Jeff Adema

Yes, actually. It's too bad you had such a bad experience, this product is actually quite a high quality item. As far as I know, it's the only 'power enhancement module' available over the parts counter at any auto dealer, with the full blessing of the OEM.

That show was filmed in Dwayne's home country. Talk about middle of nowhere! My wife and I drove past that area en route to a wedding in Winnipeg, I bet you could hear grass grow out there...

Whenever I see trucks like that, (and around here they're plentiful), I have a powerful desire to deliver a well-deserved smack in the head to the chump behind the wheel. My rage increases with my age.....

hmmm, you're in Dauphin, I'd bet the offending party would be the DDC/MBE/Allison dealer in Winnipeg, right?? Been there, done that, worked for them. Wanna know what I think of them? Huh? Huh? I shouldn't jump to conclusions, I know. But it all has a very familiar stink to it.....

An EGR leak should be considered a boost leak, like the allegedly cracked intercooler. Either leak can cause a turbocharger to overspeed, as the turbo has less "resistance" to work against. An overspeed situation can cause the turbo seals to fail and leak, which can be overlooked and misdiagnosed as a base engine failure. I can't point fingers, but I have witnessed such scenarios play out at the dealer level, resulting in unnecessary engine work and dissatisfied customers. Pull off the air inlet and outlet from the turbo compressor, and inspect for excessive shaft radial free play. Sometimes the bearings are fine, but the seals have failed. Either way, oil is fed into the charge-air piping at 30-60psi. If you had a base engine problem resulting in oil consumption, there should have been high crankcase pressure and excessively black oil. Just my thoughts.

Jim, maybe I am nucking futs. But a happy wife (with a spending leash) makes for a happier life. Beer helps, too.

I spoke with the DP of our local dealer last night at the Christmas Eve service, he also runs the mother ship dealer in Airdrie (10 minutes north of Calgary). He's looking for at least one diesel certified tech, in the Airdrie location. It is/was a medium duty dealer, and quite likely the biggest store between Red Deer and Calgary. I have a lot of respect for this man, his family is close to my in-laws, and I would work for him in a heartbeat (but am quite content to stay where I am for now). I don't care to be a go-between, but I can let interested parties know how to contact him. The town is nice, close enough to a city with an airport, major league sports, shopping opportunities for wives, the Rockies are looking over your western fence, warm chinook winds regularly give a welcome break from the cold of winter, low taxes.........seriously, folks.

Merry Christmas to you, Keith, and to everybody else, too.

Not that there's anything wrong with Slave Lake or Grande Prairie, I've actually never visited either locale, but can an objective opinion really be gained from a salesman? Hehe, sorry Jim, I couldn't help myself. I'm in central AB, an hour from Calgary and along the busy and somewhat affluent corridor between Calgary and Edmonton, where life is beautiful all the time. Check out Albertafirst.ca, if I was a little more zippy I'd post the link, but it's not that hard to remember.....one can compare stats and figures between various towns and cities in Alberta. With crude topping $90/barrel the oilpatch is getting a little more intense. Good luck in your quest, I came out over five years ago from southern Ontario and I'll never willingly go back!

Sadly, Jim, this trade is still viewed much the same. And taking the thought processes out of diagnosing and repairing vehicles by automating the diagnosis (or playing the numbers game with most-likely-failed-part-roulette) and turning techs into sub-assembly replacement monkeys is not improving matters. Read Aaron's tag-line, "Keep replacing EGR valve until......." WTF? Makes me wanna squeeze my head in the vice.... I still vividly remember the gasps of despair while in school for automotive, and again in heavy-duty, when the instructors trotted out formulas for power calculations and electricity. "I thought I wasn't gonna hafta do math ever again...."....and a few more duds would drop out and take up landscaping or truck-driving.

Every job must be done right. Those are words to live by.

It is too bad, Bruce. I do miss the verbal slap on the side of my head that you and Damon could deliver in a gracious and informative way. Maybe my kind of antics helped push you and Damon away, who knows.... I do enjoy networking with professionals with real brains and real experience, and it disappoints me as well that the real assets to the repair industry opt to drop out. But I see the same crap happening in my own shop, as real experience and diagnostic efforts are circumvented by ignorance and pride by somebody doing a google search to find a quick answer for a phone-in fix. WTF? Whatever happened to investing in knowledge? I don't profess to be anything special, I'm humble enough to be able to learn from anybody and anything. I absorb and buy all the info I can, but most days it hardly seems to be enough. Maybe I just had a bad week.....

Sounds like a relatively easy fix. Easy is good. How's the back doing lately?

I've info at work (Cat SIS and ET, plus various hardcopies), but I'd venture to say in that truck there's likely a two-wire Deutch-style gray rectangular connector in or near the T-stat housing for Cat's coolant temp sensor, but the Ford dash is likely reading off of a separate sensor near the Cat unit. If I'm right, it's a two-pin thermistor with a connector that should look familiar to you in Ford-land. This isn't an F-series is it? It's an L isn't it, the precursor to the Sterling atrocities!

