mlee

the beer will flow freely tonight, lol. it just still baffles me. i always use antisieze on exhaust threads, or any other thread i feel has the potential to cause a problem, and heat, well this egt sensor finally puddled itself into the dpf. why can't the factory impose the same practices we use every day? can you tell i'm having a bad day?

are engineers really this retarded? the last 3 egt sensors i have tried to change have all been welded to the dpf of cat. and these are nowhere near high milers. a job that should take 3 minutes ends up taking hours. the one i attempted to remove this morning is now getting a $3000 dpf that is 7 days away because an $80 sensor is welded to it. we are currently in the red on our 126's so every major repair needs some backup and justification. so i called hotline on this, "heat it with a torch until it is almost melting hot, if it won't come out then, you will never get it out. install a new dpf". and ford wonders why they are in financial trouble, and sooo many dealers have high 126's. rant over.

the tar sands. so it pretty much goes like this, we have shitloads of oil trapped in the sand all over northern alberta and saskatchewan. we have billions of dollars worth of infastructure and manpower pulling this crap out of the ground and seperating it from the sand. we pollute and spend like crazy to get this done(but money is no object), then our government takes it up the ass so the oil companies can make more money, and very little of the profit actually comes back to us. then all the partially refined oil is shipped to the u.s.. then it is further refined and sold back to us(we bend over here again too, no lube even) and then we pay out the ass for a product that came out of our own back yard. but on the bright side, there are a shitload of lifted superduties around here to break down.

turkey day, ours is long gone. i'm swapping out a 6.4 shortblock today and tomorrow.

yeah, it would have been nice to know. and i guess the kits would have saved 3 injectors, the other 3 were tore up pretty bad. the other issue with that is those kits are not readily available where i am at.

I'll start off by saying we all make mistakes, and shit happens. all we can try to do is make things right for the customer, and sometimes that means the dealer eats a bill(the lovely service policy account). anyway, long story short, good customer was working out of town for a few months, took his '04 6.0(300,000km) into the local dealer for a rough run, smoking concern. the dealer sells him 8 injectors, fuel filters, an egr valve and a turbo clean all on one bill(cha ching), and attributes the failure to poor fuel/lack of maintainance(which is a load as far as i'm concerned knowing this customer) but whatever. fast forward 8 weeks and about 25,000km. truck comes in to me for a no start hot, low icp. testing narrows it down to a leak on the lh bank. found #4 and #8 injectors have broken snap rings and missing seals. upon further inspection found that #2 and #6 also had very slight o-ring damage where the rail goes in(but snap rings were still intact). installed 4 injectors, and retested for air leaks, all seemed good. road tested truck, shut it off hot and attempted restart. no go. air test, now i have a leak on the rh side. again, 2 injectors with o-ring damage. installed 2 more injectors on rh side. road test. all good now. 3 days later, customer calls, truck is acting up again. same thing low icp. this time no air leaks, but found the screen off the ipr was sucked off. replaced the ipr and all good. so now the custome has a $4000+ bill from us. i was not aware of the previous repair until he came to pay the bill yesterday. so now i say, hold the phone. you had 8 injectors replaced at another dealer 25,000km ago. my gut tells me poor installation of the oil rails at the previous dealer. so i tell him to make a call, the dealer shuts him down. so i make a call, and they shut me down, no way did we screw up he says, we do lots of injectors without a problem. i really can't see anything else causing this type of failure. i even called hotline, and it was pretty much a straight up "poor installation" response. it is a shame that a customer gets raped once by another dealer, and then we have to charge him again to do the same repair over. i never like to call out another dealer or tech, but mistakes get made. he is now considering legal action all because someone is too proud to possibly admit they may have made a mistake. what do you guys think? can anyone else come up with some other explanation of the failure?

you can also just do a quick resistance test. most block heaters are in the 18-30ohm range. we also built a block heater tester out of an old trouble light. it plugs in series between the block heater and the wall outlet. if the light lights up, everything should be good.

not sure but i have one in my bay with #2 and #8 bent connecting rods(no holes mind you)

