dieseldoc

Caterpillar also has bottles of test strips, but I dont like them very well. They do not break things down like the fleet guard ones do. Fleetguard offers them individually and a bottle of them(I was checking them out while I was waiting for the parts guy at the cummins dealer). There is so many coolants out there that is almost impossible to keep up on what color needs what kind of service.

A dull chisel will do the same thing as the ball peen hammer. I have one in my box just for that purpose. It wont cut through the sleeve but will expand it just enough it slides right off. Assuming there is room to get the chisel and hammer in there.

I dont work on international. But Caterpillar sent us a complete engine for a truck that came in with 16 miles on it with a spun number 2 rod. It was an 07 engine, I would guess one of our engines is probably in the neighborhood of 20,000-30,000. Warranty always want us to use the cheapes fix, and than sometimes. . . whammy they send you a complete engine because they want to see it. It is pretty obvious something happened during assembly to cause a failure that early in the engines life.

The under valve cover harnesses are notorious for getting burned because the glow pug pins and wires are a little small for the amperage load they have to carry. Generally the lock breaks and the connector has a loose connection, on the newer ones. Usually it will cause and intermittent miss. However if the connecto has been loose for a while, it is possible the pins are burnt so bad they wont make a connection anymore. It is a cause worth checking out. Sorry it took so long for a response, my computer crashed making it difficult to log in. I am surprised nobody else has responded to your questions

Had a guy with an 03 f-350 6.0 ICP sensor leaking oil. He tried to repair himself and somehow managed to pull the wires right out of one of the connectors at the ficm. He just put them back in and fried his ficm and the wires wouldnt stay in because he broke the locks out when ripping the wires out. He orders and installs a new engine harness. Puts the harness in himself and plugs stuff in. Engine still wont start. Brings it to me. Install the harness in its correct locations and find three bent pins where he just jammed the connectors together. I get everything repaired and try to communicate witht the vehicle and find there is no comms with the ficm, etc, etc. Cust. bought a ficm off of ebay and brings it to me. I told him it has to be programmed I cant do that it has to go to the dealer(where he should have went with it in the first place). He takes it there and the ficm is programmed and the engine runs. Still has the oil leak because after paying me and the dealer he didnt have any money to repair the leak.

It is possible you have a split injector tip or leaking nozzle. You could watch the mass fuel to see if it is in spec. On a CAT a split tip will make them smoke really bad and generally roun rough. However I have had a couple that ran awesome just smoked white all the time. Removed the exhaust manifold and found a wet exhaust port. Cleaned it out and started with the manifold off, that hole became wet with fuel again. Replaced that injector, smoke cleared right up. Obviously it is not real easy to remove the manifolds, but could be an option. If it hydrolocked possibly a bent rod, I had that be the cause of white smoke, that engine did have the sound of a slight miss though.

Yeah I have the discs. I am not real impressed with mcaffee right now either. The only thing that was real detremental to me is my ford service manuals on dvd. I purchased them off of ebay as bruce reccomended and loaded them onto my laptop. I dont think I can install them on another until they are uninstalled from the one they are on. I think what I am going to do is ship it to my aunt with all of my discs. She is a retired computer programmer. If she cant bring it back I dont think anyone could. Just frustrating to not have it.

I tried to open a site that I have been to many times before. All of a sudden a bunch of wierd pop-ups started coming up, my mcaffee didnt say that anything had been detected. Than it started to beep as if it was counting, I shut it down and it contiued to beep. I removed the battery and left it out for a day(didnt have time to mess with it). I put the battery back in on saturday evening and started it up. The background picture showed and that was it. There was no icons, and I dont remember if there was a start button or not. I am not a computer savvy person by any means. I know how to operate the computer but not much about troubleshooting or fixing things when it acts up. I found a place in town, that said they would look at it but it would be two weeks before they might have a chance to get at it. The computer has my scan tool and all my service information, data logs, etc. on it. I just cant be a month with out it. You cant do much of anything on a vehicle without a scan tool, schematics, etc anymore. I will have to put a call into my aunt(she is a computer programmer)see what she has to say. Its amazing how much we rely on them. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

My laptop got a virus I think and it crashed my hard drive. So I am in the market for a new computer. Any reccomendations? My laptop is used primarily for running my scan tool and service information. I will be purchasing an IDS hopefully in the near future, I want to make sure what I buy will work well with it. Thanks for the input guys.

