Patch

Ford with TSB Article No. 99-20-7." Don’t know how many of us still run the older 97/98 F150 4.2 or if those of us that do know of the gasket problems they had. SK.. my long time friend is still in love with his and keeps it in very good condition. Well I’ve been monitoring a 2 bank lean condition as well as watch the ECM struggling to maintain LAMBDA and looking like a losing battle! I’ve found leaks from burnt hoses and elbow connections which improved the condition some but thinking it was time to change injectors, split the intake manifold and look deeper. Well yesterday preparing my parts list I checked to see if the lower gasket was indeed the new version, I had to clean a little area to do so- even tho SK keeps the engine well clean that gasket was caked with a thin oily dusty layer. Turns out the lower gasket which is the upgraded one is a complete fail both banks. I had leak tested with Mapp gas last time it was at the shop, likely the upper edge being coated didn’t reveal results? Not sure how I missed it.. Next Tuesday we tear it down, it’s the cast aluminum intake not the composite one. Looks like a fair amount of work. So If anyone is still running one of these even if you took advantage of the dealer repair before March 2001 I suggest you check into the condition of these gaskets as they can lead to coolant leaks and catastrophic failure. “FORD: 1996-1997 THUNDERBIRD 1996-1998 MUSTANG, WINDSTAR 1997-1998 E-150, E-250, F-150 MERCURY: 1996-1997 COUGAR This TSB article is being republished in its entirety FRONT COVER SERVICE to correct the front cover/water pump bolt torque Follow the removal/installation instructions found in values and the Front Cover Gasket Part Number. the Service Manuals for the applicable model, year, and engine combination. (Refer to the engine built ISSUE Engine coolant may be leaking into the engine oil information in the Gasket Application Chart in this TSB.) on some vehicles. The internal coolant leak may be difficult to identify. This may be caused by the lower intake manifold side gaskets and/or front cover NOTE gaskets allowing coolant to pass into the cylinders EXTREME CARE MUST BE EXERCISED WHEN and/or the crankcase. REMOVING THE OLD GASKET MATERIAL. COVER THE OIL PAN TO KEEP OUT SCRAPED ACTION GASKET MATERIAL. Revised lower intake manifold side and front cover gaskets have been released for service. Refer to NOTE the following text and Application Chart for details.” “NOTE FOR 4.2L UPPER INTAKE MANIFOLD (ONLY): CAUTION DO NOT TIGHTEN THE BOLTS TO THE TORQUE VALUE LISTED IN THE SERVICE MANUAL. THE INSTALLATION FOR THE CORRECT BOLT TORQUE SEQUENCE HAS REMAINED THE SAME BUT THE TORQUE VALUE HAS CHANGED TO 8 N•m (71 LB-IN) AND THEN TIGHTEN ALL THE BOLTS AN ADDITIONAL 90 DEGREES” https://www.stangnet.com/images/stories/docs/sn95_TSBs/99-20-07.pdf

Hi Casey, does the upper tube show a dark or dull linear striping such as unpolished lines length ways on that upper tubing? A nylon wouldn't snag on such a stripe. These stripes are usually cause by faulty core material is the bush/bushings A comment on oil: we often increase the W when we are compensating for ware in mating tolerances. I'm sure many of us recall the early days of synthetics when it was suggested to refrain from using it in older high mileage engine as it usually meant seals would begin to leak. Well moving away from a fork oil can reduce seal leaking here as well. Increasing W with synthetic (I used 0w30) has less creep action then hydraulic oils.

This plug allowed for compression leakage as seen on the bottom surface of this spark plug nut. The resulting leakage would of course lower combustion temperatures increasing carbon buildup in that one jug and is evident on the plug threads . The link below brings you to the NGK trouble shooting site with an explanation that fits this scenario. http://www.ngk-sparkplugs.jp/english/techinfo/troubleshooting/10/index.html

Chief is right, octane has a known and therefore expected ignition value or timing. There are many reasons why engineering will choose a specific grade of octane. It is assumed that the operator will except in cases when stranded without desired octane, follow such recommendations. Your owners manual should have a section or chapter on fueling which should detail what if 91 octane not be available. Usually the suggestion is to not run the engine hard or, to operate within a lower Rpm range. The RPM range is significant to ignition duration and therefore combustion timing. In short everything will work as expected including mileage while using the correct fuel.

Here's a link that gives an overview of the VGT. https://www.drivingline.com/articles/why-vgt-turbo-s-fail-and-how-you-can-prevent-it/

No problem. Consider inviting your friend up to the bar here and join the club.

Here are the pics, I didn't take any during reassembly weather was closing in and dirty gloved hands..

