dieseldoc

In the market for a new vehicle for the wife. Her pick-up is about to give up the ghost soon. She has been looking at cars and vehicles over the last year or so. She has decided that she likes the looks and features of the escape. We have not test drove or looked at any in detail. I am looking for your opinions on the vehicle as well as their frequency of trips to your doors, common things a guy should look for. Before I spend a lot of time looking for one and checking them out I would like to know if they are" not one of fords better designs", if you know what I mean. We will be looking at used ones, a couple years old and less than 50,000 miles. As always thanks for the info and opinions.

I already have a dell latitude d520 with xp pro. I just need the program, cabling, and comm adapter. Is the 2700 for the tool with a laptop? I assume it is the vcm, cables, and program for the 2500 or 2700. I will have to call rotunda and see what they say. Thanks for the input guys. If you are a non dealer will they help you with support or are you on your own?

When you order does it come as a kit with all the needed cabling, discs, programs, etc. needed? Or do you need to be sure to ask for each piece? Is there anything extra a guy should order along with it(like extra cables or accessories)?

What is the best way to clean a MAF? I was told to never touch the wire and if it acts up all you can do is replace them. I apolagize for rookie question but they are expensive and if I have the need to clean one I dont want to wreck it.

Well I have finally had it with not having an IDS!!!!! I have a rough running 6.0 and an egr problem I think. My Autoenginuity has been great but I am tired of not having the controls of the IDS on the 6.0. I am at a point where I can afford it and am ready to order one. Since I am not a dealer technician where is the best place to order one from? Can I order one online from rotunda or do I have to go through my local dealer? Or is there a better place to order one from? I have seen them on e-bay but just dont trust getting something like this off their so that is not an option. As always any and all opinions and advice much appreciated. Thanks guys

Could be...... I dontk work in the heavy shop so I wont have to learn the dozers. Would still be interesting to see how it all works though. I am curious to see what comes in the future. They are trying to come up with fuel economy standards for Medium and Heavy duty trucks now. I think is a good thing as long as they can meet the standards with out sacrificing reliability and durability in the engines. The future is looking to be very interesting.

That is really interesting jim. I work for cat and had no idea they were developing an electric drive dozer. On the ag side of our market, Agco has supposedly developed an electric drive ro-gator(self propelled sprayer). The current machines are hydrostatic drive with four hydraulic wheel motors. We have been told that it will probably never make in the u.s. market. Why not?????? the electric drive would be way better than our current system. The current system has a lot of parasitic loss that produces a significant amount of heat. Besides that I hate hydraulic oil, I would much rather work with wiring than oil.

I got my diesel power magazine this week and they mention this particualar additive in the Q&A section. I went to the website to check it out and there seems to be a lot of statements with no proof to back it up. I also remembered us discussing it here a while back. I am pretty sure that if some snake oil was all it took to fix the stiction issue, ford would not have the hundreds of thousands maybe millions of dollars invested into writing software and replacing injectors to fix this pesky issue.

Cracked cyl. head?? Where ICP is getting into the coolant passage. Cavitation erosion is very prevelant in these engines if the SCA has not been maintained in the cooling system. I had a 3406E once that had continuos oil in the coolant and we found pin holes eroded all the way through the liners. He did have evidence(a milky film on the fill cap and a little white steam out the breather) of coolant into the oil as well. Surprisingly though it wasnt a lot of coolant in the oil. I would imagine that the issue has something to do with #8. As for why flushing the cooling system helps it run better I am not sure, will have to think for a while on that. Good luck with this one though

I hear ya about the busy. When I punched out for day 14 in a row today I was at 75 hours this week, and I get to start a new week tomorrow. That is wierd I figured for sure the inside of the radiator would have been restricted at least a little to cause the issue it was having. Sometimes things make no sense. But hey if it fixed it that is all that matters. I was talking to one of our customers yesterday and he said they are about half done with spring work. YAY!!!! maybe a light at the end of the tunnel. I would rather have a few 100 hour weeks than 2 months of 65 hour ones.

Hi mike I know you and I kind of got off on the wrong foot the first time around and that was my fault. I apolagize again However I have talked to the operator of the 550 in question and since you guys put the radiator in it he said it has been working well so far. He hardly hears the fan run anymore. The temp drop on the new rad is much better as well. Since it is intermittent only time will tell, but it is looking good so far. It was definitely a tough one to figure out I am sure. If the radiator was the casue you think it would have been a consistent problem, sort of defies logic. I know it is tough to troubleshoot when the customer keeps taking the truck away before you are comfortable you got it fixed or finish your testing. Thanks for the patience with us, This spring has been crazy busy.

