Mix or Defrost uses AC to remove the condensation in the air. It's normal.

 

Strange that I never noticed the AC compressor before. Since I charged the batteries, it has been starting better but I still think they are weak and will likely need replaced soon.

 

Most fords are like that...Its more noticeable in 4 cyl vehicles... on my focus I always run it on the floor or vent to help with fuel mileage...

 

Well, this snow and cold weather finally killed the batteries. I couldn't get the truck to start yesterday and had to leave it at work. Costco did give me 40% back on the 100 month warrantee, so 2 new Interstate batteries only cost me $127.25 with tax.

 

Should have been at least $200, that's a good deal!

 

Exactly! I was thinking it would be around $250 with tax, but they gave me 40% back on the price of the 5 year old Kirkland batteries I had. I'm not going to complain about that.

 

That's some pretty god customer service. We bought two new from Walmart due to their reputation for replacing them without question.

 

No that was a great deal.

 

Yeah, that's the second time I've had batteries warranted at Costco and they never asked any questions either time.

 

Time to bump this back up; it's been awhile. Apparently you can't edit your posts after a certain amount of days, so here's an edited version of the first post. The only thing I haven't finished from the original plan is replacing the last exhaust bend in the tail pipe. I also haven't finished a couple things that came up during the build such as the getting some kind of filter on the CCV and dumping it back into the intake and the permanently fixing the dipstick adapter. The dipstick adapter is the one I'm working on right now; hopefully I'll be able to tackle the others soon.

I know about the Strictly Diesel adapter, but for that price I just feel like I've got to give DIY a try first. If this utterly fails, then I'll go buy one. So here goes nothing...

Parts List:
1 - 5/16" x 1 5/8" fender washer
1 - 1" flat washer
1 - 1/4" NPT female coupler
1 - 3/8" compression x 1/4" NPT fitting
2 - 1/4"-20 x 1" allen bolts
2 - 1/4"-20 nuts
2 - 1/4" bonded sealing or hard fiber washers
Some felt gasket material
My EBPV valve (or whatever scrap you have for a backing plate)


Cut some 'V' notches in the fender washer, tacked it to the larger washer, and cut the coupling for roughly a 35° angle.


Using a drill and dremmel, I opened and elongated the hole in the fender washer and welded it together so the coupler would be about 10° off vertical with the first notch. If ever I decide to use a SD dipstick, I should be able to rotate it to the second notch and have it line up.


(I realized shortly after taking the above pic that I needed to drill/cut a hole in the backing plate for the dipstick to come through.)
Then I ground some flat spots on the outside for the washers to seal.


I still need to finish the backing plate and get everything painted, but I think it's going to work out fine. Once everything is done, I'll put a tack weld on one of the bolts so that I can't accidentally drop the backing plate in the oil pan. Then I'm going to drill a hole in some sheet metal and dry fit everything. When I do put this in, initially I'm going to use a 1/4" plug in the adapter until I know it's not leaking; then I'll cut my dipstick tube to length and put in the compression fitting. This way if I utterly fail I can buy the Strictly Diesel adapter and still have my dipstick tube with the o-ring crimps.

More to come as I finish this up... hopefully this weekend.

 

Oh, I should have started this off with a big thanks to Adam for getting me some much needed dimensions on the oil pan.

 

If that's successful Darrin you just got your self a part time income!

 

Looking good. I just went over to their web site. Three hundred dollars??? i see why you chose to make your own haha

 

I was kind of thinking about that myself. I believe I have less than $10 into this and barely more than one evening. With some jigs I could probably bust out a couple a night, get a Harbor Freight powder coater and a cheap camp oven and make some side cash.

 

International makes a kit to do this, I think it's $50.oo. I just did mine, it's a 99 SD, but just changed the o-ring and used motorcraft pan sealant on the out side under the nut and up on the treads, so far so good. Mitt be different on the 97 and eariler trucks. I didn't use the international kit. Have friends that did and never had a problem. I wasn't pulling the motor for this, and the finished product looks great.