More updates.

Finished off another tank. Hand calculated at 14.96 mpg overall. I ran this tank on my Modified Stock tune (PHP) and kept the freeway speeds to 65mpg (almost always ). Only a .2 mpg difference so maybe my increase in fuel economy IS for real. With the buck$zooka I unloaded over the last year it will only take me 382 years to break even!

Currently amassing the parts to dive into the wastegate controller this weekend. I have Brandon's spider and lines, just got my Banks Big Head yesterday from Clay (Riffraff Diesel), and today I should get the solenoid from Bob (dieselorings). Banks doesn't have a specific CARB EO number for it but Bonanza35 pointed out to me that Banks has a wastegate mentioned for one of their kits and the Big Head is the only one they have. I've printed out the CARB EO and I think I can make an argumen for it if need be.

I have never been able to set my filterminder off (light on dash) until now, and it's been quite a few times. I'm not at WOT (although "gettin' some") and staying at 26 psi max. I don't know what part of the S&B is restrictive (box, dry filter, or filter cover) so it's time to troubleshoot. I'm going to take the plexiglass cover off the box and see if it's the box itself (it sounds like a vacuum cleaner from the quarter panel when I'm sucking air at a decent throttle). If that doesn't work then I'll remove the filter cover. If that doesn't work then I'll try the oiled filter. I'm surprised hat I'm having this issue with my stock 38 with a wheel.

Coolant leak (degas bottle inlet and lower hose at the pump housing) will have to wait as I can pass smog with it.

Customer service has gotten better. Riffraff and Dieselorings are a given and PHP has been great through all this. P.I.S. has been a disappointment which has made interacting with Gearhead difficult (but GH is good when I call and talk to someone at GH). A little backstory:

Always wanted P.I.S. injectors. Last summer the time came (a little early so wasn't fully prepared) and I had to do some quick research. Called P.IS. ...no answer. Google'd P.I.S. and found several phone numbers and one of them gave me a voicemail. Sent in an e-mail Contact Us also. While I was waiting I called Full Force and talked with them. They answered the phone and I talked with one of the guys in the shop for a bit. Got a solid feeling for them but the voice in my head told me that P.I.S. was the way to go so I overlooked this initial delay in speaking with them. I have read good things about other vendors but I have come across enough posts that said "P.I.S. is the way to go" that I was going to get them come Hell or high water. Got in touch with P.I.S. and bought a new set of injectors as well as 6 tunes from GH as a "bundle". Saved some money but the downside is that P.I.S. is the one actually purchasing the tunes from GH so anything (adjustments/updates) I want to the tunes I have to go through P.I.S. to get it done.

Get the injectors (new AC 160cc/80%) but no tunes. There was a delay, I had to provide some information (that I had already sent) then I would get the tunes. More delay and then I get them in the (regular) mail. They sent me a Hydra with the 6 tunes loaded. I already had a Hydra and tunes from PHP so had no need for another Hydra (and I couldn't even move the tunes around). Send the Hydra back, wait for it to be received, THEN I'd get my tunes. I see the package shows returned in tracking and I wait, and wait, and wait. I e-mailed the rep I'd been working with at P.I.S. and he takes a week to reply "let me look into it". He finally sends me the tunes and it's the standard six. I told them in the beginning that I didn't want All Out. Had to wait even longer for the Medium Tow that I had substituted (and GH agreed they could do).

The injector purchase went well (got them shortly after I sent in mine as cores) but the Hydra issue took almost 4 months to hash out. Very few responses were within a day, some were within a few days, but most responses were a week or longer after I sent an e-mail. Fast forward to the beginning of this month. I e-mailed my 'rep' at P.I.S. with a few questions. I never heard back. I finally submitted a Contact Us form from their website asking if my rep still worked there and who would be a good contact to call. So far I have gotten my questions answered through their sales e-mail (but no one I can specifically contact). I would think that a customer would get better contact information than their generic contact point. It's a win-lose. I got the injectors I wanted (and they are as great as everyone has said) but am married to P.I.S. forever with my GH tunes. I don't remember how much I saved but I would have gladly paid full price from GH to deal directly with them.

I called Gearhead late last week to confirm that any updating needs to go through P.I.S. also. They said yes but decided to make an exception for me for now and just work on the tweaks and send me some updated files this week (finally some good news!). GH is back on my good side. I contacted PHP the same day last week about some tweaks and they are working the files also. I told both of them about my smog issue and both (PHP and GH) are working on a specific smog tune for me also.

 

My first write-up is finally done! I will update Post #1 as I get the write-ups done.

My alarm has been annoying me intermittently for years now. There have been a whole host of symptoms that have pissed me off because they happen at the worst possible times:

- I disarm the truck in the morning but the alarm still sounds when I open the door. This usually happens first thing in the morning when I’m going to work at 5:30am.
- The truck won’t disarm. This usually happens when I’m trying to leave work. I had to get a ride from a co-worker once (cost me dinner…he was a douche) because I couldn’t override the ignition disable.
- Sensor activation. My LED light would blink its magic Morse code telling me why it was set off but sometimes would not let me reset it. This also coincided with the truck not starting (ignition disable).
- Random chirps. The alarm would randomly chirp for no apparent reason.

