Merry Christmas Problems and Happy New Year Troubles.
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 2:55 pmIt all started when we decided to go to Raleigh, NC for Christmas. I didn't want to fly. So I convinced Dawn that we should drive. In the F350. Drag some of my son's stuff out there for him. I should have flown.
The trip out was uneventful. Good Omen, right? All the traffic jams were on the other side of the highway. No crazies. It was good.
We went to my daughter's for Christmas morning. My daughter lives on a street that has these cast iron storm drains every 11 feet or so. (They must get a lot of rain there.) Christmas morning I was parking curb side and caught one of the drains with the sidewall of the front tire. Bang, puff of powder, and instant flat. Annoying.
But my son was there and he enjoys working on trucks, so he did the heavy work of changing the tire. The next day I took the truck down to the shop my son works at and he got me a tire and and oil change so it was only slightly expensive.
About then we noticed that the truck had no heat. My son said antifreeze is low, go add a quart. I forgot to do this on the way out of town.
We left NC and took a scenic route down to SC and I85. Still cold, so I stopped and added a gallon of antifreeze. Two minutes later I had the "Reduced Engine Power" message and the blinking CEL. Ut-oh..... We stopped at the next exit and it turns out there was a Ford dealer right there. So we stopped for the night and were first for service the next morning.
Do you know what a radiator costs for a 6.4 Diesel? Well north of a grand. I should have flown. Plus we had the fun of sitting in the waiting room for 6 hours.
But the Ford dealer got us on the road. So I guess it was OK. We left the Ford dealer and drove into a HUGE rain storm. A "can't see 15 ft in front of the truck" rain storm. We finally made it to downtown Atlanta (about 100 miles from the Ford dealer) when the CEL came on again. This time not blinking, no warning message.
So, I made a calculate gamble and drove 900 miles home with the CEL on. I'm going to see if I can get into the diesel shop on Monday and see what codes are being thrown. I hope I did not make it worse.
So, anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. At least had ones better than mine.
Timothy
The trip out was uneventful. Good Omen, right? All the traffic jams were on the other side of the highway. No crazies. It was good.
We went to my daughter's for Christmas morning. My daughter lives on a street that has these cast iron storm drains every 11 feet or so. (They must get a lot of rain there.) Christmas morning I was parking curb side and caught one of the drains with the sidewall of the front tire. Bang, puff of powder, and instant flat. Annoying.
But my son was there and he enjoys working on trucks, so he did the heavy work of changing the tire. The next day I took the truck down to the shop my son works at and he got me a tire and and oil change so it was only slightly expensive.
About then we noticed that the truck had no heat. My son said antifreeze is low, go add a quart. I forgot to do this on the way out of town.
We left NC and took a scenic route down to SC and I85. Still cold, so I stopped and added a gallon of antifreeze. Two minutes later I had the "Reduced Engine Power" message and the blinking CEL. Ut-oh..... We stopped at the next exit and it turns out there was a Ford dealer right there. So we stopped for the night and were first for service the next morning.
Do you know what a radiator costs for a 6.4 Diesel? Well north of a grand. I should have flown. Plus we had the fun of sitting in the waiting room for 6 hours.
But the Ford dealer got us on the road. So I guess it was OK. We left the Ford dealer and drove into a HUGE rain storm. A "can't see 15 ft in front of the truck" rain storm. We finally made it to downtown Atlanta (about 100 miles from the Ford dealer) when the CEL came on again. This time not blinking, no warning message.
So, I made a calculate gamble and drove 900 miles home with the CEL on. I'm going to see if I can get into the diesel shop on Monday and see what codes are being thrown. I hope I did not make it worse.
So, anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. At least had ones better than mine.
Timothy