Brad Clayton

My recent Aerostar reminded me of past incidents with customers who threw in the towel after many repair attempts. The first one was a doozy. It was a 2004 Explorer with the auto engaging 4x4. The customer came in with a complaint of a skip/miss/engine misfire while cruising. They had replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, ignition coil and were getting ready to tear into the engine. I got it and went for a ride with power balance up. Sure as shit it had a perceived misfire but the power balance was steady. I locked into 4x4 and problem gone. I measured the tires and they were way off. The next one was a 2002 Mountaineer with AWD. This one would come to a complete stop when turning the wheel in a parking lot. The owner replaced the transfer case, both front and rear differentials, front wheel bearings, and front driveshaft. I got it and measured the tires and batta-bing-batta-boom. I would love to see the customers face when they get that call from the service advisor.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567&highlight=lift

That and a cold injector buzz test.

There is a message out there somewhere about gear marking compound used at the assembly plant causing discoloration.

I feel your pain there brother. Living in Vermont, I haven't worked on 7.3 in about 4 years. Moved to NC and I have never seen so many 7.3's still on the road in my life. Worked on quite a few recently and had to dust off my memory banks.

Yikes. I have ran into a couple of those down here, but it's usually from back yard mechanics or used car jockeys.

Anybody had the pleasure of working on one of these magnificent machines in the days of old? I forgot all about them until I moved to the land where automotive products will not die. This bad boy happens to be a 1995 4.0L A4LD AWD, 15 inch alloy wheels, extended wagon.....jealous yet? Anywho, for some reason it keeps breaking left front axles. I didn't think these things had enough umph to break anything but this guy is on his 4th halfshaft. I get the vehicle and can't find anything out of the ordinary. I did however notice some peculiarities. First I will say, I have no idea how the engineer who signed off on this design gets any sleep at night. With the left front axle disengaged from the front dif, the park function in the transmission is disabled. It seems that the planetary setup in the transfer case is responsible for transferring the park function. Remove front driveshaft, or pull a rear axle and you can roll it around in park all day. Take a perfectly good working vehicle and park the front wheels on plastic lunch trays while on a hill and that bad boy will roll to the bottom of said hill. The trans output shaft is splined to the t-cases planetary carrier and when locked in park forces the front and rear driveshafts to try and turn in opposite directions if it tries to roll, creating the illusion of being in "park". Well, we are going to try and get a Ford axle from a salvage yard and compare it to these crappy shafts from Advanced Auto and go from there.

What happens to the thermostats?

Not trying to pull you in every different direction, but I had one doing something similar yesterday and it ended up being the wiring harness where it attaches to the engine at the left valve cover. The wiring had rubbed on the valve cover exposing some copper on a few wires.

Like Aaron suggests, check base timing with spout unplugged, it should be 10 degrees. I have backed them down to 6 degrees to cure spark issues in Town Cars. You need to see if the computer is controlling spark advance correctly and that will require an NGS or Super Star II tester or something that can do a KOER test. With the spout plugged in, the KOER test will advance the timing 20 degrees.

What happens to the housing?

After a decade of 6.0 liter repairs, I have come to the realization that those who are not in the know.......should give it a rest. I have dealt with many aftermarket warranty calls, and had to explain how and why these trucks have failed. The conversation has always been and seems that it will always be the same. These guys try to compare common automotive failures to the failures and weak points of a 6.0L. It just doesn't work that way and I had forgotten how ridiculous the conversations go until yesterday, We were discussing a degas bottle venting coolant and the proper way to move toward an effective repair. I was asked repeatadly for cylinder compression readings and specifically which cylinder was at fault in relation to the "blown" head gasket. I offered to remove one glow plug at a time and make 8 individual test drives to achieve the answers to his questions. I think I heard the vague sound of crickets after that one. I was confounded by the fact that this person knew dummy plugs were a common problem on these engines yet he clammed up and played dumb to the idea that it could have a head gasket failure. Oh well, until the next call, I need to come up with a way to record the audio and put it up here. Bottom line: time spent under the hood of the truck, at the parts counter, and at the service counter on the phone, ended up being one losing crap shoot.

Holy cow that's a nice write up!

Thanks for the tips, it's always easier to follow someone than to break the trail yourself. (ye ol snowmobile reference there)

I also give the 6.0l pumps a good check spin when I have them out for STC fittings.

Half a million miles......that's a shit load of DEF.

That thing is NICE!

Put a STC fitting in one of these today. Jumpin Jimminy Cricket, I feel like I been on a stair master all frickin' day. My old ass is whooped.

No thank you.

....and the air bag light is on.

Too bad you're all the way over in Plymouth, we could open up a shop.

Quote: You can be the inspiration for our new motto: "The DTS, unfucking the industry one co-worker at a time."

I had no idea how good I had it and how fortunate I was in Vermont, until I moved down here.

Well, it's safe to say the "magic 8 ball, diagnostic dice, dart board", ect. are alive and well down here in NC. I went to Lowes on my lunch break to get some fittings and I saw a Super Duty in the parking lot with the hood up and about 5 guys crammed under it. When I saw this, I did what any self respecting dealership tech would do, I covered my name badge on my shirt and walked the other way clear around them to get to my vehicle and got the hell out of there. As I was leaving the parking lot I could see there was another truck of the same company beside the broken truck with it's hood up as if they were using it to perform a jump start. Twenty minutes after arriving back at work, this truck showed up hooked to the wrecker. It was written up and dispatched to me with explicit instructions. You ready for this? And I quote "the customer has looked at this truck already and wants the crankshaft position sensor replaced. Don't do any diagnostic tests on it, just replace the sensor." It seems the company that owns these trucks sent their mechanic out to look at it and after checking it out in the parking lot of Lowes and conferring with the corporate mechanics back at headquarters, they determined it needed a ckp sensor. I gotta be honest with you, I have never came across a bad ckp in a 6.0L. I head out to the truck and give it a spin over and the tach is working and the oil pressure gage is dead. I stroll back in and get the IDS and again I am stopped and told not to do any diagnostics. I reply that I am not replacing a good part (just to spite a customer that rubbed the service department the wrong way). Get to the truck and the VCM won't boot up. Check the fuses and the damn thing isn't even there. What kinda service call did this guy perform where he didn't even scan the truck for codes? I shook my head and just chuckled. I put a fuse in it, scanned it, and hit up the data logger: The customer was called and we now have their blessing to continue with proper diagnostics and repairs. 5 minutes of free scan tool work saved me loads of frustration of dickin' around with an aggravating known good part replacement. And now I am getting paid properly.