Below are the pics of the turbo, if you expand them you can see a catastrophic event; but it never effected boost performance! So if I were a dealer of course I would have to show the pitting and recommend replacement. I get why that would be their reasoning, but I am a practical theory guy and used this to walk my decision through and decided to clean it up and place back into service. These VGT vanes were for me very interesting because of their shape and how that design compresses flow one against the other. This increases velocity which cheats actual flow pressures, nice right, and all before the compressor side of the unit. Anyways I put each vane through its geometry course and found zero restriction due to pitting so I worked the vane pitting down and buffed a bit. The unison ring was the problem as it seized to the inner hub not a difficult fix and of course I used Deep Creep to clean and brush off all parts. I used a small amount of anti seize at the hub and back of plate only, I found the first 4 teeth of the position drive slightly packed which caused the cam and plate to resist movement, another easy fix - this part though must be timed/synced when reassembled. The rest is straight forward; really the hard part was the prep and the removal of on the early 04s. One song playing over and over in my head “space lord mother mother…” and all because of one impossible bolt. While in there I went through all the related exhaust components and sensors, everything checked out nice and clean. Of course she needed a seat of the pants testing which was also easy, brakes on peddle down let it rip, of course I had to go through my safety checkoff list 1st man I’ve matured! If you guessed Kawa sticking valves? Then yep just another long parking issue! Patch

Back to last Sunday, we pulled onto the ranch where the trailers were stored when not in use and of course there was a nice lunch planned for the company a tour of recants improvements and small talk which included a Kawa they had just purchased from an estate sale of an uncle. I could see the sky clouding over and made my way off to setting up for the haul out. Years of safety training makes such everyday stuff miserable for me, I have to check everything. The Kawa showed up stalling and only running on choke… so I grabbed a screwdriver and dove in. I was surprised by the volume of the air box and the twin carbs set off to the side flaming about 3” over the stacks when under mild load. But I could see the jets working well enough so I replaced the lid temporarily holding it down with my knee while bend over and adjusting idle then shutting the choke down. I thumbed the throttle slowly increasing rpm till she stopped drowning out and continue to push the rpm up and hold as it began vibrating to a decent note, hold there and go higher and hold till I finally got to the rev limit and held it just under. Then I simply began running through the ranges till she began accepting throttle in typical CV way, buttoned it up, adjusted rpm again and Ajay took this 4 wheeler thingy for a tare. This took something like 15 minutes to sort. So what’s your thought on this type of problem? Trailer now ready we hooked up and pulled it out said our goodbyes and hit the road. First hill we hit yikes no boost. Ajay was at the wheel as we came to the blacktop; after the turn I said try a rapid acceleration to see if she’ll spool. Nope and the rains came and we push slowly on. We switched seats in Red Deer and talked about the hills and twist up on HW 40 or, taking another and longer route but flatter one? We had some miles to do before the decision at the Olds exit, so I pushed her to what she’d allow trying not to drown the jugs with too much diesel, washing out the rings or blowing gaskets. Started hearing what sounded like heavy splashing in the wheel well left side only. Ajay thinking it rainwater, I allowing him that comforting thought but knowing my planning had assumed too much. I am meticulous with maintenance for this 6lt and stick to factory parts for everything as these power strokes falter with aftermarket junk. The truck had been parked all winter and used mildly last spring around no load driving so, I had no idea the turbo a VGT by Garrett was seized up! We pushed on and decided on the 40 to 22 route HW 40 is a nice motorcycle run lots of locals enjoy. So we made it and I spent much of this week working on the 6lt for the next moves we need to schedule. I’m sure some of you know well how much fun the F350 is to work on, with the cab on Also that the early 6lt was recalled for engine rebuild and or head bolts swap. This one is the early 04 and the PO tried to get it in before blowing the engine but scheduling for both sides didn’t work and the engine blew which Ford honored under warranty. This meant for us that the engine base only had 150K klm when we took possession but, that the peripherals had true mileage of 310K so a cake without the icing maybe but never the less a good deal.

Since 15 our economy here in AB. Has taken a down turn. We found ourselves working further north of our territory and so needed some mobile accommodations and a larger utility trailer as well. This also meant we’d need another truck for hauling as in 07 I switched to tool vans from pickups! Working with a budget we started looking for a F350 6lt Power Stroke and happened to find one up in BC.. Well the seller was a retired project manager for oil & gas where it is common to not run trucks past 4 years of use. Although he had been following this rule he kept his 1st 6lt for personal use and was ready to move it on as he moved on. It was a good buy and value for us as he listed the inspection report which allowed me to put together a budget should we decide to take it. The big plus for us was that it had always been dealer maintained something a PM would want to keep records for in a highly responsible safety position and regulated industry as is here in AB. So we made the deal for $2600.00 and had a $4000.00 top end repair budget plus brakes and rubber, nice! All in we came in under $8000.00 well below what we thought to buy one for. A good thing the trip back was all downhill cause there was zip for power. Took us 3 weeks to tear down, repair, replace then inspected. The inspection was a bit of a surprise as the manager was someone I knew from the old street drag days back in the industrial parks on the West Island of MTL. Go figure;) Those days I would tune carbs on race nights for $15.00 even 6 packs.

