Wow, how about that. I can't believe they offered to split anything. They could (probably did) have done that under warranty and you didn't even know it. At the price of the converter. Sorry, it's just been my experience that they either warranty the whole thing or you pay all. Maybe things are different in you neck of the woods.

 

Ooo. Dsl Lover - your description just reminded me of when a couple of my brother's PSDs broke their flex plates...

If that happened to me, I think I'd replace the nasty torque converter - get a nice 1800rpm stall speed instead of the crap Ford stuck in there.

I can just see the beancounters and engineers talking about it -

Engineer - "Well, the peak torque of the gas engine is at 3000 rpm, so we use a 2400 rpm stall speed converter. That way torque is high and building to a peak after the stall speed."
Beancounter - "zzzzzzzzzzzz"
Engineer - "But the diesel, well, its torque peak is at 1600, so we need to have a different TC with a stall speed at, or just below the torque peak."
Beancounter - "zzzz...snort. What? You mean spend EXTRA money on something no other engine can use?"
Engineer - "Well, that will be the only way to get the best performance out of..."
Beancounter - "Will this new TC work with the gas engines?"
Engineer - "Oh, no. That would be terrible. However the diesel..."
Beancounter - "BUT - will the diesel work with the existing TC?"
Engineer - "Not very well. Better than the gas engine with the new TC. I mean, you won't get peak torque at low speed, at least not until the TC locks, and the extra heat generated by the slipping..."
Beancounter - "I don't care about that - WILL IT WORK?"
Engineer - "I've been trying to tell you, not very..."
Beancounter - "WILL IT WORK?"
Engineer - "Barely."
Beancounter - "That's good enough. Use the old one."
Engineer - "But..."
Beancounter - "End of discussion - unless you want to talk about your employment here...?"
Engineer - "Uh, no. Actually, it'll work fine."

 

You made me choke on my morning coffee with that! LOL Thats Funny

 

that is great!

 

The torque converter is not part of the engine warranty as it is a part in the transmission. The truck had 55K miles on it at the time, so it was out of the 36K mi b2b warranty. There was a TSB on it, but no recall. I had to find the TSB myself and make them aware of it. Like I said, it is a dealer that I have do all of my service work and that I had just bought my wife's used explorer ("exploder")from. The customer service is usually pretty good there.

 

Good to hear. I guess there's hope out there when some dealers remember that customer service doesn't end at the sale. I take it you're not happy with the "Exploder"?

 

The '98 exploder was a "POS". We dumped it for an 02 Olds silhouette that we have been very pleased with. The exploder shook like hell at 70+mph (Despite a 4 wheel rebalance and a 4 wheel alignment and a driveshaft balance check), and also any time you floored it, it sounded like you were killing the engine with a dull knife. My wife's best friend had a Sport trac with the same engine, but a year newer and her's did the same thing. At the end, the Exploder developed a vomit in the cargo area smell - but nobody ever barfed or spilled anything back there...go figure.

 

Well, an oil analysis would speak volumes about the internal condition of the engine. At $15.00 or so, it sure is cheaper than and eisier than dropping the oil pan and replacing bearings that might be just fine to begin with.

 

I had a cackle in my '00 PSD when the truck got low on fuel. Turns out the fuel sending unit was picking up air, after one of the valves was sticking on it due to a collection of grit (probably bad fuel). I suppose that could also be another possibility for ya.

 

Thankyou for all the replies. the motor has 120,000. You are definatley making me feel a little better, I'm not as worried now. This diesel thing is new to me. And I think perhaps I'm a little paranoid, but it definatly makes some kind of knock or cackle. I went to talk to the stealership I mean dealership and a tech said that if a diesel has a bad bearing that it will come apart very quickly due to the compression and all of the rotaing mass, which seems to make sense to me. The idea of air in the fuel system and big injectors making causing the sound also makes sense. What can I do to fix the air problem? I don't want to open a can of worms. Are these mods fairly easy to do, I consider my self to be mechaincal.