Fixing Your Truck Is Sometimes Just Doing The Easiest Thing

[Winger Ed.]

"However; if you took them a good one to trade in,,,,, they gave you a bad one."

Must have been interesting to combine the parts cannon with defect parts.

It was a great show.
There was a lot of head scratching going on!

[MUSTANG]

Until I was about 7 years old my Dad owned and operated a "Service Station" (Yeah, right beside the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum now). He repeatedly told me that I needed to either learn to repair vehicles myself - or get a big paying job so I could afford to have someone else do it. His wisdom worked until the last decade or so when finding skilled people and those willing to work became exceptionally difficult. Back to "Fix it Yourself" is rapidly on it's way for many of us.

[jonp]

I'd venture a guess that they used a battery impact to pull it apart AND put it back together. Good shop to stay away from no matter what.

I think you are correct. It is a shop that specializes in Ford trucks. It's all they do but I'd wager good money they put the manifold on then instead of snugging down in sequence and then torquing the same way just used the impact in a star pattern. The book is very specific on the order to tighten the bolts and it isn't in a star.

[popper]

Years ago I bought a new VW Rabbit. Drove it for a week and took it back to the dealer as I got 10 mpg. After 2 wks, I got it back - didn't find problem and couldn't get parts if they had. QTook the top off the carb, main jet was cross threaded so I epoxy'd it in. Changed the head a yr later - valve guides were worn out. A 'known' problem by VW.

[fixit]

I do a fair amount of work for several people, as well as having associations with other like minded people, and what irks me to no end is the movement towards proprietary individuality....that is; making things factory part specific, and having programming that can only be accessed and fixed by dealerships. Numerous right to repair movements are working to gain access for the little guy, but the writing is on the wall....they don't want us to be able to repair our own, and there is a sociopolitical movement that wants the rank and file masses to be herded into public transportation, which won't work without the wholesale urbanization of the population! Sorry for the rant, but I don't like where the "programmers" of the future are directing things!

[Finster101]

Fixit, as a retired dealership technician I completely agree with you. When I got out a couple of years ago a good number of our fixes were software updates to correct a problem. The average guy cannot afford the equipment and licensing to be able to do that.

[farmbif]

I have very little faith left in any dealers. I will never go back to the place I got new truck, never, ever. through my experience with them I'm better off finding independent repair people for repairs I cant or dont want to do.
ive been fortunate to find knowledgable, honest, fair, trustworthy repair people. it took time, 10 years now, and after some disappointment and getting burned a couple times I have people I can count on for proper heavy equipment, big truck, passenger vehicle and tractor and farm equipment repair.

[Winger Ed.]

..they don't want us to be able to repair our own,

Years ago a dealership mechanic told me the real money for a car dealer ship is in the service bays and at the parts counter-
not the showroom.
They've been aggressively working on getting the service work done on cars and equipment out of little shops
and our driveways and back into a dealership at least since the 70s. Look at all the special tools needed for serious work,
and some aren't even available except to a dealer. Also, planned obsolescence is big too.

I noticed in the 70s, new cars didn't have hardly any grease fittings.
My 1953 Ford truck had 32 grease fittings--- just on the shackles of the leaf springs.
Our 2002 Explorer and 2006 F250 don't have any.
When a tie rod or ball joint wore out because you couldn't grease it-- the replacement part had one.
American cars of the era were designed to be worn out 'beyond economical repair' at about 100,000 miles or so.

[MaryB]

I think you are correct. It is a shop that specializes in Ford trucks. It's all they do but I'd wager good money they put the manifold on then instead of snugging down in sequence and then torquing the same way just used the impact in a star pattern. The book is very specific on the order to tighten the bolts and it isn't in a star.

It is also not tightened to 60+ foot pounds! If my bad memory serves me that is inch pounds for torque on that plastic manifold. Over tightening could warp it between fasteners...

[MaryB]

Run into idiot techs in all jobs... I did some RF stuff for a cell company for 8 years(Alltel, sold out to Verizon and I lost a cushy side job!) and would run into stupid stuff on cell sites that used to be serviced by a different tech. Simple stuff... connectors that MUST be torqued to 8 inch pounds to be reliable at microwave frequencies... I would go to back one off and need to use a wrench on a wrench to get enough torque to break it loose then the next one would fall off if I bumped it... area I serviced ended up being a lot more reliable and Alltel noticed and asked me why. I told them about the connector issues and the must have torque wrench for it. They started requiring techs to prove they had one before being hired and had random checks done on sites to make sure it was being used.

Just one stupid thing that drove me nuts. Not changing air filters on amplifiers so they would high temp trip on hot days... I pulled filters that were plugged solid and the rack cabinet had zero airflow... and last change date written on it was 12 years ago... instead of 6 months!

