SureTrack Users General Discussion

[liljoe]

I had a good one Monday, it was a PT loser, 06 model. The shop that sent it to me had installed an engine due to a blown head gasket/overheating. It came in for a crank, no start. Found no spark and a code for crank/cam signal so decided to look at crank sensor signal, raised car to access sensor and looked where I thought it should be ( on lower part of block on left side of engine ) and could not find it. Checked Mitchell and confirmed the location was supposed to be there. Wound up looking around on engine and found it on the right side of the engine. Apperently they had another Chrysler product and engine "looked" the same so they installed it then made a harness extension to make it hook up to the crank sensor.

This is one of those cases that should not happen.

[Crusty]

There's just something about square pegs in round holes......

[maven]

There's just something about square pegs in round holes......

GM does that too, square male .64MM terminals in round female terminals

[Witsend]

I had a good one Monday, it was a PT loser, 06 model. The shop that sent it to me had installed an engine due to a blown head gasket/overheating. It came in for a crank, no start. Found no spark and a code for crank/cam signal so decided to look at crank sensor signal, raised car to access sensor and looked where I thought it should be ( on lower part of block on left side of engine ) and could not find it. Checked Mitchell and confirmed the location was supposed to be there. Wound up looking around on engine and found it on the right side of the engine. Apperently they had another Chrysler product and engine "looked" the same so they installed it then made a harness extension to make it hook up to the crank sensor.

This is one of those cases that should not happen.

So did you figure out how to make it happen or was the crank trigger wheel tooth count different between the 2 motors and left the shop on a flatbed?

[liljoe]

So did you figure out how to make it happen or was the crank trigger wheel tooth count different between the 2 motors and left the shop on a flatbed?

Checked the cam/crank signals against known good patterns and the sync was off, think the cranks were the same but the sensor being on the wrong side of the block caused the PCM to think it was about 180 degrees out of time. Car left on the hook like it came, rekon they gonna get the correct engine for it.....

[dodge90]

wow, I missed alot. Been busy lately thank god but I have to say that the debate between Maven and Crusty was great to read and then have liljoe have that pt problem with the "It looks the same" problem puts the icing on it. Theres some things that can work and most do not. It's a bi@CH world that we have to work in and we do run into problems like these weather we like them or not.Now this was before my wrenching time but kinda like in the 70s and 80s when guys would swap different eng.s and "make them work" and still think they can to it now. NOT

[greasybob]

Shop Lighting

Does your shop have fluorescent lighting ? Have you ever noticed that as a bulb starts to " burn out " you will notice dark waves move across the surface of the bulb ? What's happening in the bulb ? If you replace the bulb all will be good although some new bulbs will do the same for the first minute or so and then be fine, the problem is not with the ballast. Have you replaced any of your lighting with LED lighting ? Is it brighter, save on your electric bill ?

[maven]

Does your shop have fluorescent lighting ? Have you ever noticed that as a bulb starts to " burn out " you will notice dark waves move across the surface of the bulb ? What's happening in the bulb ? If you replace the bulb all will be good although some new bulbs will do the same for the first minute or so and then be fine, the problem is not with the ballast. Have you replaced any of your lighting with LED lighting ? Is it brighter, save on your electric bill ?

The swirling is due to reduced vapor pressure and uneven phosphor deposition inside the lamp.

If when you take the bulb out and flip it end to end or shake and reinstall the issue goes away its from uneven phosphor deposotion, if agitating the lamp doesnt change anything its due to reduced vapor pressure/content in the lamp.

Like any lighting, LED lamps and fixtures come in different outputs. If you replace some 8ft 110w HO fluorescent with a comparably priced LED fixture, youll be working in dark compared to the FL.

However if youve only got a little 34W 4ft T5 over your work bench and you install a 20K lumen high bay LED fixture, youll go blind like youre working on the sun

The money the LED save in operating cost, is in many cases offset by the SIGNIFICANTLY higher initial cost of the fixtures, this is why is not yet popular in most existing shops from what Ive seen.

Good LED fixtures are mind boggling amazing though, and use much less power than a comparable FL or incandescent fixture. my house is getting swapped over every time a bulb goes out, and my garage will done with a BigAss LED fixture next tax season.

[liljoe]

One of our local quick rip marts replaced all his F40 lights with LED lights that look very much like a T5 except you can see where each LED is located in the tube, the store is at least twice as bright as it was with the same number of lights as before, talked to him and he said he is saving about 15% on his power bill. The lighting savings have to be much higher cause it reduced his total power bill by that much. We have two LED spot lights that we got on Amazon to shine at our sign and they put out a very good light.

