JoeR

Did you tell them they also have a bad cat? I know....I know....Pretty stupid....but it's the best I have. Joe

Any news on why they came to get the trucks? I'm curious what happened. Joe

That's cool. I wasn't aware of any that were done and didn't include tools. While it's a bummer that you have that expense, I'd rather have my own tool choices if I was working in a shop. Joe

Build A Bay. We (Snap-on) do this all the time, all over the place. One one hand, it's great for the techs because you aren't supplying your own tools. On the other hand, it can be a pain when you don't dictate what's in the toolbox you work out of. Airlines are switching over to boxes like this with electronic tool inventory. If you want to land a plane in Europe, that plane needs to be built and worked on with total tool inventory control. If not, their insurance won't let that plane land there. It'll be Stateside eventually. Joe

Bio is a little heavier viscosity than regular diesel, so it may work the HP pump a bit harder. However, the biggest problem with Bio is that the quality degrades quickly. Once that starts happening it will form long strings of fatty acids...they clump together and get big enough to be visible...can plug fuel filters...can form varnish in the cylinders...it's a risk telling someone they can use it. It even helps water pass through the water separator, but testing has shown that water doesn't necessarily harm the fuel system. I see the 6.7s are rated for B20. As long as the fuel is good quality, it will run on it without any troubles. Even B100 wouldn't hurt it, but it's not up to us to make that recommendation. I've run B100 in a few Common Rail engines, but it's a risk, and I'd never advise a customer to do it. As far as the DPF, the DOE tested Bio in various concentrations and it showed regens could take place at slightly lower temps, although they weren't able to explain why. Joe

Well that's one gas truck and one diesel truck. It's not engine or emission related. Joe

Was it a gas or diesel? I'm certainly curious what would cause them to come get it. I can't imagine what might be wrong that couldn't be repaired at a Dealer. Joe

White smoke? If I was guessing, and I am, I'd say it was injectors. I'd want to start the diagnosis with a better scanner though. Check the injector balance rates to see if they are even. Try changing the pressure regulator to the extremes of the adjustment. If the smoke clears up when you drop it, replace the injectors. Joe

Yes. I see it a lot on Ford and Chevy trucks. No vacuum generates during the pulldown phase of the EVAP monitor, as you noted, and the PCM interprets it as a Gross Leak. It trips up a lot of techs that diagnose it with a smoke machine and find no leak. Joe

Looks like 40 ft lbs.

Is your compressor inlet downstream from the EGR inlet? If so, you probably have some carbon cleaning to do. Maybe in the air tanks and brakes too. Check for a replacement intake manifold that has an inner pipe that allows the compressor to get air from upstream of the EGR.

That sounds like the criteria for Global OBDII Mode 0A. The code remains stored for 400 days, unless the monitor runs successfully 3 times, then the code clears. Joe

DEF Quality Codes on a Duramax. DEF quality tested low, but not by much. DEF tank heater was cracked. Notice the goo leaking out. Notice the DEF crystals inside the heater once it dried out.

Try waking one up by pressurizing it. It'll be a little work, but maybe drop the whole thing in a tire and air it up. Some manufacturers state as much as needing 2 minutes of being pressurized in order to wake up from shipping mode. Joe

Do you know if there is an easy way to access the egr port in the lower intake? Can it be reached with a bore scope? This fleet has a bunch of these trucks. I'm sure if I left them with a bore scope they would take some before/after shots.

They are using the new Gulf system. The chemical is aqueous NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide). They did it at high idle, while cycling the EGR valve. Dunno on the lower intake. I am totally impressed at how well it dissolves carbon. all that crud has to go somewhere though. I'm sure if they unbolted the pipe before it goes into the DOC while they did the cleaning it wouldn't face plug the DOC, but that's not the easiest thing to do on every truck. On the other hand, it's easier than other methods of decarboning the EGR circuit. Joe

2011 F550 Cab and Chassis. 200k Miles. Originally a P207F. Shop performed a chemical EGR flush. It definitely cleaned the EGR system. It was impressively clean. After the flush the truck had no boost. They found a stuck VGT on the turbo and replaced it. Still had no boost, but now had MAF codes. All that carbon had to go someplace. This is the face of the DOC. Joe

Ran into a 2015 F550 with a P2002. Truck is bone stock, 11,000 miles. Ran a regen to see what would happen. Temps looked good. Soot level dropped to 2%. Back pressure still 6 PSI at high idle. 800+ miles average between regens, so idle time is not terribly high. They were running 15W-40 oil in it, but I can't believe that'd cause so much trouble in so short a period of time.

It doesn't have to be as dramatic as a leg getting cut off. If a weakened drawer slide mount failed and you crushed a hand, or even a finger, that would cost them way more than the box. Joe

While probably not the intention of this thread, here's what I've got in my shop at the moment. A 1927 Rumely DoAll. The rebuild is almost done. Replacing the rusty steel wheels required taking the covers off the wheel pedestals, and swapping the bull gear to the new wheels. This tractor has been a real project. Most of the parts I needed to repair it had to be made. My last expense will be getting a manifold cast for it. A few pics for entertainment purposes.

You can always use safety in your defense. Unless the insurance company can prove there was no metal fatigue caused by the fire, and that the drawers and wheels will continue to hold their rated amount, then you can't safely use the toolbox. They would assume responsibility if you were injured when a drawer or the cabinet failed. $6K is cheap. I bet they'll replace it. Joe

That's a good argument. Making it look nice does not necessarily make it nice. Joe

If you have a current EC account and are making payments on the box, check with your Snap-on guy. It may be covered by the insurance on the loan. Joe

Thanks for the response. This truck has definitely been a challenge. The PCM corrected the problem with the J1708 signal, but the PPS codes are still giving me a run for the money. I have checked the 12V and Ground connections to the PCM until I got tired of watching it. It has had the overlay harness replaced with a home made version. It does it with the MAP Sensor unplugged, and with a couple of different pedal position sensors. The first pedal position sensor was definitely bad, as you can see on the lab scope, but any time the other codes set there is no problem visible with the circuits. The problem has improved, but is not yet repaired. I admit i haven't tried a new pedal assembly, but I might as well at this point. Joe On edit: I hadn't talked to the shop owner in a few weeks. I talked to him about this and apparently the homemade wiring repair did fix the truck. That's a relief.

If you think it's bad in the private sector, you should get a hit of the public fleet shops. It's discouraging. In some shops there is a mentality of "I'm not gonna learn anything, and you can't make me." Thankfully they're not all like that. Joe