DamageINC

Can't say I've ever heard of that one before, haha.. I can tell you right now that I wouldn't be using the word "warranty" around this guy too much, though. Any signs of the engine being apart once before??? I had a 6.0 truck that I ended up replacing the heads on due to warpage and one of the new heads had bunk valves right out of the box. Something was wrong with the guides or something, the valve bridges wouldn't even fit correctly. Due to, err... "time constraints" we were told to basically make the head work. So we FORCED the valve bridges onto the valves and after I put it all together - drove it away later on that day. A good 5 minutes into the drive, one of the rockers walked off the bridge, busted 2 valve springs, dropped the valves right into the cylinder, made a wonderful mess. Fortunately, no base-engine damage was done and all we needed was a third head. - I ended up sending a bunch of pics (that I still have) to Ford engineering because they were real interested for whatever reason to see what was wrong with the head... Dave

Just got in for a class at the end of January - can't wait! Dave

Ahh - the Good 'ol Turbo-encabulator. Just tell the customer that there's too much fuel in the system. Me - I'm a youngin'. Only 24 years old, so I've still got all sorts of wonderful stuff to learn as far as I'm concerned. Personally - I embrace all this new !@#!?$! being thrown at us. Right now I'm at a point to where I am totally comfortable with learning something 24/7 if the opportunity presents itself... which is one reason why I love my job so much. I'm sure that over time, that feeling may change, but right now, I feel a sense of pride knowing that I'm always on top of the latest/greatest technology in modern day vehicles and that I actually do a good job of diagnosing their problems when they arise. I'm not *scared* of the 6.4 in any way, I just hope for the sake of FOMOCO that all of the effort they've put into this new animal doesn't backfire if a bunch of the new ideas and additions prove to be problematic over time. On Paper, this engine sounds like it's going to be the benchmark diesel for years to come. But it HAS to be reliable, especially after the rash that the 6.0 (ESPECIALLY the early ones) left on Ford's buttcheeks. Physically I'm still young and so I have no problem jumping up on the fenders of these things and going to town, yanking cabs & replacing the heads on these mules. I'll likely be singing a different tune in another decade but as long as I stay busy and don't screw the pooch in the process, I'm more than willing to welcome all sorts of new "horrible" ideas with open arms and an even more open mind. Dave

I've diag'd Y-pipe leaks by commanding the EGR valve on full-tilt - although this isn't really the most healthy way to get the job done, it only takes a matter of seconds and Holy Moses does it start smoking from the leak *instantly*. And then you get everyone around you in the shop screaming for the next 5 minutes about how bad it stinks. Dave

LOL - this course has me encouraged and disheartened at the same time. Part of me looks at this whole thing and is really impressed with the amount of effort that it looks like went into preventing so many 6.0 problems from occuring on this new monstrosity. The other part of me says that "I really hope all this new !@#!?$! they added for protecction doesn't break instead". With the 3 EGT sensors and the electric fuel coolant pump (which appears to be located pretty close to the vertical EGR cooler) and the possibility of that pre-EGR "Cat" clogging up, and so many other new possibilities, it just all makes me wish that nothing goes severely wrong with this. Those "quick-connect" coolant hose couplers kinda creep me out too.. hopefully they don't corrode up and rot to the point that they become instant geyser-locations, or worse yet - slow leaks that eventually result in EGR coolers melting and possibly engine failure. But, I actually have faith that Ford did their homework here and that the problems coming with the new toys will be minimal. Dave

I've heard that before but for some reason it never did much for me. On the other hand though it's always been very minor flow-thru problems I ended up having so maybe the temp difference would have been much more noticible if I'd been using a laser-temp gun or something more accurate than my bunk-!@#!?$! thumb, haha. Dave

Haha, well thanks for the input guys but it's all mint now. The thing that REALLY sucks about it is that it turned out to be one of the very first things I "checked" but disregarded because I was relying on PID data intstead of that 'gut feeling' you get sometimes. Early on, (don't remember if I mentioned this) I considered a stuck EGR valve because the tube primarily feeds EGR gases into the right side of the intake manifold. So I check my DPFE voltages KOEO and KOER and they were both .96 volts, but the DPFE voltage responded normally when I would command the EVR to open the EGR valve - eliminating the possibility of a stuck DPFE sensor as well. So, I just dismissed the EGR valve as the problem instead of replacing the gasket with a solid piece of cardboard to block off EGR flow completely. Well.... turns out I should have done that right off the bat. There's a part of me that wants to kick my own !@#!?$! for not doing it, but "on paper" I really didn't do anything wrong so I don't know how to go about feeling over the whole thing. Win some, lose some, I guess, lol. Certainly one of those things that I'll never forget though, and I guess as a word of caution to the rest of you - a *SLIGHTLY* stuck open EGR valve on an older 4.0 SOHC can and will cause a misfire across possibly the entire right cylinder bank at LOW rpm. Even bad experiences are still great ways to learn, sometimes.. Dave

