2013 PIU Explorer Repairs

[ElectronFlow]

Had the recall 19E02 for catalyst inefficiency, reprogram ECU for CEL,
P0402.
Took to Ford of Dalton, GA as this was the closest to our home, 12 miles.
They did the recall and surprisingly replaced both manifold cats under the warranty
with 148K on the clock.

 

[ElectronFlow]

We had the appointment setup for August the 26th and that Monday they took it in.
My wife asked that they quote repairing a leak on the rear diff as I had been given
handicap plates by my doctor so save me labor.
That Wednesday the 28th, the service writer called and said a rusty manifold bolt was
holding up repairs.

The leak was coming from the diff cover and would be $1,200 to repair.
I told them to just finish the recall, I would take care of the leaking diff.
He stated the entire diff would need to be removed from the vehicle, the "case split"
and resealed the reinstalled back into the vehicle. I would need a vehicle lift to do this
work and did I own one?
I can get it done I told him.

Turns out after getting the "Ceptor" home, it wasn't the rear diff leaking. It was the drivers
side stub axle seal on the diff leaking. Also found out one doesn't need to remove the diff
reseal the diff cover from an online manual.

I decided to change the lube in the front PTU while at it and that's when I found shoddy
work completed on the cats.

 

[ElectronFlow]

The front cat downpipe bracket has a brace that attaches to the transmission with
2 bolts and 2 blind nuts on a flange at the downpipe. one bolt completely missing,
the other bolt was backed out and finger loose. Both nuts backed off and finger loose
on the flange downpipe bracket.

IMO. the tech lost time on a rusty manifold bolt and was trying to make it up charging
hours for a diff cover leak that wasn't what it was, removing the entire diff to reseal a "diff
cover leak". The service writer was just the messenger.

 

[ElectronFlow]

Seems a lot of image hosting sites are going belly up.
Anyone have any suggestions where to find a free hosting site, one
that doesn't try to hold images hostage for fees later because of forum image loading ?

I have many pics of the progression of the repairs so far on this stub axle seal repair
to the point of waiting on a Rotunda seal protector I bought way cheaper that the Rotunda price of $177.33 + shipping.

A ford forum site I admin on had changed to Xenforo with direct image loading to bypass all those image hosting issues.

 

[KayGee]

Seems a lot of image hosting sites are going belly up.
Anyone have any suggestions where to find a free hosting site, one
that doesn't try to hold images hostage for fees later because of forum image loading ?

I have many pics of the progression of the repairs so far on this stub axle seal repair
to the point of waiting on a Rotunda seal protector I bought way cheaper that the Rotunda price of $177.33 + shipping.

A ford forum site I admin on had changed to Xenforo with direct image loading to bypass all those image hosting issues.

You are a site admin for a forum and have internet access, yet you are asking for suggestions for image hosting sites? Have you heard of Google? ;-)

Anyway, all 'free' services have terms and conditions and there's no guarantee they will remain free in perpetuity.

Imgur seems to be one of the better free image hosts lately.

 

[J_C]

Hmm, this site has hosting too, but I'd never noticed it isn't active for this subforum. You might contact an admin and ask whether that was intentional or an oversight. For example the 5th gen forum has it with an "upload file" button just to the right of the Post Reply button, though IIRC there is some fairly small file size limit.

Free or paid-for services, there's no guarantee anything will be around *forever*. I usually use imgur when it needs to be larger than the file size limit here.

 

[peterk9]

Hmm, this site has hosting too, but I'd never noticed it isn't active for this subforum. You might contact an admin and ask whether that was intentional or an oversight. For example the 5th gen forum has it with an "upload file" button just to the right of the Post Reply button, though IIRC there is some fairly small file size limit.

Free or paid-for services, there's no guarantee anything will be around *forever*. I usually use imgur when it needs to be larger than the file size limit here.

Are you referring to the Explorer Forum when you say "this site"? You can post pictures here and they will be saved to the Forum's servers. All you need to do is pay a $20 fee to get an Elite Explorer membership. That will also help support the site where many members have saved much more than the fee in 'free' information and advice from fellow members. https://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?account/upgrades

Peter

 

[ElectronFlow]

Google ? What is that KayGee ? LOL
Kinda get a feel for members and the comments you're going to get
regardless of what you post.
It's similar to asking 10 witnesses of an automobile accident "What happened?"
You get 10 different versions of the "facts".
It's all in interpretation of what you post.

