Ballard Mobile Auto Repair

Hey, maybe stop driving until your brakes have nothing left? Just a thought. Thanks

Another day at the office. At least this one has AC…

Another 6.7 Cummins grid heater delete in the books.

Airbag light was on for this 2013 Ford F250. I pulled up the resistance PID for the drivers frontal airbag deployment loop control 1. At rest, Ford specifies around 2.2-2.8 ohms of resistance. We had over 8 ohms, and while turning the steering wheel I saw spikes of 60+ ohms. This is indicative of an open circuit for the clock spring. Very common and actually a pretty affordable and easy repair.

2005 GMC suburban 5.3 v8 with a 4l60…. Customer states - noise heard while driving. To preface, he just completed a 200+ mile road trip like this. Normally I don’t do transmission / transfer case removal being mobile, but I had to see this for myself in person. This was the worst transfer case out of one of these trucks I’ve ever seen. They’re pretty common to rub holes through the case, but not like this.

Happy Friday!

If your battery looks like Charlie Sheens 👃 it might be time to get some help….

Just your average day getting called out to Eagle to work on a Ferrari… no biggie, right? Except this was the most stressful service I have and probably ever will perform in my career. It was extremely nerve racking to not touch any paint or leave any tool marks. Super cool to be trusted to work on this vehicle.

What are we looking at? A diagnosis that was a bit of a mystery. 2024 Ford with a 7.3 v8 gas engine had a p0455 - large EVAP leak. After smoke testing the EVAP system and looking over the normal leak spots for the truck, I found no major leaks. I individually pulled the purge valve off and verified it couldn’t hold pressure or vacuum. The purge valve was only half of the story. After isolating the purge valve I continued to smoke test the system. While commanding the vent valve (pictured) on and off with the scan tool I could hear it audibly click. Clicking does not always confirm weather the solenoid is good, only that it is making noise and isn’t an open circuit. It’s easy enough to pull out and when I pulled it from the charcoal canister, white powder poured out. Some back story, this truck spent some of its life in Winnipeg Canada where they heavily salt the roads. The salt made its way into the entire EVAP charcoal canister and made its way into the vent valve as pictured, causing it to stay stuck open and never actually be able to close - hence the large leak code. Unfortunately there is zero way of cleaning the sealed canister or saving the vent valve. The fix? A very expensive charcoal canister, vent valve, and purge valve.

Sometimes the diagnosis on a vehicle requires you to look at the bigger picture. Sometimes the diagnosis won’t be in a book or a website. Sometimes you gotta think outside the box and go above and beyond the flow charts of the OE diag procedure.

6.0 Powerstroke getting the works.

New OEM injectors, stand pipes, dummy plugs, valve cover gaskets, fluids, and IPR valve. I wish all my 6.0 people would learn from this customer and keep their trucks as clean and factory as this one.

You really think going to a quick l**e place is a great idea…? Poor lady had her oil changed at a quick l**e place and the next day all the oil was on the ground and they refused to take any responsibility for it. Not only did they completely rip the threads out of the aluminum oil pan, but they tried to hide it by siliconing the problem and shoving a plug in it. Luckily the pan was salvageable and was able to be retapped to the next size up. Cheaper doesn’t always mean better!