BrunoWilimek

I just finished replacing all the seals on the front halfshafts/hubs of an 05 F350 4X4 yesterday. (the same job as ball joints, but stopping before removing the spindles) I had remembered reading about the "easier" way to do this job and since only the inner halfshaft to axle housing seals were bad(customer just bought truck and noticed one seal rattling around halfshaft, so we were replacing them at our cost)I briefly considered doing it this(easy)way. Remembering from past experience how hard these were to take apart due to the rust issue from road salt, I discarded the idea very quickly. In order to get the outer seals out of the spindle, I had to mangle them to the point they were bent out of shape and in pieces. 2 large pry bars on the inside of the inner seal, prying on the axle housing failed to dislodge the seals/halfshafts from the spindle. Had I removed the hubs/rotors/halfshafts as an assmbly, I would have been faced with a very heavy awkward unit to dis-assemble and replace the outer seals. This technique might cut it where rust is not an issue, or if the hub has been recenly apart and had all pertinent parts cleaned of rust and anti-seize liberally applied to all rust prone areas, but otherwise is a no-go here in the rust belt. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/2cents.gif

Sounds almost like the 3.8 head that bit us in the a$$, twice. This was back in the day that 3.8 head gasket jobs were common as nails. Did a head gasket job on one car. It came back with a missfire in one cylinder that we narrowed down to the head, possibly a valve problem, although all looked good when we removed it for an inspection. The car was covered by the recall, and Ford approved a long block replacement. Somehow, we kept the heads off the problem engine and sent others back with the old block. We decided it would be good to have a set of 3.8 heads ready for the next gasket job to save time, so we sent them out to a machine shop to have them rebuilt/planed/valve seals installed or whatever was required. The next job, we confidently installed the "rebuilt" heads and saved a day waiting for the originals to be treated the same way at the machine shop. Long story short, we ended up also replacing that engine with a long block under warranty as it developped the same miss in the same cylinder. That was then end of our time-saving experiment, but at least all was covered by warranty. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hahaha.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/ford.gif

I just put a reman short block in an 05 6.0 F350 for crank endplay. It was leaking out the front seal, but was also cutting off the rearmost rib of the serpentine belt. Also it started to knock randomly at idle. The rear half of the thrust bearing skirt had broken? or worn off the bearing, allowing excess endplay. This was a reman long block with less than 50k on it. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/scratchhead.gif

Inboard side as per instructions. I always read the instructions the first time around for any new recall and review them if necessary for any subsequent jobs. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rockon.gif

I had a similar problem in the 6.0 Turbo course. Some(but not all) of the popups wouldn't open when I clicked on them. The icon changed to a hand but did not open the popup. I turned off out popup blocker with no difference, so assumed it must be in the course programming itself. The popups that did open showed a percentage of them that were loading, but the ones that didn't open did not. Not enough of the popups were faulty to prevent me from finishing the course, so I did not pursue the issue.

The tech next to me does it this way as well. I prefer to leave the lines connected and wire the master and HCU on the engine, making sure they are not going to be crushed when lowering the cab. The newer ones have only one 10mm head bolt to be removed to take the HCU out of the bracket and 2 nuts on the master, as well as the 3 electrical connectors. The reason I do it this way is that brake fluid absorbs water, and I prefer not to let it do this as I don't know how long it will have to sit before re-assembly. For instance, the last one required a short block, AWA inspector to come and verify it, and I took a week off for a vacation between the time I took it apart and re-assembled it, so it sat on my hoist for the better part of 2 weeks. How long would I have had to bleed that one to get rid of the water in the brake fluid? Getting back to the original question, I just replaced one of those lines on an 02(HCU to left front flex hose)and I simply bled it manually. I have used the "braking on gravel" trick in the past to make sure no air was left in the system, but didn't feel it was necessary in this case.

Could it be going into normal regeneration? Check manual regarding normal operating characteristics for regen. There was also a posting on protech about a possible faulty(cracked) DPF, but I would suspect this to be causing a continuous concern, rather than an intermittent one.