Ok... I'm not cocky, I don't think I'm the best, or the smartest, or the quickest... but I'll be damned if someone calls me a bad tech. I have *NEVER* encountered a vehicle that has a concern that cannot be diagnosed. But I'm starting to think that I finally found one... '00 Explorer, 4.0 SOHC. 51k miles. Customer says that it starts and immediately dies. Verified, figured it was just an IAC (felt just like a bad IAC) but it wasn't after swapping over a known good one. So I decide to actually diagnose this one, haha. Finally get it running, but it runs *ROUGH*, start monitoring fuel trims, longs showing some severe lean condition signs but oddly enough there were no codes. Grab an aerosol can of brake cleaner and fire around some vacuum lines, until I found a MASSIVE leak at the lower intake gaskets. That's when I looked down and saw that this thing still had the factory Cam tensioner in it!!! (Should have been replaced 6 years ago during the 00M12 recall. Haha it also still has 4 Wilderness A/T's on it.) So, I sell the 00M12 Recall on it as it not only replaces the Cam tensioner for bank 2 but also replaces the upper and lower intake gaskets. Do the job - start the truck - boom, fires right up and stays running. But it feels rough. Check oil level and quality - good. Check power balance - cylinders 1, 2, and 3 are dropping HARD (like -70). Recheck my work for anything I messed up - nothing wrong. Let it idle, doesn't clear up. I notice that if I bring the rpm's up to about 1,300-1,400 rpm, the misfires are COMPLETELY gone, and it's virtually imperceptible at 1,000 rpm. Check fuel pressure - 65psi running, normal response. Take off a small vacuum line, and introduce some carb cleaner into the intake while it's running just to see if anything changes - nope. Create a small vacuum leak, just to see what changes - nope. Fuel trims sutprisingly look normal, although I notice that the right (bank 1) 02 voltage is VERY erratic which is likely because the bank is running so rough. I swap the front 02's from bank to bank - still have cylinder 1, 2, and 3 missing. Now I'm thinking that maybe the right cam chain cassette is busted (although not noisy) and therefore mistimed the right side cam. Check relative compression - perfect. Pull the plugs, and check manual compression - all cylinders at 170-180 psi. Hmm... Maybe the right side cat's plugged?? Check exhaust backpressure from the front right 02 bung - less than 1psi MAX on a WOT snap. Perfect. Decide to replace the plugs, just for grins. No change. Now I'm getting agitated... everythings coming up good and this thing runs like a bucket of crap. Fuel quality??? - very unlikely, seeing as only 1 bank runs bad. But, I decide to check it - it's fine. I end up running the engine on a canister of known good fuel, and the same problem is still there. Cyl's 1, 2, and 3 looking terrible. Wiggle test the hell out of everything - no change. This is when I remove the upper intake, again, and pull the right valve cover to inspect for any damage to the chain or cassette, or any damaged/broken valvesprings as I've seen many fail in these before. Looks mint. Re-inspect the intake manifolds for any weird warpage or cracks or anything, as I'm getting desperate now. Nothing wrong. Pull the fuel rail and inspect the injectors and rail for anything funky - nothing wrong. Grab all the fun special tools for this lovely engine, and check base engine timing - it's spot on, both banks. Since the valve covers are off, why not do some leakdown testing?? All of bank 2's cylinders (4, 5, and 6) are at 25% leakdown - good. All of bank 1's cylinders (1, 2, and 3) are at about 40% leakdown.. which is RIGHT on the borderline of "accetpable" and "raises an eyebrow". I decide to check the intake ports to see if there's any air coming through - nope. I check the exhaust - nope. I check the oil-drain holes in the head - there it is! It's coming from the crankcase!?! What, do I have bad rings on an entire cylinder bank?? I go and re-test bank 2 - it does the same thing. REally, I got nowhere with this test. This is when I call hotline, and really didn't get anywhere there either. "Base Engine" was all that they could really say, but there are absolutely no signs whatsoever of base engine damage without any intrusive testing. They tell me to put it back together and do a running compression test - ok. I do. It's mint. Go drive it around some more - this thing drives *perfect* until you bring it back down to idle. Perform a relative injector flow test - all good. Given the strange loop-style ignition system in this truck, I thought *MAYBE*, just maybe, the ignition coil could be the problem. I know that the coils are paired much differently, but whatever, nothing else is getting me anywhere. And a new coil pack didn't do any good either. Back in the shop, start wiggle testing again. I get to the PCM, rattle it around, nothing... then I smack it. Good god - something changed!!!! I check power balance, and now cylinders 1 and 4 are misfiring and the rest are strong!! I'm all sorts of excited, thinking I finally found my bug. Talk to a few other guys, chat with the service manager, we decide to order a PCM up for it. And it came. And I put it in. And it still runs like !@#!?$! at idle. There isn't a whole lot else that can be wrong with this, except that it needs an engine. But I DO NOT want to quote (and replace) a $2,800 engine and then STILL have the same problem later on. I'm seriously going to light myself on fire tonight. Wish me luck!! Dave