$20 fee ? How do we think millionaires become so rich ? They are more frugal with their
money than others.
They are so tight they pinch pennies into dollars.

 

[J_C]

Are you referring to the Explorer Forum when you say "this site"? You can post pictures here and they will be saved to the Forum's servers. All you need to do is pay a $20 fee to get an Elite Explorer membership. That will also help support the site where many members have saved much more than the fee in 'free' information and advice from fellow members. https://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?account/upgrades

Peter

I mean that in this PIU forum, a feature is missing that is present in the other forums like the Stock 2011-2019 forum. They have the ability to attach files while this PIU forum doesn't.

Stock 2011-2019 Forum Feature:

Missing on PIU Forum:

 

[ElectronFlow]

Well I could understand the service writer being a messenger of the tech working on the vehicle.
What I didn't like was the way the tech went about telling us the entire differential had to be removed
to reseal the diff cover just to gain chargeable hours.

So in order to not whizz on the "know it alls".
What would you long term members prefer how I go about posting the entire procedure of replacing the
said stub axle seal to the point I have stopped ?

 

[ElectronFlow]

Should I do this as a write up as if a first timer will be reading it to help them gain knowledge for a
repair on their own vehicle or will I just get cut down, "You did this wrong", "You didn't do that right",
"I wouldn't have done it that way", "What an idiot"...
Personally, opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one and some stink more than others.

 

[J_C]

^ We're usually more friendly than that.

However, if your writeup is going to be complete, a beginning to end that finishes the job with enough details to help someone who has never done it, then it would be good to have it be its own separate topic with an appropriate title to make it easier to find with the 'site search feature. Some people put the words "How To:" in front of their title. Some don't.

Also, if this procedure (watch out for part #s differences) is identical for a stock 5th gen Explorer, it would be seen and help more people to put it in the Stock Explorer forum instead of the PIU forum.

 

[ElectronFlow]

Thanks J_C
Good to know there are still some good people out here.

 

[KayGee]

If you're going to do a write up, why not .PDF it so it's a single, downloadable document? That's how I do my own stuff at home for things I want to document and save for later reference.

 

[J_C]

^ That's certainly an option, but since this is a website forum we can leverage that. If someone needs to refer to a picture or quote something, it's an order of magnitude easier to do by quoting a portion of a post than extracting that from a PDF to post it, and arguably easier to make the original via forum topic rather than author a PDF which requires a 3rd party PDF app.

Plus, if the How To seems particularly useful, I may print it to PDF anyway so I have both.

 

[KayGee]

If you lay out a file/PDF like a service manual, it is very easy to reference a step within it. I don't know what software/hardware you use, but it is immensely easier for me to create a local document with text/images then PDF it and upload it to a file server, than it is to upload pics to a site and then create multiple posts and link all of said pics within those posts.

Anyway, not my circus, not my monkeys. All the best.

 

[ElectronFlow]

My Seal Protectors 205-816 arrived, so I'll be finishing the stub axle up
and reassembling the knuckle.
Also putting pads on the rear as they were about half worn with OEM pads
from rockauto with the 5% off discount code.

 

[ElectronFlow]

"Ceptor" back in service today.
Made its 51 mile haul to work for the wife.

Best note she stated was the CEL stayed off the entire trip. LoL.
No exhaust smell entering the cabin at idle due to the new gifts of catalytic converters
from FoMoCo.

After all said and done, not as bad as I thought being handicapped/
disabled and having mechanical experience in other automotive
disassembly and assembly areas.

Still have enough hardware (nuts/bolts/screw) to do the passenger side
when it comes time, should that stub axle seal develope a leak.
The entire diff DOES NOT need to be removed to repair the leak or reseal
the diff cover. I did let the Permatex gasket maker cure 36 hours before adding
Lucas 80w90 synthetic blend lube. Added about 1/4 qt. Lucas Synthetic Stabilizer to
1 qt. Lucas 80w90 lube.