[dodge90]

buddy of mine is in the process of switching over, changed 6 all ready. like night and day. not sure what watt. he is using but I know the bulbs at 8ft'ers
anybody have anyclue on whats up with these 09 -12 fusions with dead batt.? we have had quite a few of them on our lot and randomly the batt. goes dead. not dead dead but low enough to jump pack them and its not consistant. once we sell them, customers don't have a problem. realy don't want to waste time chasing a problem thats so random. And it dosent matter weather they sit 3 days or overnight. They run almost every day, my boss likes to move them around "change the lot around" but randomly they go dead. driving me nuts jumping them. and oh yea, some we put new batterys in and same thing. good one day, next morning, jump time.

[Witsend]

anybody have anyclue on whats up with these 09 -12 fusions with dead batt.? we have had quite a few of them on our lot and randomly the batt. goes dead. not dead dead but low enough to jump pack them and its not consistant. once we sell them, customers don't have a problem. realy don't want to waste time chasing a problem thats so random. And it dosent matter weather they sit 3 days or overnight. They run almost every day, my boss likes to move them around "change the lot around" but randomly they go dead. driving me nuts jumping them. and oh yea, some we put new batterys in and same thing. good one day, next morning, jump time.
__________________

Usually there is a fuse that has to be installed during the Pre delivery inspection process. Find what fuse it is and pull it and tape inside. Sometimes the fuse position opening is even highlighted by white paint.sometimes supplies power for keep alive memories, courtesy lamps, radio, clocks ,memories ,and keyless entry.

[Crusty]

buddy of mine is in the process of switching over, changed 6 all ready. like night and day. not sure what watt. he is using but I know the bulbs at 8ft'ers
anybody have anyclue on whats up with these 09 -12 fusions with dead batt.? we have had quite a few of them on our lot and randomly the batt. goes dead. not dead dead but low enough to jump pack them and its not consistant. once we sell them, customers don't have a problem. realy don't want to waste time chasing a problem thats so random. And it dosent matter weather they sit 3 days or overnight. They run almost every day, my boss likes to move them around "change the lot around" but randomly they go dead. driving me nuts jumping them. and oh yea, some we put new batterys in and same thing. good one day, next morning, jump time.

Take a look at the RESERVE CAPACITY of the battery. Then how many amps are taken out starting them up. Running them at idle or just shuffling them around the lot ISN'T ENOUGH TO KEEP A BATTERY PROPERLY CHARGED.
An alternator isn't a BATTERY CHARGER. It's designed to put back into the battery the energy taken out from cranking and then operate the vehicle systems UNDER NORMAL USAGE.
Shuffling around the lot is not normal usage.

GM has a great many TSB's over the years regarding storing a vehicle and the battery requirements to keep them up to a proper state of charge.

If a vehicle is going to be on the lot for as little as three weeks, the battery needs to be charged, or put on some sort of battery maintenance.

The parasitic loads on EVERY vehicle make these days is enough to kill a battery permanently if it's left too long too low.

Some components (modules) draw as little as one or two milliamps, but when you add up 10, 20, or 30 or more modules on a vehicle, those SMALL AMOUNTS OF DRAIN BECOME SIGNIFICANT.

(I've TRIED to tell that to the SnapOn people who tell me that a 10 or 11 milliamp INNACURACY (swing, float) in their low amps probe is.....NEGLIGEABLE-!! BULL, HORSE-PUCKEY, even ONE milliamp is significant and not neglidgeable)

[dodge90]

yea, I understand the batt. draw and the alt. is not a batt. charger but kinda funny it only happends on these dang fords. We also handle malibu's, 200's, sebrings' ect and havent seen this problem with them. As a matter of fact we had a cruze here for 4 months, some reason nobody was looKing at it. good looking car, and never had to jump it. figured i'd just toss it out there to get some input. I did look for a white mark in the fuse box but didn't see any. Makes sence cars need to be driven/run more, reason when they are sold the customers are'nt having this problem. FORD!!!! GO FIGURE

[greasybob]

Irony....When you're fixing the SnapOn truck and you still can't find the right socket.

[Crusty]

yea, I understand the batt. draw and the alt. is not a batt. charger but kinda funny it only happends on these dang fords. We also handle malibu's, 200's, sebrings' ect and havent seen this problem with them. As a matter of fact we had a cruze here for 4 months, some reason nobody was looKing at it. good looking car, and never had to jump it. figured i'd just toss it out there to get some input. I did look for a white mark in the fuse box but didn't see any. Makes sence cars need to be driven/run more, reason when they are sold the customers are'nt having this problem. FORD!!!! GO FIGURE

Wasn't pointing a finger atcha...LOL
Just posting the fundamentals for others to read some time.
(too often overlooked-!!!)

Ford Fusions....????
Pattern failures with MICROJUNK software installed into the infotainment systems???
SOMETHING isn't shutting down to "sleep" mode.