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Part 1 of 3: Birth Of A Plow Truck

plowtruckbirth

Snow removal is a very lucrative business when mother nature allows for it.  A garden variety day for a snow removal technician is nothing short of brutal on driver and truck a like.  We are going to focus on the truck in this story.

A plow truck begins its life as a general daily driver pickup in a light duty environment.  After some years, mileage, dents and dings her job title changes a bit.  She may be hauling heaping piles of gravel in the bed, or pulling heavy equipment trailers to job sites.  Either way the later part of this trucks life gets harder.  If this is sounding familiar to your habits, don’t worry it is the natural way of things.

The year dangles into the fall and meteorologists, almanacs, or wholly worms infer a harsh winter.  Snow removal season is upon us in a blink of an eye, and you need to be ready for the first snow, a plow and salt spreader becomes part of this truck.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Life of a Plow Truck, and Part 3: Death of a Plow Truck

bully-dog-tuner
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IS Your Used Truck Tuned? NO! How Can You Be Sure?

 

Joe decides one day to trade in his 2005 Dodge Ram Cummins for a sweet new ride.   Joe enjoyed the power and performance gains his tuner gave him for many years.  The hardware Joe had put away to tune his truck was lost in his last divorce.

Lets take a ride to the imaginary used car lot for a bit.  John the salesman takes the truck in on trade.  The dash has no warning lights and the truck runs very well, should have no problem selling it.

Now you are you, and you find a truck that fits your needs perfectly.  It has a fair price and you buy the truck.

Some time after, an engine light appears and generates codes that no one can seem to decipher.  Any knowledgeable shop would probably see the weird malfunction and recommend a replacement PCM.  This will fix the problem when the new PCM has been programmed with stock software.  No one will know why it’s fixed, just that it is.

You pick the truck up and feel the truck isn’t right, its now under powered and gets poor fuel mileage.  An automatic response to a new symptom occurring after an official repair is to blame the shop for doing something wrong.  A return trip will prove nothing out of the ordinary exists and are sent back on your way.

This mysterious dragon syndrome occurs often, and the correct response is to tune over the corrupt tune file, or re-flash the PCM to stock and then tune over the stock file.

 

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The Power Of Insight and Inspection During Diagnosis

Turbo_circuit damaged

It happens often and when you least expect it.  You are driving down the road (minding your own business) and your engine begins to shudder for what seems like no reason at all, and then corrects its self.  The symptom will be fleeting and pass quickly, but will inevitably return.  The PCM (powertrain control module) is not likely to have generated a DTC (diagnostic trouble code) to help point a you in the direction of the failed component, so you start with the fuel filter.  Right?  Well chasing wiring concerns is no easy task.  The symptoms may mimic that of a bad injector, poor fuel volume or quality, or even the turbo charger its self.  With a little luck the problem will persist long enough to catch it in the act.

Circuit rubbed on valve cover and shorted to ground

In this case specifically the technician used an advanced scan tool to perform an injector “Buzz Test”.  Cylinder #3 did not buzz like all of his brothers, which prompted the inspection of the injector wiring harness to cylinder #3.  Not long after pulling back the corrugated protective sheathing a single circuit was found rubbing on the valve cover causing a short to ground.  In effect electrifying the block and not the injector.  This circuit is responsible for sending a 48v charge to the injector from the FICM (fuel injector control module) and used to actuate the high voltage solenoid releasing a pocket of high pressure fuel into he combustion chamber.  The technician repaired the circuit and protected it from further damage by insulating it with more tubing and electrical tape.  Took the vehicle on a test drive, and sent this one on its way with little expense to the customer.

With out this insight an individual may have replaced an injector confidently being a know problematic component.  It is of the utmost importance to eliminate a circuit failure before any hardware is replaced.  A small investment in time will save untold amounts of money in parts or repair.  Parts stores don’t like to return “test” parts.

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Classic Missouri Dept Of Conservation Truck to Get Late Model Mods


Darrell miller and Dave blum admiring the truck.

One of the admired qualities about working at a Diesel shop is the prospect of creating interesting projects in the off time.  A couple months ago a young lady had a really bad-off Toyota Rav4.  This being her only vehicle, it was very important to have it running at peak efficiency.  In passing conversation she mentioned her families barn truck, and how it needed a lot of work.  An idea popped into existance at that moment.  Why not overhaul the Toyota in trade for the classic truck.  If the RAV’s repairs were added up the cost vastly surpassed the value of the truck, but that wasnt the point.  She got what she needed, and we got a new project, keeping the gears turning on the left side of our brains.

 

 

Featured in Parts and People Magazine
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STL Diesel Featured in Parts and People Magazine

Owners Jeff White, Don Harbaugh, and Darrell Miller were interviewed by Dustin Holland a reporter from Parts and People Magazine near the middle of July 2016. The article he authored about the birth, growth and development of STL Diesel exposes our inate ability to passionatly perform repairs and market our brand in a grass roots type of way. Dustin Holland, the author of the article did a great job describing the achievements, goals and ambitions of our entire team.  His inspiration for this article was the vast amount of STL Diesel T-shirts, Hoodies, Hats and Decals that he and others have spotted all over the ST Louis area and beyond.  When talking about this topic he asked a very interesting and frequently asked question.  “Is STL Diesel a company or a club?  The answer is Yes to both questions.

Featured in Parts and People Magazine

Featured in Parts and People Magazine –

 

 

Poorly produced bio fuel settles the organic material to the bottom of the fuel tank
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Alternative Fuel Fails

In the not too distant past diesel owners raced to perfect the perfect bio fuels.  Understanding what is, and what is not good for a diesel fuel system can’t be identified until a failure occurs.  Like this one, individual took soy based vegatable oil and filtered it.  Adding no substantial chemicals, not cut with regular diesel fuel, just filtered soy veggy oil.  There was a moment when the truck seemed to run off of this concoction, but soon after the truck sat for a few weeks, the soy began to gel.  Taking up residence in the fuel tanks, filters and housing was a tar based material settling in a thick black film 1/4 deep.  A brave technician used his natural flavor detection system to identify this substance as SOY!