TOPIC: pre-groove vehicle prep

With such a thoughtful approach to all this, Greg, you too could become a Guru..

(spoken w/ fake Asian accent like some Sensei or Master...) OOHHH, so You Too Guru, ehhh? Ah-sooo deso kaah...! when you can snatch the bit from my hand, grasshopper, then you too may ascend to the realm of of the Exalted Ones... now hold the bit at the Proscribed angle, keep the Taper parallel to the bore wall, yess, remember to keep honorable bit shaft always pointed to center of throttle shaft, hold steady, now start most honorable Dremel to Medium speed, to begin your Initial cut at Left End of throttle blade...and keep your bit cool, Grasshopper!"

sorry couldn't help it... If you survived the treacherous cliff climb on the Island, I hope Bruce will give you some of his time, perhaps you may come back with valuable information... Heck at the rate you're diggin' in, you might show him something too!

best of Luck,

Tracy G

For those of you still following along, I've stumbled across a really GREAT video explaining o2 sensors, vacuum leaks, ST/LTFT. In case you're new and don't yet have the picture in your head, watch this:



I've subscribed to his channel, and have yet to watch part 2, but what I'm really looking forward to is his video on TPS.

that video tutorial is AWESOME, Greg!

Kudos to you, sir!

Tracy G

Like that? here's one you may know about, but I just found: the "glove test" to determine head gasket leak/cracked cylinder head

Check post #3 here:
Need help with this one.... - Ranger-Forums - The Ultimate Ford Ranger Resource

wow now I just learned something...another reason to always have comdoms in the glove box! Actually that's a really smart way to diagnose a head gasket leak to the cooling system, hope I never need to perform it!! thanks again, Greg!

Tracy G

The longer daylight hours and this warmer early spring weather have had me feeling (and fooling) around under my hood, and I have a few good things to report:

1- found where/how the PCV hose connects to my intake manifold. The re-route should be a piece of cake, much to my relief. I've already bought the caps for this and if time/weather allow, I'll get that done this weekend while I'm changing my oil. (still looking for a place to mount a catch can/AOS/McBurney Compensator though...)

2- I removed the coolant lines to the intake manifold, mated them together to complete the flow path, drained and capped the manifold. I found this mod for my vehicle on a vehicle-specific forum; so far, I haven't thrown any codes and my mileage seems to be up. Not sure if that's attributable to warmer weather, the roads being clear of ice and dry (so there's less slipping and sliding) or the mod itself. Maybe all 3. Quick math shows me to be up at about 28 MPG from around 23 - both of those numbers are combined city/highway...but keep in mind I've switched from e10 to e5 gas and from aspirin remedy to ibuprofen as well, so that might be included in the equation as well. I get the feeling that I can open up my spark plug gap just a bit more from the current 25% above stock, but I think readdressing my grounding should come first.

3- found and replaced a few dried out and cracked vacuum hoses connected to the EVR solenoid (that triggers/controls EGR valve, which might yet get defeated - found this on the same website as the above heated intake bypass, which claims a similar result).

Now, on the bad side, I had the (2nd, not bad for 250k Miles) fuel pump die on me; in getting it replaced, the gas gauge has been funky (aftermarket sending unit?), and my Trims aren't as low as they had been before. I think I might have a small evap leak, because there are a few drops underneath the truck at where the filler neck is anytime I put fuel in. That's another thing to address this weekend while I'm underneath for the oil change. Hopefully it's just a matter of re-seating and/or tightening the hose and clamps. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the tow to the garage where my fuel pump was replaced somehow caused my power steering reservoir to drain...took me a few days to figure that one out, glad I didn't burn out the pump or cause an accident!

Long story short, I think I'm doing pretty well on my truck so far, but there seems to be more potential for higher efficiency in this 3.0 liter Ford Engine. If Bruce's invention gets me a 25% mileage bump, and then the groove does the same, I'll be a super happy guy looking at 40ish MPG combined, and cleaner air. The race is on, though; my Grandad is giving up driving this summer (he's turning 87), and he's told me I'm getting his lower mileage Buick Rendezvous...my current truck's days might be numbered! I'm sure he still has the planned roadtrip to Nashville in him, though...

So I guess you survived the treacherous cliff, and Bruce talked w/ you? I'd like to see a pic or two of the Compensator!

that's funny about you getting yer Grandpa's Buick- a guy I know at work just received his uncle's '03 Buick Century w/ 19K miles, he's a bit sad as he sold his '94 Dodge Stealth to make room for the Century, he's got kids. The Dodge was a playtoy for him.

And you will get the Ford sorted out, I'm sure. The rule on plug gaps from Dr.Jacobs is- take one plug, increase gap by 5 thousandths. If it runs Ok repeat till there's a miss. Go back down 5 thou, if it's OK there, set 'em all to that gap. Ron of course told us to increase gaps 20% over stock, a good starting point IMHO.

