Alex Bruene

In this situation, I'd tell him that I need to test it with the OEM air distribution components installed, or direct him to the door.

I took this one out, soaked and pressure washed it.  I couldn't believe how bad it was.  So far, it's working fine...

Yeah...  The lower and upper are pretty gross and gunked up.  I have them soaking right now.  I'll put it together later today, or in the morning and see how it goes.

I have not.  I will do so.

I was thinking that, but I have also gone over PPT J a few times...  and, sent my results to the good folks at hotline to review.  They also agree everything is working properly.  I'm going to remove the MAP on Tuesday to clean it, as well as swap a MAF from another one of the same fleets' trucks and try it out.

Good afternoon gentlemen...  I'd like a little input on an impossible to diagnose P0401 on a 2015.  Here's the story...  About 20,000 km ago, I replaced the EGR cooler for a restriction, which rectified the issue for the time being.  Now, a month later (yes, they drove 20K in a month), I am getting the same DTC again.  I ran PPTs W, AZ and J, and every thing comes out clean.  I removed and disassembled the cooler, and it is perfectly clean.  I replaced the EGR valve on a hotline suggestion, as apparently early build 2015's had EGR valve issues.  That kept the light out for 100km, and it came back on.  Again, I ran all the diagnosis, and it's clean as a freshly bathed baby.  FWIW, this truck has just under 300,000km.  12,000 engine hours and 8,000 idle hours.  Do you guys have any suggestion or experience with such an issue? 

I'd lean towards something having been dropped into the engine while the intake was out. 

Twist and pull gently.

Like I said, I have a brand new hose in my possession.  That's my go to if I wreck one.  I haven't yet.  I've done it at least 10 times.

I leave the EGR cooler and the battery trays in place.  Once the splash shields and those stupid noise covers are out of the way, it isn't that bad.

I crossed the $40 plateau back in 2010.  I wasn't going to sell myself short.  I put a price on my time and let my bosses decide if they were going to give it to me, or if somebody else was.

Are they high? 

Some may disagree with this...  And, I don't want to take responsibility if anybody tries this and it fails, but I've done it several times with no issues.  If you carefully twist the rubber hose and the tee on the new return line, you can separate the line from the plastic tees, then, install the line in pieces.  I do have a spare return line in my possession in case I ever happen to screw up a new return line.  I started doing this after I noticed some return lines I was receiving were not properly assembled, and came in pieces, and found it was pretty easy to push the rubber line over the burrs on the tee.  I decided to try taking them apart, and it worked well with new line.  It doesn't work on lines that have been used, as the plastic is pretty brittle from heat. 

That sucks.  I come up with unpublished retail times by adding 50% to warranty times...  Which is accurate IMO, as warranty times are supposed to be 2/3 of retail.  I'd hate to see your menu pricing for maintenance and shit.  I worked at a dealership about 10 years ago that figured they had to undercut the dealership 5km down the road to get the work.  I argued it by saying all you have to do is better work than them.  Needless to say, I didn't last too long with 0.3 oil changes filling my time ticket.  I hope you get a decent hourly wage to reflect having the highest door rate and lowest labor times in the city.

I've done about 5 or 6 complete fuel systems.  I charge 20 hours...  I just finished one yesterday, which I started on Friday afternoon, start to finish it took me about 10 hours. 

As far as your example about the ball joint times, I've never followed book time for those.  I know in my mind that I can replace 4 ball joints on an Econoline in 45 minutes, so, I only charge 3 hours for them.  I can see how your "in house" time is fair in that case, IMHO.  Ball joint time in Chilton in outrageous.  To replace 4 ball joints on a 2010 F-250 4X4, it has the time at 8.3 hours...  Not a bad turn around for a 2 hour job!

I've made a puller that works with the rocker arms in place.  I charge 8 hours to do a set on an F-Series.

I do it by feel.  Always have.  Don't ask me to explain my method, but if you need more than the strength of your fingers to remove the nut, it's too tight.

You really do get what you pay for.

I don't know if this is a sign of things to come.  I have heard that warranty is really going to tighten the purse strings for 2016...

They've change the bolt and sleeve style in the '15 and up.  I had one off last week, and I found it a lot more difficult to remove the upper, as the bolts keep falling, and hanging up on things.  I ended up having to route an elastic band around them to hold them up a bit.

Been there.  Done that.

I've kept every set I've ever seen.  I've never heard a word about it.

I used to do some consulting for a to remain nameless customer retention firm.  They asked if I would do some YouTube videos.  I was offered $2.00 per 1000 views on a 60 second video.  I said no.

How do you know he does not work at a Ford dealer any more? BTW he is a DTS member. Hasn't logged in in 4 or 5 years apparently.

Second hand information...  I usually get the urge to ram an icepick up my nose when I see his videos.  One of the guys I work with said that he posted a video in regards to him no longer being an employee for a Ford dealership.  I've never seen it. 

He had a whole series of videos where he was giving away information that some would consider proprietary, and trashing Ford and their policies...  Then, suddenly, he didn't work for Ford anymore...  Coincidence?