GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: ford

  • The Future Always Wins : GF Radio

    The Future Always Wins : GF Radio

    Eric tells about driving the 2013 Ford F150 Limited in downtown Manhattan, as well as using the truck up at the CT house. A big thank you to our Mike and Scott and Mary Beth at Ford for making that happen!

    ford-f150-truck

    Rick brings up the illegal importation of honey, read more here: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/02/honeygate-sting-leads-to-charges-for-illegal-chinese-honey-importation

    Eric talks about the celebration of the neato factor, the cool stuff people are doing, like Tyler and his severe weather data company, Allison House.

    Speaking of the maker world, Rick  tells us about WikiHouse, a project to use CNC machines to make housing, very neat. Its a house that is assembled all from plywood cut on a CNC machine.

    Eric gives a shout out to Steve at Born To Farm, and his podcast, Growing Your Own Grub

    Rick suggests looking outside the US for neat podcasts, you can get his podcast suggestions by following Rick on twitter and his hashtag: #podcastsworthhearing

    Spray Foam Insulation comes up at the end

    The Cement Truck always wins.

  • Chocolate Cake & Truck Repair GF Radio

    Chocolate Cake & Truck Repair GF Radio

    The 5 minute chocolate mug cake recipe video how to starts off the show, as Eric and Mike discuss making the 5 min microwave cake. Eric fixed the posted recipe, hoping no one actually put 2 tablespoons of salt in the cake. Katja from Holland tells us that the Dutch use butter, not oil in their baking, and has some suggestions for making  grown-up version of the cake with espresso powder, orange liqueur, or rum. yum…

    but its the ubiquitous fork in the chocolate cake recipe video that caught one viewer’s eye, and we learn Eric may have valuable silverware in the drawer. That’s not just a for, it’s a “Kirk Repousse Sterling Silver fork” and it may be worth some cash. wow.

    we talk about the overnight cole slaw recipe, here is the link to the recipe

    Eric’s Ford F150 has a bunch of error codes from his code reader, the one that is of the most concern is the 513 PCM Int Volt Failure. Here is the full list of KOEO codes:

    117 Eng Coolant Temp Sensor below minimum voltage
    126 MAP sensor pressure above or below normal
    122 Throttle Position Sensor – replaced this one –
    112 Air Charge Temp Sensor below minimum voltage
    327 EGR valve position circuit below minimum voltage

    513 PCM Int Volt Failure
    553 Thermactor Air Diverter Solenoid circuit fault
    552 Air Management Circuit 1 failure
    565 Canister Purge Solenoid circuit fault
    556 Fuel Pump relay primary circuit fault
    558 EGR valve regulator solenoid circuit fault

    Computer Geek talk is next with a warning to Mac OSX users of a actual Apple virus, here is the article.

    Hotels and other businesses who allow you to use their wifi may be inserting ads in to the web pages you browse, Mike and Eric talk the ethics of such doings, here is the article this is based on.

    We move on to viewer mail and great note from Lauren, here is her blog, Plenty Of Words For You.

    photo by jusben

  • Checking out the New 2011 Fords

    Checking out the New 2011 Fords

    Last night I was a guest of the Ford Motor Company in Manhattan. They invited me to come check out their new cars, trucks and SUVs before the opening of the New York International Auto Show. Really Cool. Craig Patterson and Scott Monty spoke about how they were using social media to introduce the new Ford Explorer. The 2011 Ford Explorer is the North American Truck of the Year, and it gets the best fuel mileage in its class.

    Craig Patterson and the 2011 Ford Explorer

    For 2011 Ford has redone the Explorer. What I thought was interesting are the new inflatable rear safety belts. In an accident the seat belts become airbags and cushion the occupants. There’s a video on the Ford Explorer website you can watch that explains the inflatable seat belts better than I can.

    Ford Escape Hybrid

    The 2011 Ford Escape Hybrid was on the show floor. Ford gave us an Escape Hybrid a while back and we did a review video about it, watch the video here. Our Labradors really like the Ford Escape Hybrid, lots of room in back for them and 34 miles per gallon in the city its pretty cool. The Escape Hybrid has echo friendly seats; biologists at the Ford plant in Chicago have devised a way to make the seat covers out of soy instead of oil-based products.

