Jim Warman

EWWWWWWWWW!!!! Got no real work?

Ahh, where to start.... (what, you had to come up with something to get me posting more? ) Let's begin with us and our professional appearance... or lack of it. Let me start with a recent event... a commercial vehicle inspection (what we call a CVIP here in Gods country). A F450 with aftermarket HIDs - clearly a violation of oh so many regs.... I flunked it. The customer took it to another shop that has the authority to perform CVIP inspections and it was summarily passed. So, the guy that will "do anything for a buck" ("hey sailor, wanna get lucky?" seems to be a mantra for some "techs") is the "good guy", I'm the bad guy and someone has just made a mockery of a tax funded (that reads as your and my hard earned dollars, Leon) program. Is the tech that passed headlights that are in contravention of regs acting professionally? Alberta is yet to have any sort of anti-tampering laws in regards to emissions compliance. An out of province inspection asks if there any DTCs that might affect the SAFE operation of the vehicle. We start with an open ended query and then we castrate it.... yayy. It also asks if the CEL works "as intended"... Well.... yeah... as intended by the programmer... Some Alberta Ford dealers include all manner of "accessories" in the sale of a vehicle. Our dealership found that selling trucks AND chips at the same time, wasn't helping warranty numbers and (thankfully) said "thanks but no thanks" - sadly, it appears that this is limited to chips and only to installs where warranty is a consideration. While legality is a major consideration, we cannot overlook impropriety. The thought that we can do something as long as we don't get caught.... A sports hero is found doing drugs and/or steroids... caught with his pants down with an unwilling partner.... a participant in the fine art of dog fighting.... Our sports hero is "sorry he did it"... bollocks... he's sorry he got caught. I can't speak for "green" states and what is and isn't "legal".... but I think I do speak for what is "right". News reports from the 50s, 60s amd early 70s were full of smog warnings. People in the Los Angeles basin were warned not to venture outside. It has been proven that emissions controls work.... Sidebar.... often, you will hear even trained techs ask "how can increased fuel consumption give lower emissions?". To these people, I can only suggest that they stop thinking that this is a trade of parts changers and start appreciating the myriad of events that occur in the infernal (sic) combustion device. I've said it before and it seems I have to say it again... the public has entrusted US with ensuring that vehicles perform as intended at the time they were built.... And we are fucking that up horribly.

We just had an apprentice come back from ASSET. According to the SAIT instructors, VCM 2 isn't going to be out for a long while. But I see it is listed on the screen in IDS 78.......

I spent $5000 on my wife for a boob job. She was delighted. I spent $2500 on my wife for a nose job. She was ecstatic. I spent $2000 on my wife for a liposuction job. She was over the moon. I spent $30 on myself for a blow job. She went mental.

Pssst.... he said '96. Mark, the 96 WSMs are no longer online and I don't have a copy here at home. I'll try to remember to look through the WSM tomorrow.

From memory - I've seen 289s with either/or the small stem seals on all the valves or both large and small stem seals crumbled and laying in the valve area and at the bottom of the pan. While some may chastise me for saying, you will find that placement of large and small isn't super-critical as long as they fit snug on the stems. Whenever I assembled heads, I would bear in mind that the intake valve guides are subject to high amounts of vacuum and I would select the seal that gave the most "protection" to the intake valves (some of the large OD umbrella seals offered in some gasket kits would not be as deep as the smaller OD seals). I don't recall if the engines using same size seals were 5 bolt, 6 bolt or didn't matter though your engine will be a 6 bolt....

What's in my bay, hmmmmmm? Well, t'other day I had a 350 - I had just gotten back from o road test and happened to give a closer look to the passenger seat. That's when I noticed this..... this buds for you. Then today, Tuesday, I got another 350. I guess mister didn't like our quote on installing vent shades so he did it hisself...... yeppers... glued them puppies firmly to the door glass... Some days the only reason I go to work is because I want to see what happens next....