I like this idea but the problem is that it's not possible to control the accuracy of the responses from customers. I can't tell you how many times I and other techs have been blasted on a survey with incorrect "No" FIRTFT answers and "Overall Satisfaction"/"Recommend Dealership" simply because of either a problem with a service writer, or even better, they're just unhappy with the PRODUCT. I've had surveys where I got a bad review, but the "message" the customer left was along the line of "The service department was excellent and fixed the vehicle right away without question, but I can't believe that I had to drive 45 minutes for a 10 minute repair that shouldn't have been needed on my $40,000 truck." And this resulted in a Bad "service satisfaction" and "FIRTFT" score EVEN THOUGH they mentioned that it was fixed correctly... people don't really always pay attention to what they're filling out. Dave

Yeah, obviously there are a myriad of things that could go wrong and cause this but I think you narrowed the field down pretty good when you mentioned "remote start"... Dave

Yeah, I've done probably 15-20 sets of head gaskets and I can say that a very good portion of them were heavy-use trucks. I actually end up replacing the heads on 90% of them due to warpage. I had to do a set of heads TWICE on the same truck, actually... a week later I saw it towing a full-size bulldozer around, so no wonder he kept popping them. I have another "personal use" truck coming in on monday that wiped his head gaskets out, and another possible customer-pay set of head gaskets (which I'm charging 25 hours of labor for) on a lifted-to-!@#!?$! F-350, but I'll be using the Hypermaxx head gasket set with the ARP hardware. I know of guys running that stuff and pushing over 60psi boost without failure yet. Dave

Well I saw it - interesting! As far as I understand, this injector is going to fire up to 3 times per power stroke, correct? Dave

That's actually a really good idea lifting the whole trans/t-case like that, I think it'll be a lot easier than pulling the engine off the frame. I'll definitely give that one a shot next time around. Dave

Well, for what it's worth, I got it running yesterday and it's holding up fine. WOT blasts at full ICP and so far all systems are green, so that's certainly better than the alternative. We just got an F-450 in with a no-start, low ICP, sure enough the STC fitting stretched apart and was banging against the rear cover enough to leave a nice gouge in it. Hopefully the branch tube is saveable because I don't know how eager I am to do another one in the same week, hehe... (then again, I'll get pretty quick with them at this rate too) Dave

Hey - is there a chance you could possibly send the file to my personal e-mail? I can't sign up for the site because the "activation e-mail" never gets sent to me, I think the junk filter instantly deletes it. davel@wickmail.com If not, it's cool, but I'd really appreciate it if possible. Thanks! Dave

Thanks for the input guys - I should have it running sometime today. The STC fitting itself isn't blowing out, but the o-ring that seals it to the branch tube. The branch tube WAS actually bent, but not up - rather, it was bent down. The STC fitting bolts were used to draw the branch tube back to where it's "supposed" to fit... so.. we'll see what happens. Either way, I'll keep you all posted and thanks for the input. Dave

I know too many to list, lol.. So I'll just stick with one guy... There was a guy who used to work with us.. he's notorious for boo-boo's like this one. But, long story short, he had a Mustang with one of the ignition coils out (but plugged in) and the fuel rail off as well. For whatever reason, he tried firing the thing up and forgot what he'd had disconnected. Fuel sprays, coil fires, flamethrower ensues.. you get the picture. He also dropped a BRAND-NEW off-the-lot truck off a rack while installing running boards, in front of the customer... He also thought it was a good idea to take the oil filter off of a running engine. (to get the oil change done while the flush machines were running). There were a few other classics.... No, he doesn't work there anymore. Dave

I've yet to see a "new" injector fail, but we've had a rash of these bitches coming in, smoking like crazy and running rough. All '05 models too, this wasn't a problem on '04's and the '06's have the updated injectors. I can't tell you how many people I've seen just throw an injector and plugs in and ship these things, just to have it come back a few weeks later with a misfire code for the same cylinder they reparied. Relative compression testing only shows 4-5% loss sometimes, which isn't anything to really concern yourself with too heavily, but a MANUAL compression test shows incredible losses and this has always turned out to be a bent rod. These trucks run pretty well with a bent connecting rod, it's surprising! I've personally replaced 5 or 6 3-valve 5.4's this year and have seen a couple more come and go. Dave

