DamageINC

Outside of work, my biggest time-sucker is my band. I play guitar in a heavy rock project called "Inn Cinema" out of Chicago, all-original music. Have TONS of fun with it, play a lot of shows and always making new fans. Give us a listen if you haven't already, we've got a few tracks fom our CD for listen on our website: www.inncinemamusic.com You can also check us out on myspace and facebook of you kids do that kinda thing Dave

I'm gonna take the contrary position on that one though, I work on EVERYTHING and I will say that domestic cars are put together much more uniformly than imported vehicles. I actually find German cars to be the easiest to work on, it's just that the repair procedures are usually enormous. Yeah, it's ridiculous that a thermostat pays 6.7 hours on a 4.2L Audi, it's a shitload of work. But it's easy work, there's just a lot of it. On the other hand, I can't stand Toyotas and Mitsubishis, you'll pull one thing off and it takes 14 bolts, all the same hex head size and 4 different lengths with a total difference of maybe 10mm between all the bolts, lol.. do a short block on an EVO and have fun keeping track of which bolts came from where, it's a disaster. (These Toyota/Lexus guys, as well as the Euro car guys have it MADE from a flat-rate standpoint though, I can't believe how generous the labor times are on these things, it really is a slap in the face to PowerStroke techs who will do twice the job for literally half of what these guys get for it, it's ridiculous. The first time I EVER did a steering rack on an Audi A4, it paid 8.4 hours I think, I had it done and shipped in under 5. And I'd never worked on one of those in my life, if I had to do it again it'd probably take half that amount of time. Compare that to a Horizontal EGR cooler which beats the shit out of you for half a day and doesn't pay out nearly what it should... I should have worked for Mercedes or something, lol.) Dave

Goddamn, that's a rough one! I'm pretty sure I only remove one of the idlers when I do these things, otherwise I'd have likely found myself in your shoes before. Good catch, unfortunate it was too late though. And yes, '04+ F-150 cab-offs are absolute CAKE. I think the quickest I ever had one off was just over 40 minutes, I was doing a short block on an '05 (stuck injector/bent rod) and had the whole job done in under 9 hours. Dave

OK well the vehicle was a non-priority so I let it sit for a bit before jumping back onto it. The fix was actually found pretty quickly. Even though all the load testing showed no problems, I decided to start fresh. I noticed that with the fuel pump relay out, there was some clicking noise from under the dash on top of the engine. Pulled the Doghouse to find that the IAC was actually cycling at the same speed as the relay used to be. Unplugged the IAC - teh clicking moved to a solenoid in the trans. Now I'm thinking that I have a ground issue because every time I disconnect something that's cycling, the cycling moves to another component, telling me that we're searching for a ground because the "intended" ground isn't working anymore. Sure enough, I find that 6 or 7 of the ground wires for the PCM all tie into Ground 101 (I think it was) which is by the battery near the marker lamp. Found that the nut & ground wire ON TOP were just fine, but the wire that gets grounded by the stud to the frame was corroded and loose. Would have been impossible to see with the battery in place. Cleaned up and refastened the stud and ground - guess what, everything works now, lol. I'm amazed that the fog light would turn on so immediately and brightly with the ground in such bad shape like that when testing those circuits. Usually a bad ground results in the bulb slowly, progressively lighting up until it gets fully bright. Either way - problem solved, and no PCM needed Dave

Haha, I USED to work for a Ford dealer. Now I'm the lead tech at an indie, hehehe. (Does this make me a bad person?) Dave

Unfortunately Bruce, the BOB is not something I think I can get my hands on, lol, believe me that's the 1st thing I thought of when I found out that I'd not be needing a PCM for this. I'm not looking forward to backprobing a dozen wires in use at the PCM but it might be what I have to do. I'm just amazed that my fog light bulb didn't reveal any sign of a problem. The way I checked the power wires was by turning the key on, plugging a bulb terminal (via a wire) into the PCM connectors respective pin/terminal, and then the other bulb terminal would get jumped straight to battery ground. So I was using the supplied 12V from the battery, through the entire circuit to the PCM, and then my own ground. And the grounds were checked the same way, just with the bulb being attached to the + post on the battery instead. I actually love these kinda problems though, I just wish I had the BOB to make life easier at this point. I think I'm just going to temporarily overlay B+ straight to the 12v inputs on the PCM and see if the problem continues. If it does, then I can be somewhat confident that the issue isn't a supply voltage/current problem. Dave

