BrunoWilimek

Thanks, guys. I am going to do a turbo under parts warranty. I was also able to convince customer to do the trifecta, as he wants to get a couple more trouble-free years(hopefully)out of the truck.

Thanks. I drove it around again this morning. No smoke until i got back to the dealership. Got witnesses to verify a couple of bursts of blue smoke when I revved it up while stopped.

Customer says truck intermittently blows a huge cloud of blue smoke, then clears up and goes for a time with no smoke, then repeats smoke show. I have driven truck for almost 45 minutes with no smoke. Truck has a dump box, used in a landscape business, and manual tranny. It runs perfectly, with no DTC's. Recent work done on it was 2 EGR valves for DTC's, the second one after a short time as the first one looked fine but was setting a DTC. At that time, I noted coolant low and found the heater hose near the alternator leaking and replaced the clamp. I topped up the coolant, almost 5 litres. I warned customer about the possibility of further issues due to the low coolant level. On inspection, now, coolant is down slightly, oil level is OK. Yet, customer swears smoke is blue. The turbo was also replaced in the last year for typical 6.0 turbo seizing. I would think if the turbo oil seal was leaking that it would smoke all the time. Anyone seen any other cause for blue smoke intermittently?

Thanks, Chris. I will try that when time permits.

Thanks, guys. I was thinking along the lines of draining and re-filling, but am worried that the black goo can't be completely flushed out. The one I took apart to see what's inside took lots of scrubbing in the parts washer to get that sticky crud rinsed out. I wonder what could be temporarily run in the PTU to release it and then drain it without causing any damage to the bearings? I also can't justify spending a few hundred bucks on a new unit.

The SSM reads: 2007-2015 Various Vehicles Equipped With All Wheel Drive - Propane, Or Natural Gas Odor During Idle Or Low Speed Driving Some 2013-2015 MKZ vehicles equipped with a 3.7L, 2007-2014 Edge, 2007-2015 MKX, 2011-2015 Explorer, 2009-2015 Flex, 2010-2015 MKT, 2008-2015 Taurus, 2008-2009Taurus X, 2009-2015 MKS, 2007-2012 Fusion/MKZ, and 2007-2011 Milan vehicles equipped with a PTU may exhibit a propane, or natural gas odor from the HVAC systemafter driving the vehicle for 20-45 minutes. This odor, if present, is most noticeable while idling or during low speed driving. Inspect the PTU for fluid leaks and repair any leaks per Workshop Manual Section 308-07B. If odor is still present after the leak repair and cleaning, replace the PTU and vent hose, if equipped. For vehicles with no leaks and odor present, replace the PTU along with the PTU vent hose, if equipped. Refer to Section 7 of the SLTS manual for the appropriate labor operations. My question is has anyone investigated this issue further? The reason I ask is that my 07 Edge has the odor from the PTU, but no leak. I replaced the PTU in a 2010 Flex for the same issue and since the old PTU did not have to be returned for a core, saved it and cracked it open to see what was inside. The only external difference from the old PTU to the new one was a drain plug has been added to the new unit. The fluid inside the old unit had turned into a black gooey sludge, but I don't see any other faults inside the old PTU. The fluid specified is 75W140 gear oil. When I checked the fluid in my own PTU through the fill plug, it was the same black goo as the Flex. other than the odour, though, it works well, so hesitate to mess with it until I have to. Anyone got any input on this?

And ironically the engine can sometimes run surprisingly well with the fuel pump not running. I think it was a 7.3L I discovered this on. I agree. I did fuel filters on a 6.0 once and it quit on me after a very short road test. The fuel pump was bad and opening the system caused a break in the suction that was drawing fuel from the tank with an inoperative pump. This was confirmed to me from an instructor at one of the Ford diesel courses and we were told not to rely on the inertia switch to kill the engine in the event of a rollover. Regardless, the customer's truck would run all day, it just would not restart after shutting down hot until it had cooled off for 20 minutes to half an hour. This topic made it simple to find the cause and make for a happy customer. Thanks DTS.

Just got a hug from the customer today. No more starting issues. Removing the corroded kill switch and re-joining the wire fixed it.

