Bruce Amacker

Not to mention the legality of it and the $10K fine per occurrence..... (edit- Oops, I see now they're from the Great White North...)

I agree it would surprise me to see Toyota using another mfr's engine and would treat this as an unsubstantiated rumor at this point. I didn't know about the D-CAT system, perhaps my "source" had his head in a dark place. It was a stranger I met at the KY truck show. Later!

I've got it in PDF form. You have mail.

Where did you go for training? I talked to a Cat tech who went to KY for training and they were evaluating a Toyota pickup with a small V8 Cat in it. Just curious if you saw or heard anything.

My FMC instructor says the same thing, but that it's worse after a HP pump replacement. He said after a HP pump replacement that you have to run the LP pump for 5-10 minutes with the Schrader open, like with a fuel pressure gauge and the valve held open, until air bubbles stop running. The real problem is that IDS won't let you command the LP pump on. Can anyone support this?

Kyle: It's nice to have you on the forum. Your idea sounds very interesting and there could be a market for it. My concern is how reality affects tool development- a bright guy like you puts a ton of R&D into a product, investing his heart, soul, and refinancing his house to fund it. After considerable snafus, upgrades in software, ironing out all of the wrinkles and glitches, you finally have a product which not only has a practical purpose, but also a market. You are proud of your achievement, and rightly so. This is where things could go sour- you apply for a patent, to find someone else has already applied for a similar patent, and so the patent office won't award you sole rights. Shortly after that, an offshore company expresses an interest in producing your product, giving you $XX commission per unit. You decline, stating your R&D costs are quite high and need $XXX per unit. Being that they have been in the tool/software business for many years, they know that they can step on your toes, produce the unit exactly as your patent shows, distribute it in your back yard, and pay you nothing. They know that it will cost large dollars for you to hire an attorney and file a suit against them to prevent US distribution. They know that you are a sole proprietor and probably do not have the financial resources to support a suit that may last years, and they take advantage of you. Is it fair? Absolutely not, but that's how life works. On a similar topic, I recently had a national automotive training company plagiarize my work in a blatant manner. One of their trainers/employees bought one of my PSD books, scanned the pages and cutaway component pictures into JPG's, made a Powerpoint presentation out of it, and taught the PSD class to unknown quantities of government agencies, just like I do. In addition to this, this company (who employs 5-10 trainers) copied this Powerpoint presentation onto CD's, distributed the CD's to the rest of their trainers for use in PSD training programs across the US, and sold these PSD CD's in class to students. The guilty parties clearly admitted to me over the phone what they had done and stated that they did not know it was illegal. (Huh?!) After a couple of phone conversations, it was turned over to our respective attorneys to resolve. The end result was that my attorneys (one of who is a close family member, and another who is a specific copyright attorney) stated that for me to recover damages would require my filing a suit at a cost of $20-30K. They advised me against this, because in their experience, the odds that I recover the original monies plus damages is unlikely. In the US courts, putting a value on intellectual property is a difficult process and too risky to chance a substantial suit on. Is it fair? Absolutely not, but that's how life works. I encourage you to continue your product development, but at the same time keep an open mind about it's outcome. Don't get yourself in too deep financially and don't put all of your eggs in one basket. With the level of technology that we have today, it is inevitable that wireless diagnostics will be a part of the future technician's tool kit. QualComms have allowed managers to view a truck's live scan data via satellite communications for years, and I'm sure it won't stop there. I have a wireless Ease unit for evaluation that I haven't even had time to install or try out yet. I'd like to end this on a positive note- what books of mine do you have? I think it's time for an update. Send me your old copies and I'll send you the latest versions. I'll be teaching a condensed 7.3/6.0/6.4 PSD class that's open to the public in Akron this June. Send me your phone number privately, too. I'd like to hear more about this wireless system. Have a great weekend!

A good one cranks at about 180rpm warm, anything less than 150 can cause a hard start. Look at glow plug amperage, too, it should be about 190 amps initially, and the relay should have less than .2v drop across the studs. Good Luck!

