marvel at people that expect everyone else to sacrafice while they justify their lifestyle ("Loggers should not cut the trees; how do you like my new deck?"), but you are walking the walk. I genuinely hope that there is some good that comes of this but it sure seems like the a lot of people will get hurt by the economy tanking.

I am curious about what you are driving. Not being judgemental, just wondering about your perspective and level of commitment to your beliefs.

WOW! We have it pretty good here, there is a lot of hydro-electric power that is locally generated. My house is all electric and I suppliment with wood when the power goes out. I seem to get a few trees every winter that fall during storms, enough to feed my emergancy heat. However, there is a rumor that the local hydro plants are going to be bought by european (lower case "e" purposely) companies that will raise the prices to match the rest of the country. Great. On top of fuel prices.

It would seem inevitable that there is lasting changes. I would expect that there will be fewer personal use Diesel pickups, and less use on the ones that are out there. Maybe the guy buys a beater car for his commuter and uses the pickup for hauling the toys and home projects on weekends. Many commercial use trucks will see less use as people spend more of their income on necessities; not only fuel but everything else is increasing as well. So they are less likely to buy that hot tub or have the remodel done or add to the landscaping. So the contractors that would be running the trucks to accomplish those jobs (I suspect) will be running fewer miles, resulting in less wear and maintenance on the trucks. The trucks should last longer if they are not being used as much and it seems likely that companies will have less income to buy new equipment. I noticed that with the latest round of fuel price increases the construction trucking (dumps, mostly) company across the street from us has had their truck sitting in the lot more than I've ever seen, a few days in the last couple weeks it appeared that none of the trucks left the yard all day. Here at our shop it seems like the phone is not ringing as much it used to and it is easier to get an appointment than usual. I hate to admit that I didn't see it coming, but now that I see it happening it does not look good.

OK, now you're talking! I'll confess a bit of envy that you have such a beautiful place to live. I wouldn't feel bad at all that it worked out the way that it did. Congratulations!

Well, the on topic part of my response is that no, I don't really look at online tech placement services. I went through a phase where I thought I wanted a different job, had an offer from a local public transit system and submited my resignation. The company convinced me that I was an integral part of the machine, I stayed, and have not regretted it (or looked around) since. The off-topic part is that the "dramatic change" stories are Canadians trying to get positions in the US. My image of Canada is formed by being an occasional visitor and what I read on forums like this. But from what I read here the store where Jim works could use good, skilled, trained help and has the possibility of making 6 figures +. Pretty good money no matter what the exchange rate is. Now, I think that I live in a place that could not be more perfect for what I love: mountains, trees, green year-'round, not too hot in summer, nor too cold in winter. Reasonably good firearms rights; honest, hard-working citizens are allowed to arm themselves against the possibilty of crime. The government is more "liberal" than I would like, but (at least by my perception) probably not as much as Canada. Many people find the frequent rain and gray skies depressing but I love it: always green! Otherwise it would be tempting to try to go north of the border and try to make some good money in an area that is probably more remote than where I live now (I can see one other house from my place, I feel a little crowded). I guess the part that puzzles me is that a Canadian would consider living in Colorado (and I think of eastern Colorado as the same as Kansas; western CO is considerably different) and not take the opportunity in an area like Northern Alberta (no immigration, same government, lifestyle, and currency [and language, eh?]. What is the attaction to the US?

From the Cummins book at the beginning of the article for 433: Fault Code: 433 Reason: Boost pressure signal indicates boost pressure is high when other engine parameters indicate boost pressure should be low or boost pressure is low when engine parameters indicate it should be high. Effect: Engine will derate to no-boost fueling The pages are on the way.

I borrowed a Cummins book from a friend, it has 8 pages with illustrations on the 433 code. It is a "Light Duty" spec book, so a lot of it is for Dodge applications, and they cross that code to P0236. It is a bit much for me to copy manually but I'd be glad to scan it and send it to your email address if you want it.

Our shop recently stepped up and bought an IDS. We got the price sheet that Keith has but when were about to actually make the buy my manager said that the Parts Manager at the local dealership told him that if we bought from them we would not get the 2 year subscription. I don't understand it, maybe there was a misunderstanding somewhere in their communication. Anyway, my manager talked with Bruce on the phone (THANKS BRUCE!!) and (I believe) ordered directly from Rotunda. We have a good relationship with our local Ford store, and I think that we are consistantly one of their biggest wholesale accounts (frequently THE biggest) and would have rather kept it local, but the subscription is too valuable. We found a place on ebay that has refurbished Tough Books that are lease returns (ours apparantly was a local government contract) for less than $900. It is a little old, the screen is more square than the latest widescreen trend, but it works great. They upgraded the memory, so it is the fastest PC that is available to the techs in the shop. It didn't need a hard drive upgrade for us, I store anything that I want to keep on the company server. It has a double function in that it has a serial port that most newer notebooks don't have, and we have a couple things in the shop that use that. There are "serial-to-USB" adapters but sometimes they get glitchy; a PC with a serial port works better. Your guys are going to LOVE this tool! I am still fumbling around with it but I have come to recognise it as the best "scan tool" I've ever used. Added in edit: Aside from pretty much needing XP Pro (apparantly it can run on Vista) for the IDS If I were doing it over again I would buy a laptop for my own use with XP Pro. Instead of buying a notebook on a local store special (WOW, What a great price!), having issues with Vista, then buying a copy of XP Pro (I do believe in legal ownership) and installing it. I could have bought a better brand computer w/XP for about what I paid for a "bargain" plus the convesion. Also: If you are accustomed to previous Office versions I would install an older version instead of Office 2007. It works OK but if you are going to share anything to an older computer you need to save it as "Compatible" (I set my default to the older style) and all the controls are moved around. Am I sounding like a dinosaur yet?

Well, I thought that I was going to need something from the equipment rental shop but I got by without going into town (burning stumps is my pre-summer project over the last few weekends). Did you find the MAP?

I will be near work tomorrow, I'll stop in and see if that motorhome (Freightliner chassis) has a MAP. I am 98% sure they all have it on the 24 valves but am willing to consider that I have not seen it all. I don't think that you need to apologize to Canadians about a holiday; they seem to have more than our government employees!!! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

It should be near the back of the driver side of the head. As I recall the IAT (2 wires) is the rearmost, MAP (3 wires) is second from the rear. The intake "manifold" is mostly in the head casting, so look a little below the top manifold plate. I had a page from Mitchell illustrating where it is on a pickup but we've been having some problems getting things to print. The reference that you were using for Dodge info might have a picture?

That is probably true of the IAT but not the MAP. I think that it will defuel if it thinks that the intake charge is too hot, but I have not ever known of a problem in that direction. BTW, I have a motorhome in right now on which the ground for the intake heater burned off. I haven't yet figured out what caused it to stay on, I think that the relay(s) stuck on, but we lucked out that the heating grid didn't break apart and go through the motor. If you suspect that the intake heater might be staying on too long it would be better to keep it unplugged than to burn it up.