To many took shortcuts so they got more site visits done each day(pay was per site visit... independent contactors), some bragged about it at a company meeting until I asked what their up time stats were compared to mine(99.99% do it right stuff runs a long time). So I visited 2 less sites per day, I was only doing preventative maintenance, they were always replacing failed amplifiers/transmitters/receivers... I made a little less, company saved money on not only paying me but on parts replaced. So my yearly bonuses were always way higher than theirs making up for less earned per week. Alltel cracked down on the lazy ones just their for a paycheck and they suddenly were buying a lot fewer replacement parts.

[MUSTANG]

Fixit, as a retired dealership technician I completely agree with you. When I got out a couple of years ago a good number of our fixes were software updates to correct a problem. The average guy cannot afford the equipment and licensing to be able to do that.

Our Son #1 has prospered in the environment you described. For many years he operated his own "Repair Shop" with 3 to 5 guys working for him and could barely make it for the first 10 years. He then started moving to the "Computer Side" doing diagnostics and code work on vehicles. He now has most of the dealers work for a fifty mile radius where he lives, because they outsource to him for a lot of the diagnostics and car computer repair work. Of course it comes at a cost - he is paying between $85K to $125K for updated/new software every year and of course the new diagnostics equipment. His 3 to 5 mechanics working for him spend 50% of their time shuttling vehicles between the shop and the dealers; the rest of their time goes to working on vehicles. He thinks he will be able to make a good living until he retires - the grand daughter is not interested in that business; so it will be sold or closed when he retires.

[Winger Ed.]

It is also not tightened to 60+ foot pounds! If my bad memory serves me that is inch pounds for torque on that plastic manifold. Over tightening could warp it between fasteners...

I changed the plastic intake on my F250 a few weeks ago.
I had to buy a inch lb. torque wrench just for it.
I'd have to double check but I think the value for the bolts was 18 inch pounds.

[jonp]

It is also not tightened to 60+ foot pounds! If my bad memory serves me that is inch pounds for torque on that plastic manifold. Over tightening could warp it between fasteners...

Your quite right MaryB. 87in lbs.
When I took off the throttle body the bolts were on tight enough that I had to use my extension ratchet to break them. Way more than specs

I noticed in the 70s, new cars didn't have hardly any grease fittings
When I changed my tie rods, linkage, ball joints, control arm and drive shaft on this truck I made sure all replacement parts had fittings. When I change the oil every 5,000 all get a shot of Lucas Red and Tacky.
On my 2006 Tundra there were grease fitting and even more on a 90's era Tacoma.

[Winger Ed.]

When I took off the throttle body the bolts were on tight enough that I had to use my extension ratchet to break them. .

I didn't pay too much attention, but I think my intake bolts had a shoulder where they'd bottom out before the manifold
got crushed from over torqueing. I'd never done one of these before, so I read up and watched every video
I could find before I pulled mine off, and don't remember anyone mentioning crushing the manifold on the install.

[jonp]

The throttle body doesn't bolt into or through the plastic manifold. I put that part in to show that the shop apparently doesn't have a torque wrench or know what one is for

[MrWolf]

A few months back my 2017 Chevy Colorado V6 4wd would "shimmy" as if you were driving over rumble strips. Contacted the dealership (out of warranty) and they wanted almost $300 to flush the system and put in a different tyranny fluid (known issue). Contacted my local guy who I use and he was about $50 more but I trust him. Got there and he said his buddy runs a tranny place and said to try a $10 additive first. Damned if it didn't work and no charge on actually putting in fluid as we bs'd. Turns out my tyranny does not have a dipstick (which I had just assumed it did) so truck had to be on lift. Luckily he could fit the small bottle in and just fill with the bolt removed. Things have really changed but my keeping it local even though it costs a lil more sure paid off this time.
Ron

[gunther]

You also need to watch the guys who put your wheels on after a tire change. It's pretty tough to change a flat when an impact wrench without a torque limiter was used to install the wheel. A torque limiter looks like a thin 6 inch extension that won't let the wrench get past the needed value. Too tight is, however, better than not tightened at all. That's worth watching for, too. If you hear a new rattle in a hub cap, pull over right now.

[Digger]

Just saw this article on dealers in the future , if true , is definitely not looking good ..
link:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news...a2390f6f&ei=15

[Recycled bullet]

That article is a deliberate misrepresentation.

The nhtsa pdf letter is discussing remote telematics data access and bi directional control of safety systems and powertrain components.

Right to access is about locking or obfuscating service information or diagnostic and communications testing connections and equipment.

They are related but not the same thing.

[Ed K]

Drive three registered & insured vehicles. Sum of the ages of the three is 100+ years. It's one answer...