I don't know why they'd say possible change of water pump, but apparently this stuff doesn't need to be pressurized the way water-based coolants need to be, as the boiling point is higher than most engines' operating range, hence the switch of rad caps. Maybe they're trying to flog their own brand of pumps, rads, etc.

I read about it in Diesel Progress magazine, it sounds like a heckuva good idea, in theory at least. I like the idea of eliminating the water, especially, it rids the system of variables like total dissolved solids, etc. Ya, I know the PROPER way is to use distilled water, but no owner/driver and very few shops ever use it. And the boiling point was quite higher too, if I remember correctly.

Who's the engine builder? You aren't perhaps in Invermere, are you?

Can't you get a machine shop to build it for you? Our local guys build just about anything for us, Competition Services from Crossfield, AB. I can get a phone number if you're interested. Or you might try Superior Power Products in Calgary, I think that's the name, but then they use aftermarket parts most of the time. Anyway you slice it, the worst part is engine re/re, which you're doing anyways, right? It should be a pretty simple engine to overhaul, and a manual can't be that expensive. Is it a Perkins, Iveco, or Case/Cummins?

I think what Jim's trying to communicate is that no one test can be construed as being sufficient to elicit a complete diagnosis. That is why scientists prove/disprove over and over again in laboratory settings, using different tests and procedures. We can probably all relate to following an OEM test procedure or flow chart only to come up empty handed (replace ECM/known good part, etc). But, if this bus has always been too heavy for the power output of that engine, and too slow for the demands of it's owners, then it is reasonable to inquire, as Jim alludes, if it has been chipped or programmed to command "big oil" to make "cheap power". Or am I just talking crazy?

1) Assuming ANYTHING is wrong. Don't assume you know the failure/complaint/problem, don't assume the fuel pressure, don't assume the customer's ability or otherwise to spend money or understand you or the problem, etc. 2) Reusing o-rings/gaskets/seals or using silicone inappropriately, or assembling things dry/lubed inappropriately. I heard once, "Nothing goes together dry or dirty, if you don't learn it from me you'll learn in sex-ed class or the clinic." 3) Not labeling or otherwise keeping organized wiring/vacuum/air lines, just in case someone else takes over (because you're sick/injured/dead) or you're late/stupid in reassembling. My brain is too small to remember everything, so I try to organize. 4) Oily footprints/floor-dry/parts all over the place. 5) Washing hands. Do they charge you for the soap and water where you work? No? Then why are you eating/writing/driving/typing with dirty hands? Do you understand what stereotypes are? 6) Ignoring the obvious. 7) "Closing one eye." Do you know what I mean by that? Letting shit slide by on an inspection because you're in a hurry/customer's waiting impatiently/etc. 8) Talking trash about anybody, anytime. 9) Deflecting the blame when the shit hits the fan. Think you're a man? Admit you're wrong or messed up. 10) Threading something in, like a drainplug, and not tightening it. If it's in, it better be tight. If it's not, it better be out. 11) Bay doors part-way closed. How do you think they get damaged? BTDT, twice.

I didn't actually work on it, but when I was at the Detroit Diesel dealer we had a local construction tycoon bring in his race truck to shake down on our chassis dyno. CAT C12 pushing close to 1000hp in front of a MT series Allison in a single axle Peterbilt chassis, that was cool. We've also had something that looked like a Batmobile come in for parts, built by a local guy for Hollywood, it had a 500hp Detroit 8V92 in it. I think it's called something gay like "Iron Eagle" or such. Anyways, when finished the buyer backed out, so the builder just drives and shows it. Cool to see, I should find and post links or pics...... As for weird, I got to work on an actual restored and street worthy Ford Model "T" when I was at my dad's auto shop. That was neat, wooden battery, convection cooling, manual spark advance beside the steering wheel, a true time machine.

Do you have any material a person might purchase, regarding your unsold course? Texts, diag sheets, etc.? And what's this sunny south Florida business? Come suffer with the rest of us!

I clicked on that link shortly after you put it up, Bruce, but haven't actually looked at the files until now, I've just been up to my neck busy. But I gotta say, wow! Thank you so much, those are fantastic and will get regular usage in our shop. PS: Did you ever finish putting together your Freightliner M2 multiplexing course?

Looks like it took design cues from the Pontiac Aztek....I'd run too if I saw it coming my way.

Which one, Larry, Roughriders or Rough Riders? Only the freakin' CFL would allow two teams to co-exist with names like that. FWIW, you haven't seen rapid fans until you've experienced the Rider Nation bellowing drunkenly in your ear, all green-painted, watermelon helmet-wearing, Pilsner-drinking and such, while it's 30 below and snowing. Now that's sport.