F150-- do it yourself?

[daugman]

(for my 2000 f150, bifuel)...Ford dealer wants $1500 or so just to diagnose (my CNG works infrequently).

My skills are greater than changing oil, but not yanking the engine, etc.

Can anyone suggest a guide or thoughts on any CNG related diagnostics or fixes I can do?

--filters, or ?....

Dealer only wanted to pull and replace the plugs; noting that was most of the $1500 cuz of the labor needed to pull the lines/hoses/wires found on this truck

[alliedmotors]

Re: F150-- do it yourself?

For $1500, you could just about replace the compuvalve! I've paid about $200 to have diagnostics done at a Ford dealer. ALL diagnostic charges should be applied to the repair. Luckily for me, I found an independent who isn't afraid of NGV's.

That's what I don't get about some repair shops, charging you for what they think is going to fix it. Sometimes they make things worse. It's like going out to dinner and being told there's a chance the meal may still leave you hungry, or even make you sick.

[daugman]

Re: F150-- do it yourself?

I should be more clear; he charged some 150 or so to try to diagnose; failed, ok, a bit high.

1200 is him saying his next step would be to pull the spark plugs, (then i get lost in the cng technology)...not sure it was compression testing or what, but he said labor to get to the plug was all day...(likely is).

There's not gas engine problem per se; that is 20,000 mile truck that burns no oil and drives nicely on gasoline.

I'd rather exhaust any filters, etc before i head to the 1200 just to find out none of that stuff was a problem.

And frankly as a non Utah person my CNG savings are big enough to pay pack 1200 plus whatever he might find. that said, i'd gladly pay 1200 if i knew that fixed things.

Anyhow, question for volunteers here is to point me to any sources of CNG replacement/maintenance that might help me

(car problem is very had to start in CNG, works fine if i change from gas to cng while drviing, but truck stalls in cng when slowing to a stop

[clnbrnr1]

Re: F150-- do it yourself?

I'm having my plugs changed tomorrow on my 2000 f-150 dedicated with 47k miles,this will be the first time for this truck. The only reason for this is I hosed down the engine compartment to get rid of the dust and grime before doing an air filter change. Unfortunatly I didn't blow off the water around the coils and plugs and I fried a couple of the coils. My mechanic is charging $300.00 labor plus the cost of plugs and the coils. He did a plug change on my f-250 dedicated last year and it runs great.

[karlhafen]

Re: F150-- do it yourself?

The plugs/coils on a dedicated truck are not any harder than a gasoline truck. The labor time is 2.9 hours. The bi-fuel trucks can be 4-5 hours depending on which fuel rail it has.

[karlhafen]

Re: F150-- do it yourself?

I should be more clear; he charged some 150 or so to try to diagnose; failed, ok, a bit high.

1200 is him saying his next step would be to pull the spark plugs, (then i get lost in the cng technology)...not sure it was compression testing or what, but he said labor to get to the plug was all day...(likely is).

There's not gas engine problem per se; that is 20,000 mile truck that burns no oil and drives nicely on gasoline.

I'd rather exhaust any filters, etc before i head to the 1200 just to find out none of that stuff was a problem.

And frankly as a non Utah person my CNG savings are big enough to pay pack 1200 plus whatever he might find. that said, i'd gladly pay 1200 if i knew that fixed things.

Anyhow, question for volunteers here is to point me to any sources of CNG replacement/maintenance that might help me

(car problem is very had to start in CNG, works fine if i change from gas to cng while drviing, but truck stalls in cng when slowing to a stop

If your truck runs 100% ok on gasoline and has only 20.000 miles I would say that the plugs/coils are NOT your problem. Two things I would try 1. flush the cng system with alcohol as per the Ford tsb. 2. check that the small rubber vacuum line on the compuvalve is not cracked of disconnected.

[daugman]

Re: F150-- do it yourself?

thanks to Karlhafen on the f150 advice!