YukonTyler

Is it worth it?

I picked up a used but not abused equipment trailer - 2003 SWS, 20' deck + 2' beavertail. 7000 lb twin axles with ST235/80/16" load range G. The whole works is in pretty darn good shape save for the tires which are hurting in a bad way.

The tire casings/sidewall all say 'regrooveable' on them. I know that regrooveable means burning/forming deeper treads using the existing treads as a guide. At the same time, I think these things are retreadable. Anybody have experience with this? If it's possible, is it worth it? Does a place like Fountain or KalvTire offer retreading on a small scale?

2014 Kioti DK SE .... 45 horse, 4x4, rear diff lock, hydro trans, loader, rear remote hydraulics : )

It has a 2.2 liter 4 cyl, naturally aspirated mill. It's the last model year to feature no DPF, EGR, common rail injection etc etc. On-road emissions are hitting the off road segment, so I made a move and got the last DK 45 in Alberta.

What a whirlwind last weekend was. After work on Friuday I drove 5 hours to Beaumont and bought a used 14k lb equipment trailer. Then hit Lacombe in the morning for a well-maintained finish mower. Then picked up the tractor in Spruce Grove. Ended the running around by picking up a heavy duty homemade 7' rear blade out of Fort Saskatchewan. Promptly drove home and made it back by 2 am on Sunday. 

- 3 or so 2013 Escapes with running rough/hesitation/cluster lit up like a Christmas tree. fixing splices as per tsb 13 12 12 while waiting for the new recall to actually have instructions. other ones need the CAC temp sensor, but they are USA no.

- 13 escape with a bum RCM. USA no for availability.

- more 13S12s just for good measure. they had somebody else do one and he wound up cooking the engine. 

- 2012 5.0 F150, 115 000 km on a two year lease that is up in a couple months. the mileage penalty will be bad, but not as bad as the 110 psi on #4 and #8. pissing out the intake valves. time for retail heads!

- retail rear end on a 9.75 posi 1/2 ton

The last one I had in my bay was kicked to me from the oil changer. As per WSM to re and re the right front head lamp bulb the bumper has to come off. That's some solid engineering right there.

Oh no! Don't get me wrong - Windows 8 is fantastic so far. It's supposedly a totally new code and filing system. I haven't had one hiccup yet, not one compatibility issue and the performance is mind blowing. The basic Windows is still there, they just decided to put on a new user interface based around the start button and some slick looking stuff to take advantage of touch screens. But, with some settings changes I have my laptop looking and felling just like I expect/want my PC to interact with me. The only part that needed tweaking was the start button. They replaced it with this tile screen and your programs list is now a list of  "Apps"  which requires a lot of scrolling and hunting to find what you want. These little shell programs restore the start button and familiar programs list. I still pin most of my commonly used programs right to the task bar anyway. I like many people wish there was a choice in the matter. A simple setting to chose between the new "Metro interface" and a "traditional interface."  For crying out loud - There are some small programs like the ones we are discussing that make this happen - so why not just include it?  Yeah, I know. Change is inevitable.

Agreed on all fronts. There should have been better OEM support of the classic interface without users going 'aftermarket'. That being said, the platform is incredibly stable. Once I had it looking like the Windows of old I've been incredibly happy with it. Also, the boot time is fantastic. It feels like the system is up and running only a few seconds after pressing the power button.

I use Classic Shell. It is completely free and works great. 

Agreed that the new format is bogus. Try as I might there is nothing intuitive about it.

13 F150 ecoboost with a leaking down timing chain tensioner. rattle rattle on initial start after cold soak.

13 1.6 Escape with a leaking water pump, found on a previous 13S12 but the pumps were backordered for a long while. these are fun. timing belt comes off.

13 1.6 Escape for a 13S12, found the headgasket leaking, head warped ......... long block time. it's almost done. just need to put the front end back together and fill it with fluids.

12 F250 6.2, serpentine belt tensioner burrowed its way through the timing cover

12 Mustang 5.0 .............. waiting on HID headlights so that SJB F22 (parking lamps) will stop blowing. buddy somehow fried nearly every module and light bulb on this car.

meanwhile, the guy next to me is in the middle of 30 or so used units for reconditioning. i don't think he has left the brake lathe alone for more than 30 minutes all week. and this is what i get for being trained up : /

Update - did another turbo on a different unit the other day. I went digging for torque specs and the WSM now notes that the lower mounting bracket is no longer needed.

After receiving all of my parts (USA availability only on all modules) I got this thing kicked out. In addition to the PCM, SJB, BCM B, APIM, HVAC module and ABS module it required an alternator, battery, both HID headlamp assemblies and almost every conventional light bulb on the car.