There are a host of other issues I’ve endured and tolerated throughout the years. I’ve casually researched a resolution (Google, FTE searches, dealership parts/service) but could not glean enough information to warrant diving in and tackling the problem. As time went on I went from troubleshoot/repair to yank it. With the decision to get a Hydra I can effectively disable the ignition myself now (position 16).

To shorten a long story: I was at my local dealership for a diagram, ran into the service manager (20+ year Ford guy), we walked to my truck, and he gave me the rundown on how to remove the alarm. He showed me the ignition wire and said splice that back together and just start cutting after that. Here is my write-up:

 

Good job Brain. Should help others out as well.

 

Finally a victory! Passed my smog check yesterday. After my initial "courtesty check" I bought a new (to me) spider, red/green lines, wastegate solenoid, and Banks Big Head wastegate controller and put that all in the truck. PHP also made a specific emission tune for me that I used for the test. The tech re-did the visual inspection and lingered in the cab (thought he was going to come discuss the Hydra with me) and then did numerous Snap Tests (only 3 are required). The truck did stall on one of Snap Tests and was a hard start afterwards but it fired back up. He pulled it out and goosed it a couple of times too. Not sure if he was admiring the truck or he was on the fence and was checking to see if I had done something just for the test to make it pass .

He did ask for the CARB EO number for the wastegate controller. Luckily I had a copy with me for him to peruse. (thanks Bonanza35)

This process has reminded me of what I enjoy about this truck...and it isn't tinkering on it every day. There comes a time when you realize you've reached your PMS point and I have slightly overshot it. As I posted elsewhere:
The truck is less speed and more strength.

I'm getting too old to keep trying to outwit the system. I am happy with what I have now but it's time to start refreshing something else besides the powerplant. All that's left is a 38R to feed the sticks and an HD4R100 to handle it all and power mods are done. It's on to the driveline and the rest of the truck now. First are the coolant leaks though.

 

Finally plugging this fitting/orifice has been a bitter-sweet accomplishment. It might seem like a lot of work to cap an orifice that’s only ~1mm but I was tired of replacing vacuum caps that I zip-tie around the fitting. It’s like nails on a chalkboard for my OCD. It’s not a convenient place to be working in with everything installed either. It isn’t the most difficult thing to do, just really annoying. For the past few years it’s been on my to-do list.

The sweet part is that it looks great, is a one-and-done job, and I never have to worry about it again.

The bitter part is that CA smog stations are getting smarter on the older diesels and my station said that I have to have an OEM style wastegate controller, the air lines (red/green lines), AND it all has to be hooked up. I’ve been sitting on this “mod” for almost three years and 6 weeks after I do it I get told that I need it. Googamooga! The best part is that Ford no longer makes the intake spider…aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!

Since I already did it and took pictures (so it happened), here’s the write-up:

 

Glad you got her done. Seems you have a shop that just goes out of there way to find something wrong. I hate smogging every two years. Just another fee here in the state. Now, when is diesel going to $4.00 gallon again? Soon I bet.

 

I wish I could just pay a fee and go about my business.

As much as I think he could have been a little easier on me with the wastegate controller (it's not like I deleted it or welded it shut) he did not gank me for my deleted AIH, Hydra, or FRx. Those last 2 would have been serious issues to resolve for me. The FRx would require the HPOP reservoir to be removed to get at the fitting (that's the only way I can get to it on my truck) and the Hydra removal would have required me to send my PCM to PHP for an emissions tune flash. Things that were hard to see with the untrained eye or invisible to view that made it through were the lack of EBPV and single shots. I didn't win the battle but you usually don't win a war without casualties. On the whole it was frustrating but minor compared to not getting the sticks to pass the Snap Test.

Diesel just jumped 10 cents this morning to $3.55 and that's the best price around me (the rest are at least 10 cents more).

Thanks again for pointing me to the CARB EO for the Banks. It came in handy!

 

The 76 station I buy it at is $3.69/9. Read in the paper how we are short of oil reserve and prices are going up. Plus they just switched to summer blend for California. Bunch of BS if you ask me. I like clean air to, but Diesel prices are way out of line.

 

Diesel near my home (Smoky Mountains, TN) is cheaper than premium gas.

Really does not make sense, as there is more "heat" value in diesel. The difference makes my 7.3 F-350 (with worse economy) about the same cost to drive per mile as my little 1.8T turbo VW which could almost fit in the bed of the truck. I must admit the VW is more fun to drive through the twisty mountain roads.

 

So what is the price in the good old Smokey Mountains for Diesel. Would like to compare. Diesel should always be less then gas.

 

 

Here deisel is $2.62, gas is $2.47

 

I could live with $2.62, that's a dollar a gallon less then it is here where I buy fuel.

 

Not sure I will get to town this weekend, since the tourism gates got opened. If I do go, I'll check the prices.

But diesel should really be more than gas since it should be based on the energy content per gallon. A long time ago, the various grades pf carbon were pulled out of the column based on how the crude separated, but with refractor technology the grades are pulled as desired. So retail price really should be just an energy content issue.

 

I have a smog test every other year so I've got about 18 months before I have to start getting my ducks in a row again.