I Own a Wheeled Toilet! Vent About Automotive Nightmares

No, I haven't got it back in yet. I really didn't think it was that bad as far as pulling engines go. The engine is big and heavy, but with the fuel line quick disconnects and the same for the electrical, four nuts to remove engine mounts (easily accessable) and transmission bolts accessable w/ four foot extension and swivel, it was pretty straightforward. From the 6.0 in 2003/4 on up, forget it, but the 7.3 isn't too bad.

Yes, I'm replacing my oil pan, they commonly pinhole on the these trucks and mine's on its way regardless of how many times I've sanded and repainted etc. I'm using spectra powder coated (1/2 price and better finish than OEM). After the pan is installed, I'm coating with "The right Stuff" - the whole pan to keep a chip from occuring in the powder coat.

Smitty, if it was the 7.3, the heads can be removed in the truck w/ out too much difficutly, but you don't see too many 7.3's (unless their running 40-50+psi boost) where they ever in their lifetime need to have the heads lifted to r&r a headgasket. W/ 18 bolts (not tty bolts thankfully) per head, there's never any problems. The cabs aren't difficult to remove, but, noone does it on the 7.3 because it's not really needed. The 6.4's you have to to do ANYTHING engine related just about. The new 6.7's are better and easier to work on but they still have their problems.

My nephue's 6.7 lost an engine @30ish thousand miles. The new "black boxes" record everything you do - apparently ford is claiming he towed too much w/ it once and thus his warranty is void! Still fighting it. He asked ford What kind of bs that it is - he's go 7.3's running everyday w/ more than 300,000 miles towing 20-30k w/ no problems! and he once exceeded the tow rating accordingto the black box by a few thousand lbs? and his engine blows up. This is becoming more and more common w/ the 6.7, the rod bearings went bad (not from fuel dilution) and the pistons started hitting valves - they busted up the valves which then took out the piston and the engine. Ford claims exhaust and intake valve failure from towing too heavy (nonsense for a veriety of reasons) and he took the engine to an independent engine builder - the builder disassembled everything and documented what failed and how, he's apparently seen a few of these engines ford's been denying warranty on and they all had broken/cracked valves - every one had bad bearings leading to valve/piston contact (not egt's) causing valve and then engine failure. Ford's got it wrong and I'm sure this will play out in a few years as another huge warranty expense for ford once the totality of the evidence fails to support ford's diagnosis time and time again.

Must've been a 6.4 - it's in a Harley Edition F250 .... think it's a '06.

Smitty, mabey I missed something, but, what exactly failed in the Dayco tensioner? Dayco, gates, skf, they've all held up for me about the same (ie. no problems at timing belt change intervals). Did the bearings just STB?

The bearings were fine both times. The spring failed - both times. Installed FoMoCo tensioner and problem solved. Go figure. I guess Dayco should stick with making belts ....

Dropped my daughter off at her school Wednesday morning. On the way there the brakes in the truck felt weird. On the way home coming down a mountain doing about 40, for to the end of the road and hit the brakes for the stop sign and... the pedal went to the floor. Nothing. Truck didn't respond. It just kept rolling. I looked at my wife, smiled and said, 'We have no brakes.' She braced for impact as the truck went into the street. I put it in a lower gear and stepped on the emergency brake. Truck stopped. I sat there for a few seconds and my wife asked, 'What now? Call a tow truck?' We were only 2 miles from home so I limped it back. Used the E brake to stop and didn't go over 30. Blew the front lines.

I know all the steel line is shot but I blew it where it goes into the distribution block on the frame. I could buy the new rubber hose back to the caliper because that is the line that blew. All the lines on the front end back to the MC need to be replaced. Think I'll just take to the garage and have them deal with bending the lines. I don't have the patience for that crap. Never fails in that we start pulling ahead in our finances and some catastrophe strikes. I'd like to find Murphy and make him eat a bullet.

That is so common anymore.

Everyone is blaming it on the salt brine solution they put on the roads prior to snow storms. Happened to me as I came out of my driveway. Luckily I wasn't going fast and could get it back to the house to wait for the tow truck.

Local Ford dealership says they do about 5 complete replacements/week.