The patent answer used to be rich - even with EFI, cold combustion chambers didn't light off real good. In carburetted engines, we would see either a choke plate restrict airflow above the venturis moving the vacuum signal further up into the carb - additionally, the throttle plates would be held further open uncovering the transfer slots (above the idle jets) resulting in more fuel entering the cylinders. Other carbs used a "tickler" or enrichener that would increase the area of the jet or add a second fuel jet to the circuit. EFI engines from the 80s would require several minutes of enriched running to get the O2 sensors up to temp as well as heat the catalysts enough to fire up. Modern engines have the O2s start generating useful signals after only a few seconds of running allowing the PCM to begin responding to O2 feedback. Secondary air injection to the cats brings them up to temp quicker, too. Used to be O2 sensors didn't have heaters and this affected their time to temp. Also, the newer UEGO sensors we see now respond differently allowing far more precise fuel control than we ever had previously. I am assuming that, because it is what it is, we still begin with a mixture richer than stoich but with the state of the art regarding fuel control allows leaning things down much quicker than we ever could before. Probably more than you asked for, but "richer" without part of a why or part of a how isn't much to go on.

A long time ago, this flew in the skies over Canada. We were Canadians then - not a hyphen to be had.... Now? You walk into a store in a predominantly English speaking province only to see that some unthinking stockperson has all the packaging French side out. We are forced to wait for the French translations that we might read the English original. Best of all, Quebec has "French only" laws that would be abhorrent if written from our side.

Fan codes? Can your customer hear the fan run? Be absolutely sure you look down at the front of the rad itself - a LOT of crap can make its way past the CAC and the condenser. HTH

Our SAs were known to say "it's the white sooperdoodie out back". One of 40....

Back when your guys twin brothers were a stain on the back seat of your dads Chevy, I tried a stint in parts. "I need a tie rod end".... "What for"? "It's broken". <SIGH>

Not sure about anyone that has an obsession about anyone that drives a truck.... though I will say that the US appears to pay more for truck drivers than truck fixers. And most truck drivers are nowhere near as safe or professional as they claim. Truck drivers deserve no measure of admiration.... and I owned a MACK R700 as well as "serving" in the truck driving trenches. Don't ever imagine that truck drivers are the noble knights of the road that the songs tell you they are. Next, let's address "paint". Waterborne latex paints are not flammable. Certainly, flame impinging on a latex can can cause an "explosion" driven by pressure.... but it wont be a "fireball". Let's consider a truck driver hauling gasoline flicking a cigarette out the window... The worrisome consideration isn't the cargo - it is the cigarette going out the window. Last year, nearly 1/3rd of our town was wiped out by fire. That anyone would throw a cigarete butt out the window NO MATTER WHAT HIS LOAD is a fucking cretin and deserves all the disdain, dislike and chastisement that our society can muster. If you are barreling down the road at 55 miles per hour in a semi, what chance is there that fumes from your load are going to enter your cab? Getting to the bottom line... I don't care if you threw a pop can out the window, a sandwich wrapper out the window or a Molotov cocktail out the window.... None of us should be throwing ANYTHING out the window. (or out the tailpipe, I might add). Common sense? What is "acceptable" jetsam on our highways? Considering the next fuel/refreshment stop has garbage cans, I have to say......... not a fucking thing!

Old school heavy equipment mechanics would often mention using this stuff to deglaze cylinder walls. AFAIK, they would simply "dust" it into the intake stream. Still, it would be nice if a guy had a clearer picture of what is going on here but it remains elusive.

Hey... I been good - sort of. I have this friend, y'see. He doesn't e-mail me (which I like - I mean I like getting e-mails from him, that is) but now and again he texts me (and texting is foreign to some of us old curmudgeons) making me wish he would e-mail me now and again. Broke m'heart when you mentioned your doggie in that other thread. He was a real cool pup. Still messing around with the Alberta holiday idea? FWIW, and so I don't hijack my own thread - this truck is still running good but throws a P0281, #7 fuel trim is about +18 even with the new fuel system... Manual compression had this cylinder consistently 20 PSI lower than the cylinders near it. Any of you guys ever heard of dusting Bon Ami into the intake?

Kenny just finished a crank pulley job and nearly made the above/below mistake. Looking from above (as if you were working on it) 'below' looks OK. From the (right) side, 'below' begins to look odd. Word to the wise, the crank pulley bolts are 18mm 12 point from the look of it.

??????????

I don't recall seeing many pictures of Bill without that damned cigar. The 50's, 60's and 70's in drag racing layed the foundations for the sport today and fed the engineers a lot of the data they depend on for modern engine technology. Grumpys Toy was always a crowd pleaser. It is guys like Grumpy, Dyno Don, Jungle Jim (who can forget Jungle Pam?)Are just some of the heroes from my youth who are sorely missed. I feel sorry for some of you youngsters who didn't see some of drag racings early years. Early altereds, the birth of the funny car, multi engined cars.... not just multis like Tommy Ivos Showboat car but the unique "race what ya got" cars like ..... I can even recall (and would love to find a pic) of a car with a 240 inch Ford 6 up front and what I recall as an Arduned headed flathead Ford in the back. Sorry for the digression there, Aaron...

