Tractorman

Whenever I perform any work on my truck and something else doesn't work right after I am done, I always go back to "What did I inadvertently do to create this problem?" First, I would retrace the steps taken when you when you worked on the fuel system and on the battery cables. - John

Here is the filter and housing assembly. I use a Napa 4070 filter replacement. The filter housing is quality and one of the things I really like about the mounting is that two bolts can be removed and the whole assembly can be swung out of the way without disconnecting hoses to get access to other stuff. I purchased the assembly from Pure Diesel Power. - John

Not to my knowledge. - John

I second that. @1369x, your signature shows that you have a NV5600 transmission - you couldn't have a better setup for an exhaust brake. I also tow and have an exhaust brake to use with my NV5600 transmission. My first set of front brake pads lasted for over 215,000 miles. I am still on my second set at 340,000 miles. I am also on my original front brake calipers and front wheel bearings. I attribute the long life of the wheel bearings is due to lack of heat generated by the front brakes because the exhaust brake is doing most of the work to slow the truck and trailer. - John

You will probably hear different opinions about pilot bearings / bushings. My original clutch replacement was at 297,000 miles due to a OEM pilot bearing failure (needle bearing style). It caused some damage to the transmission input shaft pilot bearing surface. When you buy clutch packages, new flywheels are cheap compared to trying to resurface and cleanup heat cracks and hot spots on the old flywheel. In my opinion resurfacing the old flywheel is not worth the risk of poor performance (grabby, chattering, slipping clutch) that could occur, especially when considering how much labor is involved to replaced it. - John

Use the weight distribution hitch. Even though you have a heavy duty truck, the tongue weight for a 7,000 lb trailer should be about 10-15% of the trailer weight. That equates to about 700-1000 lbs of weight on the hitch ball. This weight acts a lever (using the rear axle as a fulcrum) and unweights the front axle a few hundred pounds which affects steering and handling - even on a heavy duty truck. My travel trailer only weighs 4,000 lbs when loaded and I still use a weight distribution hitch. I've experimented towing with it and without. Night and day difference. - John

I agree. My heater core started leaking in in 2008 at 136,000 miles. I didn't replace it until 2017 at 283,000 miles. I added a stop leak product twice early on - something that I tell other people not to do. Sometimes I'm not very bright. During the years the heater core was leaking, the fogging windows continued to be a problem and slowly became worse. I hardly ever added coolant to the system. A heater core doesn't have to leak very much coolant to interfere with keeping windows clear. Most of the time I didn't notice any coolant odor. Once I added the stop leak product, the coolant was always cloudy and you could see particulates in the coolant. It didn't matter how many times I changed the coolant, it wouldn't clean up. After I replaced the heater core, I finally installed a coolant filter in parallel with the heater core circuit. Over a three week period the coolant became crystal clear. I left the coolant filter in the circuit and periodically replace the filter. - John

I am not really that familiar with the automatic transmission operation on a 2007 truck, but I would recheck every electrical connection related to the recent transmission work that you had done. It sounds like communication to the transmission has been lost. - John

Likewise... I still have original OEM front wheel bearings, rear axle bearings and seals, wiper motor, evaporator core, right tie rod end, front and rear antisway bar bushings, brake booster, brake master cylinder, clutch master and slave cylinder - just to name a few. I think the quality of build peaked in 2002 - the last of the Second Generation. This motivates me to keep my truck. - John

@dripley, it seems that you and @Mopar1973Man made the right choice in keeping the OEM power steering pump. - John

It is likely that there is air still entrained in the system. Even after the initial bleeding of air, there is still lots of air trapped in various parts of the system - hoses, steering gear box, the brake booster accumulator , etc. The flow rate of the power steering pump is about 2 gallons per minute. The whole system only holds about one gallon of fluid, so that means that all the fluid circulates through system in about 30 seconds. I am just using round numbers here, but you get the idea. Once the engine is started, the fluid and air immediately mix and both are carried rapidly through the system. The only place for the air to separate from the fluid is when the fluid enters the reservoir and slows its velocity enough to allow for the air bubbles to rise to the top of the fluid and escape. When the fluid is cold, this separation takes longer and a lot of the air is recirculated back through the system. When I change power steering fluid, after the initial bleeding I start the engine and shut if off almost immediately giving the aerated fluid entering the reservoir a little time to release the air. I do this a few times allowing the engine to run longer each time. While the engine is off, I completely discharge the accumulator by stepping on the brake pedal several times (air can be trapped here). Eventually, with the front axle on jack stands, I steer from stop to stop using the same procedure. During this whole operation I frequently check and top off the fluid in the reservoir. I then drive the truck to get the fluid to full operating temperature which helps get the remaining air separated from the fluid. Regarding the power steering feels weak problem: I have had three power steering pumps on my truck through its life of 340,000 miles (I am the original owner). The first one did not fail - I replaced it at 215,000 miles with a new Borgeson just as a maintenance procedure. In hindsight, I should have kept it. At 290,000 miles the Borgeson pump failed. I replaced it with a Napa remanufactured pump along with a Napa custom ordered remanufactured quick ratio steering gear box. All is well so far and I really like the gearbox. ALL of my power steering pumps in my opinion are NOT heavy duty and are not adequate for the heavy front end of a Cummins powered truck . All of them could be stalled at idle with foot on the brake and steering hard to the left or the right before reaching the steering stop. Just one opinion, - John

