Ford Diesel Tools?

[slowtech]

After reading the posts on Ford diesel repair I would like to expand our service beyond maintenance, water pumps & glow plug circuits. A lot of you are very experienced with diesels. What would be an essential tool list to be serious about jumping in? Thanks. Tom

[brianp87]

The only thing I can think of is the removal tool for gm injectors.

[liljoe]

On the 7.3s you will need some special fittings to test the HPOP as well as a high pressure gauge( I use a brake fluid pressure gauge with some fabricated fittings), on the 6.0s about the main thing is lots of patience when tracing down a loss of high oil pressure, jump in and make some green backs, not much to these after just a little studying and research on the systems, I recomend the coffey table books on these engines ( can be found on the net, Google it) they go way indepth on the systems/sub-systems on these engines. Any problems you run into can usually be helped on here and the tip system in OD5.com....

[Tim Martin]

You will also need a very good scan tool to diagnose these stroker diesels. Some scan tools function slowly on the Fords while others are fast. The Ford IDS system appears to be among the best for these engines.

Two other things you will need are lots of patience and persistence. Unfortunately these are not available for purchasing anywhere.

[steven kiser]

OTC offers a set of sockets and pressure adapters that i've found very helpful. Don't go crazy on all the dsl tools you see.

[Tim Martin]

Yea steve I agree with your line of advice. Don't buy the tool just because it says it can be used on a diesel application. Not that I learned the hard way but some money can be saved by doing some improvising and still get the job done.

Another aspect of the diesel world: Don't hesitate to get training. Take seminars and classes when they are available. Also, check out AVI's website for alot of useful videos of diesel engine diagnosis. The ones I got are down right good and well worth the money.