BEC Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 The important thing is how this frustrating mess ends up. That is why this is being posted here but more importantly why I have a running thread on this at a forum called the Diesel Place. The thread on that forum has had around 5,000 views by now. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornwalled Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Hey Bob, Can you provide a link to the thread on Diesel Place? I for one would be interested in reading... -Jon EDIT: Here's the link: http://thedieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35385 However, you have to be a member to read it. I was interested, so I joined. I also joined AudioKarma earlier to read someone else's post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 "GM keeps doing what they're doing and they'll keep gettin what they're gettin. I just took one of my two GM vehicles in for a checkup. Bad alignment causing premature tire wear. Didn't offer anything and said that an alignment is regularly scheduled maintenance recommended every 12K miles. They wanted to charge me, so I took it to an independent. So you have to get your vehicle aligned every 12K miles: never heard of that before?" thats because its a lie! Ive been a tech for 15 years, three at a volvo dealership. If your tires are wearing unevenly I would suspect a front end problem. struts, tie rod, or balljoints can all cause uneven wear, but with so few miles maybe a robot at the factory was having a bad day. plse let me know what it turns out to be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 There are some dealerships that will try to weasel out of admitting to problems, even if they are covered under warranty. If speaking to the head of the service department does not get you anywhere, move up to the general manager. Keep a record of who you talked to, and the times and dates, this will be instrumental in showing that you have been clearly communicating. After all else fails, you can contact the brand's toll free customer service line, and work toward a resolution. All else fails, contact another dealership with your concerns, they may be willing to actually fix the problem, rather than try and ding you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 Joining The Diesel Place forum is easy and painless. Just go to: http://thedieselplace.com/forum and hit "Register" section is Duramax Second Generation (LLY) 2004.5+ Thread on this is "New Duramax In The Shop" Careful though, the toys being discussed on that forum are as addictive as audio equipment and very expensive. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 a heavy duty truck and new engine= not many techs trained in that engine, Im sure the general manager is kissing your *** already, I dont think the problem is the dealership, rather GM's ability or desire to do whatever it takes. 18 days, they should have just thrown another engine in it from the get go. Would be solved by now, could have sent the engine to GM and if they dont already know about the problem (which they probly do) they can pull it apart fix and use it as a replacement for the next one that s@#ts the bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 ---------------- On 7/5/2005 6:08:26 PM travisc wrote: a heavy duty truck and new engine= not many techs trained in that engine, Im sure the general manager is kissing your *** already, I dont think the problem is the dealership, rather GM's ability or desire to do whatever it takes. 18 days, they should have just thrown another engine in it from the get go. Would be solved by now, could have sent the engine to GM and if they dont already know about the problem (which they probly do) they can pull it apart fix and use it as a replacement for the next one that s@#ts the bed. ---------------- No one in the Dealership wanted to tear into that new engine. From the beginning the whole bunch of them tried to convince GM to get me another truck and then replace the engine. GM insisted on having them make the repair. As far as I can tell, it is the first time this dealership has ever had one of these engines apart. The latest update today is they now think the engine has injector problems. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gullahisland Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 It may be a pain in the a$$, but one of the most effective tactics (albeit a bit "guerilla" in nature) is to stand out front of the dealership with a great big sign warning potential patrons of the problems you've had. My guess is that your problem would be solved within a couple of hours. It's your right to picket and likely the quickest route to a solution in this case. Just an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 bob I posted at the other forum what I think is the cause of the new problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 ---------------- On 7/5/2005 6:43:11 PM travisc wrote: bob I posted at the other forum what I think is the cause of the new problem ---------------- I saw your post on the diesel place. If it is truly some bad injectors, I think the problem is likely that the guys in the shop mishandled the injectors or some fuel lines in disassembly or reassembly. All it takes is a few almost microscopic particles to take out a bunch of injectors. Someone said the going rate on replacing a set of Duramax injectors is aournd $8,500.00. Will be interesting to hear what they say tomorrow. I doubt if they have any new injectors in stock. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I know that in Canada the going rate for injectors for the '03 Ford 6.0L powerstroke is in the neighbourhood of $ 800.00 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Are those the platinum ones, christ. Regardless new engine or lawyer Bob. God only knows how long you were running that engine with dexcool either washing out your cylinder walls through the head gasket or splashing all over them from the crankcase. Im sure its probly repairable but this is a new truck were talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagne taste beer budget Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I'm showing a G.M. part number of 97303657 for the injectors on my Alldata with a list price of $403.73 each, plus 12.7 hrs labor to replace the set, $825 labor at $70 per hour. Makes a total of $4054 plus tax/shop supplies out the door. If your shop rate is $100/hr, add $381. Calculate from there. Regardless, it's under warranty. I agree that they should have just swapped out the engine from the get-go, but having been at a Chevy/Cadillac dealer for 7 years before I opened up here, I know there comes a time when the dealer has had training in a certain thing, the tech is SUPPOSED to know how to work on something, and even though he doesn't have anything but schooling/on the bench experience, there comes a time when he has to dig in and get his feet wet. Been there, done that. I was the only certified On*Star installer in our dealership when it was in it's infancy, the first few were a PITA money losing proposition, but I got better. I feel for the guy that has the training to fix your truck, technically, but just isn't able to at this juncture. He's probably waking up at night with your