*UPDATE* I got lucky and found that we have an identical model year E-van here with a 6.8- both PCM's have the same part number and tear tag. So - A swapping I go!! ...and the clicking is still there. No start. No communication. WTF. Going to start disconnecting sensors one-by-one in hopes that I can get something to change here.. gonna be bald by the end of the day, I think. Dave

..I just wanna know if anyone else here has seen this sort of thing. Got a '97 E-350 6.8L, crank-no-start. 208k miles. Turn the key on and the fuel Pump relay cycles about 4 times a second, not a random chatter but a perfectly timed cycle. You can hear the fuel pump in the tank cycling on and off with the relay as well. Just as a quickite I swap relays, same problem. Go to check for codes - no response from PCM. All fuses good. Startng to think that I have a possible bad ground or weak power supply to the PCM, so I load-test (with a 4amp Fog Light bulb) every single power and ground circuit to and from the PCM. 3 times. Same results every time, all circuits in good shape. Take a large jumper cable and jump battery power straight to the underhood fuse box, just to make sure that the fuse panel is getting a good solid 12v source - problem still exists. Found a pretty loose ground connection by the drivers side headlight, so I clean it and tighten it up - no change. For grins, I have a new PCM power diode in my box and stuff it in - no change. Also swapped PCM power relay, with no change. Basically, everything I've ever learned about electronics is telling me that this PCM is bad. But, as we all know, FORD PCM's don't usually fail. I've *reluctantly* diagnosed 4 bad FORD PCM's in my life, and twice I was incorrect, so I'm kinda nervous about selling this. But I can't seem to think of anything else that could be causing this.. We did have some pretty violent storms recently and I'm wondering if maybe we've had some water intrusion, but the connector appears fine. I've not actually pulled the PCM out yet. Anyone got any input here? Dave

That last one like this with the old-style pumps that I had, ended up being a pump too - and it was visibly obvious that it was messed up too. The snap ring on the back side of the pump was blown halfway out of the pump body and that plate that the snap ring secures was crooked/cocked a bit in the bore. Dave

That last one like this with the old-style pumps that I had, ended up being a pump too - and it was visibly obvious that it was messed up too. The snap ring on the back side of the pump was blown halfway out of the pump body and that plate that the snap ring secures was crooked/cocked a bit in the bore. Dave

I can't say I ever forgot the spacer but I put an engine in a 6.0 short bus once and, in true short bus fashion, put the flexplate on BACKWARDS, lol. That was no fun to fix without a lift. Dave

Blah, you know those vehicles that just do everything they can to make you look like a bad tech and a shoddy shop? I get an '04 Chevy Venture 3.4 in early last week, check engine light on, barely runs & stalls frequently, P0300 in memory. Real quick diagnosis, fuel pressure regulator leaking internally and fuel is being sucked into the intake past the diaphragm, common problem with the 3.4 in general. Check everything else - no other issues. Sell the regulator, slap it on, clear the codes & test drive - off she goes. Lady comes back yesterday with a CEL on again, running rough, this time a P0171. Found a loose vacuum line at the back of the throttle body and loose intake hose clamp ON the throttle body. Neither of these parts were touched by us - but whatever, I clear the codes, fix the problem, send her on her way no charge because she was just here anyway. She comes BACK again, minutes later, now there's "this nosie that wasn't there before". Sure enough, strange humming noise at certain load levels that you can hear inside the cabin, through the air vents, but it's barely audible at all underhood. Kinda reminiscent of an IAC "hum" if you've heard that before. So I roll the window down and see if I can hear it while driving, stll very minor.. after a few minutes of probing around, I pull the vacuum line off the new FPR I installed - noise goes away. The fucking diaphragm is vibrating HARMONICALLY and you can hear it in the cabin. So we have to put another regulator on it. Tell her the car is ok to drive though, and to come back tomorrow. She leaves, and comes back AGAIN 5 minutes later. "My window won't roll up". Needs a switch now. Someone get me a beer. Dave

