Stuck on 70 near Terra Haute

[ab257]

On the way to Arizona and got a 'pull over safely' message on the Ford 6.4L diesel. Does any one know if there is one of the Ford dealers near Terra Haute that is better at Diesel repair than another?

[bighatnohorse]

Glad you got'er fixed and on the road again.
I pulled all the dpf sensors when my truck was new and treated them with high temp anti-seize compound. Easy to do when new.

[Explorer1016]

I'm glad it all worked out for you even though you lost several days of your trip. All the diesel performance magazines have articles about the knowledge of the Scheid guys.

[jimh406]

My mechanic says they can be cleaned, but cleaning means burn off the ash and blow it out. In any case, glad you got it working. Coincidentally, I had the same sensor go out recently. On the plus side, I seem to be getting a little better mpg than I was. Apparently, the cleaning cycle wasn't working well for a while.

[ab257]

On the road and in Utah now. We did stop at Scheid Diesel in Terra Haute, they took us in right away, pulled the truck that was in the bay out for us, and got us on the road the next day.

Turns out it was the exhaust gas sensor in the DPF. Got a 'stop safely now' message and went into limp mode. We pulled over to the side of route 70, but in retrospect we should have driven to an exit or rest area. It would not have damaged the engine, even if was a true high temperature. Once stopped, the computer turns off the engine until the DPF cools down. Our sensor shorted out (apparently quite common in the 6.4Ls), so we never were able to restart it.

AAA towed us to a KOA (medium duty wheel lift with drive shaft disconnected), next day they pulled the truck from under the camper and took it to Scheid. Scheid had the part delivered late in the day and put it in the next morning. Unfortunately the sensor snapped and the had to remove the DPF, drill it out and rethread it. A dealer would have just replaced the DPF (from experiences on a Ford Diesel forum). Cost was also much less than a dealer would have charged.

Schied also replaced the 8 year old batteries that went dead with the flasher on the 4 hours it took to get us to the campground. Can't say enough on how great they were. AAA drivers were great too. However they brought a flatbed for our F350 diesel dually the next day to get it from the KOA to Scheid, and we were too wide to fit on the flatbed, and the wheel lift on the flat bed didn't even budge the front end of our truck. They could have lifted the rear wheels, but would have meant removing the outside tires. They had to bring the medium duty wheel lift back for us.

The AAA driver the first day said towing our 13,000 pound truck and camper with a medium duty wheel lift was quite an experience. Last time (when my wife put gas in the diesel at a BP) they used a heavy duty wheel lift, but it took 24 hours to get it to her.

Thanks for all the help and recommendations from the people here on the forum.

[Explorer1016]

I might be too late but Scheid Diesel for sure. They would be better than most dealers.

[Kayteg1]

Do you have scanner with you?
Those things cost like $35 for basic version and could answer heck lot of questions.

[INBellbuoy]

I second Scheid, heard good things about them.

[ryoung]

There is only one Ford dealer in Terre Haute, so no comparison on the work. Next one in Brazil, IN about 25 miles east. Your best bet may be Scheid Diesel in Terre Haute. They claim to service any make of diesel engine, and I've used them before when I had my Dodge Cummins.

ryoung

I no longer own the truck and camper in my signature. I post it only for credibility.

[sharkman]

On our GMC I've had to ice pick the injector connectors to get a tighter connection, don't know if that will help you on the Ford or not.

[ab257]

Thanks, I'll post on a diesel ford forum. No warnings, one minute doing 65 down the highway, the next in limp mode. At a KOA now

[is_it_friday_ye]

Try posting on a site for diesel Ford trucks. I think you'll have better luck. What year is your truck? What did it do before it gave you the message? Any codes?