Ford recalls 37,000 Super Duty trucks

[Wrenchtraveller]

I agree that first production stuff can be more prone to problems but when one company builds the truck and one builds the engine, you have twice the chances of problems and Navistar and Ford have had the most ridiculous problems you can imagine. Back in 94 when the Powerstroke came out, Ford and Navistar could not even decide on crankcase capacity and actually came out with a recall dipstick. Texas Toyota 380 HP F150 killers are on the lots and moving fast. It will be interesting to see if Toyota gets it right again. When they go into the HD diesel one ton market, I am hoping they will make the engine themselves. That will probably be my next diesel pickup. Toyota quality made in good old Texas. Does it get any better?

[rickety]

wrenchtraveller, too bad it can't be good American quality made in USA
That's as good as it gets!!!!

[Wrenchtraveller]

Many of Ford's great gas engines have been made in Canada for decades but I don't like Canadian RVs. The US built Montana is my favorite RV and the best value there is IMHO.

[c5racer]

You can see the flame thrower in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=321LwkM7i90

[exav8tr]

Well ain't that a crock of crap???????

[skypilot]

I hope that video was staged -- can you imagine driving into your garage just as the regen starts and 'that' occurring? Or sitting at a traffic light with pedestrians on the sidewalk. Definitely scary.

[sreigle]

It has to be staged or altered. First of all, if you stop it and look, that is not a 2008 Ford Super Duty. The tailgate does not have the stamped "Super Duty" on it. Second, I heard a 6.4 run and it is not that loud. Third, there have only been three reports of this problem. I cannot imagine someone being fortunate enough to have caught one of them on tape. So I think it's staged or digitally altered.

[Wrenchtraveller]

I think that this video was staged and do the new Fords even have a twin pipe exhaust tip?
Here is food for thought. Industry is using diesel lift trucks in warehouses and to meet emissions a large exhaust cannister is removed from the exhaust system every 12 hours and "cooked" under very high temperature in an oven for several hours. There are always clean and cool units ready to go. These exhaust cannisters weigh around 70 pounds and a hoist system was installed for the operators to change out these units.
This type of system is not practical for general use but if extremely high temperature for long periods is what it takes to clean parts of the emission systems in today's diesels, it could spell big trouble and we will be burning up the landscape even more than we are now.
All the forest fires that diesel off roaders start will negate any clean air improvements that the government was hoping to gain. As the old saying goes. "The road to hell is paved with good intensions" The new saying might go " the road behind the new diesels is hot as hell"

[Tom Gina 06]

That video seems to show what happens when you have a few missing cylinders pumping raw diesel in the exhaust system. No different than a diesel RR locomotive that has been idling for a long time. Raw diesel builds up in the exhaust because the injectors are not set right, down cylinder, or dirty and when you hit a certain throttle you get a flame out situation. On the RR engine it is a way cooler look watching the those huge flames shooting into the air . I would say that Ford will make the adjustment on the program and reflash those out there. No big deal as long as they do it for free.

As far as American made better check and see when the next factory and coorperate office is going to be moved out of the country........ Then we can blame someone else for a change!

[bsmeaton]

Could be staged - can't tell. The resessed bumber and back up sensors don't look like the pre-2008 models, and I've never seen that type wheel on the pre-2008. The 6.4 does have the dual tip exhaust.

[c5racer]

The wheels on the flame thrower are the 2008 Ford Lariat 18" Premium Forged Polished Aluminum wheels. The picture is from ford's website. The rear bumper is a 2008 Ford Super Duty. There has been reports of defective injectors with the 6.4.

[William H. Collier]

That is a 08 and Ive read about that video. All that rattling is a injector stuck open pumping raw diesel in, filling the cyclinder up so it cant fire. Unknown if it was staged or not but I do know if mine ever starts making that kind of noise Iam going to shut if off.
Mine is running great and I have not set a thing on fire yet.
Bill

[keham]

Reminds me of my 03 was a built #1 with serial number 1021. Ran great plenty of power great MPG and first oil change they reflashed. Lost all that great stuff. down hill from there. Bet that reflash does the same. take the power and MPG away to a lower standard. Sorry I still have that bad taste they left in my mouth.

Can see it now half way up a steep grade no pull off and it powers to limp mode. Not my idea of a fix.

[keham]

I seem to remember reading that these new system pump raw diesel in the exhaust to burn during the regen process. and that it is only to happen at highway speed. I thought at the time wondering how many fires would happen. I had my first car with the catalytic converter catch fire to the front yard . Had pulled into the yard went into the house for lunch. next thing i new fire trucks around. Firemen said the cat caught the grass under it on fire.

