This is the first in a series on routine maintenance. These posts will cover basic maintenance that applies to all trucks.

The Ford Super Duty is no exception. Our customer with a 2003 6.0 super duty came in with the request to change his alternator. When we double-checked the volts on the alternator with our multimeter, the results were obvious, this truck was in need of an alternator.

The alternator should be putting out more volts than the battery has, in order to keep the battery charged. If the alternator is generating the same or less than the battery charge, then it is time to change the alternator. Other signs that it is time to change the alternator are:

• A red warning light on dash
  
• Intermittent red warning light on dash
• Dim lights- most often you will notice the headlights are dim, sometimes the interior lights will also dim
• Slow cranking
• Dead batteries
  

Before replacing the alternator the battery charge must be 12.5 volts. The alternator acts as a voltage maintainer, it is not a battery charger. If your battery is dead to begin with you will over work the brand new alternator, or it may not work at all!

The voltage regulator (a component of the alternator) needs to be controlling the voltage output between 13.5 and 14.2 volts with the engine on and no load. This range will ensure your battery is charged correctly.

Another cause to replace your alternator would be if the voltage regulator is overcharging your batteries, causing them to spew acid. In this case the readings on the alternator would register over 14.5 volts.

Nearly all vehicles run on a 12 Volt system and the above standards apply, including all size trucks, semis, cars, motorcycles and boats.

Updated 2/21/14

If your wiring is hooked up backwards it can cause serious damage to your vehicle, and possibly harm you! Not too long ago we had a customer call us after her 2006 Dodge 2500 truck starting smoking when she hooked up her trailer. After a little investigation we found the wiring to the trailer battery was hooked up backwards. One easy mistake can cause several thousands of dollars in damage!

When the battery was replaced the wires to the trailer plug were re-installed backwards. This ground out the plug and shorted the wires. The wires got extremely hot and melted down part of the fender.

The entire main wire harness had to be removed and replaced- that's no little task! The steering wheel, fender (obviously) and gas tank even had to be removed to gain access to areas the harness tied into the truck.

This is a stock or "factory" 6.0 oil cooler and Oil Filter housing after it has been removed from the engine.

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Here's today's post:

A broken frame rail on any vehicle is dangerous. A broken frame rail on a truck that hauls 80,000+ lbs. is extremely dangerous. Normally a visual inspection is the only way to determine if your frame is broken. Recently we had a 2006 Peterbilt 379 transfer come in with a broken frame rail. A really broken frame rail.

The driver noticed that his usually some-what rough riding rig was driving uncharacteristically smooth. At the same time the steering was all over the place and it was harder to control. Then he noticed his hood wouldn't close all the way on the passenger side. After a walk-around inspection he noticed a major crack in his frame.

The mechanic marked the placement of all components, took measurements of the inside of the frame channel then began to disassemble the frame rails. Once the rails were disassembled the crack was welded up.

Video of Mag drill making bolt holes in the new frame rail sleeve.

A Driver for one of our rental company customers was complaining of a broken A/C and no defroster. When the driver would try to turn on the defrosters it made a clicking noise.

The defroster is an essential part of a vehicles accessories, and therefore  must be operational to pass a CHP inspection.

Our mechanic started the job by removing the seats in the truck cab to allow better access to the dashboard. He then pulled the dash apart to gain access to the heater control box. This allowed him access to the blend door flap. That is where the issue was.

Have you seen the handy little dash tray that some trucks come with?

It sits right in center on the top of the dash board. It's so convenient for pens, change and other miscellaneous little items. Little items that can fall right through the defroster vents and cost the owner of the vehicle quite a bit of money in repairs.

This is where those "little items" end up. In the heater control box blend door area. The "little items" jammed the blend door and prevented it from opening up the defrosters. Eventually the gear drive broke from multiple attempts to open. The clicking noise the driver heard was the broken gear trying to catch.

In order to replace the broken gear, the entire heater box had to be purchased. There is a lot of labor involved in removing and replacing the entire heater box. The AC evaporator is inside the HVAC box and requires evacuation, removal and recharge of fluids upon re-installation. The temperature sensor, blower motor, actuators and resistor also need to be removed and reinstalled on the new HVAC box. In order to save our customers some money in labor, we removed the blend door and gear (interior parts to the left of the line below), and installed only those parts into the old HVAC unit. Now the customer has a spare HVAC box for the future!

Moral of the story:
Don't leave items on your dashboard! Even if there is a special tray just for it!

Back-Story: Previously a customer (let's say "Jim") had gone to the local dealer complaining of an engine miss. The dealer only cited one cylinder as having a miss. They changed ALL the injectors, and it still had a miss. The dealer guessed the engine fan was bad.  "Jim" brought his truck into M.D.S. and Chris tore apart the whole front end, looking for a vibration in the belts and pulleys. When that did not yield results, he went for the clutch. And there was the issue. The dual mass flywheel had gone out-of-round and was creating an engine miss feeling.

A different customer "Bob" came into the shop complaining of an engine miss. We preformed a cylinder contribution test- we found #1 cylinder contribution malfunction. We preformed cylinder cut-out test, still missing on #1. Bob was ready to have his injector replaced and Chris informed the customer of the clutch defect. Upon inspection and test runs, we found the clutch vibration. We advised Bob that a dual mass flywheel delete would prevent this in the future.

The job would be the same for 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive, it would just have additional labor for removal and re-installation of the transfer case.

Two weeks ago we completed a clutch conversion on a 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 2WD with a 6.7 Cummins engine. The truck comes stock with a dual mass flywheel and it was upgraded to a conventional flywheel. Dodge installs the dual mass flywheel to absorb more shock on take-off.

Our service truck next to the hauling rig and the Monster Trucks

Click on the pictures above to see full-sized images.