Jim Warman

Lew... we are also encouraged to work "more effectively" (I like that term better than "faster"). Canadas labour laws are tilted more in favour of the employee, anyway.... I'm pretty sure that studying the differences between techs in Canada and techs in the US could keep a team of academics working for a long, long time.

WSM states 120,000 miles for cleaning the ash. There is however a misprint.... it lists a probable life expectancy of 400,000 km (which would be 248,500 miles) but list the equivalent as being 120,000 miles again (gotta love those bookworms).

If ya think that's cool, read up on the operation of the dual alternator set-up. Both are PCM controlled, now and the secondary doesn't turn on until the primary is running at max output. Upper (secondary generator) is 120 amp while the lower (primary generator) is a 200 amp unit. I'm considering a career switch.... I'm sure there is a rewarding opportunity to be found in the food and hospitality industry. Next week, I think I will scare myself by reading up on either "electronic feature group" or <shudder> "exhaust system". If you think the wiring diagrams are skookum..... check out the location views... now THAT'S neat....

The bulk of our work is retail... the landscape around here is pretty brutal on equipment. Rocks, stumps, mud, muskeg, snow... this is textbook wilderness. At the same time, we are under Fords microscope for warranty claims. Our diesel is high... considering 90% of what we work on is diesel. Ford gave us a GR1-190 for free because our battery warranty is high (little wonder with the shock loads the plates get on our oilfield "roads"). At the same time, our techs get treated to "shared shortfalls"... Can't make book time on 6.0 head gaskets? We share the techs "pain" to some extent because happy techs are good techs (the concrete for our new addition floor will be poured in the next week or so - one month after that, the hoists go in..... and we are looking for warm bodies).

You should be able to take one VCM and use it with about any "processor" with no problems... the only concerns I can see is from a software incomapatbility. Many PDS or IDS updates bring VCM updates along with them and the VCM "version" has to match the scan tool version...

For some reason, early 450/550 (and, possibly 350DRW - can't remember) came with dual mass flywheels. IIRC, these parts are superceded by single mass flywheels. Be sure to order new flywheel bolts at the same time....

Oh, GAWD.... another flashback.... 07 Expedition... salseman came running in shouting that the starter was stuck in gear. When I got out to the unit, all was well. WTF???, thought I.... I couldn't get it to act up. Shoulda read the WSM, I guess... Doncha just love those little surprises...

Early in 06 one of our ASSET apprentices came back from school saying he'd heard that PDS was going to become obsolete - the supposed date of it's demise came and went and I thought it was just another one of "those" rumours..... Looks like the beginning of the end for the PDS...

Dredging up old posts is going to be my "project" for the day, I think... We were drop shipped a brand new GR1-190 last week.... This is just shy of $900 CA.... and Ford gave us one for free........ because our battery claims are too high. The guys hate this thing....

Furbling around I came across https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckBBAS/non-html/Q151.pdf Thankfully, this only appears to apply to gas engines with auto trans.... so far. FWIW, there's lot's of good info on the BBAS website....

Just a side note.... I'm not sure if anyone else does it (I know I deal with some "exspurts" that feel they don't need to) but I find that even when I am down to watching as few as 4 or 5 PIDs, I am constantly making recordings.... There can be way too much stuff going on in the screen display for us to accurately (for ME to, anyway). This way we can catch trends that may be too subtle to draw our attention, and we can do it while we enjoy a cuppa.... While we do this, we can also save some of our snapshots of good trucks in the library and use them to compare against problem trucks..... Like Keith opined, if you had a high pressure oil concern, I would have expected to see IPR ramping up to maintain ICP_DES. Once your ICP dropped down to 400ish PSI, I'd think you'd be seeing IPR at over 60%. The line depicting the IPR duty cycle would ramp up possibly slow enough that there wouldn't be a real good visual cue (been there, done that) - a recording would allow us to stare at it long enough for it to sink in.... On edit.... here's some food for thought.... ICP pressure is a computed value (by the PCM). This may or may not be the actual PSI gauge reading that you might see if you had a pressure gauge in the system. ICP volts, on the other hand, is the actual sensor voltage that the PCM sees. I always like to view ICP as both pressure and volt PIDs.... pressure because it's easy to understand - volts because there are times the PCM can get "creative" (or is that "confused"?) trying to decide what to do about some of these concerns. Using the 2001 PC/ED as an example, if we go to the introduction for PPT DC, we find a chart that correlates ICP volts to what actual pressure would be

I know I've seen the prices and info on http://www.motorcraft.com - http://www.fordrotunda.com has had it too (including the support toll free numbers. If you have access to inford or fmcdealer, you also have access to fordrotunda.... I recall $350 being the number, but I have a better chance of being mistaken that Keith... FWIW, if your shop has it's own PDS, I would set mine (if I had one) up to access the shops docking station and see what happens. IIRC, at least one of our VCMs is over two years old (though neither of our two PDSs is) and I haven't been asked to perform anything other than the usual updating rituals.... HTH

Something important to remember while performing the injector test is to listen closely to the sound of the injectors. The test itself can only determine the electrical condition of the injectors. We can often hear (or fail to hear) "soft" injectors - the spool can't move in the chamber well enough to give the distinctive "BZZZZ". If there is a problem with the electrical part of the injector (or it's circuitry), it will usually show up as an IDM code, anyway. I'm guilty of rarely looking at a scan tool after a buzz test. Let's not forget about the UVC harness concerns that many 7.3s give....

