cummins2k

My mother owns a Stratus and the water pump and timing belt were a major pain on that car, we had it all apart when the head gasket decided to go. Its not that there is anything complicated about the procedure but mother mopar really jammed the engine in there. Here car has 130k now, she bought it brand new in 96. She still likes the car and really doesn't want a car payment again so I guess we will continue to fix it every time it gives till we have built a new car lol.

The oil vapor exiting the tube can condense causing a fine mist. There would most likely be an un-noticable loss in oil.

Haha that is very funny

I grew up in rural Iowa where people waved when you passed on the highway. Denver is a completely different world for me. Wave at someone here and when you come to a stop they will be there asking what your problem is. I don't get it. I had a young Hispanic guy approach me at the store the other day. Just at random he walks up and says "hey whitey, you got a problem with me cause I am brown?" His buddies were standing about 20 feet away. Being he was about a foot shorter and I really wasn't worried about a confrontation I told him "nope, but I have a problem with you cause your pants are falling off. belts are over there." I continued to stare at him when he just said fu and walked away. I am still wondering why the heck he approached me in the first place. I got a laugh out of it though.

No kidding there. This is America though, those things aren't suppose to happen here. It's a sad time for this country.

Is it just me or does it seem like the whole world has gone crazy? Its like morals have just flown out the window. Some of the things I have been seeing on the television and reading in the newspaper lately just make me wonder what has happened to the world I knew?

Looks like it was made in Photoshop. If it is real then its quite un-cool.

I am really not the expert on International engines, but we had a few trucks with them on the farm. The DT466 is basically the big brother to the earlier PowerStroke right (DT444???)? Looks pretty interesting though.

Well congratulations! :thumbsup

I had the day off today with my son and we were bored so we decided to try our hands at making a jack-o-lantern. I found some ideas online and free handed it onto the pumpkin with a sharpe marker. Then we gutted it, carved it, and removed the residual sharpe with some of my wifes nail polish remover. I don't think it came out too bad.

I purchased a 2009 Ford Focus for my wife after she decided she just had to have the car. I was reluctant and tried to change her mind but she finally got it. Needless to say she was very happy with the car up until it started accelerate on its own. No joke you would be driving down the road in gear (5 spd) and the car would start to accelerate. At first I thought maybe it was in her head as the few times I drove the car it didn't seem to do it. One day I let her take my truck and I drove the car, sure enough it was seemingly surging. Driving down the road at 40mph it surged on me and I took my foot completely off the accelerator yet the car still continued to accelerate 10mph before the revs dropped. The next time it did it I pressed the clutch in, the revs slowly climbed to about 4,800 rpm and then began to fall. We took it to Omera Ford where it was purchased and were given a rental car. Three days later I received a call from the service manager, he stated the did diagnostics on it and there was nothing wrong with the car. I was kind of torqued having thrown wrenches at my own vehicles for years. I showed up pretty unhappy, when the manager tried to smooth things over with a "free oil change." I tried to hold my composer when I told him I wasn't a moron there was something wrong with the car. Of course I got the whole well if it starts acting up bring it in right away. I ended up bringing the car home. The next day we took the car for a short drive when low and behold a wrench light came on the dash. So off to the dealership again where it was diagnosed as a "loose wire" for the throttle position sensor. There goes another 4 days with the car in the shop. When we got it back my wife commented that it was still taking off on its own, and the revs wouldn't drop when the clutch was in. I stopped by there with the car and got the same run around. Now here is the kicker, she comes to drop off lunch for me at my work and says "crap its overheating!" Instantly I knew something wasn't right, the temp gauge was just under red and yet the car was quiet as a whisper. I told her to pop the hood sure enough the fan wasn't running. She turned it off and took my truck why I waited for a tow truck to come get it and drop the car off again. The service manager waited 5 days and called me saying the fan motor was seized but they had it fixed and ready to go. We went and got it once more and the fan was still functioning but now when the fan came on it was vibrating the car. Back to the dealership. Sure enough they claim its normal. About a week later the car is idling while I smoke and my wife asks me if I hear the rattling. As I got closer I noticed a distinct rattle coming from the drivers side wheel well. I popped the hood looked around finding nothing, so I got in and listened. Sure enough I press the clutch in and it goes away. Let it out it comes back. I was furious. I took the car dropped it off and told them I wanted it fixed and fixed right. 11 days go by and they claim a spring was bad causing the clutch fork not to pre-load properly. We get home and its rattling again, so right back it goes. They keep it for 3 more days and claim they can't reproduce the sound, I go up there start it make them come listen and cuss everyone out because I am just that angry. A couple more days go by, and they say its ready. The lead mechanic comes out and says they drove it and couldn't reproduce the sound, I told him I noticed there was 100 more miles on the car than when I dropped it off. I started it let the clutch out and there it was. I told them I was very angry they put 100 miles on my car when it did not need to be driven to replicate the problem. Sure enough they try the free oil change crap again. Then the mechanic gives me the b.s. explanation of gear mesh and it being perfectly normal to hear all this racket when the vehicle was not under a load. In fact he claimed it was normal for all cars. I immediately asked him which short bus he thought I stepped off of. Mind you I am not an expert by any means but every vehicle I own is equipped with a manual transmission and none of them make noise with the clutch released. They weren't hearing any of it though. I got to hear "I would be glad to pull the transmission but Ford would make us eat the bill." Seriously I was about ready to make him eat the entire car. Obviously something wasn't right. I am taking it to a different dealership tomorrow. I should get a video of the noises and accelerator problems and post them up on a blog so Ford knows just how ticked off I am.Here is some more info on the car. The rattle subsides if you pull the shifter towards 4th, also the engine bogs dramatically (200-300rpm very quickly) and then returns to idle (I personally think there is too much end play in the shafts.) Over the course of 7,000 miles the car has gotten harder and harder to shift. Even worse from a dead stop. There is no grinding yet, but physical effort to engage the gears is certainly going up. It has popped out of 3rd a handful of times but I have been unable to reproduce this on a regular basis.All in all I don't care how much my wife pleads with me not to be stubborn, the next car she gets I am choosing not matter how ugly she thinks it is. This Ford is making my hair turn gray. Whats worse is I have had more problems with it in 7,000 miles than my 3500 has had in nearly 300k!