The folks are prior approval were none too pleased for my headlamps request in spite of perfect cosmetics. SJB F22 kept blowing unless I unplugged both units due to the park lamp circuit.

Ultimately this was one of the stranger electrical jobs I have come across

I didn't think a car could be struck by lighting due to the tires not providing a path to ground. My guess would be reverse boosting. Or a 24 volt boost from a tow truck.

I thought the same thing. They tell you if a high voltage power line is down over your car not to move as the tires provide insulation. Because of this I also like the reverse polarity or high voltage boost options. And like Walt mentioned I don't think that I'm getting the whole story. The customer sure is pissy though. "It's summer and I can't drive my Mustang." Settle down and let me get to the bottom of it.

I monkeyed around with it for an hour this morning before I ordered all of my modules (thankfully they're USA yes instead of no). I got a charging light and at idle my alternator is putting out 11.7 volts. It is a PCM controlled charging system with a Gen Mon and Gen Com lines. At this point I'm not sure if my poor charging is a symptom of incomplete networks or if my alternator somehow contributed to this whole mess. It feels like a chicken or the egg scenario at this point.

I ordered an alternator and I'm going to slap it in prior to replacing the modules. I want to verify proper charging voltage before condemning a bunch more of them there computers, even though a network test with a battery charger hooked up still shows all of those modules incommunicado.

 

- 13 Mustang. I'm convinced he boosted it with reverse polarity or some other such scheme. came no start no crank. multiple fuses blown in the BJB and the SJB. so far I have found the PCM, SJB, HVAC module, ABS module, APIM, BCM B and the radio amplifier smoked. So far I have put in a PCM and a BJB to at least get the thing to start.

 

You might check the radio antenna, if they have an external one, to see if lightning hit it.

 

My mind was going there too, but apparently this thing was in a soft sided garage through the winter. We tend to not have lightning through the winter. Unfortunately the act of God theory isn't making sense to me.

The story is that the car was in winter storage under one of those Canadian tire 'garage in a box' type deals. The customer claims to have started it a few times during winter until recently. At that time they found the battery to be dead, attempted to boost it but the car would not start. It was towed in no crank no start.

I replaced the battery. No crank. No ignition power. In the BJB the 10a fuse for the EVAP vent valve and PCM is blown. A new fuse blows immediately. Disconnect the PCM, install a new fuse and it stays good. Also note the 30a slow blow fuse for the audio amplifier is also blown, and a replacement fuse blows immediately. Unplug the amp and a new fuse remains good.

For the no ignition power I go to the SJB and find 6 fuses blown. Upon replacement 3 blow immediately, one of which is for the ignition switch. It smells like the smoke was let out of it down under the kick panel, too.

I ordered a new PCM and a new SJB. Installed both and got them programmed. It now starts and runs. When I do a network test I still have a dead HVAC module, ABS module, BCM B and APIM. The amp is still on order out of the States.

HVAC and BCM B are MS CAN. ABS is HS. APIM is a gateway. The amplifier is not networked.

Struck by lightening? Boosted with reverse polarity? Act of God? lol ..... I've never seen a reverse boost fry anything without also taking out the main fuse. First time for everything though?

So far this is being treated as warranty, but I'm convinced that something stupid happened to this car. I'd love to prove this out as retail. Any ideas?

- 1.6 Escape for a long block. this is a 13S12 that took on a life of its own. came in with a leaking head gasket, tore it down to find warped head and deck surfaces. wooooo.

- 13 Mustang. I'm convinced he boosted it with reverse polarity or some other such scheme. came no start no crank. multiple fuses blown in the BJB and the SJB. so far I have found the PCM, SJB, HVAC module, ABS module, APIM, BCM B and the radio amplifier smoked. So far I have put in a PCM and a BJB to at least get the thing to start.

- 13 F150 for a turbocharger on the right side. wastegate no worky.

only when they're rusted in place out east ...

NGS and WDS?? How about SBDS??? Wasn't that THE high tech diagnostic system for the very short time it was around, that only a select few techs were allowed to touch in any Ford store?

I have no idea. I got my NGS today and it programmed perfectly. To tell you the truth this was my first time even touching one of the things - I started with Ford in 2011 and I've been in the trade since 2006.

Today I got pulled off of a nice job to install a GEM in a beaten '99 F150 with 340 000 km. The customer diag'd his lack of wipers to the module.

I attempted to do a PMI using a VCM I and the latest version of IDS. It failed. Repeatedly. No option for as built data. The WSM says 'if no original module is available then program with WDS or NGS. Here we go!

