Alex Bruene

I'd probably lean towards a poor FICM connection. I find that alot of people (myself included the first time I disconnected one) don't realise that there are two tabs to press to unlock the FICM harness. Most of the FICMs that I have replaced, had failed due to being smoked (pardon the pun) by a Y-pipe leak, but the odd one still does go south for no apparent reason.

One thing that I have noticed on many occasions with headgasket leaks is that the cooling system will build pressure very rapidly, and in some cases the degas bottle will actually vent when sitting in the shop idling. I know this is probably an extreme case of leakage, but something I've come across nonetheless.

Bummer...

I was thinking that Jim may have wrote it... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/flamethrower.gif

No condensors, but I'm starting to get sick of compressors...

It has nothing to do with dead batteries or anything like that. I think there is a problem with some of the flashes out there. As far as I understand, P2291 is supposed to set after 7 seconds of cranking without reaching 500 psi of ICP. I've had it happen (not set a DTC) on leaks that would only cause no starts on hot engines, and on outright never starts. And it seems it's happening more and more lately... like 3 times in the past 2 weeks.

You see, I don't expect an advisor to be able to "assess" the condition of a vehicle to the point of knowing if any additional time would be required on top of the "Chilton" time because of rust, add on hydraulics and such. In that sense, it just seems easier if I write my own estimates. We have 4 techs and 2 advisors in our commercial shop, who write ROs (sometimes as many as 30 in a day), sell jobs, follow up with customers, book appointments and call around fishing for new accounts when they have time. That's more than enough for them to do without having to prepare estimates. They trust us to not rape anyone, and we never need any management intervention.

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that more and more often lately high pressure oil leaks are not setting DTCs? I have another one today, only making 40 psi ICP, but no codes... and certainly not the first time...

I went back today for the first time in a while, and it seems more and more "brilliant" folk are making some rather interesting suggestions.

Have none of you guys membered-up on that site to join the discussion yet? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rofl.gif

E450 pays 5.1 in Chilton. We cut the customer a break and only charge them 5.0... heh...

I have never even considered doing this job any other way completely disassembling the knuckles. How much time can you save the other way... half an hour maybe? It still takes under 2 hours replace the ball joints (properly)... how much gain time are people after to do it the other way?

It's legal mumbo-jumbo...

Is this a sign of things to come?? http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/6-4-motor-problems/17342-i-did.html/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banghead.gif

Each year we have 2 or 3 commercial truck shows at our dealer... I spoke to a PowerStroke rep. 2 years ago and he told me the single dose fuel additives will be out anytime...

Looks like a Dodge, and has a 6.7 Cummins I think... We are a Sterling dealer, but apparently we can't sell that truck because we sell Ford trucks... something to do with conflict of interest. We can still sell Acterras and Tractors...

I personally like to find the reason an EGR cooler has failed. I don't think that they just fail for the heck of it. I start by looking for coolant leaks, and if there are none, and the degas isn't venting, I'll put an oil cooler in with it.

I have in the past called hotline on the advice of the shop foreman, and the answer is to replace the EGR cooler only if there is not a 25 deg. difference. Now if there is a repeat EGR cooler failure, they tell you to put in an EGR cooler, oil cooler and then retest for headgasket leakage. At least that's how it seems to me...

Too many of my co-workers look for the bubble wrap under the wheel... so I tape it to the top of the tire...

I wonder if someday I'll be wathcing the biography channel special on Jim Warman and Dwayne Gorniak... the real kings of Alberta...

I have nowhere near the writing talent of the previous folk... but I'll give it a go...

Back in 1965, my father came from a small farming town called "Anathal" that is just about smack dab in the middle of Germany. He had an agricultural visa to work on a farm in Churchill, Ontario. After saving enough money, he sent for my mother to join him... but to her dismay, she ended up in Churchill, Manitoba... not the place to be just about anytime of year, especially if you don't speak a word of english. After that was all settled, and the farm fell apart, they moved to Toronto and became the superintendants of an apartment building where sometime towards the end of 1971, concieved my brother. Just after he was born, they decided that a nice house in the burbs would be better for raising a family and bought a modest bungalow in Scarborough for $16,000 (which they sold 30 years later for $360,000). In 1975 I came along, spent most of my childhood and early teens playing competative hockey and football, just to end up in high-school (the emphasis is on "high") smoking doobies and hanging out in autoshop. After school I had a job changing oil at a Ford dealer down the road, where I would eventually start my apprenticeship, and do 9 years before it shut down, then moved onto another dealer in Toronto for 4 years, until it shut down... moved to a dealer about 45 minutes east of the big city, bought a house, all was well out there, but I still had to change employers one last time (because I was tired of working with a bunch of spoon-fed primadonnas)... and here I am today, back working in the big city, up to my elbows in 6 point ohhhhs... but still getting drunk in the burbs!

Too funny. I also had the same thing today. Turns out the green o-ring on the IPR was torn and the screen was off, but to not take any chances, I threw in an IPR (instead of just the o-ring) and all was well.

I find a hoist alone won't do it. There needs to be a car on the hoist.

How do you really feel, Dwayne?

Trust me, it happens alot here too. Lots of rental fleets... just gas'n'go... and tow...

Incase nobody has seen this message, it deals with what do do if a 6.4 equipped vehicle is filled with gasoline. It says that if the engine has been run, you have to replace ALL the high pressure fuel components, such as lines, the high pressure fuel pump, all the injectors... yada yada yada... I'm not looking forward to the day I have to hand in that estimate!

No need to cry out the "U" word... I recall Dwayne and I bringing it up in a conversation a little while ago, and Jim's little fingers went wild!

When you have a retail labor rate of $120 dollars an hour, is that the "effective" rate, or the posted rate? I imagine that it would be hard to sell a reline at that rate.

I make 30% of the posted rate, but that works out to nearly 37% of our "effective" labor rate once you take into effect menu pricing and such. Which I don't feel is too bad when you think about how much overhead could be involved...

But hey, I have worked with some "oldtimers" in the past that think that they should get half the door rate...

One of the first 6.4s we saw at our dealer had a terrible squeal from the fuel cooling pump. Turned out that the level was low and needed to be topped off and bled. There was a broadcast message released about the exact issue early this week.