You know watching the compression tests.... relative and conventional...... I’ve been doing it wrong all these years. Ugh! It only makes sense to open the throttle to get good air flow into the cylinder. Thanks for showing even the simple details of your testing process.
upon reading comments in here, reminds me of my painting days. I had a good paying job and a hobby that I enjoyed. I painted many motorcycles and vehicles. the Vets that came home from Nam, I painted their rides (you pay material) I'll paint it. I could have been wealthy but I like helping people more.
Nice job Ivan. Have the same year truck at work with same engine. It only has about 15,000 miles on it. It has had problems just because it only runs about 15 mph around the plant and idles a lot!
EGR position sensors as well as the plastic vacuum lines are bad on those trucks. Usually in my experience the valve issue on that engine is caused by a partially plugged converter or from lean mixtures. Those Windsor engines are tough as nails. Great diagnosis, Ivan.
+wysetech2000 Very interesting info. I know for a fact that the oxygen sensor has been dead for a while, but wouldn't it just run rich in open loop then? Yeah it's a shame really. That truck will tow it's own weight up a hill running on 7 cylinders faster than my 4-cyl Mazda MPV van will go on its own unloaded haha
Good quick one Ivan- Down here in Virginia the scrap guys all drive old Fords/Dodges/Chevs with antique tags on them so they don't have to get state inspected/pay property taxes etc. Of course you can't daily drive a car with antique plates, so there must be a hell of an old truck show somewhere everyday :) That truck is mint for a scrap hauler!
Was looking forward to the leakdown test.If ye wanna get nominated for an oscar ,you'll need some die-hard truck owners. The RCT is a great time saver and lets a mechanic move on to the next case.
With a bunch of sensor errors, I would have checked the 5V Vref signal. Sure it has a weak #5 cylinder, but maybe there are some other things will help it run better. My experience with that engines is that it could be a stuck lifter.
Great diagnosis. While I understand Big Al’s decision from a financial point of view to run it till it dies. However, I don’t understand from a business point of view. As a customer, I would be a little disheartened if I saw my mechanic driving around in a shop truck that had a noticeable engine issue like this, or broken down on the side of the road. If my mechanic can’t fix his own ride or doesn’t have pride enough in his own stuff to fix it, how do I know my mechanic will have the knowledge or pride to fix my car correctly when/if it needs surgery. To me a sign of a good mechanic is one who drives around in an old beat up truck with a perfectly running engine. Just my zero cents (after taxes)...
+Pet Rock's Garage Big Al calls himself the "poor man's mechanic"...I think his customers appreciate his fine quality work and rock-bottom $20/hour labor rate...and don't really care about the running condition of his own vehicles haha! His shop is always busy, that's for sure :)
Every mechanic i know drives old beaten up rust buckets that break down all the time. My uncle had a 25 year old BMW525i which had half its interior missing and the wiring loom hanging out all over the place from bypassing electrical gremlins. My mechanic has an old Peugeot HDI diesel van with odd coloured body panels and the drivers seat is from a Ford because he wore the original one out after 380,000 miles and didn't want to pay the scrappy £20 for a replacement. lol
Every mechanic i know drives old beaten up rust buckets that break down all the time. My uncle had a 25 year old BMW525i which had half its interior missing and the wiring loom hanging out all over the place from bypassing electrical gremlins. My mechanic has an old Peugeot HDI diesel van with odd coloured body panels and the drivers seat is from a Ford because he wore the original one out after 380,000 miles and didn't want to pay the scrappy £20 for a replacement. lol
+Joe Shearer I think Eric at +SouthMainAuto has more experience with these. Apparently the valvetrain is the weak point. Valves, guides, and seats are pretty much beyond repair at 150k miles...
+chungaleta1234 Well it's a work truck and the owner uses it like a work truck, hauling tons of scrap metal and junk cars regularly. I think it's just a design flaw/poor materials on Ford's part...
+pedro l rivera negron End to the truck? Nah man Big Al will keep her going for a while. Last engine was down to 5 cylinders when he swapped it out :) All it needs is a head!
It kinda sucks when one of the injectors goes bad or starts leaking i had one on the passenger side all the way at the rear it was a bitch had to tear the whole thing apart and i end up breaking so many vacuum lines i just bypassed them when putting it back together and now it runs really good but i have a check engine light
+Hayward's Automotive Oh yeah he's been driving around with those codes for years, so I wasn't really worried about them when there's bigger fish to fry :)
+Willem Streutgers Motor kills motors all that junk get in the pump then goodbye motor better to use a can of transoil it cleans and lubes much better than that junk guys get at the auto parts store.