My instinct is to leave the coolant heat to manifold, but hey try it out and see!
I'd be interested if you can determine any gains from Bruce's Compensator...

Tracy G

No Bruce yet - this weekend I'll call. You're on the list for not long after that, Tracy

the three things I've noticed since the hot water bypass:

1 - truck heats up super fast (ECU in closed loop in about 1.5-2 miles of driving at 40 degree air temps) and the cabin heat is now crazy good (I should've done this back in the autumn), so the manifold is an integral part of the cooling system from Ford's design POV. I'd already planned a lower temp (15 degrees) thermostat to go with my planned electric fan swap, so this is no curveball. with warmer weather coming, I may need to revisit this if my temp gauge starts to climb too far above the usual spot, too often; so far, no change.

and

2 - preliminary/early numbers show mileage is up. Forum I found Hot Water mod on claims 1-2 MPG; in combination with a number of other factors, I'm seeing about 5. significant and ridiculous (in the good way), if you ask me. The same forum has some members claiming a similar (1-2 MPG) increase by defeating the (gov't mandated and factory designed) vacuum leak called the EGR system...stay tuned on that one, but I'll bet at least that much...if I get to it. It's easy to implement and reverse, but being concerned only with increasing Mileage might detract in some ways from caring for This Island Earth, and that's not right.

and

3 - I'm literally just feathering the gas pedal at cruise, and not much more than that at starts. A gentle and small increase in throttle makes a big difference. If Groove amplifies this, I may have to redesign my throttle linkage...

fascinating re: intake cooling system bypass! Instinct says to me that mileage would drop and power increase from this, whaddaya know! Greg, be sure also to do a tailpipe "sniff test" right away, it's a simple way to "test" the emissions as you go along. I assume the cooling mod is just re-routing a coolant hose, easily reversible. wonder if this works on OTHER vehicles...??

Same for the EGR...Though I didn't say to do this! LOL....

I wonder also, with your careful throttle technique, if the ECU has learned your style and is co-operating. Time will tell on all this, but here's what I'm seeing/hoping for:

Just you wait my friend, till you actually Groove this truck. Really, you are already seeing a lot of the benefits we get from the Groove, doin' a great job of Stage Managing. I'd encourage you when time permits,later results depending, to re-post the info specific to the hot water bypass trick in the Ford section of the Index. Pics would be good too. We don't know if this would work broadly, or just a few Fords. This one needs more attention/documentation IMHO. Further, later on, a concise description of the various things you've done, could be an invaluable guide to us all. PLEASE get pics of the TB before/after the Groove...I'm wondering if yours is the same Ford V-6, I did a year ago and got such spectacular results from, it certainly sounds the same.

tell the Percussion Section to bring the 80 inch gong, big Bass drum, the extra large tympani, and the biggest heavy Zildjian Wagnerian Symphonic cymbal pair they have, I think the Conductor is going to put Die Walkerie in the Program!

Call or email me anytime, Greg, 775-544-7692 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tracy G

It's not a cooling bypass, it's more that the coolant WARMS the intake manifold that gets bypassed. It's an easy-peasy change to implement and reverse: there are in and out tubes right on top of the intake manifold, the hoses go to the hoses to/from the heater core, so all that I needed to do was barb the smaller hoses together. that wee piece of brass has saved me in the range of orders of magnitude at the pump in comparison to the cost of the part!

Check the pics.

I would assume this mod works for other engines as well, no reason for it not to work...just like the RVS I've treated this engine, transmission and differential with.

Righto, just the wording, perfectly understood, pics tell the story. I haven't seen that exact setup on an engine before, wonder if it is Canada- cold climate specific to have the tubes in manifold like that. Ive seen same kinda tubes on TB's before, just not the intake man. As parallel example, Ford has different versions for PCV system on some models like Focus, i.e. normal, electric heated, water heated, indicates diff. configurations for different climatic regions/markets.

It's cool to get such a bang from such a fast cheapo mod!

Good on you, Mate!

Tracy G

I'm pretty sure it was standard for 3.0liter Ford vulcan engines with non-composite (aluminum) upper/ intake manifolds. this means Taurus, aero/windstar, probe in addition to Ranger and mazda B-series trucks, and maybe the early Escape/tribute. And possibly the Explorer too. For the North American market.

Thanks for the kudos! I'll be sure to shoot more pics and post as I go...maybe as you suggest, I'll start a vehicle-specific topic/thread in the Ford section. There are tons of these vehicles out there on the road. It would be wonderful to have them all running more efficiently and cleaner/cooler burning. Maybe even moreso than newer/current models!