mrbudge

Aftermarket warranty companies that I have dealt with pay retail. I find they just don't cover anything if it isn't 'defective', meaning is something is worn or loose it is wear and not warrantable. However, since when do companies get to dictate what they are going to pay for a service? If I go for a burger at lunch I don't tell the burger place how much I am going to pay for the burger. If there are instances of the warranty company not willing to pay for extras like broken bolts, rust, or aftermarket accessories, then the customer pays. They are then welcome to pursue the warranty company for the balance.

Had a claim bounced for a rattle. Trim guy said he put flock tape under the rattling part. Ford said flock tape was not a supported repair. Called warranty and gave them the section and page number in the wsm for them to review. Said flock tape came in the official Ford squeak and rattle kit. All this for a whopping .5 or so. But they did pay.

The 4 long water pump studs go into the water jacket, that is why they get all corroded and sieze up. I have never drilled a broken bolt. Weld a nut onto the broken stud. The heat from welding will help loosen the threads. Put pipe sealer on the new studs to stop coolant from running past the threads and corroding everything up again. You never know, you might be the next guy to take this thing apart down the road. Also, how rusty is the oil pan? Might be a good time for a new one.

I'm glad I am not the only one who has thought of tapping that hole, but haven't had to yet, they all have been warranty. As far as the hell bolts, the guys here don't even try, they cut them.

Whether or not it may be ok is not the issue. The issue is that as soon as you touch this thing you will be married to it until the end of time. Isn't there enough to go wrong with a 6.0 without throwing fuel on the fire? And as has been mentioned, if he wants studs now, the damage has already been done. I like to sleep at night, and shortcutting a job to save someone else a buck is a leading cause of insomnia.

I find it strange that technicians are involved in the powertrain exchange program to the extent that you guys are. I tell the guys here if you are going to be over cost cap to let me know and I jump through the required hoops to get whatever approval is required. Same thing for diesel parts prior approval. The tech puts the job on hold, it goes outside and you move on to whatever comes up next. I would not want a flat rate guy to do all the prior approval bs for .3, and if or when it all goes in the toilet I work with the tower operator and warranty administrator to straighten it out. The tech is in his bay producing. We all know that every prior approval is sent back the first time for some bullshit reason, so there, you just spent your .3.

Remember the Merkur, another fine product that arrived on a boat. And yet Europe is crawling with Transits and Transit Connects. You would think they should have them figured out by now.

Is three years too long to spend bleeding a clutch?

Did you check the firewall where the master is bolted to see if it is cracked, bent, or flexing when pushing down on the pedal? On those old external slaves I usually take them off the trans and tip them down so the line pointing up, then push the slave piston in and out a few times, the air bubble usually comes out at the master. Make sure there are no dips in the line that will trap air.

Just had an Escape in last week four brand new LT's on it. Complaining it seemed to drag on decel. Maybe they would like to trade.

We get clusters going goofy if you drive them in from outside and the humidity in the shop condenses inside clusters, radios, etc. Once they dry out they seem ok. It has been -30 here last week, so the condensation can be quite bad when you bring them in from the cold. Late model Explorers seem to be bad lately. They usually don't seem to mind low voltages, starting unplugged at -30 will cause quite a voltage drop, but they still go.

Undo the oil pump and let it fall into the pan, the drive rod should come with it. Put the pickup back on the pump first when re-installing the whole mess. Don't forget the drive rod!

You can't work without tools. This includes both shop and personal tools. So Why do shop tools not get the respect that personal tools get? There is nothing worse than looking for a shop tool only to find out it is missing or broken. As far as I am concerned any tool that is broken is being used incorrectly, and as far as lost tools go, you wouldn't walk away from that $50.00 Snap On socket that just fell in the sewer if you paid for it, but if the shop is paying, well who cares. Tools are a 2 way street. The shop has a RESPONSIBILITY to supply adequate shop equipment, the tech has a RESPONSIBILITY to use them with respect.

