Matt Saunoras

I wrote them a little note listing the Gates part number next to the original belt routing diagram. I drove the hell out of this truck on Saturday, it's probably running better than it has in a long time. Oh yeah, that was after I put tranny lines and an external filter housing on it (post-repair repair). I love the WSM on the long tranny lines, doesn't say much about what's involved but I've never figured out the easy way to do them.

Last one I needed for a late 04 was on backorder too. The 05+ used cover I had fit fine with a new lower rad hose. I can get part numbers I you want. Last I checked the later covers are available still. Obviously you'd need a 100mm water pump too

I believe I paid around 4.25/gallon yesterday. Truck took 33 gallons

We had one 2015 chassis cab run through the shop already. I didn't notice much different. A few things but nothing remarkable

I almost wish I had a cac boot clamp stapler. Anyone know where to get one?

I did my cab and chassis 6.7 turbo today (war). Also upsold a primary rad, brakes all around, and fuel filters/grease job. That things ready to roll first thing tomorrow morning. Outside is a 7.3 I think needs undercover harnesses. Also the 05 F-550 dump with fuel in the coolant + 8 injectors. I have them 90% sold on getting it done. I've given them the option to get a set of heads done like the ones I have for my truck. 2 heads resurfaced, valves recessed, hardened seats, new seals and injector cups installed all for less than the price of one new Ford head (no core either). It's going to get studded too. I won't have time to do it for at least a week anyways. I've gotta start this ambulance soon or it's never going to get rolling, maybe Sunday.

Not a typical failure. If it was EGT related it's likely the turbine or vanes started to melt throwing the rotating assembly off balance. If the customer wants to run tuned and tow at the same time an EGT gauge is a must, there is no way around this. You cannot sustain 1200-1300°F temps for several minutes without risking damage in a 6.0. I personally would tow on stock tuning and stock tuning alone. It may feel powerless but it is the only safe way. The VGT turbo is naturally going to produce higher EGTs due to the restriction (EBP) from the vanes, the turbines are made with thicker blades than a non-VGT turbo to sustain higher temps but there is still a such thing as too hot. I have run across a few melted turbines, all trucks were overheated.

We are badly overdue for a service overhaul. The problem boils down to this kind of stuff being allowed to happen. My boss(the guy who signs my checks) isn't around all day, actually he may not even be in the store for a week at a time. He owns our sister Lincoln store which is a tight ship (I apprenticed there and it was rough). Our GM is even more of a problem than the SM, there is simply no discipline. Both need to go. These guys have it a little too cushy. Did I mention our SM arrives after 8 every single day and leaves at 4:30 every afternoon. There is not one employee that arrives after him in the morning, oh wait, except the GM. Mind you we are in a brand new facility. A facility that needs service to be profitable in order to keep the bills paid. We are making money but not even close to tapping our full potential. Our new hire technician was a service manager at competing dealer for a few months before getting back into wrenching. He is already tired of the way this place is run. All of this slacking makes me the hero.

Our service manager is a little lacking in the service management department. Other than that he's fine. Work comes in and he sells most of my jobs so I shouldn't be saying anything. If he ever retrieved a keyless or programmed a key I'd have a heart attack, he'd sooner take me off a job to do something like that rather than do it himself. He doesn't even tag cars or half the times remember to get keys from the drop-off box. We are small so he is basically a glorified adviser. Also every vehicle that comes in is not written up (or ever walked around) until the tech gets a registration and mileage and hands it to someone at the desk. We sometimes have no idea what keys go where. Orders are frequently written up wrong, I always read the schedule to see myself what work was requested. I watch guys pull a car out and pull it back in an hour later because "we" forgot to do an oil change, meanwhile it was never on the RO. Anymore I basically manage myself.

