He has a 2012 version of my 2011 truck. Yes, imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

Back last spring when I had my plugs and boots done, I told him that he would soon see symptoms of a similar nature. Well, recently he had nearly the exact same mileage on his as I did when his CEL flashed and the truck basically limped when he pushed it hard. It's what happens, no biggy.

So, he's an electrician and very very good with his hands and his ability to analyze most anything is incredible. He belongs to a business networking site and decided to take his truck to a privately owned business to have it repaired. I guess he can write off the expense.

So this guy changes the oil, adds a fuel treatment, changes the plugs and boots and then sells him on an induction cleaning.

A few thousand miles goes by and he sees an immediate gain in MPG's and performance. And then all of a sudden, BAM!!!! He gets the dreaded P8080 code showing that a cat is about to fail. He adds more fuel treatment and it temporarily made the CEL go into hiding.

So, today I'm checking my oil and looking things over and he comes wandering across the street to splain all this to me. And then he says that this fricken hack wants to do a walnut flush on his system!!!!!

So I asked the dreaded question: "are you planning to allow this azzhat to perform this unnecessary function?" He says that he was considering it.

So I told him that on his way to this hacks shop, stop by the dealer and buy two new turbos and have him install them after he finishes screwing his truck up royally.

A guy like my neighbor will blame Ford or the truck and never bring any blame to the service that he authorized or the incompetent service provider.

I think he's planning to go to the dealer and try to get the cat replaced under warranty as it's covered for 8 years / 80K miles. I just shook my head and told him that he wouldn't have to do that if he'd just let the dealer do the work in the first place. Ford shouldn't have to pay for his lack of judgement.

I hope this thread will evolve into a helpful reminder to NOT mess with things that aren't needed or factory authorized.

Thoughts?

 

Sounds like somebody's bad day is about to get worse.
I don't want to sound stupid, well not completely stupid. But what is a "Walnut Flush"

Unk Bob

 

I'm with you - not sure a walnut flush is and google is atypically no help either...

Feel fortunate my father taught me so much that I'm not relying on others for maintenance/repairs...at least not the reasonable jobs. Granted, things have changed since my first car ('82 Mustang we dropped a new engine in among other things) so I've relied on folks like on this forum to keep me up to date! Frustrating to hear stories like this though. In similar news my wife brought her 2012 RDX in for service recently and they quoted her $57 for new wiper blades during her annual inspection. I nearly lost my mind!

 

It's finely ground walnut shells used to for induction cleaning on direct injected engines. It cleans the carbon build up on the valve train and such.

 

It's basically sand blasting right? Only they use crushed walnut shells as the medium instead of sand.

 

Wow, I hope that was installed too. Absolutely insane money for wiper blades.

I actually wondered something like that. I haven't owned anything Turbo charged.

Unk Bob

 

sounds like hes going to have a totally screwed up truck when he's done with it.........

 

Sounds like he ran a long time with misfire.. that killed the catalytic converter.

 

So he gets a flashing CEL, goes in right away to get a tune up, then THOUSANDS OF MILES LATER you blame the failed converter to support your 30,000 mile tune up mantra?

Go fishing somewhere else.

I might tolerate your crap in other threads, but not this one.

GET LOST!

 

It's not a false statement. The ecoboost experiences a fairly decent failure rate on catalytic converters. They are failing because cylinders are not firing and the raw fuel is passed to the converter. It melts itself. So, why are cylinders not firing? Condensate from the intercooler is blowing out spark.
Fixes - drill the intercooler weep hole (condensate will never be a problem), and then keep spark plugs changed every 30k miles. Why every 30k? The spark plug gap is very sensitive in this engine. Maintain a .030 gap and things will be fine. It is quick, easy, and cheap insurance.
This is common knowledge from 6+ years of experience from the ecoboost owners

 

You are not derailing this thread.

You are leaving it.

Go. Now.

Get it?

 

Nope, not true. As soon as he saw the CEL he went directly to the shop to have the plugs changed. His truck has been meticulously maintained and was perfect till t hat idiot got a hold of it.

You are not going to turn this into another one of your ecoboost hate threads, I'll shut the damned thing down first.

So, chime in with some helpful info or stay out.

 

Ive had misfires on my 5.4. still have the same cats. I would say Ford is going to have to replace the cat if its still under the Emissions warranty... If the CEL came on, its its got a misfire, thats got to be a dead misfire. Hope he gets it all fixed.....Id hate to see him get mad because he let idiots messing with it. I will be the first to admit that Im not sure how the turbos affect spark plug life, only way I can figure it is the turbos boost pressure in the combustion chamber, and that is hard on spark plugs....

 

I sure dont believe that for one minute.

 

Can you explain drilling the intercooler weep hole. Is it just to occasionaly drain it, it can't always have a hole in it?