The Automotive Thread

I finally found my post/ rant about 3V Ford engines; I didn't feel like typing it all out again. Here it is, copied and pasted from crownvic.net:


"Speaking as an ASE Master Tech who has been working on Fords for over 20 years, this is the short answer: I think Ford cheaped out on materials with the 3V 5.4s.

Think about it this way: The timing chains and guides on the 3V vs. the 2V 5.4 (or even the 4.6s, for that matter) aren't drastically different, from an architectural standpoint.
But I see MANY 2V engines running around quietly on their original timing set with over 200K miles.
I've seen more than a few 3V engines that had the guides fail so badly that the chain had CUT THROUGH THE TIMING COVER.

I've never seen a 2V engine do that.

Let's get onto the phaser failures.
Ford has used cam phaser technology in other engines (Duratech/ Ecoboost V6 and the Motherf*cking Coyote, for example), and they don't have nearly the same rate of failure.
Cam phasers are actually pretty simple devices; they are all steel, so my guess is bad metalurgy or heat-treatment at the factory in the mid-late 00's.

Spark plugs. To this day, I'm still wondering what the Ford engineers were thinking with that spark plug design.

For the last couple of years of 3V production Ford made a "conventional" (non-tapered-nose) spark plug for the 3V engines. It's got much thinner threads than the earlier 3V plugs.

THEY COULD HAVE DONE THIS FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, BUT THEY DIDN'T.
DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THAT SOME FANCY-PANTS ENGINEER COULDN'T HAVE THOUGHT OF THIS A FEW YEARS EARLIER.
They pushed some bad sh*t on the market back then. I don't know why; maybe they were contractually obligated with a plug manufacturer to use that design.
I've seen many such deals over the years (Ex.: GM using the sh*tty Optispark distributor in the LT1 engines, when they had distributorless ignition since the '80s).

Mechanically, the 3V isn't really any different from a 2V. It's got the stronger NVH block, and the heads/ timing cover from a 2V will bolt onto it. It's got flat-top pistons, so watch your compression with 2V heads."

 

If you have one pad wearing more than the other, the caliper is not moving on its mounting bolts like it should. It moves left or right when the brakes are applied so that the rotor is centered between the pads and they are applying equal pressure. If you reuse the caliper, clean them real well and grease the mounting bolts.

Calipers are about $40-$60 or so, I'd replace the one that isn't acting right, just for peace of mind.

Edit: I just looked, your rear calipers are $80-$100. A little more than I expected.

 

If you have electric parking brakes, you have to put them into "service mode" to push the pistons back in.

I use a scanner to do that; I don't know if there's a way to do that manually.

 

Now that's need to know info. I don't have electric parking brake on anything, but that would have baffled me if I ever did have to do it, until I did some googling. I probably wouldn't even think to research it until I couldn't take it apart normally.

Mom's Lincoln has them, I bet my stepdad will run into it at some point.

 

Yes, there is nothing you can do to that caliper to save it if it's locked up. It could also be the brake line, the short piece of rubber line near the wheel can break down inside and become blocked. It happened to me on a company vehicle, caliper replacement didn't fix the issue.

 

Yup, and here's the really weird thing: once you put it in *service mode*", you just push the piston straight in.
They look like a screw-in piston, but trying to screw them in does NOTHING. Ask me how I spent about half an hour one afternoon...

With that said, I think electric parking brakes are fucking bullshit; something to pad the price of the car, and more trouble than they're worth.
I have seen cases like 'Kahn's, where the piston side pad is really worn down, but the outer pad still has maybe 50% life left.
There was no problem with the caliper pins sticking/ binding.
My guess is that the parking brake motor/ linkage isn't retracting the piston all the way back, causing it to drag lightly for awhile after "release."

And you want to take a guess which region of the world first started using electric parking brakes?

THE FUCKING GERMANS.

You want to know one thing that really sucks about electric parking brakes (or seats, or locks, or windows, etc.)?
THEY DON'T FUCKING WORK WITHOUT ELECTRICITY.
So if you've got a vehicle with a dead battery, and the brake is applied, and you need to move the car, guess what? YOU CAN'T. This happened to me, by the way...

I would never buy a car with electric brakes, and if I did somehow end up with one, I'd see if there was a manual e-brake option, and change the calipers.

One last thing: any dipshit who is cheering on the advent of EVs, this is the kind of bullshit you can expect to see. Only just imagine your steering doesn't work, or some other such bullshit.

*Different manufacturers will call it different things.

 

To continue Dixie's rant; electronic bull shit. I'm not talking traction control and other aides that prevent middle aged dudes from putting their new car in the ditch. I'm talking the new cars that will not move with the door open. And not over a certain speed or reduced throttle, it just won't move. We had a newer Audi in the shop, had it bagged up for the paint booth and one door was cracked so we had a cleaner tape line and the bastard wouldn't move. Newer Colorado won't move unless the seat belt is buckled. You know what a pain it is to need to move a car forward 4 inches and have to fully get in the car, shut the door and put your seatbelt on?

But, the dumbest thing I've seen was on a BMW X6M. Pulled the SUV into the shop, went to put it in Park and the gear selector doesn't have a "P" on it. I look for a random button that says PARK or P and nothing. I sat in that bastard for 5 mins trying to figure it out. Threw in the towel and had my tech try and figure it out. Nope. Had to Google how to do it.
You want to know how to put it in PARK? Answer is.... you don't. You just pull into your parking spot, leave it in Drive and turn the car off. Then a bunch of electronics take over and put it in Park and set the parking brake.

 

I actually knew that from reading it somewhere else on the exact same rant.

 

If you have a conventional hand-brake, then no, you SHOULDN'T have electric parking brakes, although some manufacturers like to throw curve balls.
With that said, I don't know which auto parts chains are available in your area, but I'd just get a remanufactured caliper. Fuck the dealer;or more specifically, they'd be fucking YOU.

Oh, and you can identify electric parking brakes by a button somewhere on the interior with a circled letter P.

Electric calipers will have wires going to them, and NO cables.

 

About the only thing I will go to a dealership for is engine internals. Stuff like timing chains, tensioner, things of that nature. If I was doing a transmission, I'd research and see who makes the best aftermarket stuff to go back in it.

With everything else, it's way cheaper and you will certainly get your money's worth and then some. Unless you have a manufacturing defect and the remanufactured part fails immediately, it will likely last for a pretty long time.

There are soooo many Duralast parts out in the world and on the roads, of course people are going to have issues. But, their parts aren't complete trash . Are they top of the line? No. Are they usually good enough and worth the price? Yes.

 

My Camaro got towed away to the shop today. I went out to start it, it started to fire, and then it just cranked. I plugged in the scanner and it showed P0001, a nice generic code for an open circuit to the fuel volume regulator. I did check all the fuses and they were fine. Now I just have to cross my fingers it's only a corroded connection....

It was running fine too, no CEL's, no misfires, it just died.

 

my step father's lexus has this. Confused the shit out of me. He found nothing wrong with it

 

I'll bet a case of Bud that your fuel pump relay took a dump.

 

I hope to hell you're right. That's a lot better (and cheaper) than some of the scenarios going on in my head.