No worries Jim. I read back through the thread a few more times and see that to someone reading it I wasnt exactly clear. Thats the pesky thing with human brains I read it twice to myself before submitting and it made sense what I was saying, but to others a bit unclear. I am with you on needing the professionalism in the industry and not bypassing any emissions devices. But hey everybody needs their toys right. Some guys are better at driving them than building them, and others of us are better at building them than driving them. The 7.3 is just my chosen big block. No hard feelings.

HOLY CRAP!!! I didnt want to start a war or get anybody wound up. I was just looking for some input on a product. I am sure you guys see a lot more of these things, than I ever will. I greatly value your guys opinions and inputs. I resent the comment that us fucking kids dont give a crap about the world or anybody living in the future. You are right Jim I am not married and I do not have kids YET. I will be married soon and I hope to have kids. So I do give a crap about the world they would have to live in. I do give a crap about other people and the quality of their lives. I REFUSE to put systems into peoples DAILY DRIVERS. When I said I interview my customers before I work on their vehicle for performance mods, it is for this exact purpose. I will only do mods on peoples TOYS. Any retard can plug in a chip. You dont need any extra power to pull your boat to the lake, or get a loaf of bread(which is what 80% of the people with these trucks are doing). I have been driving Ford diesels since I was 16 and pulled trailers loaded heavier than they probably should have been and had more than enough power stock. If I need more power than perhaps I need a semi. Now a guy that wants 1000 Hp so he can pull a sled farther than anybody else at the track that day, I AM IN. That is interesting! Thats a really cool TOY! As for emission controls: I am all for them. There is no reason a diesel needs to leave a cloud of smoke at every stoplight. Our shop has a terrible exhaust system, even when there is no smoke in the shop the air will choke you up. That is not good for anybody and it is proven that is bad for the environment. I am glad to see that we are making improvements to lessen our footprint on the environment, I have no intentions of helping to move things the other way.

I will admit that I put performance systems in for people. But I interview my customers before I agree to do anything for them(what are you using this truck for, why do you want the extra power, etc.) I have the approach that the very first thing you do is put in a couple gauges at the very least a pyro. Than you can change the intake and exhaust, than put in a power adder. I am ok with mild tunes as long as they dont cause a lot of smoke. Nobody needs 140 extra hp, unless it is a sled puller or drag racer. I have a 96 7.3 that gets loaded heavy quite a bit and has plenty of power stock. Smoke is just a waste of fuel and gives us a bad reputation. What I like about the DP tuner is that he seems to adjust the parameters in the pcm, not just fool the boost and icp sensors. I never reccomend or endorse performance adders on a guys daily driver, but this pick-up is his toy so to speak, and he wants to start doing some truck pulling with it.

Anybody had any experience with this company or its product? I read about it in the new diesel power magazine and have been checking out the web site( www.dp-tuner.com ). I have a buddy that is looking to add some power to his pick-up and wants to try one of these chips. Supposedly he has software and the capability to custom tune and change parameters in the pcm? Has 16 positions and lots of different settings to pick from along with custom tunes available. I am going to call him and see if he will tell me what exactly he is changing to get the power they claim. Thanks for any input.

This ones got 150,000 miles on it. He was in a hurry and didnt give me much detail. I am in north dakota and he is in wyoming, troubleshooting this could be interesting. I told him he may have to take it in. Troubleshooting over the phone isnt going to be good for either of us. I told him to call me back when he had more time, and details. I will tell him to check for the chaffed wiring. I was just curious if there was a common issue with this. Thanks

A buddy of mine called last night and told me he lost overdrive in his 02 F350 with a 7.3. He said that it was surging for a while in overdrive and now it wont shift into it at all. I am not a transmission guy, litterally have almost no experience with autos. Is there any common issues with these trans that a guy should be aware of? He was going to see if there was any faults and get back to me. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

thanks for the speedy response shlep. I take it that number is for some type of kit? any idea what the price would be?

