dieseldoc

I get to work at 645 put my earplugs in at 655 and they dont come out until dinner, than back in until 5. I never used to wear them when I was younger, but have found that the noise of even a neighbors air tools hurt my ears. I am with you on the stretching keith. I used to not stretch before work and found that I was always sore or had some kind of ache or pain. I have gotten into the habit of stretching every morning while the computer boots up and it helps. Now I only get aches or pains when I get impatient and do something stupid. My thoughts have changed on several things now that I have gotten a little older. My opinion now is that my job beats the crap out of me, what can I do to fight back? It's always hard to break habits and change routines, But sometimes very well worth it.

I havent been diag'd with it, but. . . . . I wake up at least once a night with one or both of my hands or arms asleep. When I get up in the morning sometimes I have to have the girlfriend open the toothpaste for me because I cant grip it enough to open it, or I have to run them under warm water for a while to get them to work. But usually by break in the morning they are working good. I have come to terms with back pain, since it hurts everyday. Just another wonderful perk of the job.

I guarantee you will NOT be dissapointed in Bruces books. I have both the 7.3&6.0 books and they are awesome! They are very well written, easy to understand, and written for the technician. I would reccomend these books to anybody. I am sure that anyone who gets them will not be disappointed. They have paid for themselves several times already.

I am not sure, like I said the customer has not let me look at it. All he has told me is that he can hear a metal to metal type of squeak and there is smoke on acceleration and it is low on power. He thinks it is a turbo and I am not so sure it could be a lot of things. The learn procedure I will assume is done with the scan tool??? I do not have an IDS yet, will I be able to do this?????

Thanks. Customer diagnosed himself and asked what it costs to replace. I told him I would have to look into it. Needless to say I will be diagnosing myself before I even order a part. I have not had the pleasure of changing a turbo on a 6.0 yet, but have read about your guys frustrations with this particular operation. I have purchased a few brand new 10mm sockets, that will be used only to change 6.0 turbos. I guess we will find out tomorrow.

I am wondering what the labor time is to replace a turbo on a 6.0. I think I found it in the labor standard times it should pay about 2 hours. Does that sound right?

Thanks larry. The guy needed his pick up back so I put it together and sent it on its way. I used the long stem thermostat and the new 2 piece pump which my ford dealer assures me these are the correct part for the rig. On edit the weather is fantastic here it has been above zero here for a week now, it going to be a balmy -10 tonight

That is a very great idea keith!! The info would be very helpful to many of us I think. With the slowing economy and seeming lack of work out there. I know I wont be turning down other products if at all possible. I have worked on a few dodges with cummins engines and they are not as tough as you may think. I havent had to work on any new 6.7s but the older common rails are a lot easier to work on access wise than the 6.0s and 7.3 superduties. just my two cents.

Water pump for a 96' 7.3. original was a one piece design, new one has removable elbow at the inlet. Was told the one piece design is no longer available, it changes up to the two piece design. The inside of the pump where the thermostat sits inside on the new pump looks different than the old one? I know that 96 is kind of a change year for the thermostats. I have the long stem stat but it doesnt look like it will do anything in the new pump. Just wondering if I have the right parts for this engine or not? thanks for the input

Batteries are brand new, fully charged and pass a carbon pile load test. Volt drop through the cables is ok. Will check the cranking speed when I get a chance. Engine starts well but it sounds like the starter is really laboring to turn it over. This is my personal pick-up and I want to avoid the no start one morning when I am in a hurry. There is nothing more embarrassing than being the diesel tech, whos diesel wont start and leaves you sitting. Thanks for the info guys, need to read through my workshop manuals and get more familiar with them.

Looking for some specs for a 96' F350 with a 7.3. What I am after is the amp draw for a good starter versus a bad starter? Looking to test a starter that is in the pick-up yet. Looked in the workshop manual but could not find the spec. Thanks guys

Thanks for the info jim. I am somewhat picky when it comes to the work that I take on. Since the work I do is not my primary source of income yet, I can pick and choose the jobs that I do. When someone comes to me with a wierd situation and they can not answer my questions with a straight answer, I send them elsewhere. As for the IDS, it will be a little while yet before the budget will allow a major tool purchase. For the time being I am trying to get educated about the IDS. I have a Dell latitude D520 laptop, it does not have XP Pro, unfortunately. Is XP Pro still the required system? Maybe I should start a thread on the tools heading.