Only of the intruder LIVES.... The dog gives me enough time to slide a clip into whatever now legal long gun I have handy. The long gun registry is GONE!!!!! Besides, my shepherd is a regular pussycat - likes to sleep with his head on my lap. Besides, if you hear him barking and insist on entering...... you'd be up for a Darwin Award.

It's Saturday, nearly 6PM local and two of the puppies start caterwauling. I grab the shepherd by the collar (at 130ish pounds he can put his front feet on my shoulders and look me in the eye... me being about 6 feet tall) and go to the front door. There is a young man peddling security systems - "I don't think you need what I'm selling" sez he.... Understatement of the year.... Life has it's moments.

An unexpected development - I had inspected the CKP and CMP sensors... the CKP I replaced as it appeared to be distorted as far as the mounting tab is concerned - there was no rust on the block or sensor. I replaced the sensor because "I had it out and they aren't a lot of money". The customer requested that I replace the CMP at his expense at the same time. He needed the truck back and took it. He called the next morning to tell me the problem didn't recur. As far as I can tell, all I have done is slap the hood of the truck and said "begone, Satan!!". We shall see.

Putting the connector together is small taters...... separating them without taking a shower.... now THAT'S a feat..... unless you have gullible apprentices....

This 550 has been a source of concern for some time. I've finally had some time with it to do some research. After the first start of the day, it will run well for a few minutes and then, as if someone threw a switch, start running poorly and only on 3 or 4 cylinders. The FUEL_PW scale is default at 100mS but I've scaled it down to 1mS. When the truck is running well cold, pulse wodth is about 450 microseconds. As you can see at about the -7ish mark, the pulse width nearly doubles. Now the strange part - It is about this time that the truck starts dropping the first 4 or 5 cylinders in the firing order - eerily similar to the way the pulse width falls rythmically to 0. This will continue for several minutes or until you shut it off and restart. Depending on how much heat/time/whatever "something" experiences, the poor running may or may not return (until the next cold soak). As you can see, LOAD and MF_DES also increase when the symptom occurs. Fuel trims don't change but the screen appears to get "busier", for want of a better description. So far I haven't discovered any other aberrations. I'll offer more as the story unfolds.

I'm not a real big fan of the new seals, myself. The older seals were more forgiving if you found the need to make a radical caster change to the front alignment. However, we (our area is hard on 4X4s) would often see these seals torn up well within the B to B warranty period. Back when the 4X4s still used the C6TZ- -A spindle bearing, we recommended a "spindle service" about every 30K kilometers. With the switch to the sealed spindle bearing, this recommendation has fallen by the wayside. Now, we need a hub engagement concern or a bearing noise concern before we act. Ford has given us a seal arrangement that is guarranteed to visually make it past any and all warranty periods. Reducing the after sale cost of a unit increases the profit margin on that unit. That brings us to another, little discussed point. Retail (customer pay) work. On several boards (at least the ones I haven't been punted from) I see a constant litany of techs moaning about having no work other than warranty work and having to wait around for that to dribble in. I can't speak for anyone else... but our idea of slow is "we can get you in day after tomorrow". Normal = about two weeks. Retail/warranty ratio is about 40/60. Too many stores operate under the "we have them for the next three years" idea. I work on a few 2011s that have nearly 200,000 kms on them. Did I mention that I'm prone to digressing? 'Nuff sed.

"Back in the day", we would open the bay door and blow the dust out of a drum brake assembly. For something over 40 years I have immersed various parts of my anatomy in all manner of carcinogenic compounds - far be it from me to preach to the choir.... For something over 40 years I smoked, on average, two packs a day (that's 50 " 'Arry Rags", folks). Today, after something like 4 smoke free years, I am coughing like a champion. I can't say that there was a whole bunch of common sense wrapped up in some of the things we did way back when... but if we did something to re-affirm our fallibility, we accepted the responsibility for our actions. "I phuqued up". I don't wear nitrile gloves now for the same reason I didn't back then.... I will die when it is my time and not a moment before. That, and they make my hands sweat and then they stink.... even though my old shnozz can't smell anything, anymore. My thoughts on men whimpering... it isn't very manly (unless you watch a lot of HGTV). At least have the decency to stop when you get to a C cup.