Jbrew

Well, you can't check for a cat problem by dropping the exhaust and driving the truck....if that's what you did. This is because they can't run cat-less without a custom tune. It will be way down on power/torque without at least one cat per side connected up. They will be gutless , won't be able to get out of it's own way...as you said. The easiest way to check for obstruction is either a exhaust shop/dealer with their snorkel, or check it yourself with an infrared temp gauge. Shooting each cat at operating temp or warming up to it.

They didn't touch the trans did they ? Other than the reconnect. Was it leaking before ? So your under the impression they didn't seat the ring correctly ?

AFA trim numbers and such..sure , as long as you know what they should be.

Jbrew

Put it this way, if you attempt to run without cats , specially with a 5four, you won't be able to keep pace with moped lol. You won't have the ability to cruise the EWay without flooring it. Unless your specifically tuned to run cat-less.

CrisAnderson27

It ran pretty normally actually. Just louder.

On the trans, as I recall...they pulled it completely. It was sitting on a large bench across the shop with the transfer case attached. They also dropped the trans crossmember and cut the exhaust behind it so it came out as a unit with the y-pipe. Here's a picture of the empty engine compartment:




As for the leak, no...there wasn't one prior to them working on it. The truck was completely leak free except for rear diff seepage.

Jbrew

It can't , impossible. You must be referring to sitting stationary in park. Under load, it will fall it's face. Just like said, nothing you can do to change that unless you rewrite the tune...not making this stuff up. AF's are too far out of parameter margins to compensate.
Huh, surprised they did it that way. Was this a professional shop ? Usually they'll lift the cab..it's quicker. Perhaps they wern't equipped or the lift wasn't available....tied up.

Yea, that's a pretty bad leak for just that o-ring. It must be out of place completely, or they bent the tube removing, -in such a way it was forced to one side when they secured it back against the head...bolted it back down.

CrisAnderson27

I actually asked them about the way they did it. The shop was as professional as any privately owned shop I've seen They have two facilities in town with multiple lifts. My truck was on a frame lift itself.




I actually don't know where the leak is from...it's a fair mess under there. When I asked the Ford tech (San Tan Ford in Gilbert) where the leak was coming from he said the dipstick tube o-ring I asked if he meant the joint in the two piece tube, and he looked at me like I was an idiot and said "No, the o-ring".

From my understanding, the o-ring IS at the joint in the dipstick tube?

Maybe he meant the base...which would leak a lot more I'd think if it were disturbed.

Is there anywhere else that could cause a leak? Or something they could have damaged if they assembled it improperly that could be causing a poor transfer of power?

Jbrew

No o-ring at the joint, at the end where it fits the port in the trans. Normally, if nothing else has happened as I explained above, they can develop a leak there when the truck has sat for awhile. The leak goes completely away once the vehicle is again put in service. But it has to sit for awhile to leak, long enough for the converter to bleed down. Like 2 or 3 months if everything is tight.

CrisAnderson27

Gotcha. That all makes more sense them. I have an o-ring on the way, so hopefully it'll be an easy thing to unbolt and lift the tube to replace.

A lot of this really sucks even worse than it would appear at face value...because they gave me an initial quote of $6000, which I said I could cover. When it was all done...after they swapped the faulty PCV assembly (they told me they knew it was borderline), and repoured destroyed motor mounts (they said the rubbers literally fell out)...they charged me $5600.

I'd have paid the damn $400 to not have a leaky transmission, and to not have to deal with two more headaches in the motor mounts and PCV.

Jbrew

Yea, I'm surprised they pulled it that way. Doing so might have spent those motor mounts because of the angle you have to achieve pulling the engine with the Y intact. That was just the mechanics inexperience working on a gen 10 specific truck is my guess. I've seen guys install long tube headers on the engine before nesting it with these trucks...it's a biatch lol. Can be done though. He wasn't either enlightened or comfortable with pulling the cab for some reason. That's truly the way to do a engine R&R with these models. Exhaust is easy, breaking it loose at the ball as well.

PCV assembly, -they did have one and didn't want to wait for it.

CrisAnderson27

B.L.E.H.

I would have hated doing the swap myself...but at least I'd have myself to blame for any mistakes...

...and I wouldn't have paid $5600, plus $400 in gas getting it home for the privilege.

Anyhow...I guess I'm back to looking for the issue with my truck. Motor mounts will go on Wednesday I guess. I'm hoping that gets rid of the weird vibration. I'm sure the front calipers are sticking a bit btw, but no more than they were before the trip...so I know that's not the problem. Those are on my short list as well...but figuring out this issue comes first.

By the time this is done, I have a feeling I'm going to have a new drivetrain...less front and rear diffs.

/sigh, oh well...bulletproof for another 250k miles. Likely more because I actually do maintenance lol.

Jbrew

Lol, I know what mean.

Yea, brakes drag a little from birth or seem to be when free spinning on stands. They don't when weighted in motion. If they are heating up the rims or smoking, different story. This usually only occurs if your ignore the VERY cheap brake lines made for these trucks. Have to change them out with every brake job or you'll take a hit in mileage. That due to the way they breakdown...from the inside out. Makes for sticky calipers, can't release like they should. Yea, that's line shrapnel inhibiting reverse flow or chunks of it stuck in the caliper lol. Your probably more than familiar running 35's. I finally went with a big brake system...much better and it actually cost less than a standard 1/2 ton system. Not much less, but less all the same.

Anyway, have 350,000 plus miles on my original eng/trans...a 5four as well. Give us an update as you move forward with this one. That's a chunk of cash you had to put out, -even more painful with the way it turned out. Hope you get to the bottom of it.