Do you know what the particular wire goes too? :confused: Voltage means relatively little if you do not know what the circuit does or how it functions. For instance a circuit that operates a relay will only show voltage when the relay is being energized. Also multimeters are limited in what they can tell you. For instance checking a hall effect sensor, sure you may notice there are X amount of volts but you cannot see the wave form that the computer functions from so you have no idea if it is performing correctly without an oscilloscope. On board diagnostic scans are free at most parts stores. If you are nice to the parts guy he may be able to show you real time on the scan tool of what the computer perceives is happening with the throttle.

So I have complained about my work in the past and really it is a hard job. Not only because I do a lot of physical labor when the budget drops but because of the type of work I do. I am working at college and I work in a nursing home. A lot of the people I have you can write off as annoying, horrible drug addicts. All they do is complain and want pain medication, these people mind you are only in their 40's-50's. However there is still a large population of elderly there. I wonder why this is, we get a new president and all the sudden I go from taking care of the elderly to getting drug addicts on Medicaid??? Either way it can be an interesting job. I took care of Waylon Jennings bass player before he died (you figure it out I can't release names.) and I also took care of one of the inventors of Theraflu. Both wonderful people. Out of the less famous list I took care of a woman from Wyoming that was a very successful rancher and knew anything you wanted to know about a horse, I still take care of a woman that helped her husband with a successful farm in Kansas and still owns the land to this day. Out of all the jobs I have done be it roofing, freight, loading, welding, automotive repair, etc...this seriously is the hardest job I have done. Not so much because the labor, but because you meet such interesting people that you know you will have to say good bye to shortly. Oh btw, I am working at an engineering degree and I cook for these folks however I take the time to try to make their lives more enjoyable. Enough about me though, I know there are others on here with interesting lifestyles? Whats everyones profession?

So awhile back I got a random code while priming my truck. So I went to Autozone and had them scan it because I was just getting a compainion code on the odometer. Sure enough they scanned it but somehow in the process my diagnostic port. I have been meaning to find a replacement but somewhat let it slip out of my mind till today when I bumped the connector and heard it short. Sure enough I had no radio or dome light. After a quick track down I found the IOC fuse blown in the fuse panel on the side of the dash. I decided to pull the connector off the wires the rest of the way and tape up the wires until I can find a replacement.Anyone have a part number or possible aftermarket replacement port for this?

Well it looks like I will be getting the Moog joints thanks guys

Well jacking my truck up and doing a check it would seem the ball joints on my passenger side are about shot. Not to mention how my steering is starting to pull to the left pretty bad. I figure with all the miles this thing has on the clock its about time to give the front end a good go through. So while I am going to give everything a good check I am wondering what brands people recommend on these trucks? I have used Moog in the past on passenger cars for idler arms, ball joints, tie-rods, etc. Heck I even used the el cheapo Duralast ball joints in a Mustang 5.0 and they seemed to hold up fine but then again that car didn't deal with near the amount of weight and abuse the truck does. Any suggestions?

I remember my father having this problem with thier Stratus. I will have to ask him what ever became of it next time I hear from him.

Well yes, solar panels have been around for years. We know they work its just hard for a lot of people to overcome the initial investment even with the tax credits available. There are also other options out there like wind technology that could be beneficial in the windier areas of the United States. In conjunction with solar panels these homes could possibly produce more power than they consume. However once again we come down to the initial investment cost and how to manage that. I am big fan of alternative energy but really think with the unemployment rate in this country we have larger problems to tackle first.

Mine is the same way. If you look at the dyno graphs after about 2600rpm the torque curve drops dramatically. Its perfectly normal. http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/Facts/98ISBspecs.html If you want to wake it up in this range your going to need more fuel and more air.

Just a thought but a few common causes for hard starts are as follows. On the back of the cylinder head there is a return line that returns excess fuel from the injectors. If the o-ring goes bad it will draw air causing a hard start condition. Also there is a check valve that prohibits the flow of fuel back to the tank unless the pressure exceeds 14psi if this valve gets stuck open there will be a hard start condition. Also check the injectors and o-rings. I would suggest testing the volume of the lift pump if it is a factory unit. Certainly do not want to be damaging the injection pump. Inadequate volume could also be the cause of a hard start.

I have no expierence with the scangauge but have been looking at purchasing one since my overhead is full of itself. Walmart also carries simplistic OBD II code readers that will work for this purpose.

Sounds like a typical MAP sensor failure, I would not bother cleaning it at this point. Just replace it with another, should run you about $60 from Cummins and doesn't take long to replace.

No I didn't but it looks simple enough I am sure it wouldn't be much to tackle in an afternoon.

There are folks on other forums that have used the Smarty to flash their trucks. I believe the code the Smarty flashes the eeprom to are written by the company that produces Smarty though. Therefore these would differ from the factory Dodge programming and may or may not fix the hunting. It certainly can enable the high idle feature though.Another though that I have heard elsewhere is that there is to much electrical noise on the APPS circuit in some cases causing problems with TCC lockup. Obviously to test this you would need an oscilloscope which most people wont have access to as they can be quite expensive. BD offers a noise filter, probably just a capacitor, but they claim it will fix this issue.

Haha thats so true