Buddy bought a cummins, not to happy

[NSperduto]

My buddy bought an '03 and it now has 3k miles on it. He says he was driving it, then it felt like it was running on two cylinders and then it dide. He also said there was a bunch of trans fluid on the ground. He had it towed to the dealer, the dealer left it in the garage over night and it started up in the morning and he said that the fuel jelled up.

The truck is a couple hundred miles into a tank of fuel. It was 18 degrees when he got up(about 3am), the truck started fine (not plugged in over night) he drove the 80 miles to work. The truck sat for a couple hours, then ran an erand, then sat for about 4 hours, then when he went to drive home is when he had the problem.



I'm having a hard time believing a fuel gel problem in the middle of a day, it was about 35-40 yesterday afternoon.



Any suggestions. Do we need to run additives and at what temp and what kind of additive. I didn't think it was necessary to run anything unless you had a problem



Thanks,

Nick



Oh yeah, the trans leak was a cracked trans case.



Needless to say, he's pretty ****** off.

 

[KevinO]

needs to put some cetane boost in it when the temps drop below 20. I've got a friend that drove about a 100 miles in a ford ps before it gelled up on him going down the road. Might have got some bad fuel with allot of water in it.

 

[DPelletier]

I've never used an additive before and had no problems at those temps.

I don't know if contaminated fuel would be more prone to jelling or not.

Whats with the transmission? Any explanation on how it cracked? or a factory defect?



Dave

 

[bworthington]

something smells fishy to me 98 01 03 hope to have an 05

 

[NSperduto]

No explanation on the crack yet.





Nick

 

[Dean Upson]

The gelled fuel doesn't make any sense to me, either. I never add anything to mine and never have problems. The fuel is treated. Your friend didn't use #2 heating oil, did he? .



Dean

 

[NSperduto]

Dean, he says he's been going to the HEss station by him. Which is a branc chain here on the east coast.

He says they have two diesles and buys the premium one.



Nick

 

[rbattelle]

buys the premium one

Did he change his fuel filter? First thing I would have done.

 

[Dean Upson]

There have been posts about members having problems with clogged fuel filters and debris from the tank. I do not see how the fuel could have gelled at that temperature.



Dean

 

[bulabula]

Bad fuel or fuel gelling isn't his trucks or DC's fault.



Oh yeah, the cracked trans case would be DC's concern. No leaks or nothing before it up-and-cracked making a mess? Sounds like some warranty work and your buddy's back in business.

 

[NSperduto]

I'm not trying to say that the fuel problem is DC's fault. But I don't see how it could be a fuel problem. I feel they are making a misdiagnosis.



We'll see after he gets it back.

 

[CATCRACKER]

first i have heard of this type of problem. need to pug it up it makes life alot easier. sound like bad fuel to me. remember there is alot of bad fuel out thier be careful where you fill up. right after they fill the main tank is a bad time b/c this causes water and debree to kick up.

 

[daveshoe]

Maybe the tank had water in it prior to assembly. My nephew has a fleet of diesels and his lines froze on a brand new '03 [last year] Dealer filled tank locally,and it was not determined if gas station had bad fuel or tank was ''wet'' on delivery . This was fixed under warranty. Jackson Dodge ,Celina OH

Maybe these tanks are stored outside at some point prior to assembly.

 

[LightmanE300]

is it possible the ecu detected the trans fluid leaking out and went into some sort of limp mode?

 

[rparlaman]

fuel jelling

I had it happen about 10 years ago, since then anytime it gets real cold i use Stayaden aditive. Even the manule says to use a little Kerosen. Thats my 92 Cummins TD. My 01 i don`t drive in the winter



Ron

















1992 CTD 161,000miles. 01 HO CTD, Banks power pack, Jacobs E brake,50gal trans flow. 30ft forest river 5th.

 

[NSperduto]

Fyi, the story he was given on the trans is that it was a bad casting and there was too much air bubbles in the casting, which caused it to crack.



I'm not sure if he has the truck back yet. I have not talked to him in awhile.



Nick