I believe i-connect supplied them to us here in Canada. We are leasing our toughbook from i-connect.

LV was used in late model Focus automatics. The bulletin that I saw did not say that LV was to be used in all warranty repairs, only that it can be used in the place of SP, and can be mixed, or used to top up. So I went to the 2009 SD WSM and at the beginning of the specification section it calls for LV trans fluid, and in bold letters says that V, LV, and SP and not interchangable. Are we confused yet?

WOW, a 99 7.3 that the oil pan hasn't rusted out yet. I guess in Kansas they go easy on the salt.

Has someone replaced the oil pan yet? Sounds like the pickup tube is plugged with silicone. Some people are "generous" with the silicone gun. And yes, I have seen this, on many different engines that use RTV for oil pan sealant. You get ok oil pressure at idle but as soon as the demand for oil increases with RPM the pressure drops off.

Search Napier Deltic on Youtube and watch the trying to start one of these things in a locomotive. No 6.0 has that bad cold stiction. Sounds cool when it's running, though.

Or maybe we will long for the day when we were looking for the easy way to replace the rusted out oil pan on a 6.0 E-box.

I am sitting in my office looking at a WDS that hasn't been used in at least four years, for good reason. If I remember correctly it was not working correctly at the end because you could not update the software and it wanted software updates done at regular intervals. We backed up the clock to get around this for a while, but eventually noone wanted to use it anyway so it got parked. A scan tool that does not do anything or that is not supported is worth less than nothing, even if it was free. If I was to drag this thing out and put it back to work now there would be a revolution. I have my own NGS at home, a was thrilled to get it at the time, now it sits for the same reason, unless I am blessed with a Villager to work on. I should park all this stuff with my timing light, dwell guage, distributor wrenches, and everything else that has gone obsolete, just like the WDS. To bad we still don't have oun SBDS.

Have a 2006 e-box here, 180000 km on it. Smokes blue on warmup while accelerating, usually at the end of second gear. At part throttle, 2200 rpm or so just before the shift to third if you hold it there it will blow clouds of blue smoke. If you accelerate harder it isn't so bad. Hot runs great. Starts ok, with minimal stiction. No dtc, fuel pressure 50psi under load. New oil and fuel filters. Has new egr valve and unison ring. PIDS look ok. One strange thing is during a neutral runup at 4000 rpm it will sometimes run a little rough and make some smoke, then clear up. I put some cetane booster in this afternoon and drove it, and am going to try it cold tomorrow. Anyone have some words of wisdom to share?

I was going to get a 1-900 number so at least I could get paid for my tech hotline services, or at least get some heavy breathing over the phone. Now I just let the calls go to voice mail, if I am feeling generous and call someone back, usually the next day, they have figured out by themselves by that time. It is just easier to pick up the phone, I guess.

The front chain will hit the trigger wheel if they rattle on startup before they get oil pressure. The old engines had ratchets on the tensioners so there was no problem with them. Crank one over with the valve cover off and watch the tensioner do the chicken until oil pressure hits it. There are probably wear marks on the inside of the chain cover also. If you are working on the cam drive on one of these engines for any reason I would suggest that you check the cam journals when the valve covers are off. If they are scored up they will cause all kinds of hard to diagnose vct codes and noises due to oil pressure loss. It does not seem to affect base oil pressure so a base oil pressure test is not going to indicate a problem.

Just working on one today, also an 03, ficm voltages seemed good, no ficm codes, but no ficm sync. Checked cam sensor for rust causing excess air gap and that was ok. Then noticed the ficm relay would buzz sometimes. Since we got a whole bunch of these things apart we swapped in a ficm from a different truck and away she went. Customer wasn't impressed with the price of a new ficm so he is taking it away, on a hook I guess, cause it sure won't run.

Worked at a dealership for 27 years, never heard of a paid sick day. I go to work sick, misery loves company. Stay home when you feel good. Insurance will kick in if off for a week, provided you haven't starved to death.