    Eric likes this truck.

    A favorite part of the Ford exhibit for me was the new 2011 Ford F150 with their Echo Boost Engine. It’s a dual turbocharged direct fuel injected engine that they torture tested full speed ahead for 164,706 miles.

    Ford took took a random Eco Boost engine off the assembly line ( engine #448AA ) and started running it. First on a dynometer for 300 hours, simulating 10 years of use, then hauling timber, then running 24 hours on a Nascar track, then trailer pulls against the competitors, and then, Ford took the same engine to the Baja 1000. Ford has a neat series of videos documenting the story of engine #448AA on their site here. Click here to watch the whole series of videos . Well done videos.

    Click the play button to watch the Torture Test videos
    2011 Ford F150 with EcoBoost Engine
    Underside of the F150
  • Simple Way to Test Your Car Alternator

    Simple Way to Test Your Car Alternator

    Is your battery or alternator light on? Here’s the first step to determine if your alternator is not working.

    You will need a voltmeter – I prefer a digital one – they are all less than $20.

    Open the hood of your car/truck, set the voltmeter for 20 volts DC or whatever DC voltage setting it has between 15-25 volts DC.

    12.67 volts DC means the alternator is not charging

    Place the Black lead from the voltmeter on the negative post of the car battery – the black cable from the engine is attached to the negative side of the battery.

    Place the Red lead from the voltmeter on the positive post of the car battery – a red cable from the engine is attached to the positive side of the battery.

    Read the voltage: if it is around 12.5 volts, the alternator is not charging the battery. This may be caused by several things, it may be a loose or disconnected wire, a loose belt, the voltage regulator may be bad, or the alternator is bad. In many cars, the voltage regulator is attached to the back of, or incorporated into the alternator.

    When my Ford F150 truck battery went dead, I pulled out my voltmeter and tested the battery. I was able to tell the problem was not a loose wire or connection because soon after I started testing at the battery, the alternator started to smoke, which is a pretty good indication that it needs to be replaced.

    On many cars and trucks, if you have some mechanical ability, you can replace the alternator yourself. Look online for a discussion forum about your vehicle and search the posts for alternator replacement tips and tricks. When you go to your local parts store to pick up a new alternator, its ideal to bring in the broken one, most parts like this require a trade-in of the old part ( so they can rebuild it ) AND it is good to confirm that the new alternator is the right one. Save yourself a trip.

    Tell us your alternator stories below, be good to learn other tips and tricks from you all.

  • Why I own a @fordtrucks F150 : dirt

    Why I own a @fordtrucks F150 : dirt

    my raised beds seemed to have lost about 1/3 of their soil. Not sure why. It may be when I weed them some soil always comes with the roots of the weeds, or the soil is settling slowly.

    Getting garden soil can be a logistical pain. And expensive. You have to order it and have it delivered, dumped onto your driveway, and then you move it.

    BUT, if you own a Ford F150, you just drive down to the gravel yard, pay them $22, and get a huge load of soil.

    The GardenFork.TV F150 gets a load of soil
    The GardenFork.TV F150 gets a load of soil
    The front loader operator but a bit too much dirt in, so we're looking like a low-rider
    The front loader operator but a bit too much dirt in, so we're looking like a low-rider
    The bedliner makes it real easy to shovel out soil and gravel
    The bedliner makes it real easy to shovel out soil and gravel
  • The latest GardenFork.TV @Ford : an @FordTrucks F150

    The latest GardenFork.TV @Ford : an @FordTrucks F150

    Not sure if I told you this, but I tore the rear end of my 82 Ford F150 off towing Bill’s car out of a ditch, and after that my favorite truck was no longer the same. The shackle brackets were broken, the rear half of the exhaust system was gone… you get the picture.

    So I picked up a 93 Ford F150, in black of course. I drove it to work in the city, and already got a parking ticket. Thank You New York City.

    eric 93 F150