A couple of other tips for you Captain. Because for the moment you are not trying to start the bike rather test just off the starter, keep the pugs out but hooked up and grounded. You can do this testing with the carbs off/ or the throttle pinned wide open/ with no gas to the carbs (disconnect the pump). RPM from the starter will be much higher and draws less current from the battery while per longing starter life! At some point you should do a compression test before tuning, so keep your eyes and ears open to, the loan of a tester.

Yes I forgot that one.

Quebec has strong consumer protection laws, this make it an easy call with resulting pressure applied. Then call Wendy at CBC she if she's looking for a fight.

It would appear to be a bowl filling issue. This can start at the tank, such as rust at the screen, blocked tank vent, sticking float needle valves or incorrect sizing, or carb vent restricted... Those would be the first checks then over to the slide pistons if he is running CV carbs.

I've link a post we all worked on early summer, there's lots of basic information and procedures that can be completed with simple tools that lead us to a final conclusion. The test values are shown as well. The important thing Captain is to not skip past both each test and/or the results. If any test fails then that should be the first repair and so on till each possible cause is ruled on.. Good hunting https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?137076-Intermittent-Misfire-on-All-Cylinders

Very good video! Thanks for posting it.

Beautiful! Know what I missssss, jumping on a kick start which is of course ridicilousat our maturity and refinement.

This is going to get interesting! Hope she measures up and congats.

Yep that pretty low mileage Snyper, not sure all that is going on but cam't be much wrong, these Yamaha Ventures are very well built! So I think the compression test will expose some truth, also even though the miles are low we can't rule out lash, so for me it's always a compression test regardless of who owns or mileage when it come to older bikes. I'm going to be posting in general a something that happened last Sunday, so a relatively new but zip mileage Kawa not unsimilar except she was flaming about 6" above carbs... Other stuff as well need to get my English straight and write it up. Keep us in the loop,

Was out at a ranch over the weekend to prep our fifth wheel for relocating. Going through it I found the vanity drawers in this order, top one completely packed with cracked shells, middle one, half full with a nesting area, last one, 1/2 full with mushrooms. The rancher said funny they have a nest over in the front yard, I saw them there this week; to which I replied I think they winter in my trailer;)

Page 3-29 top left hand corner. With the posted numbers I don't suspect the shims tight, not to say from here tho they they meet spec. Anyways a shortcut to the cap issue would be to measure the thickness and compare to what was there. If it's way out then I would consider switching to the old cap that is the replaceable part of the retainer! Next the cam specs you would check is on 3-28 you really only need to compare one lobe on each to see if they match spec. BUT... because of no. 3 I would also include those exhaust and intake lobes if that happens to be the sticky bucket! So what might have happened is no. 3 ran way rich built and or leaked carbon up the valve stem (speculation) if so some aggressive maintenance may help. Another is that with the higher temp from this may have coked in the bucket and around the lifter, again some aggressive behavior will resolve that and is easier to then valve stem stuff.. Edit: sorry scratch the lifter, but you get where I'm going..

I think you can improve these numbers. I'll think on this a bit in the mean time there's a post we have in general tech talk called a case for fogging, if you have'nt read it it would be worth going thru. The no. 3 could this be the valve/spring bucket you struggled with?

Thanks for letting us know. Not sure why you chose not to post the readings? Now if it were me and I saw what you saw, I would measure the cams. Maybe they have been swapped out?? Depending on where the chip is or how close to drainage that may be, it may be sitting harmlessly in the sump? Not sure your meaning as to playing with a valve but I assume something between the seat surfaces? When you switch out cam retainers it is usually important to take some measurements for matching. All this a side whit what I am reading I would certainly check oil pressure before dropping money.. Patch

There maybe something to what you say about the V4s however as regulations have driven manufacturing to build with more efficiency, output has changed and will continue to. When there comes a point where a V4 is a limited option as it becomes less necessary pound per pound the reasons why will be understood. As someone who is at the tail end of HP days I personally have a much greater appreciation for efficiency these days! I would be open to a smaller displacement with a reasonable rpm range 8ish if the torque band followed though, if that makes sense. What I get out of your posted mods is that there was a goal to aim for, and knowingly you made some trade offs. This is how I also preferred my projects as well, in which range will I need the mod, I never think complete design is wrong but I will look to some tweaking based on... One quick comment on exhaust stuff: I thought I would get my knuckles rapped a bit with another thread when I mentioned removing the baffles relating to 4 singles. My point, free flowing should be a study to a particular engine setup more so than, a rule of thumb "better/more HP" isn't always so. The problem with baffles is some are tuned for sound not performance, so the wrong ones in the wrong application will bounce too much back before Valve closing and is why generically and from an internet troubleshooting position, I suggest leaving them off till the other end is sorted! Yes we need back pressure, but how much after the mod's are done has to be part of the final tuning. I could go on on this and I know this isn't the reason this thread was resurrected, so let me point to the old 2 stroke exhaust pipe shapes when there was little left to chance.. Thanks Graywolf for the post

Good to have you back Puc! Did you hear we were thinking of getting you a cowbell? One of them new fancy ones you ware around the ankle;) Regards to the Mrs. Patch