Jim: Thanks for responding. As for your comment about "field work", I agree totally. I started my career doing mobile repair 30 years ago and am quite familiar with how much gear it takes to get the job done, and how impractical it is these days. We have seen the day come and go where a service call could be successfully completed with the tools kept in an E-style van. I have a unique situation: I'm not doing field work as most would see a service truck doing. If I need help wrenching when on a worksite, I have at my disposal 10-15 able bodies, and enough Snap-On tool boxes and shop equipment to overload a large truck. I actually try to avoid this, and rarely get involved in more than a 5 minute procedure. My focus is not on how to change the part, but rather the diagnostics involved in getting there. Upgrading calibrations is part of this diagnostics. Yes, I'm familiar with using other people's wireless when it has no security on it, but here's the usual situation: I'm doing a 2-3 day 6.0 class at a government agency, and conclude showing them all of the bells and whistles of the IDS. It's an impressive tool and I want to build it up. After a classroom Powerpoint, we go into the shop and I hook the IDS to a truck and project it on a screen for all to see. I try to use a sick 6.0 and do live diag on it to elaborate on what we covered in class. Reflashing with the IDS is so easy that this is a strong selling point, and most of the trucks do not have the latest calibration in them. If the student/tech authorizes a flash, (which is a whole separate discussion!) it's nice to blow it in for them. Unfortunately, this is where the hiccup comes in- all gummint agencies have such heavy security on their networks that it takes an act of God and half of their IT dept to get my laptop through their firewalls (either wired or wireless). After trying this at several different places, I have resigned myself to the fact that my accessing the internet with my PC is not possible at these locations. Usually I am in some huge campus, so hijacking someone else's wireless is not possible because there's no signal. I always look, and have never found an unsecured network in such an area. Because of security issues, I find it's rare to even have a wireless network in a government building. Driving to another location to do a reflash with 15 students, a PP projector, screen, etc. in tow is not a realistic solution. PS- I do not sell tools, but would like to have all my customers have an IDS. It's hard to get a gov't agency to understand that this is practically a required tool, not a luxury when repairing 6.0's. Back to the calibrations- it seems like a crap shoot- sometimes the files are on my HD, and sometimes they're not. The files are small, and it seems like there should be an easy way to get all of the diesel files and keep them on my HD. Oops, there I go saying "seems" again.... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Several months ago when I talked to a dyno operator in Dearborn, he said 6.4 injector failures were practically zero. On the other hand, he was on the dyno when the 6.0 came out and injector failures were common, so he knew there would be 6.0 injector problems in the field. The only thing that scares me right now is the percentage of trucks in the customer's hands vs. on the lot or at the body company. Isn't there a relatively small percentage of these on the road?

Part of the reason I encouraged this topic is that not everyone has OE scan tools. Ford has not released the CAN bidirectional code to ETI, so there are no aftermarket scan tools that have bidirectional controls on Ford CAN vehicles. This really limits what you can do on a 6.0 unless you have the OE tool. Thanks!

Hey Guys: I keep running into a problem that gives me a hard time: When reflashing with my IDS, I don't always have internet access at the truck's location. Sometimes the calibrations are on the hard drive, and sometimes IDS has to download them from the FMC server. Sometimes I will try to flash a truck unsuccessfully (because the file is not on the HD) and go to my hotel for the night, where the PC is on the net. I'll update my cals manually and you'd think it would get the right file, but once again the next day I can't do the reflash. My IDS is up to date on software level and updates calibrations daily. How can I get it to download all of the 6.0 cals and keep them on the HD on a daily basis? Yesterday I had to drive the truck back to my house and use my wireless network to do a reflash. There's got to be a better way..... Thanks!

Congrats on your inventiveness in finding yet a new way to test a system we've dealt with for years. My question to the masses is whether direct powering an IPR will damage it or otherwise shorten it's life, as it's used to seeing a PWM signal. I can see this being useful information as some dealers have a really lopsided tech-to-scan-tool ratio. Comments?

Additional tips: Apply shop air for at least 30 minutes- if the oil is cold, it may take this long to push the oil out to hear a small air leak. Plug the block heater in to help thin the oil out. Use a stethoscope to listen! Many air leaks will be too small to hear normally. Taking a regular stethoscope and attaching a piece of vacuum hose to the end of it where the probe usually is will help identify the source of leaks. If one is really giving you fits, we have talked about using high pressure Nitrogen or CO2 to pressurize the system. As Jim stated, shop air is a weak test pressure. If you do use high pressure, take special safety precautions. Most of all, Good Luck!

When I toured the IH assembly plant, the workers did not know the difference between a DT466E and a T444E! I have two IAT2's, both Siemens, one says "Made in Czech" and the other says "Made in France". It's a world market, that's for sure! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

I have a fast question for you guys: Most of the time when I flash a truck, the files are on my hard drive and the calibration is installed without a problem. I tried doing one the other day (2005 6.0) and IDS said, "There is an updated calibration available, but the file is not found on the hard drive. Would you like to go on the network and retrieve the file?" At the time, I was at a location that did not have internet so I was not able to install the calibration. Until this time, I was under the impression that all calibrations were kept on the HD. Is this not true? Thanks!