I think the problem that most techs have with the 6.0 is not that they break, but they have a tendancy to pay horribly under warranty for the work performed. Sometimes you can make out great depending on how the story is interpereted, but a good majority of the 6.0 repairs can be pretty painstaking and seemingly not worth the effort put into them. Personally, I don't really mind the 6.0, but that's because that's the diesel that I've kinda "cut my teeth" on - I'm more scared of the 7.3 than the 6.0 because my diesel work is only about 10% 7.3 stuff, and most of that is oil-pan replacement because the other diesel guy tries not to get bogged-down with time-consuming engine removals/teardowns. It's not that I dislike the 7.3, it's actually very easy to work on, but I'm less confident in the work that I do to it. Dave

Ok, so I'm one of 2 techs that do diesel work at the shop. I'm also the only one that does any heavy-engine repair.. so to make a long story short, an '05 Excursion was towed in. No start. Other tech gets it (I'm more of the "backup" diesel guy) and finds a high-pressure oil leak right where the STC fitting bolts to the branch tube - o-ring was blown apart. Checks everything - no damage, replaces the o-ring. Starts up, runs fine, he hammers on it - shuts off. No start. Double checks his work - the same o-ring blew out. Thought that maybe he just messed it up on the install. So he replaced it again. Starts up, runs fine, warms up, puts it to the floor - bam, shuts off. Checks AGAIN - same o-ring again, blown apart. At this point he really checks everything and cannot find anything physically wrong with anything down there. So he puts in one more o-ring. And the same thing happens. Now it's in my stall, and I'm putting a branch tube in it. I'd never done one of these, but after looking at the procedure I just decideed I'd be better off pulling the engine.. so I took the body off, yanked the engine, broke the starter (damn thing got stuck in the front k-member while I was lifting the engine, lol my dumb !@*!#?! didn't see it until it was too late) and replaced the branch tube. That's as far as I got today... Monday I should have it running again. I'm also replacing the HPOP, IPR, and the STC bracket. HOPEFULLY, this fixes the problem, as I can't see anything else causing it. But, jeez.. that branch tube isn't exactly easy to replace. And I can't even IMAGINE doing it in-vehicle.. has anyone here found a better way to knock this job out? Dave

I think my overall body temperature dropped like 9 degrees after seeing those pics. This is going to make things really interesting for sure - that big cooler up front should really liven up belt replacements on hot engines. Oh well, though - gotta roll with the punches, right? Complaining isn't gonna fix anything so now we just gotta figure out the best way around this clusterf*ck. Dave

Actually, just I had a truck come in from about 2 months ago and found that there was only 1 motor mount nut hodling the engine in place. Yikes. Not feeling too smooth about that one.. Dave

Ok, I saw in a caption under a pic here that a specific "star" shaped pattern on the tops of the pistons in these engines is "rumored" to be a sign of an aftermarket tune.. My question is, what is the credibility of this statement? I'm curious as to what proof, if any, there is to back up that statement. I'm just curious, as I've probably had the heads off of 20 or so 6.0's and a few of them showed very similar markings. One of them was on an '06 that was actually in for an oil leak, but the vehicle only had like 2,000 miles and I personally konw that the vehicle had never seen a tuner.. But this raises an eyebrow for me, as we've had a number of vehicles in with trashed heads that I was suspicious of having a tune, but with the popularity of hand-held tuners that allow you to change programming whenever you want, it's getting harder and harder to prove from a dealership level. There are other signs that some mods may have been made, but Just because someone has a 5" exhaust, doesn't mean that they're trying to squeeze 40psi and 800ft/lbs out of it either. And I'm not going to tell a customer to bend over and eat a $6,000 bill when his $50,000 truck is blowing coolant all over the ground, because I said that we won't warranty the repair due to an air filter change and larger exhaust. Dave

Hey everyone - I'm new here as of today. Glad to fin d aplace like this. I'm 24 and have worked as a Ford tech for 5 years now, mainly speciailzing in gas driveability/electrical, and basically anything but auto trans. About a year ago I was asked if I'd be interested in working with the Diesels, and of course I said "yes" and nwo here I am. Still consider myself very green in the grand scheme of things, always have lots to learn, and I'm hoping that I can pick up no some great info here as well. I am basically the heavy-engine repair guy for the diesels in the shop (and one of 2 diesel techs) as I'm the only one who took the time to figure out how to de-cab the Super Duty's. I have a pretty comfy understanding of the 6.0 and 7.3 as far as diag & repair goes, but know nothing of the 4.5 or 6.9 or any of the CAT engines, as we don't work on the LCF/650/750's at our dealership. Anyway, don't want to talk everyones ear off so I'll just shut up now. Thanks though! Dave