Quote: Would it be easier to just pull the cab? yes

that is too bad. i know alberta is a bit different than the rest of the country as far as the so called work force goes, and i have never lived anywhere else so all i have to go on is hear say about the east, but you ALWAYS need to look out for #1. i have been at the same store since i started in the wash bay in 1996. a few times i have thought about leaving, but i always communicated my problems and feelings with my dp first, and we always came to some sort of a conclusion that seemed to benifit the both of us(and it isn't always about pay). we used to be some what unionized as well. we had a base j-man rate, and every tech got $0.50 per completed specialty. it sounded good, but my theory is anyone can complete the fmt's and show up for a classroom course a few time a year, but unless you are putting that knowledge to use what good is it. so i went to the dp and expressed my thoughts. i compared our shop to a hockey team. every team has a few superstars, leaders, and role models. every team also has a few average run of mill guys, and every team has the 4th liners that have a certain role so to speak. how do you think the crosby's and the iginla's would react if the nhl decied they were just going to treat everyone the same? no rewards for hard work and leadership skills. no reward for being a bit better than the guy beside you, although maybe no fault of his own. so i suggested an nhl style of pay, rewards for hard work and skill(with quarterly reviews), and the role guys would never be punished just because they aren't a superstar. we have 2 easy to understand systems, the tech chooses which one he thinks suits him best, and the rest is up to him(or her). the problem is shitty techs think they are good, good techs think they are great, and great techs know they are great, their bosses know they are great, and in most cases are treated like gold(or at least should be). and when they aren't, too many of them end up leaving the trade because they assume it will be the same no matter where they go. sometimes grass is greaner on the other side, sometimes it isn't, but it is always still just grass. it is what you make of it. i just try to make sure all the tools are there for everyone to prosper as long as they are willing. but alas, some days it still is not good enough. maybe nothing ever will be? maybe alberta needs to slow the f**k down for reality to set in(which just might happen).

haha, no i mean oasis. that is just what we say, call oasis, check oasis, same thing. and as far as hotline goes, if you can't run the vehicle in oasis, how the hell can you call hotline. my situation is frustrating, even though i am the "shop foreman", i am still expected to produce hours. it has taken some time, and trial and error to come up with what we both(the dealer and myself) feel is a fair pay structure and time split, but i honestly don't get to spend as much quality time with my guys(and gal) as i would like. anyway, to kind of get back on topic, and stay off topic at the same time, wtf is with young people today. that is what makes me shake my head. i am not old(29)but it is pretty unbelievable how much things have changed in the last 10-12 years since i got into this god awful trade. if i acted back then anything close to the way some of my guys act now, i would have been out on my ass. when i wanted a raise, i had to earn it, not expect it because joe tech down the street makes $2/hour more than me. i didn't have to listen to the guys in the shop complain because a senior guy was making more money than fresh out of school j-man. it took me years to finally get a pay structure set up here that rewards hard work and effort, not just showing up at 8 every morning. but what really makes me shake my head about that is, nobody takes advantage of it but me. the incentives are there, and almost everyone in my shop can attain them, but instead of actually working towards them, they complain. i am not making enough money, I WANT A RAISE OR I AM GOING TO QUIT, BLAH BLAH. rant over

nice post jim. i think we kind of think alike. i am glad that when i went through my apprenticeship years, i had a couple of hard ass, hard working, really smart techs to guide me. i also had a couple of slack ass hacks, and few in between as well. no one ever held my hand, or spoon fed me, but the quality help was there whenever i needed it, and i believe i am a better tech because of it. now, as i am the shop foreman, i have tried to give my young apprenti the same "tools" that i was given. one difference between them and me, NONE OF THEM WANT TO LEARN SHIT! they expect to be spoon fed, and are too lazy to try to figure things out for themselves. i have 2 apprentices here that don't even know how to call oasis even though i have shown them countless times(or that is their excuss anyway). now, don't get me wrong, i will be the first guy to jump in if someone needs a hand, but i have some rules. 1-have you read the wsm, called oasis etc 2-are you prepared to do the job(tools out, books out, etc) 3-have you at least attempted to do it yourself(within your capable limits) if you answered no to any of the above, don't come and see me until you can say yes i have. and so it is, i look like the asshole, the shop nazzi when i am anything but. i as well like to keep up to date. i am a member of at least 6 technical based forums, i read the tsb's and ssm's as they are released, i frequent inford, i go to the pro tech meetings, etc, etc. and i thrive because of it. the three catagories you mentioned, i have one of each here. one guy that potentially could be great, but he is lazy. one that will probably be a pretty good tech but never a cut above. and one that should consider a career change. but, as jim and most of the other guys know, attracting quality young people into the trade is tough. i'm not sure why, but kids are completely misguided in school these days. i did a career fair last year, and kids are still being told that skilled tradesmen are only making $35-50000/year with the exception of welding and plumbing. maybe if the truth was out there, and a few more shop owners would get with the times, we might not be in such bad shape.

i heard the same thing. i believe the hurricane(boss) was supposed to be or maybe is still a pushrod engine. and why would it be a step back? chevy and dodge(although not as much) have both proven that pushrod engines can still be reliable, make gobs of power, meet emissions, and get descent fuel mileage. and look at all the valvetrain troubles we have with the v8ohc's. maybe a step back is a step in the right direction.

why don't you just chain the frame back to the hoist? other than that, sorry i have no suggestions except booze to ease the pain.