I always work on the floor and somewhat prefer it. I dont have a hoist at my personal shop(not going to put one in unless I own the building). At work we dont have a hoist and cant lift anything we work on anyway. I know cummins across the road from us has one of those portable set ups for lifting motorhomes. I did get to use a hoist when I worked at a service station in tech school, it was kind of nice but my neck would bug me after looking up all day working under the hoist. Either way has its advantages and disadvantages. I dont know maybe it is just the truck mechanic in me, I would just rather work off the floor. I cant see hoisting a 1200 lb 18 spd transmission 4 feet off the floor being real stable or safe

No kidding about the price!!! The one I saw was a chassis cab 350, xl trim, nothing fancy in any way, shape or form. the sticker price was almost 42,000.

Our local dealer got a couple 2011 super duties in. I like the smaller air vents better than the huge ones on the older trucks. However the gigantic 6.7 B20 powerstroke badge on the door is ugly as hell! I didnt get to see the engine but cant wait til I can get a look at one in person, and check it out. This new body style is sort of growing on me though, when it first came out in the 08 model year I will admit I hated it. But it grows on me a little more every time I see one. Whats everybody elses thoughts?

I think it has a lot to do with the gear ratios of the transmision. I have however noticed that the manual trucks seem to have less trouble with head gaskets and egr coolers. . . . . . maybe that is just because there are fewer manual trans trucks out there.

My truck is running great and starts well, dont really want to screw with it. I am getting about 16 mpg empty and 13 loaded. The only change I would make is that it seems to be a bit doggy off the line. If you have to make a fast acceleration from a stop, you better make sure you have some time. It might have something to do with the 6 spd manual and 3.73 gears, or that the other 6.0s I have driven to compare it to are all autos. Also it is a 3/4 ton 4x4 pick-up, it is not going to haul ass like my 66 mustang. I will definitely keep in mind that the new flash file may fix those type of concerns. Man I really wish I had access to the information you guys do. Thanks for the heads up on the new file Aaron.

you guys have peaked my interest on the the new ford calibration for 6.0. . . . My personal pick-up still has the rattle flash in it, with no complaints mind you it starts great and runs well. I see no need to update the calibration. What have they changed in the new flash, what is it supposed to fix?

Doesnt IH know when you guys make hp changes? I know in the world of cat I have to obtain factory passwords to finish programming the horsepower change? What are the emissions like at this hp rating but that hp ratings iron? I think it is time for you to have a talk with the service manager or store manager, Somebody about this craziness. It is fine to call the customer and give them the info and options so they can make the call. However I dont think it is fair when they dont give the customer all the facts. just my two cents

I too am with everybody on this subject. The only way you should need a tuner for you pick-up is if it has become a drag racing/sled pulling/mud runner full time. Even than the ecsessive smoke and NOx spuing out the tail pipe is not good for any of us. Just my opinion, no disrespect intended.

If I recall correctly Cetane(I think) told us it was because the emissions requirements are different from the pick-ups to the chassis cabs due to there gvwr. But dont quote me on that I have been reading a lot about the new emissions engines from CAT and AGCO and Ford and things are starting to get a little jumbled together.

I would guess that if the engineers have any curiosity at all they have tested varying horsepowers to see what the failing point is. If I was an engineer and testing a product that was supposed to be rated at 390 horsepower I would test it for longevity, and durability at 425 hp so there is a little margin there for freak situations or driving styles and abuse. But than again we alway say that most engineers are book smart not reality or street smart. I would think they would play it safe this time around, they cant really afford to have another 6.0 fiasco on there hands. Especially since they cant blame anyone but themselves this time around. Just my two cents.

I am with you on the o-rings and seals. I never reuse o-rings on anything I am working on. I always replace fasteners if there is any question of their integrity it is just part of doing a thorough job. I would hate to have to do a job twice because I didnt replace 80 cent o-ring or a $1.50 bolt.

They looked ok I am not too worried about it. I guess if they come in the kit though might as well use them.

OOPS! I didnt use the new bolts to re-install the turbo. They looked to be in good shape and the heads had no rounding at all. Hope it will be ok, the truck is gone now. I know for next time though. Thanks josh.

Thanks a million greg! this one is an 05 so I now have some bolts and spacers to put in my tool box. Now I know where they go the best part of all. Thanks again.