What's this got to do with a Montana?

[Random Line]

Well I posted this elsewhere but thought it might be good information here. In addition I might add that during our stay at Walmart
4 Canadian Fifth Wheelers showed up for one night returing from Arizona to Quebec. Three of the four were pulling Montanas and which they were very happy with. One of those was also a 2003 Model #3255RL. This description is the same as the Montana that we have but the features of it varied somewhat. Mainly the roofline which was considerably flatter, and I suspect, lower than ours. Must have been part of the production line evolution as they morphed from the 2002 to the 2003. Anyway we have plenty of headroom in ours and like it. Here is the story on the exhaust brake.


ANOTHER EXHAUST BRAKE PUZZLE---
_____________________________________________
We recently purchased a new Ford 350, Power Stroke and a 34.5' fifth wheel and set off to avoid some SD winter and have now just completed that journey as newbies. Everything worked pretty well --except--a few minor things. One of those was an electronic exhaust brake system that was just a a wire harness and some connections and switches that actuated the butterfly valve between the air turbine and the exhaust system to use it as an exhaust brake. Got it installed at an auto electric shop and it worked fine.---Then at the time of my 3000 mile (first) scheduled service the truck suddenly lost acceleration and would only run in idle. This occurred at the Ford Garage where it was being serviced.--The Ford Dealer secured and installed the electronic accelorator switch, or sending unit linkage from the foot pedal to the fuel system of the engine d--/All under warrantee. My problems were over--For a while anyway.

About a month and a half later during our maiden voyage with our new rig, (March) We were traveling west from Lake Charles, La on I-10 (possibly the roughest Interstate Highway, but being reconstructed piece by piece it appears) the loss of acceleration problem occured again. And this was right through a construction project with delays, detours and etc. Well we somehow sputtered into Beaumont, Texas at about 4:00 PM on a Saturday evening. No signs of a Ford Dealership were evident and I suspect that they were closed anyway. --We did spot a Walmart location on a telepnone book map in North Beaumont near the freeway and somehow made it there. Right up to the service door of the Automotive Dept. Well as we suspected there was no kind of Diesel or Auto Electric specialists in their inventory of services but they were nice people and let us spend two nights in their parking until Monday AM when we were towed into the Ford Dealership which was by chance nearby.

There we learned from a very well trained and helpful Diesel Mechanic that the hooking up of the electronic exhaust brake system to the varius functions of the ignition and electronic fuel controls allowed stray signals to enter the computer's functioning and this eventually caused the problem. I remember the mechanic saying, "If I cut this blue wire that's been connected to the accelerator sending unit wire the engine will regain acceleration but no longer have an exhaust brake function." And that's exactly the way it worked. Then he suggested if we were going to use the exhaust brake arrangemet in the future that it be run directly to the battery power.
Well we just left it disconnected for this trip anyway.

I don't know how many people out there with Ford PSD Trucks are using these eletronic exhaust brake devices and what the results are but maybe this little story will help someone avoid some problems. "Experience is what you get when you expect something else."

Anybody know more on this subject?

Random Line

2002 FORD Lariat 350 7.3L PSD, Crew Cab, Auto, 4x4, Short Box, Single Rear Wheel, 60 Gal Transfer Tank, 16K Reese Slider Hitch
2003 Montana 34.5' Fifth Wheel (#3255RL)