I also had one break off and the screw trick and a lot of patience paid off. If you have a very small carbide burr, you could very carefully work around the edge of the hole to remove rust buildup. Good luck with it.

I have an 06 in my bay that had an intermittent no start and set code P0231. After reading this thread, I discovered a kill switch had been spliced in at the inertia switch. The kill switch was extremely hot, showed signs of melting the electrical tape around it. When I cleared the code, disconnected the inertia switch, truck would start, then stall. Also, it set code P0231 with the switch disconnected.

I bought one a few years ago from one of the local tool trucks(don't remember which one). It was a POS so I returned it after one use. I have had good luck replacing the straight nipples with 90 degree ones as long as there is room for them. I have had to grind a bit off some of them for clearance to the U-joint.

Nobody ever says that crooks are smart. If they were, they wouldn't be crooks. Reminds me of the F250 diesel that was stolen here a few years back before pats keys were added to them. Instead of using a slim jim to unlock the door, they broke the plastic around the passenger door handle to access the lock rod. Then they destroyed the shroud and column to break out the cylinder. We recovered most of the truck after it had been stripped of wheels, tailgate, etc., but the bill to fix it was over $15,000. It was dealer traded. Buyer beware.

Just for the record, I have never studded any heads that I have done. The other diesel tech here has, but I have it from a good source at FoMoCo that they looked into the benefits of studs vs bolts and determined that the blocks were not strong enough to take the extra clamping force of the studs without distortion. I have only ever had to redo one set of heads that were previously re-gasketed and never had one of mine come back. I use white Roloc bristle discs(rubber) and a very long 3/4 drive ratchet to the tty bolts.

Years ago, one of our techs, who is now service manager, did head gaskets on a 6.0. He thought the injector tips looked dirty, so he "cleaned" them. After that the truck was slow to build power. 4 new injectors partially cured the issue, then the other 4 cured it. This was after replacing the turbo twice and various other attempted fixes.

From Protech: Mar 14 2013 PTS Stability Issues .

They are also claiming 38 MPG(Imperial) with their new V6 with the 8 speed tranny. How will Ford top that?

Wow, if it only works half as well as shown it is still amazing stuff!

They probably figured out most of us were not replacing the clamps anyhow, so just wanted to stop paying us for it. Probably because some whiz kid bragged he could do it in record time. I personally never replaced the clamps, just used the new nuts on the old ones. All the coolers I replaced had clamps that looked just like new. Also, I leave the oil dipstick in place if it doesn't come out easily.

Just a thought, but did you happen to check for timing chain wear? With dist.cap off, rotate crank pulley clockwise/counterclockwise to see how many degrees of crankshaft rotation are possible before rotor turns. I think the maximum tolerance was 5 degrees.(if memory serves me correctly) A vehicle this old may have excess wear on the chain and pulleys.

I read about this issue in a trade magazine and they also said it was normal. They found the cause to be a certain amount of flex in the calipers. If the brakes work normally, then it is not a performance issue.

I just remembered another thing: if you claim for a pinpoint test, there is a sheet you have to fill out with a spot for every test step and you have to enter the result of that test. Are they going to pay us to have secretaries now? Not likely. I seem to remember getting into a trade that didn't require me to do a lot of writing, because I HATE writing.

We had a meeting with our warranty clerk to lay down the rules. One of the things brought up was that we can no longer claim for NPF. Ok, then I guess if I can't duplicate the problem, there's nothing in OASIS, the description is vague and the service writer can't give me any more info then I'm not gonna spend much time trying to fix it. My crystal ball never came back from the repair shop and didn't work originally. Condition code 42 is overused(huh?), Don't use 999A(then why is it listed), Don't use 1007D(I never did anyhow). It would help if the service writers could provide more info. For example, is it a no start, or a no crank?, or another one: heater does not work. Is that no heat or no blower fan? The more time I waste trying to figure out what the customer concern is, the less I can waste on diagnosis.

Luckily, the only idjit we had that put DEF in the fuel tank didn't start the truck after, but had it towed in here. Still a fairly major job draining and flushing the entire fuel system.

Thanks guys. I am always glad to see that the techs on this site come through with the answers.