Alex Bruene

I use a pry-bar to separate the rear and lower portions, and to get the forward portion I stick a small screwdriver in the opening and pop it off.

What is a "Master Tech" in Canada?

I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) it is the same as your Senior Master in the States. When we get 4 specialties, we are a Senior Technician, and when you get 8 (or more) you are a Master.

Do they actually make such a beast? I'd imagine it'll have to use an aftermarket kit.

Now that the word is out that there will be a 6.0 Econoline for 2008, has anybody heard if it is going to be fitted with a DPF system, or is it going to be done on credits as it was in 2003 with the 7.3?

One (me) always wonders if the grass is greener on the other side of the praries...

They went down (way down) in price about a month ago.

Ahhhh Haaaaa! There it is... right smack dab behind the bar the cab pivots on...

Can anybody tell me where I may look for the low side service port on an LCF? I didn't try looking too hard yet, but it certainly isn't out in the open.

On the bright side (for some of us), there are only 252 effected vehicles in Canada. Just enough that none of us will actually be able to make money at them before they are all done!

I can't help but laugh... for the past day, I've been chasing what sounds like the EXACT same problem. Tonnes of white/grey smoke, which smelled like fuel, and not at all like oil. I was balloon testing, trying to cut out cylinders to identify a dumping injector. I was going to remove the manifolds, but since it's an E-box, I thought I would just remove the Y-pipe to figure out which manifold to remove, but then the smoke stopped. When I reinstalled the Y-pipe, it started to smoke like a cheap hooker again. Turns out to have been the turbo leaking on the turbine side. I guess that when the oil isn't being burned in the combustion chambers, but being burned up in the exhaust, it just doesn't have the same smell... lesson learned.

Revisited... 25K later with a rocker arm broken on a different cylinder (8 this time, was 4 last time). Hotline is now telling me to replace the head, lifters, rocker arms and push rods on that bank... see how this goes...

You're saying that Ford is sending out offers, and your dealer is obligated to obide by the prices?? I hope that's a U.S. thing only...

I don't remove the turbo. And just unbolt the fan shroud. Remove the oil filter, transmission, flywheel, starter and adaptor plate. Unbolt the engine mounts, and jack the back of the engine until the turbo just hits the firewall and undo and separate the pan and remove the pick-up tube from the front and pull the pan out. Clean everything well, use the proper 7.3 silicone and put it all back together (make sure the pick-up tube gasket is in place). I like to apply the silicone to the block rather than the pan, and I don't silicone the ends of the pan until I have the pan and pick-up tube in place, so I'm not picking it out of my arm hairs for the next few weeks. All in, it's less than 5 hours...

I have not heard of them blowing out of the resevoir, but I have been reading about some poor chap that is having problems with one that keeps blowing the tanks off of the radiator. I imagine with the kind of boost that this engine makes, cylinder head to block sealing issues will have some effects similar, but worse than 6.0s.

Isn't that something. How they can sell it to you without making it known. I'm sure glad that bio-crap is not very common up here... yet...

Forgive me man, because I'm sitting here laughing me ars off and I'm not sure how the hell I got this one so stirred up. For cryin out loud Alex what the hell did you get me into.

I don't know... but if you didn't get into it, we would not have this very informative reading...

I agree with you Dwayne. We as automotive technicians have been on the short end of the stick as far as tradespeople are concerned. We probably get close to the lowest rate of pay, we are subjected to insane hours without compensation for overtime and such... Saturdays (some dealers are even opening on Sundays now)... call a plumber or an electrician on a Saturday and find out what kind of a premium you are going to pay for him/her to come to fix your leaky pipe... I honestly don't believe they are any more or less skilled than we are. I've always been opposed to unionizing this trade, but I'm starting to think that's what we need to get us back up to par.

As far as training is concerned, I have learned that, "the more you know, the less you make"... this is one of the reasons that I got into commercial trucks and out of the car shop. Doing warranty "junk" all day, when the guy that's never been to a single training course is firing out 3's and 4's all day... and I only made a few bucks an hour more... for what??

Lessee.... If I was to move anywhere I wanted.... hmmmmm - well there is this little town in northern Alberta.... Nice place - good hunting and fishing - wonderful people - especially this old guy that works for the Ford dealer.....

Take me!! Take me!!

We have the cherrypicker this time. Just not the proper 303-D048 liftbracket. This engine looks impossible to remove with chains secured to the top of the engine. Being a cubevan, prevents lifting the cab off the frame for access.

I don't use the lifting bracket. With the intake and such removed, I attach 2 chains tightly between the heads and slip the boom under the chains.

I've had a few that the branch tube had been resting against the rear cover, and installed a bracket, and CAREFULLY re-installed everything with good success.

Or, you can always send it to Formula...

Lurking around on the ProTech message board, seems like techs (some new, and some quite seasoned) are dropping from the Ford dealer scene like flies. What gives?

We have recieved fair warning that our company computers are for company business only. Which basically means that porn is out (whaaaa!), but sites like this that offer information that helps me to do my job are okay. That and INFORD ofcourse.

I thought I read the rear main crank seal was redesigned for the 6.4L? If that's true then the old seal MUST have been crap! I still have yet to replace one for a leak!

I can count the number of 6.0 RMS leaks that I've seen on one finger.

Thanks... good info!

How many 194 light bulbs can be put on a 20 amp circuit? I am getting conflicting information that they draw anywhere between 0.25 and 1 amp...