I was disappointed to find the rear shocks are made in CHINA.

 

[ElectronFlow]

Wife had driven Ceptor over 300 miles NP.
She comes home and tells me the CEL is on.
Code P2251 shows powertrain control module (PCM) has detected a negative
current discrepancy in the upstream oxygen (O2) sensor for engine bank number one,
Sensor 1.
Having just had both front and rear cats replaced at no charge, I know it is the upstream
wideband O2 sensor.

When replacing the cats, the work order said 4 studs broke off due to being "cross threaded".
I'm more likely to believe electrolysis between differing metals. Steel studs and aluminum heads.

I get out my endoscope and attach it to a "sneaky pete" sending it down against the fire wall.
Appears wiring is burned in some areas and intentionally split to check for continuity in others,
only on the yellow and blue which appear orange and light blue due to the led color of the scope.
Why the burned wiring? The tech surely wouldn't use heat to remove a broken stud in an aluminum head?
Even burned at the O2 sensor (black wire) where the length couldn't possibly touch the cat or heat shield.

Called the Field Operations Manager for the dealership who sent me an email about our recent
service and explained what I found. He said they would find out what happened, "get onto" the techs
and "get to the bottom of it". He called back next day and gave me the name and ext. # of the Service Manager.

After showing Service Manager the video, he apologized and the next day a Service Writer called saying an engine
wiring harness and O2 sensor would be ordered and installed FREE OF CHARGE.

Have the Ceptor back and all is done properly now.
I can tell anyone where NOT to take their Ford for recall work.

 

[ElectronFlow]

After getting the free of charge O2 sensor and wiring repaired I find the retainer clip for the
O2 sensor to engine harness connector was broken and it was just thrown against the firewall on the 18th.
CEL stored 2 codes. P0456 EVAP small leak and P2237 positive voltage discrepancy for the
same upstream O2 sensor. Reset those codes and in less than 25 miles the P2237 came back
but not the EVAP code.

Hauled it back them Wednesday Oct. 23rd and let the Service Manager know about the broken retainer and codes.
The intake manifold had to be removed to allow access to the rear area between the valve cover and wire
harness to repair the burned area. The main vacuum line had a screw type clamp on it and the band clamp
was missing as well as the convoluted tubing from the factory.
Throttle body clamp not tight.
Wiring harness' not retainer clipped back into their factory holding positions.
If they missed the small things, I asked, what else did they miss that caused the P0456 EVAP code?

All these issues were brought to the Service managers attention.
Also showed them the push bar being used as a step ladder when Sketcher shoe prints were on the flat
surface below the Setina round bar.
What? No horizontal creeper for the tech to dangle over the engine compartment?
They told me the techs have step ladders, there is no need for them to
climb on the vehicles.

Regardless, the tech broke the O2 wire harness retainer clip, threw the harness back against the firewall,
the new O2 sensor is sending positive instead of negative discrepancy codes now, and the tech thinks the
push bar is a step ladder.

The tech is losing hours fixing these things that they could have taken the time not to break or lose.
I understand they lost 6 hours on broken exhaust studs "cross threaded" as they put on the work order from
recall 19E02.
More likely "metal electrolysis" from aluminum to steel. Surely Chicago Assembly wouldn't purposefully cross
thread studs into the heads on the catalytic converter manifolds, WOULD THEY? Union can't fire me.
The tech wrote they had to go "source a stud remover". Wouldn't a tech already have that in their toolbox?
Good gravy, even I have a multi sized, heat tempered set of those.

Maybe the "3rd time's the charm" to get it straightened out and fixed properly for
an initial recall 19E02 job.

I have a letter typed up and ready for email to the Field Operations Director of the Dealership just as soon as
we get the 2013 Ceptor done right.
Seems my first phone call to the Director made waves.
After all, they sent me a "How did we do?" email first.
IDK who "Tech A86" is, but they need some retraining on respect of customer property and how to properly
complete a job without tearing skit up. Better wait to quietly vent until Ceptor is fixed.
Don't want any sabotage or lame excuse "It's the PCM".
Never was any code but P0420 the year and 8 months before the 19E02 recall letter.
Only after the ECU reprogram has any other code shown after a CEL.