+TGsrao1989 Well he only got 7k miles out of this "junkyard special" engine...I told him to just pull the head and take it to a machine shop rather than keep swapping engines every year lol
You know watching the compression tests.... relative and conventional...... I’ve been doing it wrong all these years. Ugh! It only makes sense to open the throttle to get good air flow into the cylinder.
Thanks for showing even the simple details of your testing process.
If I’m not mistaken it also shuts the injectors off to keep it from firing.
Great diagnostics, bad luck for Big Al
upon reading comments in here, reminds me of my painting days. I had a good paying job and a hobby that I enjoyed. I painted many motorcycles and vehicles. the Vets that came home from Nam, I painted their rides (you pay material) I'll paint it. I could have been wealthy but I like helping people more.
Nice job Ivan. Have the same year truck at work with same engine. It only has about 15,000 miles on it. It has had problems just because it only runs about 15 mph around the plant and idles a lot!
We’re you a mechanic professionally? You said plant like a big manufacturing plant
EGR position sensors as well as the plastic vacuum lines are bad on those trucks. Usually in my experience the valve issue on that engine is caused by a partially plugged converter or from lean mixtures. Those Windsor engines are tough as nails. Great diagnosis, Ivan.
+wysetech2000 Very interesting info. I know for a fact that the oxygen sensor has been dead for a while, but wouldn't it just run rich in open loop then? Yeah it's a shame really. That truck will tow it's own weight up a hill running on 7 cylinders faster than my 4-cyl Mazda MPV van will go on its own unloaded haha
Good quick one Ivan- Down here in Virginia the scrap guys all drive old Fords/Dodges/Chevs with antique tags on them so they don't have to get state inspected/pay property taxes etc.
Of course you can't daily drive a car with antique plates, so there must be a hell of an old truck show somewhere everyday :)
That truck is mint for a scrap hauler!
In Arkansas you can't haul wood in old trucks with Antique tags. Floor of my old truck has wood.
Love the videos Ivan. That one was pretty straight forward but too bad for big Al.
Was looking forward to the leakdown test.If ye wanna get nominated for an oscar ,you'll need some die-hard truck owners.
The RCT is a great time saver and lets a mechanic move on to the next case.
Great work Ivan and bad news for Al...
That's a 97 yet does not appear to be OBD-II....that is strange. Did they get a waiver or something, possibly relating to it being over 7,200 lb GVWR?
Great Video! Video was topic specific and directly to the point.
Good call BIG AL and good vid IVAN👍👍
+STEVE ROB Thanks, Steve! Yeah Big Al is a no-nonsense kind of guy lol. Is it spring up there in Canada yet?
motoYam82 HAHA -18 and 100 cm of snow this week.
That's rough...we're supposed to be around 70F next week!! The mountain bike is calling my name lol
+motoYam82 My bike needs a new rear wheel!
With a bunch of sensor errors, I would have checked the 5V Vref signal. Sure it has a weak #5 cylinder, but maybe there are some other things will help it run better.
My experience with that engines is that it could be a stuck lifter.
Must not be an uncommon issue, I also had a Windsor with a stuck lifter. I never bothered to fix it though.
Great diagnosis. While I understand Big Al’s decision from a financial point of view to run it till it dies. However, I don’t understand from a business point of view. As a customer, I would be a little disheartened if I saw my mechanic driving around in a shop truck that had a noticeable engine issue like this, or broken down on the side of the road. If my mechanic can’t fix his own ride or doesn’t have pride enough in his own stuff to fix it, how do I know my mechanic will have the knowledge or pride to fix my car correctly when/if it needs surgery. To me a sign of a good mechanic is one who drives around in an old beat up truck with a perfectly running engine. Just my zero cents (after taxes)...
+Pet Rock's Garage Big Al calls himself the "poor man's mechanic"...I think his customers appreciate his fine quality work and rock-bottom $20/hour labor rate...and don't really care about the running condition of his own vehicles haha! His shop is always busy, that's for sure :)
+motoYam82, $20/hour? WTF!!! Where I live you’d be lucky to get under $100/hour.
Where do you live...California?
Every mechanic i know drives old beaten up rust buckets that break down all the time.
