Just heard from him - mixed news.

First, he said the #8 injector is "hard" misfiring, and the #4 and #6 are intermittently misfiring, and they showed up on a test he mentioned. He recommended replacing all four on that side.
Fuel filter, air filter, 1 battery was bad under a load test.
Also, he said the software in the modules is out of date, so they are going to update those.
Coolant was overfilled, so they're going to draw it down to the proper level.

He said there's no sign of exhaust gas in the coolant system. Happy dance!

So they're going to do those things and go from there. I really hope this fixes it!

He said they'll probably have the work done tomorrow, but then it'll go through their QC Wednesday. (As a quality assurance person myself, I like that they have a specific QC process in place.)

 

Good, hopefully that fixes it and it will run better than ever

 

Well, they finished the work today but want to keep it for another morning to confirm the cold start issue is resolved, which I like. With the impending snow storm, I wish we had it back, but I'd rather have it fixed right. We'll probably have it back Friday.

 

So what is the specific QC process?

 

Update us when you get it back, we're curious what all was needed and how it runs now.

 

glad to see you got it fixed

 

It includes making sure the concerns I listed are addressed. Although I doubt they're going to try to tow 10,000 lbs with it, that test will be on my own.

They called me earlier and asked if I needed the truck back today. I said, "We'd need the truck to pick it up!" Probably not really, but it's not worth the hassle for them or for us (they were trying to get some people in to finish the critical jobs). Tomorrow, hopefully.

We're kind of irritated with the Ford dealer we took it to last year - it was starting hard and blowing out coolant then, too, and we think they just missed it or didn't want to deal with it. For example, one of the things this shop is doing is updating the FICM...but it's unlikely it's an update that has been issued in the last year for an engine that hasn't been made since 2007. And those injectors weren't right last winter, either (granted, not as bad, but still not correct). It's especially frustrating because at the time, we had a warranty on it that would have covered at least some of this work. I'm tempted to send the two receipts and a letter to the warranty company to see if they'll cover at least some of it - all I have to lose for trying is a stamp, right? The same dealer always gave me decent service when I took my Cougar there, so I'm pretty disappointed at them now.

 

We drove it about 200 miles today, with the Scan gauge on. The temperature differential was 8-11 degrees most of the time, but we saw it up to 14 degrees a few times. Also, is a coolant temperature of 172ish degrees normal? It was lower than I expected but might be normal.

It started and ran great though. We'll have to see how towing goes with it in a couple weeks.

 

I hope they didn't scam you on the air filter. We run these things in high dust conditions in the field and the filters almost never ever require changing. -Mike

 

We've never changed it with almost 20,000 miles. Who knows how old it was? If nothing else, at least now I know when it was done.

 

These air filters will go for 100k, I have 150 k on mine and will replace it this spring

 

Okay, looking in the tech threads, the 'normal' temperature for one of these is 190+. Odd that mine is reading lower (173 degrees), consistently. Outside temperature was just above freezing for most of the drive, but normally the thermostat would keep the engine temperature at the 190 or so. Could someone have installed a lower temperature thermostat? Or maybe this is normal based on where the sensor is in the loop?

 

Check the difference in temp between EOT, ECT, and TFT after it has set overnight to rule out a bad temp sensor. Sounds like it could use a thermostat though.

 

I haven't had the chance to check this yet, although I did notice the temperatures in the ECT and EOT were pretty close to the ambient air temperature when I started the truck the morning of the trip.

Would a bad thermostat contribute to any of the problems I'm seeing? Also, what temperature is the thermostat stock?

 

The stock thermostat should be ~193*. Most recent reports of newer thermostats (OEM or aftermarket) say that they're keeping about 188*. Warmer operating temps will also help engine efficiency and mileage (a bit).