I would look around in you local phone book. We have a company local that my dealership has come in once a year for about 3 days. They check and thouroughly clean every techs torque wrenches and the shops 3/4" and 1" wrenches. They even check our tester. If it needs adjustment or repair they take it with and send it back usually within a week. I am not sure what they charge because the dealership picks up the tab. FWIW the calibration tech said that in the 5 years he had been with the company the craftsman torque wrenches hold their calibration the best and snap-on ones are some of the worst. I really like my mac wrenches but if someday I can not get parts or fix them I will buy craftsman ones. They are quite a bit cheaper and seem to be pretty good. Anybody use the electronic ones? I had a fellow tech that replaced all of his with these. I tried them a few times and hate them, they eat batteries like crazy.

I dont have access to the service letters. Does anyone have the part numbers required to change over to the metal pipe and hoses? My personal 06' is showing signs of some chaffing. I coulnt believe it when I opened the hood and found a plastic tube. I have wanted to change it to a steel pipe and hoses. That plastic tube gets a little soft on a 100 degree day. One of our 550's in the summer you dont dare rest your arm on the hood because it will burn your arm.

The girlfriend and I have to go on couple trips this year one in may and one in september. We are going to go check out the fusion and the 500 once we get some time and than try to see if we can rent one to make our trip. I would think after an 800 mile round trip we should know if we like it or not. Thanks for all the input guys I really appreciate it. She is a chevy girl that I am trying to convert to the "right side" . I would hate to get her in something that is problematic and have her give me a hard time.

Thanks for the input guys, thats what I was wondering about. How long have they been out? I have never kept up on anything other than the 3/4 and 1 tons pick-ups. When I get some time I guess we will have to go to check them out and go for a spin. Thats cool that you can get them in awd. Definitely a very nice feature here, since we get quite a bit of snow and ice.

I am not sure if this is the appropriate place for this thread. Feel free to move it wherever keith. My girlfriend is in the market for a newer car. I prefer it be a ford since that is what I am comfortable working on. She likes the looks of the fusion. We havent looked at any up close or taken one for a drive. My question to you guys is what is your opinion of the fusion? Are they a fairly reliable car without to many issues? I know you guys probably dont work on any of these but would imagine that you see them come through the shop. Thanks for the opinions guys

I am not sure about the ford discount but they give one to caterpillar and cat dealer employees. I would think that the ford discount is similar. Verizon has a spot on their website you can use to register, I could not get it to work. I took a pay stub to the store with me and that was all they needed.

I am talking about the AUX button on the head unit itself. The 06' does not have an AUX jack outside the dash that I could find. according to the operators manual it is "press to toggle between FES/DVD and AUX modes. If no auxilliary sources are available, NO AUX AUDIO will be displayed." It does not say anything else about it in the book that I could find. The audio section of the workshop manual doesnt tell you anything except how to remove the head unit and antennae. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place. Maybe I will have to call around to a few stereo shops and see what they have to say.

06' superduty. I am pretty sure the AUX is for hooking up a MP3 player or sattelite radio? Wondering how it works, the operators manual and workshop manual do not discuss this option or how to use it. I have a customer that came to me asking about this and he would like to use it. Thanks for the help guys

I have "think BIG"(caterpillars tech school program) students work with me from time to time. The first day or two they are with me I make them work side by side with me to get a feel for there skills and work ethic. From then on I try not to hover around them I think it makes them nervous, which makes them concentrate on me and not what they are doing. I tell them to ask me any question that pops into there head, ANY question. I tell them "I will not think you are stupid or make fun of you, You are a trainee. Your job is to ask me questions and learn. My job is to answer your question the best I can". I try to teach them to do some research before you do something new, or havent done in a long time. In other words READ the workshop manual(system operation, disasembly and assembly)FIRST, then turn the wrenches. I have seen carbon wreck some things that you wouldnt think it would. Under the right conditions anything is possible. We have and 07 engine in the shop right now the guy just came in for a rough running engine. Found a piece of carbon stuck to an exhaust valve holding it open just enough it wouldnt seal.