NEED A TOW

[LEPage]

I am broke down in Calhoun, Ga, about 35 miles south of Chattanooga. Truck needs a new $12,000 engine & I need my 5th wheel in Pa for the holidays. Anyone interested in pulling a 40' Travel Supreme please contact me ASAP @ larryepage520@aol.com or 570-850-1273. Thank You.

[LEPage]

I am broke down in Calhoun, Ga, about 35 miles south of Chattanooga. Truck needs a new $12,000 engine & I need my 5th wheel in Pa for the holidays. Anyone interested in pulling a 40' Travel Supreme please contact me ASAP @ larryepage520@aol.com or 570-850-1273. Thank You.

[powerboatr]

dammmmm
if i was still in north bama i could run over and help, thats bout 2hrs from where we were
sooory to hear about the cummins dropping out on you

[Ray,IN]

Sorry friend, this is all the help I have to offer.

[allendp]

I am sure all of us wish we could help. Hope you get your rig out there for the holidays. Your post is very scary because I own the same truck. Can you give us a few more details on what happened to your engine?

[LEPage]

It appears that there have been many injector failure issues with the Common Rail ('03 & later) engines. This in its self wouldn't be such a major issue, but they fail in the open position. When this happens, there is a steady stream of fuel (at nearly 26,000psi) spraying into the affected cylinder & the EGT in this cylinder instantly melts down the piston (remember the 1350* max egt?) & causes major engine damage. Damlier Chrysler finds any reason they can to void the warranty, with reasons from "bad fuel" to "poor maintenance". For a warranty claim of this magnitude, D/C sends a factory rep out to either yea or nea the warranty. It took them 11 DAYS for them to even come & tell me that they would not cover it. I could have had it back on the road in this time frame had I any clue this would be the answer. The federal Magnuson - Moss warranty act protects us from this, but so few challange them that they continue to get away with it. This act even protects trucks that are not stock, by stating that they must prove that the mods directly caused the malfunction. It's just a time & money thing to follow thru, of which I fully intend to do. In the meantime, I'm reasponsable to get it back on the road.

[RustyJC]

All of the Big 3 have had spates of injector problems with the advent of the higher injection pressures and/or electronic injection control required for emissions control reasons. At this point, you basically have three (3) choices:

1. Fight for warranty coverage. If you elect to go this route, I would suggest that you check out the forums at turbodieselregister.com and dieseltruckresource.com for discussions related to others who have gone this route.

2. Get a fuel sample and go after your fuel supplier if the fuel is truly "bad".

3. Failing both of the above, any number of individuals have had this type of failure covered by their vehicle insurance policies.

Unfortunately, due to the financial situations of the domestic Big 3 manufacturers, they all seem to be playing hardball with warranties to a greater or lesser degree since any warranty dollar saved falls directly to the bottom line. I'm not saying this is the way things should be - just the way things are.

Rusty

[Jeff_in_The_Dalles]

I replied to your duplicate thread, suggesting that you go over to dieseltruckresource.com.

I was kind of wondering what caused the failure. I wouldn't think DC could claim the truck isn't under warranty because of a fuel contamination unless they have SOME evidence of bad fuel. Even then, you would think you could make the argument that they must not have an adequate filter system.

Electronic injectors on gas engines stick open also, usually after someone has had something apart between the filter and injectors. I think it only takes something 5 or 10 microns across getting caught in there. At least with gas, one piston runs rich and the engine runs badly, but if you get the problem fixed it doesn't melt down a piston like diesels do.

Getting a couple of fuel samples sounds like a really good idea, as well as keeping the filter. Hopefully you also have a record of fuel filter changes, and where you bought that last tank...

Good luck with it.

[LEPage]

I don't know exactly what caused the failure, but do know there is a fellow about 40 mi. north of Chattanooga sitting in the same boat with 30K on the clock, denied because of "bad fuel". I found a guy in Birmingham today to haul me home tommorrow, his one truck (he has 2 brand F & 3 brand D) has 15K on it, sitting in a garage waiting for the very same repair. These are but a few of the examples I have found myself in the last few weeks. I'm no fan of attorneys by any means, but I'm thinking maybe a class action suit of some type is in order here.

[gearman]

Sorry to here about your ride. Glad to hear you found a tow.

I agree with above post, with the lack of profits that the manufactures have, this affects there warrenty program. No money, no warrenty. The car companys are trying to not lay off employees, ect.. they are hurting.
Good luck.

[powerboatr]

surprised they didnt try to void it for the load you were pulling??

[Jeff_in_The_Dalles]

From reading forums and knowing a bunch of other people with Cummins trucks, those failures seem to be pretty rare. If there were several in your area, I wonder if there could be a fuel issue?

Did the engine knock or give any other warning sign before it went?

[rocinante]

Wow. I was really considering going to a Dodge diesel next time, looks like I will stick with a gas engine and save the headache.

[RustyJC]

I wouldn't let one problem scare me away. We took delivery of our 2002 Dodge/Cummins on 8/15/01, and it's never been back to the dealer for any problems whatsoever, warranty or otherwise. It's been absolutely reliable.

Rusty