Brad Clayton

Oh how I miss sweet tea and fried food at restaurants... but thats neither here nor there.

I had an ex marine/no it all/ex mechanic, running our shop for a while. Dealing with this guy took some patience to say the least. Any quote over $100 bucks came under scrutiny. He had absolutely no faith or trust in us. I remember a Ranger that had no up or left on both power mirrors. I changed the switch quickly with a know good one before heading to the parts counter and still had same problem. Looked a little further and oddly enough it had two bad mirrors. So I'm at the parts counter and he over hears the quote for $400 worth of mirrors and accuses me of guessing and throwing parts at it to get it out of my bay and onto another ticket (we've never seen that before right?). Then he wants me to find another Ranger and take the mirrors off and show him they work on the bum truck. Keep in mind this is 1992, the chances of finding a Ranger with power anything are rare to none. I ended up having to take a mirror off a limited Explorer with heated mirrors no less and then jumping out connectors with jumper wires to the truck to show him it would work. After he saw the work I went through and the knowledge displayed using an evtm to make him a believer, he lightened up a bit.

Quote: Every single job was a battle with him to prove your diagnosis. I really don't like to be second guessed if I haven't given a good reason to be. Typical deal where the guy on the counter knows more than the tech... I'm gonna continue this over at the on the job section.

I had a 7.3l do the same thing. The o rings bit into the cup. I ended up bringing the whole cup out with the injector using the prybar method. Not sure if this is viable on a 6.0l though.

Quote: but I can't get my head that far up my ass..... _________________________ The older I get the less limber I get. So lately I have been doing some stretching, maybe one day I will be there.

For the majority of my career, I did engine work at the dealer in South Carolina. Neglected cooling systems kept me in business. I swapped 2 to 3 engines a week because of cooling system problems. Quote: cooling systems rarely see the loads that those in the south I also believe it is a demographic issue. I have lived in Vermont for 5 years now and never seen an issue. So who knows if they would help out or not. I bought an Explorer with a blown motor and I put a FQR 302 in it, at the same time I converted the cooling system to gold antifreeze. I am coming up on 30k and it's getting to be winter so I am changing the thermostat and putting fresh coolant in it. I will take a look inside and see what I can see. Keep in mind my vehicle is not a degas system and doesn't get the work out a diesel does.

Quote: the oil pick-up screen is course enough to allow rocks, sticks and even small children through That's funny right there, I don't care who ya are.

Not sure if everyone has access to this. http://www.fordtechservice.dealerconnect...e_QRG102907.pdf Every customer should have a copy of this, IMHO.

Anyone had any luck retrieving loose parts from broken injectors or valve train components once they have migrated past the rocker cover area?

Quote: Next thing you know, we'll be installing optional wiper arms too. and Ford will put packets of rain-x in the glove box.

Had a '00 I was replacing a bent push rod on the left bank. The truck was so dirty that I put a rag over the master to keep crap off my elbow. Another tech started the truck for me so I could watch the valvetrain in action. He revved the truck and instantly the rag was picked up off the master and spit out the turbo like confetti. I was amazed, I had always heard stories about these things but never seen it first hand.

Ran across an 05 with a biased icp sensor today. First one in a while. Engine sounded like it was running under water.

I use the NGS everyday, it stays on my tool box, and still has plenty of life left in it. Which is more than I can say for SBDS and WDS.

Quote: They are usually good with maintaining them, but this one fell through the cracks i guess lol They must a been usin the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" theory. The problem with that is some people don't know when it's broke. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Well I performed this recall today, and the only real issue I had with it was gettin those damn push nuts off the glow plug relay heat shield.

Ford actually called our dealer today and wanted to know why we haven't done the recall on one of our trucks in stock. First time I ever heard of them doing this.

Here is a diesel Ranger for ya. http://www.dieselpowermag.com/features/0707dp_project_garage_drag_trucks/photo_08.html

That's some rotten luck, 1st he misses the boat then misses out on the 50" plasma screen tv.

He was affectionately dubbed "Frank the Tank" afterwards. To give you an idea of how far Ford goes with the event, this fellow missed the cruise last year by 5 minutes due to airline screwups. Ford brought him back this year no questions asked. I'm gonna bet they do the same thing next year because one of the no shows whose name was called at the final event missed the boat due to family reasons, I think.

Quote: We are putting miles on the truck before returning it. I wanna be sure! Had the same situation, didn't want to believe it could happen. Customer was in shop every week with mil on. Finally put air filter back to stock and he's been on the road for over a month with no problems.

ditto. been pulling cabs since '97.

I feel that the 6.4 is gonna bring a big demand for "customized" tools.

Straight up family man here. My boys and I hit the movies on Sunday and eat at the best Mexican place in the Northeast. We wait patiently on Winter because we all work at the same ski lodge and are diehard snowboarders. This will be my third season and their "old man" plans on kicking their arses, I've got new gear, new insurance and plan on hitting the terrain park this year. Gonna be tough to do winter sports if I ever get to west Texas. I used to customize cars down South, but up here it's a lost cause so now I just watch 'em rust.

Dustin, I was on the cruise with you. Wish I knew you were there, could have met the face behind the Bronco. If you attended the PTS Idol at the Voltage lounge and heard the loud mouth drunk that went down and took the mic away from Jason "Seacrest" then you would have saw me and my wife. We were sitting beside him trying to keep him quiet. He showed up to the formal dinner later that night even more hammered. After spilling his drink at our table and hitting on some wifes, he was escorted out. We all flew back and forth from the Manchester New Hamshire area (7 total) and our flight was after lunch so we told him all about the events of that night, as he didn't remember a thing. Nice guy just too much to drink. The cruise is cool because you meet alot of new people from all over the country. We had meals with people from Montana, Cali, Texas (who offered us a place to stay when I told them I wanted to move to Texas) and so on. I like the fact that the significant others are treated as well as the techs. My wife competed in every event she could get into. The spark plug challenge was a trick for her. That one guy that one the event had his technique dialed!

Reminds me of the front difs on Explorers where they revised the cover with a baffle.