When I suspect an injector barrel and plunger problem, I pull the fuel filter and put 1/2 bottle of Stanadyne Performance Formula in it and the other 1/2 in the tank. Most of the time when there's an injector problem it changes dramatically from the enhanced lubricity found in the additive. I think Ford's PM-17A is a similar product. Perdels are the way to go identifying a weak injector at idle, but you have more than one problem by what I hear. #8 is usually higher than the rest. Double check voltages in your PIDS as well as temps and values, etc as maybe the PCM is substituting a known good value for one of them and that's preventing you from running the KOER. Fuel pressure was checked under load as well as in the shop, right? How does a fuel sample look/smell? This truck isn't an EMT squad or anything weird with a battery shutoff, is it? If it has one, it may clear the codes when shut off and throw you for a loop. Just thinking out loud. Good luck!

The ESN tag on the FICM on this 2004 F550 1FDAF56P44EB15998 is messed up and I can't read it. Does Ford list the ESN by VIN? Thanks, Larry!

I didn't even see the numbers you are referring to until I looked a little harder (with a magnifying glass!) They are on the side of the solenoid magnet. *DA1843481C95 01249842 According to the application listing I have, this goes to a 3C3Z-9E527-AE. Is that what you have? Will this injector fit 2004 F550 1FDAF56P44EB15998? Thanks, Larry!

Hey Guys (and Larry), I have a new 6.0 injector that became separated from it's box, and I don't know the PN to this injector. Numbers on the side of it are 046410863C95, 04776 0893, and 0813 00916 on the white plastic connector. At the end of the black harness it has DA, 130453-0006 and 0311-204 on it. Is there any help for figuring out what it fits? Thanks!

Has anybody done the new diag procedure using the rack sensor and VMM yet? I've seen the diag brochure on it at the training center (PN 540605, dated 12/06) but I don't think they've done the test yet because they're short handed and busy with the 6.4. It involves installing a rack sensor (418-626, TKIT 2007TV-F) in the top of the turbo where the rack plug is, hooking the IDS/VMM to it, and graphing out VGT command versus rack position. I tried to buy the brochure- what a joke- I spent an hour on the phone and neither Helm or FMC have a clue what it is. Each repeatedly told me to call the other. I did shoot pics of the brochure pages because the TC only had one. Thanks!

Hey Guys: I'm not happy with what the manual says about the location of this relay, and was told by an unreliable source that it is part of the fuse panel and not serviceable separately. Could someone please elaborate on location and accessing of this relay? Thank You!

Personally, I think a sealed beam is not enough unless you've got a voltmeter on it watching the V drop at the same time. Most sealed beams only draw a couple of amps tops, I have 2 blower motors I use- one draws 9 amps, the other 15 amps. Do you guys use Case Ground in datalogger? It's the difference between PCM ground and FP relay ground, measure in V. It should be damn close to zero. If it reads something, there is a bad PCM ground. I was working on a 2000 Taurus ABS complaint and happened to notice Case Ground was at 2+ volts in scan data. I mentioned it to the owner (tech, trainer, high end guy) who took the time to clean his PCM grounds and get the reading down to almost zero. Guess what? It fixed his TCC kick out complaint! Before this, the TCC would kick out after an extended highway drive of 30 miles plus. It made a believer out of him! Good Luck!

Another quick tip I've found very useful on those pesty slow crankcase leaks: Put dye in, (the correct amount- I usually use too much to make it easier. You young guys will understand this as time goes on /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif ) Seal off the crankcase vent on the left side and use the output side of the shop vac to pressurize the crankcase via the oil fill tube. I have a cut off tranny funnel that fits into the oil fill tube, and then I just stuff the shop vac hose into the funnel. This applies about 1psi to the crankcase and makes small seepage leaks jump out. This will save a boatload of time diagnosing a small leak that normally only shows up while driving. Tip- do a quick clean of the shop vac and leave it on for 20 seconds before applying the air to the crankcase to prevent blowing a bunch of dust into the oil! Good Luck, and have a great weekend!

They dumped the Garrett turbo instead, in favor of the Borg Warner VGT that IH has been using for 4 years. Regarding the Garrett: There is an extra female hex plug on top of the turbo, which Garrett intended to use for a rack sensor. Later Duramax engines use the Garrett VGT, with the rack sensor. I wish Ford (and IH) had come to the realization that they need a positive feedback device like a rack sensor on the VGT, and installed one. This would have simplified diagnostics by having a pure closed loop system on the VGT- it is commanded to a certain position, and the rack sensor says it achieved this position. Very simple. I was even thinking if Ford could sacrifice an existing sensor, add a short extension harness, install a rack sensor, and reprogram to a new level. If so, what existing sensor would you dump? EBP? MAF? I think a rack sensor would outweigh either of those. Ohhhhhh, to dreammmmmmm......