I don't have part #'s. Mike, but I suspect the small hose between the intake and degas bottle can be simply cut from bulk hose. The other, I don't know, sorry. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif

I was googling the internet looking for patch panels for my wife's Ford Windstar when I came across the following website. http://action.publicbroadcasting.net/cartalk/posts/list/986009.page Scroll down to skipper's posting of April 21 of 2008 (and follow-up postings)to read about a real 6.0 horror story. Sounds like the 6.0 from hell. I thought it might make interesting reading, even though it comes from a customer's point of view and part of the cause is his need to use the truck as an office and having left it idling all day. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/readthis.gif

Any aftermarket mods? Any DTC's?

Isn't it wonderful? NOT!!!! I just completed a job on an 05 with the diesel ESP. First concern was blowing coolant out the degas bottle. Followed TSB to the letter, stripped it down and found blown head gaskets, heads OK. EGR cooler failed pressure test when hot only. They had to send an inspector out to verify my diagnosis. Result, yes, fix it as you requested to. The other concern was the serpentine belt was losing the rearmost rib. Another tech had diagnosed it and found A/C compressor seized, and I replaced it while doing the heads. A quick inspection of tensioner and other pulleys showed no obvious faults, So I assumed other tech was correct in his diag. Started engine up after repair and road tested OK. Brought back on truck rack to check fluid levels and make sure no leaks evident. While idling to check tranny fluid, motor started to have light random knock. Raised on hoist and found cause of knock and belt problem to be crankshaft moving forward when engine running. My bad. I should have checked that when heads were off. After waiting to get the original claim paid and calling for warranty approval for a short block, was told to "just remove oil pan to have a look inside". Not wanting to be in a bad spot by just dropping the pan in chassis, I removed the engine and we borrowed the proper engine stand so I could take a good look at it. The rear skirt of the thrust bearing was mangled up and lying in the bottom of the pan. Diagnosis: short block due to wear on the crank/bedplate thrust area and possible connecting rod/piston damage due to being forced forward in the block. Called for approval and was told to remove heads to make sure no related damage and then they would send out an inspector to verify. No damage to heads(of course not, the gaskets hadn't even seated into them yet from the previous repair and didn't hardly even have to be scraped clean. The inspector is a really good guy who we don't mind seeing here at all. He had me remove another main bearing (I already had the upper bearing out of the thrust journal) and authorized a short block. Hey, didn't I diagnose that before I ever had it apart? Got it back together OK this time. The really sad thing about the repair was that it was already a remanufactured long block from a previous concern of a ventilated block. If the crank concern had been caught at the same time as the head gaskets, they would have sent a complete long block under the engine parts warranty. I will know to look next time, at least. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/flamethrower.gifDiesel engine warranty?

They have to be cooled off or I refuse to do them. The last one I did, I didn't rush, had to pee after starting, had only the recall to do and still did it in .8. I had another one that I also did an oil change on and was able to save time by only having it up on hoist once and actually did it in .4. I am not bragging, just showing realistic times. I only use water as a lube, but have a few tricks I use to save a little time. I cut the long end clamp retainer shorter to avoid interference, I cut the o2 sensor wire pigtail retainer pushpin with side cutters and use a wire tie to re-attach it, as the pushpin seems to take a lot of effort to detach. I cut the hose lengthwise at the long end with a utility knife to make it come off quickly and easily. I carefully use my longest prybar to detach the short end hose. I feel for you guys with larger than average arms/hands or who have to work on a scorching hot vehicle. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/2cents.gif

Just curious, but how long did it sit on the lot before being delivered? What does the fuel look/smell like? Did you perform the injector leakdown test(lay all the injectors on the intake, temporarily connected to the old lines and watch for leaks)?