I ripped through the dark corners of the tool room and found an NGS, some random memory cards, an OBD II cable and a broken 12v cigar lighter adapter. I rigged power and got the old girl to fire up, only to find it quickly spat out a message along the lines of 'internal fatal error'. Bummer. I now have an NGS coming from our sister store. Oh the joys.

 

God I hate those thingsI still think its a mistake dumping the e-van

DITTO!!! Same goes for dumping the Crown Vics.

 

Yup. As soon as Ford has something figured out it goes by the wayside. I know CAFE numbers and whatnot, but the 2v gas jobs in the Econoline and the Crown Vic were great and those vehicles were bullet proof. Same goes for the Ranger.

I owned one of these once. Briefly. 1985 2M4 ... complete with hooker headers, holley intake and that stupid ram air scoop thing on the driver's side. Working on it was always pretty easy for the most part. The thing was a blast to drive - sits about 2" off the ground and it handles like it's on rails. And I was always a sucker for the pop up headlamps,

Did my second one today (also requiring t-stat) in 5.7. Happy times. Given a little more seasoning I think I'll be able to make an hour on these things. The labour time is fair - and I didn't anticipate saying that from the outset.

Having done one I was able to save time by:

- not having to read the 55 page manual

- completing all repairs in a single area without backtracking. pull the crank sensor harness for taping when you are doing the heat shield fiasco. pull the alternator wire, tape it off, start the IPC reflash and then pull the alternator to do the t-stat. put the new stand pipe in at this time, too. my hoist only went up and down a couple times today, compared to a couple dozen times the first go around. 

Did my first 13S12 today. This weekend I have a lift kit and a 13S13 lined up. Then on Monday another 13S12.

Did my first one today. As mentioned the directions are quite clear, which makes the whole process pretty darn easy.

The worst part of the job is sorting out the alternator re and re .... it might have helped if I pulled the motor mount first before attempting to remove that lower bolt. That's 30 minutes of my time that I wont get back.

All told this initial go at it took me 8.5 hours - started at 8 and buttoned up by 5 with a short break in the middle. That's with a t-stat replacement, but also on a unit with only 5000 km. At least with the 2.0 'learning curve' MT allowance I didn't lose my shirt. It will be a challenge to hit the 5.1 for units not requiring a thermostat, but 6.1 for those needing it should be do-able.

Thanks for the feedback. I wound up slapping it in.

That's not a fun job. The coolant lines neither like to disengage or re-engage with their quick connect fittings. It seems you have to pop out the quick connect clip, work the line in with a suitable tool, and then fool around getting the clip back in its rightful spot. I spent way too long fooling with those two lines.

In happy news the wastegates now function. Sadly I also found the plugged cats and gasoline-grown engine oil level which caused the issue in the first place.

They are cake - I did a couple evap cores not too long ago. Easier still if they are gas jobs.

I leave one bolt on the driver's side loose but attached. The whole dash will pivot around the l/front a-pillar. All you really need to disconnect is a couple electrical connectors on the left side of the dash, the park brake cable from the release handle, the steering shaft and a couple more connectors around the SJB on the other side

I get the a/c lines by taking out the inner fender and going in from the bottom.

The dash pivots enough to have it rest on the passenger's seat. From there it's easy access to the plenum nuts and bolts, and if it's gasoline then the ones in the engine bay are pretty easy, too.

Brad I definitely get it. I had the same plans when moving from the Yukon to PEI. Then 8 months later I see our savings being scratched away to nothing and some very bad financial trends emerging. To make it work I took a job in Alberta while the wife is at home finishing her contract as a teacher.

We sold our (first) home and it's about to close at the end of June, 13 months after our initial purchase. Thank goodness we were able to do it privately and avoid any realtor commission which would have put us in the red.

When we came to the realization that our new place wasn't going to work out it hit us hard. We were talking about the situation with a few close friends and one of them came back with some pretty sage advice: successful people realize their mistakes very quickly.

I have the older model and I love it. It eats batteries like they're going out of style, but for all of its usefulness I can't complain. I don't use it as much as I used to when I was doing Subaru head gaskets seemingly daily, but often enough it gets pulled out for intakes, throttle bodies, spark plugs etc. 

The head bolt scenario you brought up is already at the top of its useful range at 90 ft lbs, so for that you'd already be better to use the 1/2 inch version.

My only complaint is the lack of an audible tone when it turns off due to lack of activity. You have to be mindful not to over-torque something during this scenario; you're expecting a beep but the darn thing shut off the second after you picked it up.