Time to check it out again... I thought it odd the other day when all we had was wiring diagrams and owners manuals..... I did think it was pretty neat that there weren't any TSBs.... yet.

Integrity takes a holiday.... In another thread, I describe a data log that Hotline led me to in an effort to diagnose an elusive ETC problem.... Today, we got an 06 F150 with a blank message centre.... So that we could order a new cluster, I called hotline to ask about finding out the vehicle mileage. Well..... conflicting information at it's finest (but reading responses and reading between the lines) - I was told that there are no data logs stored in the PCM.... none (touch the IDS tab at the top of the screen - touch the swiss army knife and touch special functions.... Entering <a certain number> will bring up three information repositories. One being ETC freeze frame, another dealing with ABS EEPROM and a third I can't recall... I'm sure that there are more. However, accrued mileage is something we wont be privvy to. Ford feels that if we can display it, we can change it. I'd mentioned that Dodge saves mileage in the PCM and can be displayed as a PID.... unimpressed, the engineer said he couldn't understand why. alex, I am pretty sure that we will see the day where we will be asked to upload data and warranty will be denied on the basis of those uploads... As for seeing all the eye candy that comes along with tuners, I state what I see to the powers that be in our store (it helps that I am one of the powers that be) and make recommendations from there. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck.... it's probably a duck..... I don't need to see it fly....

Legos weren't yet in North America.... For my Dad, it was little green army guys.... The 50s were a decade of wonder and awe.... Imagine... a radio with NO TUBES... and it didn't take long to know that a radio with 11 transistor thingies was much better than a radio with only 7 transistor thingies....Auto manufacturers made a big technological advance going from 6 volt systems to 12 volts systems.... And now, cheap kids toys are more technologically advanced than cars could ever dream of being. Enjoy the feel of a small LEGO guy biting into the soft, meaty part of your foot... it's one of the few simple things left in your life.... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif

I see that the 08 Owner Guides and Wiring Diagram Manuals are on the corporate website.... wiring diagrams have more colours than just red, now...

Two words.... "head phones". Worked for me (that and I always made sure that Dads speakers and amp were bigger....)

Ahhh, the ghost of Christmas passed.... Enjoy the squeals and giggles while you can.. They are a fleeting moment in our lives...

As a matter of fact, I do have a "skee-matic".... unfortunately, it is a tad complex and the file size is 624 gigabytes.... I have to go in again today (dammit.... a FQR 7.3 that smokes like a booger - they want me to fix it but they wont let me do what I want) so I can snap a picture.....of my ugly little tool....

Happy new year to yourself, as well.... Ford has yet to see a smooth diesel launch... I sincerely hope that this one breaks the mold...... unfortunately, too many owners think that the modern diesel is the same one that Grandad had in his old Kenworth. I can't speak for anyone else but most of our "problem" 6.0s belong to those that have problems with any and every truck they own.... I think we'd see far less concerns if some owners had bought the truck the "need" rather than the one they "want" (while a diesel idling in the driveway might be "manly", viagra would have been cheaper). To all... a SAFE and happy new year...

OK... the 04 F150 is finally gone. Close inspection of the now dry harness indicated no concerns.... I ohmed the wires that, at one point, were "related" to each other through some high resistance readings (indicating some sort of continuity) and we were once again electrically "sound". This adds to Bruces findings on primary wire insulation. My dance card is extremely full this week so we had an apprentice replace the harness for me. And we immediately had a no start on our hands. On Demand code for an open fuel pump circuit (P1237, IIRC). Apprentice states he had no problems fitting the new harness.... So - off to the PPT for P1237.... (bearing in mind that I have seen replacement harnesses with mis-assigned pins). At one point we are directed to check FPRTN for a short to power at the FPDM plug..... 800mV - WTF? Had the apprentice unplug the fuel pump.... 0V... OK, I'm about to get confused. Had the youngster step aside and did some furbling while I thought about where I need to go... Hmmm.... fuel pump connector wont seat - can't hear that little "snick" from the lock tab - but it looks all the way in but pulls off easy. Up on top of the tank with a mirror and I see he's managed to push some wet sand (and probably some salt) into the fuel pump connector. Clean it out and get the plug seated satisfactorily (initially I thought that he'd chipped off the little lock tab off the FP connection)... Check FPRTN at the FPDM plug... 0V.... OK, the old ticker can slow down a bit.... plug in the FPDM and turn on the key... we have fuel pump and our no start is fixed.... This concern could have had me tearing open a brand new harness but I have gained a new appreciation for milliVolts - more old notions having to be rethought.... I love this job...

Interestig point on the insulation, Bruce... When I decided to go for a harness, I had opened the old hraness in what appeared to be the affected area.... One wire had rotted through (IIRC, it was the FPC circuit to the FPDM - Gad, doncha love acronyms)but I couldn't see any damage to other conductors in the immediate vicinity. This is a retail job so I might be able to keep the old harness for further scrutiny....

Come to think of it, I am using IE7 here at home.... DUH!!! I'll try the affected pages at work this PM and see what happens.

I think all of us have had that problem, Mike... I hope the truck is better than the NMT course.... All the same, lifting the cab on the older ones wasn't hard too figure out.... so I don't see missing that section as being a great big problem. After the first two or three, most guys should have the best shortcuts figured out.... I just wish that they'd post the classroom schedules so I can plan my January....