truck going through his head, wondering if he did this, checked that, torqued this thing to the right spec, etc. Been there, done that, still there, still do that. The technology in todays vehicles is far beyond what most people understand or comprehend. When I left the dealer, a fully optioned Seville could have up to 22 seperate computers on it. Just because they CAN make something computer controlled, doesn't necessarily mean they SHOULD make it that way. (On the other hand, we tore apart a 98 Ford Explorer today with a bad miss and constant misfire on one cylinder, the rocker arm was toast, they use a drip type lubrication system for the cam lobes more like what you'd expect to see on a 1957 Allis Chalmers than a fancy new Ford. End drip hole plugged up, no oil to the cam lobe or rocker, will be a $500 repair due to bad design.) I hope you get your truck fixed ASAP, but I doubt standing in front of the dealer waving a flag will make the guy working on it any smarter. Hopefully they will pull in a GM tech from somewhere to give it a look. Personally, I've always been a GM man myself, though I do keep a spare fuel pump module in the back of my wifes Jimmy just in case it decides to crap out in B.F. Egypt. I figure on losing a steering sensor, having leaking front axle seals, leaking rear pinion seal, and probable leaking oil cooler lines. My vehicle, not your 2005. I'm sure in a couple years there will be an appropriate list for it too, once they've been on the road a while. Every manufacturer has likely failure items, I'm sure your engine is NOT what they'd consider normal. Best of luck, I'm sure it will turn out fine, other than the inconvience of being without your truck for some time. Hopefully you can come to a good solution for that with your dealer also. Time is money, espically for a work truck that's been down as long as yours has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 I have talked to service in two other dealerships. Both were surprised that GM had that shop open up a Duramax without a GM factory tech present. Probably we are seeing an attempt at money saving by a GM that is right now having some money problems. I personally think this attempt at saving money may cost them more money. Granted, the truck sat some of the time waiting for various parts, but I think the shop has close to 40 hours of actual work time in on the truck by now. Add the cost of parts including a new head and the bill is way up there. I think now some injectors will be added to that amount. I will drop in on them again tomorrow morning. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I feel for you bob. I had a similiar experience with a '95 Mercury Villager. Seems that Nissan assembled about 167,000 of the 3.0 engines wrong in Japan. When one died you went on a waiting list. It took almost two months and never ran the same again. I checked it out in my garage at work, vacuum lines left off/misrouted, wire bundles haphazardly stuck back in helter skelter. I fixed what I could but my wife never trusted that car again and we traded it in '96. BTW it had 6k miles when the engine went. " (On the other hand, we tore apart a 98 Ford Explorer today with a bad miss and constant misfire on one cylinder, the rocker arm was toast, they use a drip type lubrication system for the cam lobes more like what you'd expect to see on a 1957 Allis Chalmers than a fancy new Ford. End drip hole plugged up, no oil to the cam lobe or rocker, will be a $500 repair due to bad design.)" Reminds me of the old Fram commercial " You can pay me now, or you can pay me later!" Champaign, that is fine German engineering you are talking about there. LOL! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Bob You are doomed, doomed! Your engine is built by a Japanese company with American labor. Remember the Bridgestone Firestone tire disaster? And you have a Bosch fuel injection pump. The Bosch pump on my Cummins power Dodge Ram died at less than 36,000 miles, out of warranty (low yearly mileage for various reasons). Luckily, I persuaded Cummins and Daimler Chrysler to reimburse nearly all of the $3400 cost. At least it only took two days from the time it was towed in to fix, one to get the pump, and one to install it. Of course, I also have the infamous 53 block that sometimes develops cracks in the water jacket under extreme usage. Thank god the truck was atleast built in Mexico and I can weld with nirod. Seriously, best of luck! I feel for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted July 6, 2005 Author Share Posted July 6, 2005 Day 19 of new truck in the shop. Got that magic call this morning that the truck was ready and perfect. I went there for a test drive. Decided to take it out on the highway for about 20 miles, have some lunch, then drive it back. Lunch was at Popeye's and the red beans and rice were very good today. On a sadder note, back to the test drive. On the way, I was somewhat dismayed that the truck downshifted from 5th to 4th gear on some moderate hills. Have to say that it ran better on the way back without having to downshift on the same hills. I then took it up a pretty steep hill and tried to accelerate from around 30 MPH at 1600 RPM and the truck just had no guts at all. Had to downshift to even accelerate. For those of you not familiar with diesels in general, that is where this truck should show what it is made of with about 610 ft. pounds of torque available at that RPM. Seems there was almost no torque until the engine spun up to around 2300 RPM. Took it back to the dealership and they said they would go climb some hills with the "Tech II" connected. I got the call from them a few hours later saying that they had verified a "Low Turbocharger Boost" problem. Tomorrow is another day. By the way, on the way out the service manager handed me a fully paid for 72 month 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travisc Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 sounds like they didnt do anything to it between yesterday and today. I hope your not missing work running out there, and if you are I hope your not missing it so to speak. 30's coming man good luck. champaign, I put an engine in a 99 hyundai sonota today. Near as I can tell oil n go put one quart of oil in her car she made 2,000 miles and bent the crankshaft jumped time and bent valves. I wish she could go after them for it but I dont think she'd get far after 2k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted July 7, 2005 Author Share Posted July 7, 2005 Day 20 update. It's running!! And running pretty nicely actually. Seems yesterday it had a small leak in the turbo outlet that was messing up boost. Also they has to do an alignment on the turbo variable vanes. Anyway, they wanted me to take it for the weekend and tell them what I think of it on Monday. Case stays open until then at least. Guess I need to try to move some mountains or run it up to the dragstrip this weekend to see if I can find any weaknesses in it. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royster Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Bob, Congrats..... If it makes it thru the week end trade that sucker on monday. Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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