Fredsvt

Watch out for those low bridges! Why does that look like PVC pipe? If they are, they'll eventually shrink a bit!

I think the manufacturers all have people, be they bean-counters or whatever. They like to play the law of averages. How many of the vehicles will make it OUT of warranty without an issue? And, as Keith stated, they probably also do the same thing when it comes to safety issues. As sad as that sounds.

Of the 6.4s I service I see every one but 1 at 7.8 mpg average on the display. The drivers never reset it, so it's over the life of the truck so far. These are 3 F550 drill rig trucks. The last 1, is constantly idled, much against what I've told them, it has a avg mpg of 4.5. This is a F350 utility body. Now that's awful.

So, the question becomes, if they go to the J2534 interface, similar to the Mongoose cable setup that works with Toyota's Techstream software, how much will Ford be charging per subscription to use it? It looks also like you'll need a different mongoose cable per whatever brand you work on. The Toyota software is around $1100 per year to "lease", you download it, but it stops working and you have to pay and stay connected to the internet to keep it going.

I've been looking at both the IDS and Honda's HDS, which both use the GNA600 (VCM) made by Teradyne. If you try and get a GNA600 for an HDS they say that it's not available and there's no ETA. I haven't tried Rotunda for the IDS yet.. I found out that Honda is possibly going to a subscription only type scan tool that uses a J2534 interface. Has anyone heard if the IDS is going that route, at least for the aftermarket?

Don't feel so bad, a friend of mine working at a GM dealer gets paid .05 for an oil change. Yes a HALF a tenth. Including their "inspection".

Remember the gen 2 Lightning? It has air to water charge cooling. Supposedly, on a cold day it can lower charge temp to near ambient even under full boost. With a much less efficient "blower". I know of a lot of guys who have modded them with larger heat exchangers under the bumper, or with A/C cooled heat exchangers for use in hot weather. The drag of the a/c is offset by the extra power from the chilled coolant. The "second design" intercooler worked much better, since it didn't leak coolant into the intake. My truck's original mid manifold and intercooler got done under the campaign.

Oh great. I guess I'll know if high rpm will contribute to it. Our shop's got a four 6.4s owned by an environmental company. Two are F550 drill rigs, they're always complaining that the 20,000 lb rigs won't go over 85. The other two, unfortunately idle almost continuously, as they power 5000 watt inverters to run water sampling equipment.

Can't be much worse than a 6.5 GM diesel letting go in a Humvee when running across the desert either. I believe each Humvee is sent over there with at least 3 engines. They have a lot of faith in those rigs. Just like the Workhorse chassis we've been seeing that a military contractor sets up as stationary generator carriers to start up planes and light the runways for the Air Force. They all have the 4.5 (VT275 ?)running JP8, a torqueshift and GM 12 bolt rear in them. They send the units over with 3 generators, 6 engines and the same number of transmissions and rears.

2002 Escape. Lady was driving it on the Parkway at about 80, MIL on, running rough with 4 people in it. It started to slow. She went to her destination. On way home, 35 miles away, it continued to slow, then she smelled "burning plastic". She managed to get it to our shop going about 15, foot to floor. I take a look at it, fire it up and hear an awful noise. The EGR valve melted a 1" long hole by about 1/2 wide, and nearly set the master cylinder reservoir on fire. She was very lucky that it was 20 degrees outside the day it happened. Scanning revealed a misfire P0305. I pulled the Y pipe down, and found the front cat burned through and it's remains blocked the main under body cat. Is this really that common that our local Ford dealer keeps stock of front and rear and the under body cat? They declined the fix, as it would be close to 2 grand when all done. He's (the woman's son) going to "fix" it himself. As the a-hole leaves in a brand new Hummer H2. His attitude was just grand. He drove it out of the lot, at 15 mph, hopefully it did burn to the ground.

Yep, the going rate to shoe 4 horses a day. I guess the only disadvantage to it, is when the horse kicks you in the head. He's gotten that twice, that I know of. He goes around to all the huge very rich horse farms all over the state.

Aaron, If this woman who was this movie, has truly no money, all she has to do is go to the ER, anywhere. She'll get treated. It's called charity care. The people who live next door to me do it all the time. Illegal aliens know how to use the system too. My neigbors...neither have verifiable income, so she has gotten more than 800k of charity care. He works under the table shoeing horses at $800 per day. They don't pay income tax, have no mortgage as the house was given to them. They pay very little in property taxes, as the house is grandfathered as a "farm". They make sure to tell everyone they have no money. BUT, he's got a 2008 $50k Chevy 2500HD 4x4 with a new plow. Paid cash. The yard has probably $500k worth of landscaping... Sometimes I wonder.... who's stupid, them or me? I work, pay my taxes, pay my ever increasing health care premiums, etc, etc.... Jim, Cubic money, just ask our gov't, I'm sure they'll be glad to give you a whole bunch, just don't expect it to be worth much in the future..... I'll bet your doctor and medical people will suddenly start coming home with what's going to happen here... your wait times will probably disappear.