Yeah, a simple handheld tuner will be more than adequate for this. An otherwise bone stock 5-spd '03 Mach with a 4.10 can go 12.80's with drag radials Dave

I was just gonna say - excessive RPM's (ESPECIALLY if it's combined with a sticking lifter valve guide) could absolutely create this kind of issue, even the sligthest bit of valve float is very potentially going to create piston-valve contact with these engines. Dave

I'm on the front cover panel, with this one, hehe. Might wanna give this one a thorough once-over too though, make sure the EGR coolers are still doing their job, as the EGR cooler failures have a tendency to exacerbate the cavitation that kills the front covers. Yank the water pump and let us know what it looks like in there! Dave

This is pretty strange.. The EGR valve itself didn't come apart, did it? Lol there aren't many other components that could just "eject" a small piece of metal into the cylinder like that.. ..I remember one time I was doing some performance work on a Mitsubishi EVO-9 because the owner lost compression in cylinder 1. After tearing the engine down, I found absolutely no immediately obvious damage to the piston, or the cylinder head. What I did find was an ENORMOUS washer wedged in the intake port, which I found a day after taking the head off because I pulled the intake on a hunch. (You remove the cylinder head with the intake still attached, on these things) Initially, the owner blamed the previous shop who did his performance work and said that they sabotaged the engine and threw garbage in the intake because they got into an arguement earlier in the year. After some more investigating, I found that the bypass/blowoff valve had internally exploded and sent some of it's guts through the intake and right into cylinder 1. So maybe some component in the intake, or near the intake broke? Even something like IAT2 or maybe a piece of the turbo from the EXHAUST side (turbine fin, VGT vane pin, anything like that) made it's way through the EGR cooler and into the intake? It seems far fetched, but these thigns do happen I guess. Dave

Yeah, I've seen overheating conditions that DIDN'T melt the standpipe and still resulted in severely warped cylinder heads, (and thus failed head gaskets) as well as metal-transfer from the piston to the cylinder walls. I'd be on the hunt for a new engine, my friend. Dave

I have done 3 E-van harnessess and got 8 hours the 1st time, and had to FIGHT for 8 hours the next 2 times. Dave

Wow.. that's seriously interesting! What does the injector & Glow plug look like, by chance?

14% is MASSIVE for a relative compression test to show on these things, I'd be willing to bet that - yes, you bent a rod, and possibly started melting the piston as well. Id check the oil level to make sure there hasn't been any extreme fuel-oil dilution as well. Dave

Oh shit, haha it's davelizzio@yahoo.com - I'm retarded, sorry, lol... Dave

Dude, that would be AWESOME! Thank you very much!! Dave

Mmmmm... lope...

Anyone here know how to get a hold of a wiring schematic for the exterior lights (primarily the license plate lights/trunk harness) for a 2003 Mercedes CL 600 (5.5 V-12 Twin Turbo).. ..I cannot for the life of me seem to find these diagrams on Mitchell (which I can't stand, by the way). Anyone else here has any access to these things, I will love you forever. Left side license plate bulb has ground but no power supply, turns a message on in the info center on the dashboard stating that the license plate bulb is out. Dave

I agree, I think the idea behind an electric car is a viable temporary "alternative" but in the end, the electricity needed to recharge the batteries needs to come from somewhere (not talking about hybrid technology here) and the batteries themselves are TERRIBLE for the environment.. so it's kind of a double edged sword. I think that hydrogen fuel cell technology is somthing that's a very, very potentially world-changing concept. We just need to find a way to make any decent power with it or it just won't ever catch on. Ford had a concept hydrogen truck with a SUPERCHARGED 3-valve 6.8 V-10 and I think it barely made 300 HP (I could be wrong though). But at the end of the day, it runs on the most available molecules on our planet and it's only emission is water. I think that if we'd been driving electric cars for the last hundred years, and some hillbilly showed up with blueprints for an internal combustion engine, we would be hailing it as a new era in automotive technology and the best thing since sliced bread.