Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

Ford was having some trouble a few years back keeping their vehicles from bursting into flames. There was also a bad ignition switch in a pile of their vehicles in the mid-90's. A friend of mine's 30th anniv. '95 Mustang GT caught fire in front of his house and the dash burned out. When I looked into that, I found that Crown Vic's were also having the problem (official vehicles?!) as well as some F-series trucks. Can you imagine if a fire chief's Crown Vic caught fire and burnt down a firehouse somewhere?

I really hope they get your mom's Explorer straightened out, mechanics just seem to care less and less about solving anything every year. At this point, they should either fix it while they wait, or set them up in a nice loaner car for free. Awhile back, I was having issues with my brand new (at the time) F-150's rear anti-lock brakes locking up in the morning. Talk about an eye-opener, and the first time it happened I #### near spilled my coffee I'd had other issues with the truck before, and told them they'd have to give me a loaner to keep my business. So they loaned me a Town Car off their rental lot You can just imagine the looks I got down at the motorpool in that thing for a few days - a Private First Class driving a brand new town car.

Personally, I'm more willing to do business with Ford than the other "American" manufacturers - mostly thanks to them not accepting bail-out funds this last go-around. I'm still looking for an F350 pickup - but at this rate it'll be next year before I can think about doing that.

 

Eh, I don't feel like sitting in the shop lounge eating out of the vending machine over what's left of the weekend again. They were supposed to have the alignment done over christmas and only because that was a longer break and I didn't want to mess with it over thanksgiving. Now here it is March and still ain't done. Screw it, they're buying a new truck next fall anyway.

 

Well, I'd trade problems with you! My F-150 is in the shop right now getting new head gaskets, heads checked and valves redone. Had antifreeze mysteriously disappearing for a long time now, not leaking anywhere, oil not getting cloudy, so I just put it off. Finally got tired of putting a gallon of antifreeze in every month, so took it in this week. They think they found one spot in one gasket where a water jacket was leaking directly into a cylinder. Hope that takes care of it and this is its big repair for the year. I should have got rid of it about 3 years ago (its a 1991) but I don't put many miles on it, and hate to spend much money just to have something that sits around.

But its not getting worked on at a big dealer, its at our hometown shop with 3 guys, owned by a guy I went to school with, so I'm sure it'll get taken care of.

Do you ever come through IL with ties? I saw a white flattop running south on Rt 67 a week or so ago loaded up with RR ties, I was going to say something on the radio, then I couldn't remember your screen name. What KW is working on your truck? Seems like whenever I take mine in to get aligned, they have to find something worn out on it they either have to fix or they can't gaurantee the job.

Elevator here is working on getting the beans cleaned out of one of their small concrete silos to put wheat in. As wet as last fall was, I think this will be one of the least amount of wheat years maybe ever around here.

 

Well, problem solved, I guess dad took it back over to the dealer this morning. He got to talk with the service writer, and eventually the mechanic that did the actual work on it. The mechanic got all red faced when he realized he actually forgot to replace the sensor, and apologized all over the place.

I wont mention the fact he left the brake reservoir half empty after pulling the sensor, and dripped brake fluid all over the place. Oh wait, I just did lol. Anyways, the cruise works again, and all is right in the world presently.

That Explorer has been an excellent vehicle for them, its got well over 200K on it by now, and has had very little to it done since brand new.

Head gaskets can suck to diagnose. Even when you get to visually look at the gasket itself, it takes a trained eye to spot where they are leaking from.

Diesel? Be real careful with the 6.0's, and 6.4's they have major problems. The early 6.0's are the worst. While I was in between jobs, and buying my truck I went to work for a buddy of mine that owns a diesel shop for pickup trucks. Most of my time was spent ripping bad turbos off 6.0's, EGR's, high pressure oil pumps all off 6.0's! Many of the bills were nearly $5K. Can you imagine owning a truck that every 2nd or 3rd year you were gonna have to pay that kind of bill!

 

Thanks for the warning on the newer PowerStrokes - I've heard that before, and I believe it, as it's come from some good people. I'm planning on getting a 7.3L F350 with a crew cab, short bed, and a manual trans and transfer case. The year doesn't matter as much as the condition, and it would be great to find one with the heavy front end (Dana 60, if I remember right) and dual alternators. I don't plan on doing much with it yet, just planning ahead. You can never have too much truck!

Kansas - I'm sure you already did - but make absolutely sure to get that brake fluid cleaned up - it'll eat through the paint on anything in less than a day's time. Mechanics should have to have a minimum of 5 years experience to work on brakes IMO, and I have a reason behind that.

A few years ago, I put my Chevy cubevan in the shop to get the rear brakes done, while I worked out of my pickup. The brakes worked just fine, but I'd noticed a leak coming from one of the rear brakes, and put it in the shop before the brakes failed. When I went to pick up the truck I paid the bill in the office, got my keys back, and test drove it down the street, to find the brake pedal almost bounced off the floor! I drove it back to the shop, parked it in front of the bay doors, and told the office what was going on. At that point, the mechanic that did the work comes out and tells me it needs a new master cylinder.

So I tell the guy I had no issues with my brakes at all before I brought it in, other than a leak at a rear brake. I also told him that if you don't put a wood block under the brake pedal when you bleed the brakes out, you can damage the seals in a good master cylinder by running the rusty part of the piston (that never gets used) through the seals. That being said, I agreed to pay for a new master cylinder at their cost (parts only) in return for them changing it out, and correcting the issue I was having with the brakes. I was still wondering why the guy finished the ticket instead of calling me about that - would they actually let a customer leave with the brakes like that?! Apparently so....