My uncle had a 25 year old BMW525i which had half its interior missing and the wiring loom hanging out all over the place from bypassing electrical gremlins. My mechanic has an old Peugeot HDI diesel van with odd coloured body panels and the drivers seat is from a Ford because he wore the original one out after 380,000 miles and didn't want to pay the scrappy £20 for a replacement. lol
Every mechanic i know drives old beaten up rust buckets that break down all the time.
My uncle had a 25 year old BMW525i which had half its interior missing and the wiring loom hanging out all over the place from bypassing electrical gremlins. My mechanic has an old Peugeot HDI diesel van with odd coloured body panels and the drivers seat is from a Ford because he wore the original one out after 380,000 miles and didn't want to pay the scrappy £20 for a replacement. lol
Hey Ivan can you elaborate on the years and models of the ford engine problems that you refer to? I thought a good old pushrod v8 was a solid engine.
+Joe Shearer I think Eric at +SouthMainAuto has more experience with these. Apparently the valvetrain is the weak point. Valves, guides, and seats are pretty much beyond repair at 150k miles...
I had 95 .. 5spd 4x4. I loved that truck, except the 302 was gutless.
Love your videos man. Great work.
Great vid Ivan.... Do you think this a problem derived from the quality of the engine or from poor maintenance or abuse?
+chungaleta1234 Well it's a work truck and the owner uses it like a work truck, hauling tons of scrap metal and junk cars regularly. I think it's just a design flaw/poor materials on Ford's part...
So is the verus about the best scantool I noticed you use it alot
"Run her till she blows" .... Big Al's philosophy of life.
NO retreat, NO surrender, and NO REGRETS.
Thanks Ivan I am learning
greetings Ivan! Sad end to the truck.....
+pedro l rivera negron End to the truck? Nah man Big Al will keep her going for a while. Last engine was down to 5 cylinders when he swapped it out :) All it needs is a head!
+motoYam82 Great!!!! the engine is not in such bad shape. Good for Mr. Big-al!
My dad has this truck and it goes 20 yds and shuts off. What could be the problem. Its like something is cutting the fire to the truck
It kinda sucks when one of the injectors goes bad or starts leaking i had one on the passenger side all the way at the rear it was a bitch had to tear the whole thing apart and i end up breaking so many vacuum lines i just bypassed them when putting it back together and now it runs really good but i have a check engine light
Nice quick diagnosis with relative compression. No sense wasting time diagnosing the other problems when the compression is weak.
+Hayward's Automotive Oh yeah he's been driving around with those codes for years, so I wasn't really worried about them when there's bigger fish to fry :)
+motoYam82 Yea I started laughing when I seen all those codes but as soon as you cranked it you could hear the sound of an ailing engine...:-)
That engine will probably run a while with the low compression on cyl. 5 .
Ivan, it can be a bad lifter of a stuck valveshaft, so why not first start with an good engine flush, it is the cheapest way.
+Willem Streutgers Or if that is to expensive, just add one liter ATF.
+Willem Streutgers Oh he already tried the flush and Lucas treatment haha
+Willem Streutgers Motor kills motors all that junk get in the pump then goodbye motor better to use a can of transoil it cleans and lubes much better than that junk guys get at the auto parts store.
+eddie martinez Iam using Forte Motor Flush, check if out, good stuff.
I dont say it wont clean its that all that crap get on your pump screen then your motor wont get oil then boom,.
What's up Ivan ?? How u doin my man .....
+Jason Curry Yo Jason, just enjoying the last few quiet days of this non-winter we've been having in PA. Supposed to be in the 70s next week!!
Maybe a diagnostic and a repair video next time?
I thought the clean gas and fuel injection had ended burnt valves
Who knows, Big Al may find another engine and stuff it over a weekend
+TGsrao1989 Well he only got 7k miles out of this "junkyard special" engine...I told him to just pull the head and take it to a machine shop rather than keep swapping engines every year lol
motoYam82 eric o. was kinda right in not trusting the 'junkyard specials' then :-p
+motoYam82 He should may also want to do the chain and grar set of lifters as long as the bottom end is ok he can get at least 100k more out of it.
cant blame big al,, if its the 2nd engine 😱
Yep
Junk is junk. Why throw good money after bad
Id put a motor in it all day.
time for a LS swap! sorry had too
Maybe if big al took care of it maybe he wouldn’t have to swap engines all the time lol