'04.5 Chug Chug (the sequel to "04.5 KA-POW)

[Rosco]

ceaman,



You have got way more patience than I ever would have had in your situation. I also hope your new truck is trouble free for you.

 

[ceaman]

I appreciate the thought that I am being patient... but I must admit that it would be easy to go off the edge at this point. I decided when it happened that most of this is obviously out of my control and that getting my blood to boil would only cause me more grief in the end.



I love my job, and seeing the States from coast to coast. Yet I dread the downtime that this truck has brought to me since day one. I too am hopeful that the next truck is trouble free or I will be forced to quit and look for a 9to5 close to the home. My 03 555 with stacked pressure boxes and a blocked wastegate was virtually trouble free in comparison to this stock 04. 5 600. I am hopeful that the bugs that haunted this January 04 built truck are not found in the new truck as well.

 

[AMink]

UGH! No one should have to go through that! I am not familiar with STAR. What is it? Better luck on your new truck!

 

[ceaman]

UGH! No one should have to go through that! I am not familiar with STAR. What is it? Better luck on your new truck!

Well from what I have saw of STAR it is the technical support for dealers. To order any parts for your Cummins engine the dealer must contact STAR for approval, because all common rail engine parts are on restriction. Dealers are not permitted to make decisions on what parts are needed due to excessive warranty costs. The service departments must run tests, then give results to STAR, who then make the decisions on which if any parts will be sent. For you to order parts on a cash pay or out of warranty basis you too must have STAR's approval (usually by supplying a VIN of an out of warranty vehicle).



or you can order them from your CUMMINS engine dealer with no hassle.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

man, talk about a nightmare! I suppose the silver lining is that you're getting a new truck, but this is just a shame



hope the new truck is 100% trouble-free!

 

[LMcCary]

Refresh my memory. Is this the truck that Dodge replaced only a couple of injectors?

 

[JCleary]

sounds to me like they should have at least remanufactured the injectors while installing the new engine. I know in my shop (construction equipment rental company, with 5. 9 cummins, M11's, N14's, etc. in our equip) we never rebuilt a motor and installed it with the same injectors. Well, maybe the same ones, but they were remanufactured.



Anyway, it seems that STAR cost themselves a lot of money trying to save a buck.

 

[JMolt]

When your new one comes, I would trade it in on a Ford.

 

[RedRam401]

ceaman,

When I bought my 04. 5 I was tempted to put a driver in my Pete and use the CTD for hotshot work

It seems that a guy would be better off spending the money for a class 8 truck and not have the headaches:--)

You put more miles on your CTD than I do on my Pete, although I do envy your fuel mileage, my kitty kat is a lush:{

I think that I might look seriously at a class 8, I only paid $78,000 for mine, 1 1/2 years old with 134,00 miles.

#ad

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

ceaman, since D/C is not repairing the truck and you've parted ways with it, I hope that you've already "settled" on the new truck and won't be out in the cold since your old truck now has little value with a dead engine? Hope they're not basing the deal on a working truck with a good engine



Vaughn

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Looks to me like, if the engine was running OK after the tech replaced the injector, then BLEW while still under the dealers control and repair ticket, THEY would be responsible to make the repair right! You mean that if I take MY truck in for a tuneup or oil change, and they blow up my engine in the process, *I* am responsible?



Seems to me their liability insurance should cover the failure, if nothing else...

 

[ceaman]

Refresh my memory. Is this the truck that Dodge replaced only a couple of injectors?

The #5 injector was replaced on the last engine meltdown... . #3 was replaced 3 miniuites before the engine locked up this time.

 

[ceaman]

ceaman, since D/C is not repairing the truck and you've parted ways with it, I hope that you've already "settled" on the new truck and won't be out in the cold since your old truck now has little value with a dead engine? Hope they're not basing the deal on a working truck with a good engine



Vaughn

The deal is done... ... or at least the numbers are set in stone.

 

[sag2]

ceaman, just out of curiosity, what did they charge you for mileage use? At least here in California, the lemon law would not have covered this at the mileage you had. Your laws must be pretty good for the customer.



Also, had you noticed any smoke before both failures? A burned piston is usually the result of a stuck open injector. That is probably why they were looking at fuel contamination on the first repair.

 

[ceaman]

You have to remeber that my case has been ongoing for more than 9 months (Im averaging 10K a month).



My truck was never looked at for fuel contamination at any of the repairs, and yes the injector was stuck open on the first motor. I never saw smoke or high egt's on either motor...

 

[Pit Bull]

Sounds like this new high pressure fuel system that are being used to get past the EPA issues is a major durablity problem. Seems like all of the big 3 diesel offers are now less reliable then the gas engines and they don't get that much better mpg. I guess since the Cummins comes with a 100K mile warranty you just need to trade it before the warranty is up and always carry a cell phone so you can call for help. What a shame. I have a buddy that just sold his 2000 CTD and is buying a new Truck. Based on reading a lot of these current threads I recommended he just go for the best deal between Ford and Dodge, since they both have these HP fuel systems that have problems.