[85 vette]

I know that a lot of you out there scratched your heads along with me trying to solve this problem and i just want all of you to know how much i appreciated the fact that you stuck in there even when my exasburation started to appear because this thing was aggrevating the hell out of me. Okay, nuff said. Now for the answer to the problem. Let me just say that the people that said that in the end the solution was going to be a simple one were way off on this one. lol There is a spacer plate between the bellhousing and the engine. Actually it's a two piece. The primary spacer rides the curve of the bell housing and is held to the engine with dowel pins. The second smaller piece sits at the open area of the bottom of the bellhousing and part of it goes up around the outline of the starter mouth. The problem began when someone (that no longer works there) did a clutch job on said truck and instead of letting the main spacer hang on the dowel pins before installing the transmission, puts rtv silicone all over the engine side of it. THEN, this brain surgeon, not having anymore rtv , uses Yamabond on the smaller section of spacer. If anyone out there is familiar with Yamabond you know that it's an excellent bonding agent used primarily to go between extreme mating surfaces such as engine head to block ect. It's made by Yamaha but works great with any type engine. Too bad, it doesn't work where a ground is needed. Anyway, i had to use screw drivers and chisels to pry these spacers off and then scrapers and hi speed tools to get all this crap off.The 3 bolts that held the starter had so much thread locker on them that the starter wasn't getting much of a ground from bellhousing or the bolts so every once in a while a tap to the starter body would reactivate the ground. I'm amazed the thing started at all. I still think that this was a freak thing and if i tryed to duplicate it the truck would start every time. It's just the freaky set of circumstances that this particular truck had all rolled into one. Again, thanks guys, i know you tried but in this particular case i guess you had to be there. Something like this would have never have been able to be diagnosed over the net unless someone ran into the same exact problem. Rick

[Lonestar]

That is bad. I was going over your problem with a fine tooth comb and came up with a bad ground issue also, but couldn't figure out where it could be. Firing is too good for him.

[85 vette]

Yeah, it's just too bad he was fired before i ever worked there. I would have liked to given him an *** kicking he would never forget. People like that do these things knowing full well it's wrong but they figure that they will never have to see that problem ever again so who cares about the next guy that will be working on it. It's like with oil filters or any filter for that matter. I constantly tell my guys to lubricate the o-ring on the filter before they install it, not only for them but for the poor shmuck (most likely me) that works on it at the next service time. thanks again Rick

[RCastle]

I can see exactly where that would cause a problem,just never would have suggested it. Good techs just do not do that type of thing. Makes me wonder what else you may find on different pieces of equipment he worked on.

[Siggy_Freud]

Ya know I was actually going to suggest that as my next solution . Looks like you figured it out before I could 85vette. Hopefully the wonderful work of that tech hasn't spread.

[85 vette]

Tech? You mean parts changer at best. And btw you guys are right, that was only the beginning. Out of the 27, f550's in the fleet, about 98% of them had the transmission end driveshaft bolts loose or falling out. Luckily i spotted them all on my first pm's. During my first months working for this company i had to go on a road call for a broken shift lever,a common occurrence on these trucks. While i followed the driver on route to the highway we both notice that the truck started shaking roughly. When he pulled over we found the driveshaft hanging on by 1 bolt WITHOUT THE NUT! I had to temporarily put in 4 standard 3/8 bolts just to get him back to the shop. Since then it's been one after another. Sorry to get off the track but when i think of the people that are out there driving and repairing our vehicles, especially 18 wheelers, i just get aggravated. rick

[trees]

85, thanks for taking the time to give us the feedback. This is something we can all file away in our experience bank that keep us from pulling out the rest of our hair. Poor/bad grounds are at the core of so many electrical problems and are very hard to solve at times. Wish someone that is smarter than I post a tutorial on how to simply, easily and effectively trouble shoot grounding.

Trees

[85 vette]

Originally Posted by trees

85, thanks for taking the time to give us the feedback. This is something we can all file away in our experience bank that keep us from pulling out the rest of our hair. Poor/bad grounds are at the core of so many electrical problems and are very hard to solve at times. Wish someone that is smarter than I post a tutorial on how to simply, easily and effectively trouble shoot grounding.

Trees

I agree sir.

[oldschoolrods]

Well I guess I was partially right that it was a problem with the bell housing ground Glad you got it fixed

[Bee4Me]

Fixing other techs "work" is my daily job too.
When it's all gone to hell and the customer is PO'd,Time to call Kelly.

I REALLY wish THEY had to fix their own "work" instead of ME pulling what's left of my hair out to make it right.And people wonder WHY I have such an ATTITUDE some day's.It's worth it though when it works RIGHT and your the one left standing. YEAH BABY!!! Ain't no stinking piece of machine gonna kick my *****..

Glad you got it fixed and gave us the report back.

Now, About that riding mower of mine.....

[bullheimer]

also agree that it's GREAT to see solutions that work on a problem. that really contributes to the knowlege base.

[willowbilly3]

Well, I still have to wonder why it didn't solve the problem if you ran a good ground strap right from the battery to the starter case like you said you did. I mean one bolted on with clean connections. There is no way that wouldn't have cured a grounding problem which it became almost obvious that you had.

[85 vette]

Originally Posted by willowbilly3

Well, I still have to wonder why it didn't solve the problem if you ran a good ground strap right from the battery to the starter case like you said you did. I mean one bolted on with clean connections. There is no way that wouldn't have cured a grounding problem which it became almost obvious that you had.

I wondered that too. As a matter of fact i wonder why a lot of the things i did didn't work. That mess definitely had something to do with it though and maybe a few gremlins too.lol Sometimes things just plain don't do what they're supposed to do and seem to defy logic. I'm just happy that i got this thing fixed and out of my hair and i hope no one else EVER has to go through the shtt i went through plus having to hear, " what's wrong with it", "why can't you fix it", "hows it coming"?," maybe we should send it to Ford"?, for 100 times. Companies don't care, they want their stuff fixed yesterday and don't want to hear who screwed it up. thanks guys, rick