dy 1073(i think) sensor, and a wpt 830 pigtail will fix it right up. every second superduty on the road up here comes in with c1174/c1236.

good post christopherh. enter ron paul. why was he not allowed to debate, or when he was, why was he not televised? why was everyone so scared or what he had to say? the truth hurts i guess. no way was either party going to let this guy be heard. for those of you not too familiar with ron paul, check him out on youtube. he was on leno, larry king, etc. honestly he is probably the most honest, truthful politician i have ever heard speak(weather or not he would have followed through?).

voice your opinion http://www.change.gov on obama's new website.

again, no offense to americans(it isn't your fault as citizens), but alot of the world problems are and will continue to stem from the us. we are already starting to feel the effects here, not so much where i am, but definately in ontario, quebec, etc. china has been funnelling billions of dollars into the us to try to sustain the economy, and as one of the largest importers in the world, if the us isn't buying, every other country suffers. i think the whole world is in for a rough few years, but i do think obama will at least not did you guys in any deeper.

no offense guys, but i am glad to not be american. obviously whatever happens down there has a direct affect on us up here, so i like to stay current and pay attention to what is happening in the us. i really do agree with damageinc, again i am not american, but i truely believe ron paul is the only guy that potentially could have made a noticable difference in 1 term, and he was probably the best qualified for the job. and for all of those disappointed with the lopsided democratic win, what did you really expect? you voted in a republican that fucked your country for the last 8 years, did you really think that any republican candidate would even stand a chance? and regaurdless of who won, i have to give both candidates credit, because in all honesty who in their right mind would want to take over after what has gone on in the last 8 years(or even the last 3 months)? maybe the reason why gore or kerry didn't make another run? i also definately don't agree with all of obama's veiws, but all in all that is who i would have voted for given the options. all i have to say is obama will be fighting an uphill battle for the next 4 years and will be heavily scrutinized on every decision he makes and i highly doubt any noticable difference will be felt after only 1 term(except maybe military wise).

i couldn't hear any leaks either. smoke test was kind of a last ditch effort, but it worked. the truck i was working on had an egr cooler done a few weeks prior at another dealer, and i was more looking for leaks at the intake manifold. there is no way i would have ever found that crack without it though. even after i got the intercooler out it was hard to see, and that was after i already knew where to look.

have you smoke tested the intake/intercooler? i had one a while back, same symtom slow to build boost and maybe 20psi mgp max. the intercooler wasn't blown out at the endtank like most others, it was cracked on the bottom of the hotside cac hose(maybe someone overtightened the clamp?)

in the last year i have had 3 remans that never even made it out the shop door. one had dead miss on 3 cyliders and farting out the intake. pulled rh valve cover and 5 pushrods were just floating around and the valve bridges were missing(not in the head, pan, nowhere to be found) one was installed and as i went to turn the crank pulley to tighten torque convertor nuts, the engine would not turn over(1/2 inch breaker bar). pulled all 8 glow plugs, still wouldn't turn over. never got to tear it apart and see what was wrong, they just shipped a new long block. and the last one, got engine in and running, fuel pouring out under the truck. no allen plugs in the backs of cylinder heads(but i guess i should have caught that one). installed plugs, now i have an oil leak at the crank seal. no wear sleeve on the crankshaft(i am assuming this was the cause of the leak) new crank seal installed. finally got to road test, truck will not restart hot, only 300psi icp. dummy plug lower oring almost completly gone on one oil rail. i cringe every time i hear FQR.

we have done the same to 2 egr tools, pulled the threads right off the end. the newest one is now welded, hasn't broke yet.

we are a small dealer in a small town, so we develop a very personal relatioship with the majority of our customers and alot of customers want the same tech working on their truck all the time for whatever reason. it is a very regular occurance for a customer to pop in and drop off a box of beer or a bottle, sometimes gift certificates for a nice supper and a movie, stuff like that. very rarely am i offered cash tips, and i do usually try to refuse those. i had a customer once that grenaded the rear diff in his f350, he had to be at a new job in 2 days. so, i searched for parts, and stayed late to get his truck going for him. about 2 weeks later i got a thank you card in the mail with about $400 worth of gift certificates in the mail, fancy hotel in the city, fancy supper, and movie passes. i called the guy and told him i really couldn't accept, but he said he just wanted to give me back the night i lost fixing his truck. it does feel nice to be appreciated every once in a while.

icp is too low. i don't care what they say about the 500psi rule, they will almost never start below 1000psi(unless you hold the starter for 60seconds or more). does icp spike and level off, or just a straight 800psi? if icp doesn't come up with some new batteries/more cranking rpm i would start there. unplug the ficm relay and see if it jumps up any more.