The fitting is available seperately so I put a new one on. Got the okay to yank the engine out of the ambulance. Also a 12 6.7 C&C just showed up for a turbo

This sucker handed me my ass. I've had a few dumps where the PTO could be positioned out of the way to access the right valve cover. Not this one, the box had to come out which was a chore in itself. By the time I made it to the #5 and #7 injectors it needed I was wishing I called the rest. It got coolers, STC and dummy plugs, front cover gasket/front main, 2 injectors, clean turbo and a vc-9 flush for 18 hours. It looked good on paper. Whoops

All is well that ends well

Did it prompt you that a manual regen was not needed and do you want to continue anyways?

I do some side work for an indy and nothing pains me more than patching vehicles back together. I would almost rather incur some of the cost myself rather than have something I just had apart break completely soon after.

Mine came today too. I didn't get as much as Mr money bags up there but none the less.

Yes it's from a 09 E-350 drw ambulance, it's this companies main box ambo. I won't know the damage until the head comes off. Regardless of what the damage is it needs to be addressed, I doubt the piece of nozzle made it out without leaving its mark. It's got 175k so I'd like to do as much as possible if the engine is coming out. I called their mechanic tonight and gave him the news. I'll find out more tomorrow.

And the saga begins.

Wow a 6.0 leak oil out of a new spot? How about the compuchek fitting on the front of the oil cooler cover. Can't say I've seen that one before and it makes quite a mess down the front of the engine/accessory drive. Guess I need a cooler cover because I can't seem to locate a fitting to plug it up. Got another 6.0 ambulance in today. #2 is a dead miss, pouring fuel smoke from the tailpipe and I've got fuel coming out from between the head and exhaust manifold. My guess a cracked tip again. I just put injectors in this thing 10/2013 approx 40k miles ago so that one injector will be warranty. I am not sure about subsequent damages though, I don't believe they will be covered if it has pieces missing.

Found it if anyone ever runs across this. Gates micro-v AT K081490 is 8 rib 149"There's not any sizes near that, next smallest one is 138"It ate the belt because someone pressed on the p/s pump pulley on too far. Also I'm sure the oil leaking on it didn't help much.

I've got a 6.0 dump here that has an engine mounted PTO I need to get a belt for. It's one long ass 8 rib belt that my best guess is 148.5" long. I am having trouble locating a belt for it, short of calling the body builder I thought I'd try here. Anyone have any resources for finding a custom belt?

07 F-450 dump 6.0. Needs coolers, clean intake, clean turbo, 2 injectors and has a pretty decent oil leak down the front somewhere I need to find. Belt driven PTO ontop of the right valve cover which I need to reposition

I open the doors in the morning and lock them at night. I haven't left short of a 10 hour day in a long time. It's not all wrenching either, it's a lot of crap other people should be doing. As long as I can say and do as I please I'll take it though.

Yeah our ambulances dropped off too. The one fleet of nine 6.0s I service are all running good. Minus the one that needs headgaskets that they won't fix. Today I dropped the fuel tank on a 2000 excursion 7.3 to clean the fuel socks. This thing was breaking up bad on the road test and even stalled out once. I'm not 100% sold that its completely fixed but I definitely had an inlet restriction and put 20+ miles on it post repair with no more trouble.

I am the go to guy now but it wasn't always that way. We've got 2 other guys here, the one that trained me and still helps when I need it doesn't want to do it anymore. The other guy wouldn't be able to hang. Right now I like being the only diesel guy. You wind up being the guy everyone trusts to get stuff done right.

Did an EGT13 on one today, upsold a horizontal cooler inlet coolant tube.All the diesel work is gone minus one truck that has fuel in the coolant and they won't authorize it. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, I want the job but we've gotta get the cost down.Up next is a 05 e-450 v10 bus that has no a/cEdit- okay, no a/c compressor engagement. This was fun with no wiring diagram, of course the fault was with the aftermarket aux condensor pressure switch wiring which feeds power back into the OEM pressure switch wiring. I didn't find it right away either, I had to draw a wiring diagram to figure out how the system worked.