So I cruise down early in the morning and watch a few trucks make some passes on the dyno. Onebad had the loudest Lightning I've ever heard.

So I get my truck up on the dyno. They pop the hood and the day fell apart.

"What the H3ll happened here?"

"How does this truck run?"

"This is the worse late model I've ever seen"

"It didn't hydro-lock?"

"I'd void your warranty"

"This is borderline abuse"

"Its a beautiful truck, you'd never know"

"If Ford was open I'd take it there now"

"Unstrap it...We're not running it"

Details to come

 

I see. So is this why you have the no pictures sig.

 

Most of you guys that I talk to regularly know I like to off-road. I'm no Josiah or Urban cowboy and most of my stuff is tame. Apparently not. I have gone through some mud and water, nothing more than say 6"-10" but it did cover the truck. I had a ton of fun doing it, until yesterday.

My motor has been covered in mud. I sprayed it down and didn't think anything to it. The truck runs great. Apparently I'm an idiot.

Mike gave me a list of things to do like yesterday. Now I'm heading to the beach tomorrow with the family so it will have to wait until week's end. Its been that way for a year what's another 4 days.

I felt like a complete moron standing there. I love my truck but I like to have fun with it. After Mike got finished with me, calling the guy from SCT over to look at items and him just shaking his head, and saying some of the things in post 1 I felt knee high to a gnat.

I can only imagine the comments made about me after I left. They were probably deserved I guess. #$@#ing idiot, moron, you can figure out the rest.

Marc walked with me to the truck and said "Don't worry I won't say a thing on the site."

Marc, I appreciate that but I figure others can learn from my boneheadedness. Guys the 4x4 is good for snow and mud no deeper than a 1" or 2". I'm crushed.

I hated that I drove 4.5 hours to hear "I'm not running it" but I know Mike was probably doing what is best for the truck. I just wanted my truck dynoed so I know my truck and tune were working correctly.

I guess I'll go back to stock to be safe. Maybe another trip down but I don't know if I can take the anxiety for them to look at it.
In the end....

Thanks to Mike for being honest, taking the time to explain things, and how much of an idiot I am...albeit it nicer than that.

 

And in case you guys are interested....here is a 15 sec video of what caused the damage and some pics

Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...55772654&hl=en

 

So what kind of damage was done? I can't see the video because work blocks almost everything. Anyway sorry to hear about the trip to the dyno.

 

Well it is all presumed damage but....

Tranny wear, differential wear, and unknown the engine itself. I think he mentioned piston rings or something.

Again the truck runs great but he says inside it is probably tearing itself apart.

 

That sucks, but dose not sound like you have done anything more than most guys on this forum have done. Well have fun at the beach and hope everything is okay.

 

Wow, what a lesson to learn... It's not just Ford trucks you have to worry about, But anything that you take off road needs to be thoroughly cleaned. I used to belong to a 4=wheeling club years ago. I sank my Jeep under water up to the dashboard. Man was my wife pissed... It was fun, but i spent several hours drying the starter out to drive it home. Then the fun began. Cleaning and draining, and draining and draining all of the fluids. One night of fun cost me alot of time and $. It was never right again. I would never take my new truck off road like that. These new trucks have alot of things that can go wrong with them. I guess i would clean her up ,top to bottom and trade her in on an 2007, with navigation....

 

So What's the deal? Your 4x4 OFFROAD isn't suppose to go off road?

 

No, if you play, you pay.... You got to clean them afterwards or you have all of that dirt/sand grinding away at everything.

 

Dude, it's your truck. If you want to wheel it, then wheel it. I didn't see you causing any damage to the truck in the video. In fact, that's an interstate highway compared to the wheeling I do. It's a sport and a hobby and with any hobby requires some $$$ to do it. So you pressure wash it at the local car wash and change the fluids a little more often than a mall crawler. You might do brakes 10,000 miles sooner than normal, SO WHAT!!!
A good business man won't belittle or ridicule a customer. He'd find a way to make the customer happy even if it cost a little more money and voids the warranty. I was considering an Xcal-2 for my Expedition, but your experience just turned me off. You're not the idiot here dude. That's just bad business.

 

I definitely don't want this to reflect bad on Mike or Troyer Performance.

That was my no means my intent with this post.

It started out as just giving me a hard time (funnin') then it turned serious.

Those guys were really good about it.

I just felt like a complete moron. Sometimes the truth hurts.

It is my own fault not TP.

 

I just didnt know that kind of damage was being done.

Ignorance is bliss..

Turns out ignorance was stupidity.

I'm taking it in when I get back and getting everything he recommended done.

I'm still going to off-road, after all my truck is probably ruined right? So what is the difference at this point. I'm still going to Paragon with the gang from here on September.


I am a little disappointed. If I wanted 4x4 for 3" of snow 3 times a day I'd have gotten an SUV. I guess my expectations were just wrong. :o

Mudman thanks for the support...still feel like Forrest Gump should be my teacher.

 

Man, your pretty harsh for not being there... I would not flame anyone without hearing both sides... I wasn't there and i wouldn't jump to any conclusions just yet. If you have a $30,000 truck and you go mudding and you neglect it and then you take it to a performance shop to have it Dyno'd with issues, your gonna get some flack, period...

 

No need for both sides.....I am admitting fault.

This thread isn't heading where I wanted it to. I hoped to let some people know about my screw-ups.

(oh and it stickered at 40k )