I try to follow the TSB, if not to the letter, then at least to the spirit. I don't always replace oil coolers, only if they fail. I almost always replace egr coolers even if they seem to pass the tests. Temperature does matter, as I had one that I used the block-off tools on when hot and got tiny even-sized bubbles(just like a tire leak). It sat for several days afterwards due to a weekend, before the dude came to do his inspection for the diesel engine warranty. It still had lots of pressure and no more bubbles after the first few hours. I don't code for anything not required, but replace all parts identified as being required, as well as returning to parts ALL warranty parts replaced, down to the smallest gasket(and getting my R.O. initialled for it), so if any problems arise, parts are available to be sent back. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/2cents.gif

I did some more research on the P244A. Seems the PCM does not look at the DP sensor pid until 5000km(this unit has 4500=close enough?). The causes list aftermarket equipment/performance equipment. The customer said he researched it on the internet and found some site that says they all do it(yeah right!)and it is caused by a sensor or a pinched wire or something that causes a ticking noise at 20,000km.(Huh? his only has 4500 and no ticking noise!), so I googled the 2 codes and found several sites that listed those codes but most seemed to think the air intake was at fault. Seems the stock "Donaldson" filter is still the best.(according to them anyhow) I told the customer he had to return it to stock and then I can test it further. We will see what happens now.

Thanks, Greg. I already told the customer that, but he is a bit of a meathead. His last truck was an 03 6.0 that he modified up the wazoo. It had dual stacks(a big square hole in the floor of the box!),aftermarket air intake and a chip with a display screen. Every time the screen popped out a code,(no check engine lamp though)he would call me and I had to drop everything I was doing to find out the cause. I finally put a strip of electrical tape over the screen and told him not to call me again unless the check engine light came on. Most of the problems he had were of his own making, as he would disconnect/reconnect the chip from the PCM every time he brought it in for warranty work. The only reason we put up with him is the family has bought many vehicles from our dealership in the last 16 years and you don't bite the hand that feeds you, especially now that times are tough in the auto industry. Besides, it's a small town.

Got this truck yesterday. Code P244A continuous, no symptoms noted on road test, cleared code, did not return, reflashed to latest calibration. Visual inspection OK. Back today with P2452 Cont. and Pending. Cleared codes and road tested as per PP test. Sounded like plugged filter as truck whistling/hissing out exhaust on accel. Truck went into regen, code came back, truck had repeated sneeze at cruise(sounds just like a person sneezing). A second road test was normal- no more symptoms. Followed PP test for code P2452- no problem found-returned to customer, shortly after, he called back it was doing it again(sneezing and CEL back on). I asked about fuel and he didn't know specifics(they have a fleet and fill up at their depot), but he has been using Stanadyne additive. He also has an aftermarket air intake system(ARI) and dual tailpipes with air intake slots. The truck has only 4500km on it and he does mostly short trips. He is coming back tomorrow. Any tips for me? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif

The way I see it, if you are going to use the PP test anyhow, it just saves time by inserting the test results in the PP test onscreen. It is still up to the tech to decide what the results mean and which test step to go to next. If you don't agree with the test to begin with then it is up to you to use your head for more than a hat rack and figure out what to do on your own. It does not automatically go to the next step based on the results obtained from the previous test. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/2cents.gif

Ours showed up today.

I have a question. What happens to the water in the system when the temperature drops below freezing, as can(and does)happen in most of Canada at least 6 months of the year? Is this a warm weather only system?

I can't remember exactly where I read it, but Ford's official word is that the F100 is to be the replacement for the Ranger. I just hope it gets better fuel economy then the Ranger.

This hold true especially for the 6.0. It seems to be able to learn new random tricks on a continuing basis.

If you do decide to remove the HCU, you only need to remove 1 10mm head bolt at the rear of the HCU holding it to the bracket. The bracket does not have to come out. Also, getting back to the original instuctions as copied from the other site, the power steering cooler does not need to be touched in any way, just leave it in place. I don't know if anyone else has already mentioned this.

I remember an alignment job a few years ago that came from an indy shop up the road.(he sent all his alignments to us as he didn't have an alignment machine)It was a Chevy Cavalier and was for a 4-wheel alignment. I called the shop back to say we didn't have the proper shims to do the rear and he agreed to let us do a 2 wheel instead. A couple of days later the owner of the car shows up in my face p-o'd becuase he only got a 2 wheel alignment. I explained the situation to him. He calmed down a little but got angry again when I asked him how much the fruit picker up the road charged him. He got charged $109.95 for an alignment that we only charged the fruit picker $29.95 for. And us dealers have a reputaion of being too expensive? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banghead.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banghead.gif