Brad Clayton

Quote: In now have one where the pump leak test passed and well, I see no dye anywhere. How many times did you run the test? I run it a minimum of 5 times in a row.

Well it was a very emotional day today. Paul, the fellow this thread was about, resigned from the dealer today. He turned the dealer back over to the original owner and they parted ways on what they call "good terms". I was not happy about the way it went down. I guess life has to go on though. Paul was a damn good fixed op guy and always had the highest regards for all of us. Gonna miss him for sure and I hope he has bigger and better things ahead.

I conferred with Bruce (I am assuming there is only one Bruce in this crowd and if there is more, I further assume that everyone knows which Bruce I am referring to, his last name rhymes with amacker) anywho Bruce suggested adding the before and after cranking data to the thread. This is quite important and I did not have it with me. So I am adding it now. The before data wouldn't even register because the thing turned so slowly and then shat right out. The after data is right on spot though. Bruce suggested using the relative compression data which is nice because it gives the mean (average) RPM after the 10 second crank.

I put the photos in the thread for ya. Going with 263,118 miles.

Been down that road with this truck already. I looked it over originally 2 weeks ago and made my recommendations. All my efforts were shot down and I refused to test drive the truck after I repaired a driveability concern. The guy towed it back after it wouldn't start because he said it was something we did. This was obviously not the case and it still needs a whole lot more work than a starter motor. This truck will not get the work and when it is towed back in again or the bald tires or loose ball joints cause a 20 car pile up on the interstate, it will be documented in our database as to why.

I seriously almost derailed this topic with my ramblings. To get back on track, I try to get customers on the drain there own separator program. When they buck the idea, I try to make them feel as bad as possible for being a neglectful owner. As far as the 2 questions raised (which I have asked myself in the past), my blood sugar level has dropped again and I just can't think straight at the moment.

After I gave it some thought.....I thought I was hungry. I went and stuffed my face with all kinds of bad for me junk food. Watching Navy Seals training on Discovery and thinking how good I got it right now.

The interesting thing about this truck is the owner does not care anything about it. He just wants it to run with the least amount of work possible. This translates to don't do anything but the bare minimum. I would have loved to have gone right thru this truck from top to bottom and done things right but it would have been on my dime. I couldn't do that considering the shape the rest of the truck is in. It really should be removed from highway duty and motoring around with the unsuspecting public. Autos amaze me everyday, they can take a beating and survive severe neglect and keep on ticking. And then sometimes they just lay down no matter how well they are cared for.

I think my customers concept of time is a little off.

This vehicle is a 2004 F-350 with a no start condition. I verified the concern with a very slow crank/no crank along with starter motor clicking and gages flickering. The batteries were run down. I charged the batteries at 10 amps for a couple of hours. I isolated the left battery from the right and tested both ok. This is my base voltage reading for the system with both batteries connected. I next checked starter draw and it pegged my amp clamp which is capable of reading 600 amps. I was able to snap this shot before the meter read O.L. I am pretty certain that the starter motor is bad. I bar the engine over by hand to make sure it is not binding or “locked up” and it spins freely with an 18 mm wrench. I wanted to know how the cables were so I performed a voltage drop test on both cables. I hooked up my meter from the positive battery terminal to the B (battery) connection of the starter like pictured. To get an accurate view of how the solenoid internal connections are the meter lead should be put on the M (motor) connection of the solenoid. Now it’s time to crank the engine again so the circuit has some of those tiny little electrons flowing through it. The flow of electricity (circuit under load) is needed while performing a voltage drop test. Ford’s spec. for the positive cable is .5 volts. I would rather see it as close to zero as possible. As seen here the reading is a little out of spec. but not the cause of my starter problem. The negative cable spec. is .2 volts and this one is a little high but still good enough to move on to removing the starter for closer inspection. The starter was cooked by the customer dealing with a hot no start issue. I was going to perform a bench (no-load) test but the solenoid fell apart when I took the starter off. So I replaced the unit and rechecked the starter draw. I was interested in seeing how the higher than normal voltage drops would affect things in the real world. An acceptable range for this unit is around 170 amps. As seen here the bad connections and worn cables are putting extra strain on the new starter motor. Unchecked cable maintenance has lead to corrosion creeping into the cable strands and a source of voltage drop. The customer said he just replaced these batteries recently. The fact that this cable was overlooked and not cleaned and maintained is putting undue stress on all the electrical systems.

Quote: I include guides on these engines if the heads have to come off for any reason... Nice find. I will definetely note that for my future dealings with these.

Quote: X.com no google here buddy EXCELLENT!!! You old coot. Been doing interweb business for a while I see. Here's your cookie.

Quote: Data that I have shows that cam/lifter failures are exacerbated by certain driving conditions. I found that data:

Must be referring to a tuner and a brick on the pedal behind the building.

Did you seperate the steering shaft to get it out?

Wasn't an '11 but did one in a '10 today, couldn't hold the truck in the road, 'twas so bad.

Ah, lifters have been failing on Ford's V-8 diesels since '83. Nothing new, just the large number on the road, gonna see a percentage crap out. Them things are in a tough environment. They have to deal with pesky stuck valve trains, extreme pressures, low RPM-low oil circulation on cold start ups, oil diluted at a 50/50 ratio with diesel fuel, and all kindsa brutal stuff.

Quote: I came across these Hypermax head gaskets Them gaskets look identical to an old 7.3 IDI head gasket.

Holy cow, a 5 head banger! Do you need my address to send my prize, or do you want to use paypal? Speaking of paypal, bonus points to anyone who can tell me what paypal's original web address was. Gonna have to be some way back internet purchasing folks on here to get it, unless you just cheat and google it.

I am going to have to go with one or more lifters coming apart and getting crushed up in the oil pump, going thru the spin cycle, and depositing what's left on the magnet of the drain plug.

Your gonna be busier than a one armed paper hanger/one legged man in an ass kickin' contest, to get that rollin' before you leave.

Quote: He filled it right to the cap and was complaining because coolant was over everywhere once it heated up... Keith, where the hell is the facepalm smiley? We need the facepalm smiley dammit!

It just seems so idiotic for a truck owner that cares about his vehicle to act this way. The new program is one of the best I have seen. Once it's explained that it can save the engine and then the guy still declines to do it, well that is just lunacy. I've talked to 3 customers in the month of September and told them that the pesky mil turned out to be 1 step away from catastrophic failure. They were all glad that senario was avoided.

That's good! Sarcasm and my kind of dry humor are tough to pull off on the interwebs, sometimes. Of course I am a bit of a Sounds like this one is all fixed up then.