I pay them another $85 for the master cylinder (on top of the $520 I already paid for new seals, brake cylinders, shoes, e-brake cables, etc), and I go on down the road. About 2 days later, I come down from speed to turn off the highway onto a dirt road, and right as my right front tire hits the dirt shoulder, it locks up. Needless to say, I #### near went into the ditch on the opposite side of the road - having to release the pedal to get the wheel to free up. That was probably the fastest right hand turn I ever made in that truck to avoid the ditch - I had about $5,000 worth of other peoples appliances and materials in the back of the truck at the time.

So I go back to the shop, and tell them I wasn't real happy with the way my brakes were making out (censored version), and they'd better find the problem and fix it. I had no rear brakes to speak of, other than when I stomped the emergency brake. Trying to stop a 14' bed cubevan on the front wheels is hard to do, and makes parking on angles dicey. They tell me that they'll figure the problem out and call me when it's done. Sure enough, they were out of adjustment again - adjusted and all fixed up.

About a week after that, I go to back into a customers angled dirt driveway, off a dirt road down by the lake. It's a 20% grade down to his house, and enough to have a retaining wall next to the yard to keep the road solid. As I'm backing in, I feel the familiar front wheel lockup, and the truck keeps going backwards, actually gaining speed down the drive. I managed to stomp the parking brake in the middle of the chaos, and came to a stop. When I finally pried my hands off the steering wheel, I got out to find that I'd come within 2 feet of sliding off the 4' tall retaining wall!!

I had to call a friend of mine to drive out to where I was with their Jeep, just to pull me back onto the road. Meanwhile, I managed to get everything I needed (including a 200 pound double oven) out of the back of the truck to finish my job. Everything worked out just fine until I got back to the shop that did my brakes that day.......

When I get back to the shop (3rd visit on this problem, technically it's the 4th), some little ####### is sitting behind the counter. I tell him I need to speak with the mechanic that's been working on my truck. He asks me what the issue is, because he hasn't been there when I came in before. I take the time to explain to him what's going on (still wondering why I bothered), and he proceeds to tell me I have an old truck, and things can happen.

Now, this would be the part in this novel where I blew the hell up..... I told this little punk that I'd appreciate him shutting the heck up while he's playing receptionist and go get me the mechanic. He proceeds to tell me that he's a manager at another shop, and he's minding the fort until so-and-so gets back from lunch. I replied back that I really didn't care what he did for a living, and now I know not to take my truck to that shop either. His mouth came open again, and I fired back - kid, I have combat boots older than you in the back of that truck out there - and they ain't getting the brakes fixed either! He shut up, and went and got the mechanic......

Come to find out, the guy had installed the adjusters backwards on the brakes, and they were actually un-adjusting themselves every time I set the parking brake. I can only imagine what could have happened, and honestly I'd rather not. The moral of this crazy tale seems to be - the least experienced mechanic in the shop usually gets stuck on brake detail - and it's about as backwards as you can possibly imagine!

 

That sensor had been bad for quite a while as the brake fluid had been dripping long enough to eat nearly half the paint of the vacuum chamber of the master cylinder. Pretty impressive lol.

If I remember right from 79 - 2003 they used Dana 60's on the front. Dana 80's on the back of the duallys, and Ford Sterling 10.5 on the single wheel rear end f250 and f350. Personally, I would try to find an 03' in good shape. That was the last year for the 7.3, and the best year for that motor with an upgraded turbo. The ZF S6 speeds are bullet proof trans. They are good stuff!

The only way "I think" you could reverse the slack adjusters is by actually putting the brakes on the wrong side. Left was on the right, and vice versa. I can see how a guy could do that too lol. I am so glad they got rid of drum brakes and went to disks on pickups. When I worked at that shop I kinda preferred doing brake work, and ball joint type stuff. I am 6'4" and about 280lbs. I dont do well inside the engine bay, so any time I could stand outside with the vehicle life was a good thing

 

Yeah, I run IL a lot. We've got a yard up in Galesburg and I grab all kinds of stuff when I'm not pulling ties. That was the other truck though. I've been in KS and NE running loads to a bunch of Orschelins stores. The other truck has a shiny new chrome bumper on it due to someone else ripping the old one off at the fuel island last week. 3rd bumper for that truck. Mine's polished aluminum, that's how you can tell them apart.

I dunno which shop will get it. It's not going to get anything done on it tomorrow and that would throw the whole week off anyway. I'm in a running mood.

Oh, the last time it got worked on, I was having problems with the batteries running down. My newer laptop would kill them in about 5 hours. So I had them checked. I dunno what they were but I scraped the dirt off and they said 910cca. They tested at 800, 750, and 700 so we had them replaced. The idiots put three 750's in. I just leave the #### thing running.

They also broke one of the black placeholders they put in the dash where a switch could be but there isn't one. I don't even know how they managed that. So now there's a random hole in the dash.

 

There I went getting all smug about my bumper being the original and I pulled out right over a curb that busted the bead on my trailer tire and bent the rim up. Again. ######.

Limped it to the truck stop in OKC and squeezed into the only spot left in the lot. There's a nice shiny white Pete at the entrance that the guys on the radio are taking bets for how much of his hood is going to be missing by morning. He really shouldn't have parked like that, lol.

Here's the last footnote of weirdness for the day. I found a pretty lot lizard. First one I've ever seen anywhere. First one I've ever regretted turning down too. #### she was cute. Or maybe I've been out here to long, I can't tell anymore.