Yeah I here ya about the customer. I told him he will have to go to the dealer. I dont know what is with all the wierd people lately. I am definitely looking into an IDS. Where is the best place to get them, Rotunda I suppose? I have seen them on Ebay for less then from rotunda, but I am very leary of buying something like that from ebay. Is the tech support for non-dealer customers okay(I am not real great with computers when it comes to troubleshooting the software installed). I was reading old threads about IDS and you guys seemed pretty frustrated with it at first.

Thanks for the info bruce. I dont like to jump to conclusions just curious if I was on the right track. I will have to print off some of the diag sheets, and tell him we will have to dig deeper. I told him that was my guess without being able to really look at it. I am actually a little curious about this guy, He came to me because he "he doesnt like the idiots at the dealer in town, and I am not driving 40 miles one way to another one". To each his own I guess, the guys I have talked to at the dealer seem pretty decent. I asked how he got my name and number and he said a buddy of his but cant give me a name. I think I may tell him he will have to go to the dealer, I'm not equipped to help him yet. Something seems fishy. I have been looking for an IDS setup. I have been holding off because I dont see to many 6.0s and I can do what I need to with my AE for 7.3. I guess it is time to bite the bullet and get one, this is the third 6.0 call I have had this week.

I have a 2006 F250 with a 6.0 and a 6spd. Customer complaint is it is sluggish on acceleration and runs a little rough. I hooked up my auto enginuity scan tool and performed the KOEO(no faults), ran KOER(retrieved P0404, and P1408). It has been -20 for lows and -5 for highs here for about 3 weeks, along with a blizzard and snow. The truck has 1000 hours on it and only 30,000 miles. I asked the customer about his idle time lately and he said that it has idled probably 20-30 minutes a day and he has not been able to work the truck very hard lately. I didnt have much time to look at it today, I am thinking the egr valve is probably carboned up and sticking. My question to you guys is should I perform some more diag first, or just pull the EGR valve to clean it and the intake? Sorry for the rookie question but I dont have much 6.0 experience yet(since they are just starting to come off warranty). Any help is much appreciated and have a merry christmas everybody.

The altitude here is about 900 ft I think. Unfortunately it does not have the updated air cleaner cover, However there arent signs of dirt in the air piping and the compressor wheel looks good. I have suggested the air cleaner update to her twice but, she wont go for it. Maybe with these compression numbers as some proof it will convince the customer. The standadyne helped. I will give an estimate for new injectors and go from there. Thanks a bunch for the advice guys.

I checked the glow plug amperage when checking the glow plug system, was ok at 188. Cranking speed with the scan tool hooked was 149 to 153 cold. Fuel pressure under load was ok. I replaced the lpfp about 4 months ago for this customer, I replaced the glow plugs and relay (two plugs burnt out and contacts were burnt in the relay) at that point as well. The customer wanted a compression test done when I replaced the glow plugs. Compression was 340-360. Will watch the MFDes to see what it is and see how it does with the stanadyne in the filter base this afternoon. I think I am going to reccomend injector replacement. This one is acting exactly like a 94 I had a year ago. Put a new set of alliant injectors in and the customer said the truck never started or ran that well when it was new. Thanks for the input guys, I just want to do the right thing for my customers. I would hate to waste there money or my time.

Vehicle in question is a 96 F-250 7.3 and 5 spd 160,000mi. All scan tool test come out ok. When wathching PIDs I found the IPR% to be 11(a bit higher than I am used to seeing) Customer brought it to me for hard starting, fuel leak and exhaust smell in the cab. I found a lot of fuel in the lifter valley, up pipes and down pipe clamp leaking. Resealed the up pipes and repaired the clamp leak. Removed the filter base to reseal and install new hoses. The interesting part is that there is a black film on everything in the fuel system. Pulled a sample out of the tank and the fuel in the tanks is a little dark. I found bits of rubber in the regulator. Now obviously the injector seals are breaking apart and going into the regulator, and High pressure oil is getting into the fuel system. In your guys experiences at this mileage would you remove the injectors and reseal, or replace the injectors? I installed the filter base and ran the truck to remove all the air from the system and started cold and found that it cranks longer than it should with a lot of white smoke(glow plug system is working correctly, starting system working as it should and cranking speed ok). In my experiences with an IPR% at 11 and above and the white smoke leads me to think the injectors are getting worn and ready for replacement. Will drain the filter base and fill with stanadyne to see if it improves tomorrow. Dont want to reseal injectors to find they are shot and need to be replaced. Thanks for you opinions guys.