I'm surprised they didn't have the tires on the Escape at 80 psi. Years ago, I had a customer with an S10 4x4 who had E rated tires put on it, and insisted they be put at 80 psi. He'd hear nothing of putting the correct tires and pressure. Put WAY more ball joints in that truck than any other S10 I can ever remember. Job security.

I wish it was that easy to get shitboxes off the road. There are SO many I would love to remove. I worked on a '92 F150, 4.9, turned into a lunch truck. Read, way overweight. The boss says, put a tire on it. Don't attempt to lift it. The owner said "it'll break in two". So I go to it, and see that the frame is broken in two on both sides ahead of the forward leaf spring brackets. It had been plated once before and split again. It was like that for a long long time, as the ends of the frame were pounded round and there was about 3/4" between the break. There's a 60 gallon propane tank bolted TO the frame on BOTH sides of the break. EEK I lift only the offending tire and replace it. So I take the VIN, plate, etc and keep it. I called our MVC and two police departments, local and state. The local and state are in a pissing match who has jurisdiction in the town I work in. Neither would take any responsibility to have a cruiser stop the truck and inspect it. That was a waste. The MVC was at least helpful, but they can't forcibly "recall" a vehicle that was PASSED at a private facility within a month of me seeing it. They did remove that private facility's license. But yet.... the fucking piece of shit is still on the road. I see it drive by multiple times a week.

Please don't tell me those P tires were up at 65 psi or better. I think you did all you can do. Can you check the hard copy in a couple of days? One of my former bosses used to either white out or black out stuff we wrote on hard copies that he didn't like. And he'd never tell the customer. That pissed me off tremendously. Unless you drop a little note in the truck, which of course will be traced back to you. That may cause a shit storm of its own.

Kind of sounds like my boss. His knowledge is from about 25 years ago. Any diesel that won't start, he grabs several cans of ether. I recently did a PM and fuel filters on a 6.4. He's asking me why I put my fuel pressure gauge on it, I tell him so I can bleed it. I get weird looks. I told him, I'll won't bleed it then, and walk away, let him try and start it once it gets air bound. He says ether will start it. I'd be sure to be out of the building on that one. I can say I'm glad I'm not on flat rate, as he only charged the customer .5. I had to crawl around under the pos as it can't be lifted due to its weight. I love diesel fuel on my arms.

Couldn't this be done? Get a socket that fits the compressor wheel nut, and use a breaker bar to hold the compressor from turning while an assistant starts it. Let it run for about a minute while holding, shut down, and remove the holder. Then assemble the intake and start up.

At least the bulb will work. On an Odge, post '06, if the SJB (mopar uses different terminology) detects a fault, say a blown headlight bulb. (exploded) The box disables that lamp, normally it's similar to the Ford, replace the bulb and clear the code. But, if the bulb shorts during the explosion, it takes the whole $600 box with it, then the box, reprogramming and whatnot is required.

Here's from Motorcraft's site. It seems that M5 and MLV are the latest and greatest for most of Ford's trannys. http://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/Main/quickref/atf.pdf I've been using that site for a while to make sure our place uses the right stuff in all the various Ford vehicles we service. http://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/Main/quickref.asp

Thanks, I kind of figured. Pulling the fan, shroud and all the brackets is necessary. I do remember reading it's left hand thread. It's my truck, so I need to know how much time to leave open to do it. I made up a locking tool to go to a converter stud to the trans. I'll climb under/over it with some sockets this weekend to see what size the pulley bolt is.

What's a realistic labor time to replace both the blower and main accessory drive belts on a 1999 SVT Lightning? Is the lower blower pulley a 14mm allen? My RealTime labor guide doesn't list it properly. I don't think .8 is quite enough. TIA

A fine 2000 duratec Taurus with an exploded intake manifold.

Now, how about we get someone who carries the original conservatism mixed with true liberalism. A person who wants government smaller, spend within your means, keep them OUT of your life, you work for yourself and not for others who don't wish to work. They make laws that make sense, but allows everyone to do as they wish within those laws. I don't want my life micro-managed, or my morality legislated. This country is based on equality for all, and equal opportunity for all. It's such a shame that it's fallen so far away from that.

Tony, Who in our current crop of morons in DC do you consider a conservative, and who do you consider a "progressive". Just curious.

I found this hilarious: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/china-cold-open/1178451/