Another issue is that we are keeping vehicles longer now. They used to be replaced at 100,000 miles. We now keep them for a lot longer.

Rick

IOF

Your in luck . Murphy lives in my basement somewhere behind the EFM. I cant catch the little F'er but next time your getting ahead let me know and we'll tag team the little bastard Youll have to bring the firepower and ammo, Cuomo says I cant have it

Waldo

Nice recovery to avoid an accident IOF!!! I had mine blow out sitting in my driveway which for me was very fortunate because the day before I was traveling up and down I95, the blue route and NE extension going about 75. I was sitting there pumping the brakes looking for the ground wire issue that caused all my dashboard electrical gremlins when my foot went to the floor and brake fluid flooded out of the line. They were all rusted out.

The other upside, (besides not losing them on I95) was that the guy I took it to to replace all the lines also found the ground wire issue. So after I replaced the stepper motors on the gauges, the dash gauges and electrical system are working better than in the last 10 years! Which is nice since I am getting ready to turn 199k and was hoping to get about 3 more years to 250k with this truck.

titleist1 wrote:... my foot went to the floor and brake fluid flooded out of the line.

I thought most vehicles had dual braking systems so you would only lose two out of four wheels????
A friend of mine broke a line in his Ford Focus, but he said he still had some braking power left if he pushed the pedal way down.
Did you guys lose everything????

That's what the proportioning valve is for, besides balancing the brakes front to rear ....it also makes the opposite end work when the lines blow ...although "work" is a relative term. They'll work ... just NOT very well.

I remember back in my ultra-poverty days, driving my bent '85 Monte up 146 from Worcester. I was in my early 20's, so I was right on the guy in front of me even though he was doing 20 over the 45 limit at the time. Then everyone locks 'em up .... and I slam them on, they grab for a second, then go straight to the floor. I glanced right just before I would've plowed this guy and was able to cut someone off and avoid a ass-end collision, which in MA is 100% YOUR fault (as it should be!). So I drove the car like that for 2 weeks until I got the $12 for a new front hose. The same day I threw the hose on, I was headed back to my house when this shithead in front of me decided to slam on his brakes and take a right turn with NO directional. Slammed my brakes on, BAM! To the floor again - the OTHER side blew this time! Swerved and missed his bumper by a half inch. I hopped out of the car like a typical 20 year old and started hurling obscenities at the top of my lungs. They didn't stop. Drove for another 2 weeks like that. I became an expert at driving with no brakes. Probably put 1,000 miles on that thing with just the rears barely working. Never replaced the shoes or anything ....

SMITTY wrote:I became an expert at driving with no brakes. Probably put 1,000 miles on that thing with just the rears barely working.

Think what cautious drivers we would be if that's all the braking power we had. Probably the accident rate would go down, not up.

That's why the early cars had spring steel bumpers & cloth brakes, they kind of helped one another stop. Weren't many lawyers around back then & you never got up much speed.

rberq wrote:

titleist1 wrote:... my foot went to the floor and brake fluid flooded out of the line.

I thought most vehicles had dual braking systems so you would only lose two out of four wheels????
A friend of mine broke a line in his Ford Focus, but he said he still had some braking power left if he pushed the pedal way down.
Did you guys lose everything????

I had very little braking left. I was just sitting in 'park' when it happened so no excitement then, but I limped it to the garage early in the morning when there would be little traffic and there are two steep hills on the way that were a little hairy. Going down the one to a stop sign I was just about standing on the pedal.

The brakes are there, but barely. Your foot goes to the floor and it'll stop. But you need a lot of room. It's like trying to stop a train on a dime. Scary.

LOL, this is too good. I was on vacation for 6 days, for a total of 11 including weekends. I go out to my work van and spam the key FOB asking myself, 'Why in the hell isn't this thing unlocking?' I get in the truck, put the key in the ignition and nothing. Truck won't start. I call my boss and tell him and he says, 'Yup, common problem. Happens to everyone who goes on vacation. It's because of the GPS that we install in it.

So, here I sit at my house waiting for GE Fleet to call me back with a tow truck so I can get it jumped. LOL Is there a reason these idiots don't hook the GPS up to the hot wire on the ignition? At least this way when I shut the truck off the GPS shuts off and doesn't kill my battery.