[Steve and Brenda]

All I can say is that since its camping season, "Bring the MARSHMALLOWS!!"

[sreigle]

All the flash is supposed to do is reduce power when the DPF or whatever it is reaches some temperature level so the driver knows to pull over and shut it down to cool. I guess this would be a very rare situation but it still scares me. What scares me even more is all three mfrs use this same filter technology so all will have to do the same thing and have the same potential problem. I still don't see the Super Duty stamp on the tailgate but it doesn't really matter whether the video is faked or not. The problem is the same either way.

[skypilot]

I don't believe it was staged either. Visiting the local Ford dealer this weekend and their diesel tech told me that they can get demo truck to do that in about 30 miles or so -- the clicking / clattering is the injector into the DPF as it injects raw diesel followed by the ignitor (sparkplug??) igniting the fuel stream. Just like a jet engine - you bring fuel up while starting until you get an ignitable mixture. On old jets if you missed that spot you had what was called a 'hot start', basically flames out the exhaust just like this. If you have a good link you can hear the change in tone just when the flames go out and all you get is light smoke / clear air -- the flame inside the DPF is now self sustaining and burning properly. By the way, the dual tip exhaust is ford as well - in fact if you notice the exhaust tip has little cut outs in it with pieces folded down into the exhaust stream. That tip is required by Ford and is supposed to aid mixing of cooler air with the hot exhaust making it both quieter and less dangerous (hot) to those standing around it. (Ford site I read that on stated it was same principle as a 'fan-jet' engine used on modern aircraft.)

Now, all that said, we in the office are waiting for the first one to be around here -- we have been commenting on who would bring the marshmellows and who was responsible for the hangers to cook them on!!

[exav8tr]

never mind the marshmallows, you could probalby roast a pig by the looks of that flame....

[sreigle]

I stand corrected. It apparently is an 08 in that video and if it did have a bad injector then it is not staged. Staged or not, the problem is scaring me and it's scaring me about all the new diesel trucks with the dpf and that's all brands.

[sreigle]

According to an article at this url, this is one of the three trucks having this problem.
http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/news...8sdrecall.html

An excerpt --

Ford safety spokesman Dan Jarvis told PickupTruck.com today that, "The video is definitely one of the three trucks we described last week (see below, in the original story). It was sent to us by one of our dealers in Canada, where two of the trucks in the recall were located, and it illustrates why we took action so quickly. We wanted to alleviate any potential safety concerns about this issue right away."

Although not 100% certain of the cause of the fire seen in the video, Jarvis said the truck in the 75-second clip is probably the Super Duty that was started in very cold temperatures (approximately minus 20 to 30 F). Its engine wasn't given enough time to briefly idle and lubricate the turbocharger in the freezing weather before the truck's operator drove off, resulting in a blown bearing seal in the turbo and a leak of combustible fluid into the pickup's DPF.

arvis also gave an update on one of the other trucks that had a leaking fuel injector, which caused another instance of flaming exhaust. After shutting off and restarting the motor the problem causing the leak in the injector resolved itself without requiring any further maintenance. It was likely caused by some sort of obstruction that was removed upon the engine's restart.

-----

another excerpt --

And when asked about if Ford had initiated this recall because this problem might be occurring in a sample population greater than the three trucks originally referenced by Ford, Jarvis stated, "We think these three trucks are very rare cases. We're not seeing this in any other vehicles in the field."

----
and one last excerpt --

PickupTruck.com talked with Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis this morning to learn more about the Super Duty recall and its accompanying software patch to prevent fiery exhaust events from occurring. Here's how it will work and what it could mean to drivers with a leaking engine component that allows combustible fluids to enter the exhaust system and become trapped in the diesel particulate filter.

"This software fix will recalibrate the engine's PCM (power control module) so if it senses that temperatures have climbed too high in the DPF it will begin a gradual reduction of fuel and air flow to the engine to help bring the temperatures back down," says Jarvis.

It should be noted that the software patch WILL NOT fix the root cause of any oil or fuel leak in the motor caused by faulty hardware.

In describing driver awareness and action during a 'powering down' scenario, Jarvis said the following, "(The driver) will see a message on their instrument cluster that they need to pull over to the side of the road. Within five to ten seconds, the engine will begin to lose forward power and the driver will need to pull off and stop to wait until the DPF has cooled down. The vehicle will not lose power steering or power braking during the power-down and it won't stop all together. Drivers should have enough time, if they are on the freeway or a bridge, to pull off to the side and shut the engine off. After the DPF cools down the driver can restart the vehicle, and then we recommend that they take the vehicle to a dealer for service."