@Alexio Auditore, once you get the evaporator core clean (dash removal method or whatever you figure out), install one of Geno's cabin filters. It is a great investment and your HVAC system will stay clean. - John

Have you checked valve lash? Have you verified that each intake and exhaust valve are making their full travel? How many miles on the engine? How many miles on the injectors? Are they stock injectors? What is the history of the truck? Your video does not play for me. - John

"Clapping coming from exhaust." Sounds like you have an audience. Can you describe the sound with more detail and tell us what conditions generate the sound? - John

I experienced launch shudder problems when towing during two different time periods in the life of my '02 truck - approximately 340,000 miles. Both times I removed the driveshaft and thoroughly cleaned the slip yoke splines and then applied new grease. Both times it eliminated the launch shudder. This is a procedure that never seems to get mentioned when diagnosing launch shudder problems. Axle wrap happens when getting heavy loads moving and the slip yoke needs to accommodate the axial movement of the driveshaft during those high torque conditions. - John

@Alexio Auditore, thank you for details and photos on the axle seal replacement. My right axle seal has been leaking for about a year and you may have inspired me to replace it, now that I know what work is involved. - John

340,000 on original alternator and no issues, BUT very early in its life that very bolt was loose. I tightened it and it never loosened again. That bolt has to be tightened to the point of distorting the ears on the mounting bracket enough to actually make them clamp onto the mounting ear on the alternator. I think that is why some fail and some don't. @Dieselfuture is correct... you had better eat your Wheaties first. - John

Personally, I would not be that concerned about the broken ear on the alternator. There is still plenty of material left on the ear to allow for a good clamp. The reason the mounting ear failed is because the clamping fastener had lost its tension a long time ago. Once the tension was lost, the fastener beat against the mounting ear relentlessly at the frequency of the running Cummins engine. As long as there are no cracks in the remaining part of the ear mount, I would re-use the alternator. Just check periodically that the fastener remains tight. - John

You didn't say whether or not you disconnected the batteries for the time period your truck wasn't being used, so I am assuming that you did not. If you did not disconnect the batteries, then they could have completely discharged just from the parasitic draws from the many control modules that go into sleep mode after the engine is shut down. This would include your security system, as well. I seriously doubt that your grid heaters malfunctioned and discharged your batteries. If that happened, lack of air flow through the air intake heaters (grid heaters) would have allowed for serious heat to build up at the intake heater location which would have blistered paint, and you would probably see melted plastic on the nearby control solenoids. You are probably seeing heat buildup at the grid heater location now because your engine is not starting, so there is very little air flow to carry away the heat. - John

I understand about needing slack to avoid binding in the over center position. I was just curious as to how you arrived at the 1.5 turns out. Did you get that information from a service manual? Did you experiment and come up with a specific value on your own? I have always had a very small amount of slack in the steering wheel - about 1/2" of travel on the outer circumference of the steering wheel. It is unnoticeable while driving and the truck steers well. I have always used the 1/4 turn at a time technique to reach the final adjustment setting. Yesterday, I used your procedure to make a steering gear box adjustment. The steering wheel play did not change, but there was a small, but definite improvement on straight line steering and steering wheel return. I think I may have had the adjustment just a touch too tight previously. My testing consisted of local driving in Baker City and 28 mile round trips to my property and a 250 mile round trip to Nampa, Idaho today. Today's test was a good test as winds were 20 to 30 mph all day - head winds, cross winds, and tail winds. The truck was easy to steer under all conditions. @dripley, I will be curious to hear your results if you should decide to try it. - John

Your most accurate and fastest way to find the coolant leak is to get a pressure tester as @Royal Squire has already mentioned. Do the test on a cold engine. As far as engine oil leaks, I wouldn't start replacing anything right away. It is very easy to start replacing things that don't need to be replaced because the source of oil leak or leaks can be difficult to find. I would use lots of brake cleaner and spend some time thoroughly cleaning any oily areas - then start watching for the source of the oil leak, and there are many sources.. Two common oil leak sources are the crankcase vent and the seal on the vacuum pump. Both leaks can get very messy with the assistance of the engine fan. Some other sources are the oil feed hose to the vacuum pump, oil pressure sending unit, tappet cover gasket, valve cover gasket, head gasket, turbo oil feed hose, timing gear case gasket, oil pan gasket, etc. - John

I think I understand what you are saying about lifting the pitman arm / drag link and turning the screw the other way. How did you arrive at 1.5 turns in the other direction? How do you know that this final 1.5 turns is the exact position for adjustment? There steering gearbox on my truck has 3 1/2 turns of the steering wheel from stop to stop. Does this make a difference? Just want to be sure I fully understand this before I try it. - John

Can you elaborate a little more on this procedure, especially the "You'll have to lift the output shaft a bit so you can get the slack you need." I have never made the adjustment this way. I may try the procedure, but I would like to fully understand it before I try it. Thanks. - John

That was a good choice. I am sure that the Permatex is doing the sealing, not the gasket. - John

I used a gasket between the vacuum pump and timing cover case and it leaked as well. I removed the gasket and used RTV sealant only. No leaks and that was a few years ago. My thought is that having only a 2-bolt flange mount over such a large diameter hole doesn't provide the rigidity needed to ensure a good seal. I think the gasket compresses at the ears of he mounting flange, but not so much around rest of the flange. - John