Looking for an opinion on this. Would it be ok to run a conventional(green)coolant in a 6.0 as long as you test the coolant for SCA on a regular(each oil change)basis? I had a lot of casting sand in my personal pick-up. I flushed the cooling system twice and could not get rid of it. I installed a coolant filter and use conventional(CAT DEAC)coolant. I check my SCA level and PH along with taking a coolant sample at each oil change. I hadnt thought about the aluminum front cover and water pump in the 6.O . No trouble in 30,000 miles but really dont want to ruin a $10,000 engine. I have never been impressed with Long life coolants. In my experience the engines that I have seen the most cavitation erosion in are ones that run extended life coolant. Usually because the uneducated operators add anything that is lying around to the coolant and ruin it.

The cat dealer that I work for owns a DPF cleaner(is a shake/blow type). We have quite a few customers that are getting to the maintenance part of the DPF life. In fact we cleaned 3 last week. The part that is interesting to us is that the container that the ash is collected in doesnt appear to have much in it even after 6 cleanings. I was going to ask what ford does for this. The manual for our machine has instructions for cat, cummins, etc but does not list ford.

AAHHHH the infamous missing fuse. It has gotten me twice in my 7 years as a tech and got the guy next to me today. I hate that darn illusive fuse that seems to sneak away with out anyone noticing(including the guy that took it and used it to power his I-pod) Wait maybe fuses are like socks when you wash them and the machine eats one every once in a while, Maybe there is a little fuse monger that eats a fuse once in a while? ROFL

A few years ago I purchased a 96' F-250 with a 7.3. I drove it a while and than decided I must have too much money(note the sarcasm) and purchased a banks powerpack for it. Installed the kit and drove it for a while and than washed it one day and noticed all the soot on my quarter panel. Thought well that sucks and put a turn down tip on the exhaust. About a week later started to think soot on my quarter panel means lots of smoke out the pipe. well thats not cool besides a waste of fuel, it is not a good image for diesel owners or the environment. Not too mention it annoys the hell out of me when people drive around spewing smoke all over. I called banks and they asked a bunch of questions and didnt really give me an answer. I promptly removed the chip, and went for a drive. Imagine that no more smoke than should be there. I do get an average of 20mpg compared to the 17 mpg before the kit. So I guess the money spent wasnt a total waste. I think mods within reason are ok. After all ford did add an intercooler, slightly larger intake and a wastegated turbo a couple years after my pick-up was built. I will admit that I do install aftermarket modifications for people in my spare time. However I refuse to remove cats, and I will not install chips or tuners that just blow smoke(after all it is my spare time and not how I make a living, so I pick and choose what I do). I try to explain what they want to do and what it means to the engine. After all most of these guys hear about this stuff on forums from uneducated sources or read a two paragraph article in a magazine. They arent educated in diesel usually that is why they come to us to install it. Just my two cents

I work for a cat dealer and we have 4 6.4 trucks(2 F550 with cranes and hydraulic driven air compressors, 2 F350 with just a service body). The two 550's are at the dealer at least once every couple of weeks. The 350's havent seen the dealer since they were deliverd. I am thinking this is not a coincidence but a sign of what we are going to be in for. I cant wait until january when the truck starts at 7am and runs til 7pm with mostly idle time to run the crane and compressor. I did leave out the little fact that it is generally below zero temps here in the winter. aaahhh, the waiting game

Jim is it possible to get a link to the article on the 6.0 ficm. Or is power stroke central only accessible by dealer techs?

I hadnt heard that before that you should not stop in a step with a tty fastener. Kind of make some sense. At my dealership we use an impact to turn our bolts. Hell even in the CAT training video for C-12 head gaskets the techs in the video use a impact to turn the bolts. We also use an impact to turn our rods and mains. I cant imagine trying to use a breaker bar on mains in chassis for a rod and main roll in on a truck. I had to do a set by had one time on a 3408 in a dozer. It took two of us a whole morning and three chiropractor visits each. What a pain.