Archived Help! Noise but no go.

[Sticks]

Took my truck to the dealer. They experienced the problems I was seeing and diagnosed the LP pump with being out of spec. BUT SAID THE WARRANTY IS VOID BECAUSE THERE WAS SEDIMENT IN THE FILTER AND THE TANK. I am trying to argue with them now. My argument is unless they can prove that the sediment caused the problems, then I have two mutually exclusive problems, a dirty tank and a bad pump that have nothing to do with one another. They want $1400 to clean the tank and lines and replace the LP pump, and said that all this may still not solve the problem. Can anyone give me advice?



Mark

Yeah, find another dealer. $1400 is steep even for a stea... dealer to do what they say needs to be done.



BBB comes to mind as well.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

1400 dollars for an answer that MAY NOT cure what ails ya. Yeah beat feet out of there. If that dealer is the only game in town save yourself 1200 dollars and grab a lift pump (Easy change out with common hand tools and 1/2 hour of your time) and a filter and call it christmas. There it is plain and simple. That "Sediment" cannot make its way to the injection pump. That screen in the tank on the end of the pickup tube will catch most if not all of it and what does make it by the filter will make short order of it anyhow. However what damage to the injection pump that may have allready incurred is from driving that truck with a dead lift pump so save it more stress and tow it out of there. Or the dealer will try and sell you a 1200 dollar vp44 for 4500 dollars (OR MORE as we have seen happen at a certain dealer up this way)

 

[mr111]

I had no intention of spending 1400 at the dealer to swap my lp pump and flush the lines. What I was hoping to do is convince the dealer that it should still be under warranty. I spoke with the service manager and he said he would honor the warranty this time, but if I didn't clean out the tank and lines he wouldn't honor it again. The new estimate was 400 for the clean out and the lp pump would remain under warranty. I contemplated cleaning it out myself, but that's a small price to pay to ensure that the vp44 would remain under warranty should the timing error not get fixed and kill any potential arguments that I didn't do a sufficient flush job. So I had a minor victory, let's see if my truck get's fixed correctly.



They gave me my truck back for now to burn off the tank. It's due back in next thursday for the service. I have my fingers crossed.

 

[Sticks]

And how did they propose to verify that the tank was indeed cleaned to their specifications?



For that matter, all you would have is thier word that it was done if they did it.



I would tell them to just replace the LP and you will take care of the rest.



And what is to say that you do thouroghly clean out the tank and lines, and 9 months later you take it back in for the same thing (God forbid), and they say "There was sediment in the filter again, and we told you we would only do it the one time and YOU were supposed to have it cleaned. "



For that matter, how do they know there is sediment in the tank? Did they pull the tank and look inside? Did they shrink a service tec and had him crawl in there with hip waders on to look?



I apoligize, I am in a mood, and stupid people (service managers) are setting me off real easy. Especially when they the price dropped $1000, and that supposedly is being soaked up by the warranty of a $150 pump, and . 5 labor.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

They gave me my truck back for now to burn off the tank.

So they are letting you kill the injection pump by driving around on a dead lift pump ... . With "Sediment" in the tank sounds great yep I would trust theese emmy award winners.

 

[R C Cola]

Help ??

My 2$ worth--If Pittsburg offered to try to do a warranty job for you, I would have my truck in there now. At least you know they will diagnose and repair the problem properly. Wish I were close enough that they could work on my truck!! R C

 

[mr111]

I don't think I was very clear on my last post. I am letting the dealer do the warranty repair and clean out my tank. I don't want them to tell me that I didn't clean it out enough. I am just driving it right now at the dealers request to burn off some diesel fuel (the tank was full). It would save them from disposing of it and keep me from buying another tank full. Plus, from my point of view, if driving on it will cause the injector pump to fail faster, good. I am hoping to have it replaced under warranty too. Although with my luck it'll last just through the warranty period and no further. Thanks for all the advice and sorry for any confusion.



Mark

 

[mr111]

Dealer Flooded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's difficult to believe, but the dealer I dropped the truck off to got flooded. With 4-5feet of water. The entire lot of cars was totalled with three exceptions. My truck and two others that were on the lifts. The dealer called and told me that the hanger assembly would need to be replaced to the tune of $450 additional earlier that day (total of $1000 to clean out the muck in my tank). I called back a half hour later to ask more questions and I was told water was coming in and the police were evacuated the building. This happened last Friday. I stopped by sunday and saw the lot. Every car was destroyed. Some were upside down, others were all crammed together. It was a horror show. I was very happy to see my truck up on the lift dry and clean. The tech working on the truck said that as soon as he heard about the flood he cranked the lift up as high as it would go. There was a ram a couple of lifts down that was about a foot lower and the tires were muddy. Mine must have stayed dry by a matter of inches. Of course it was apart when it happened, so some of the parts were likely lost. The gas tank was on the opposite side of the shop. Now the dealership has no power, no cars, no office furniture or paperwork, no computers, but insists they will get back to fixing my truck eventually. They're phones are still not hooked up. I am considering pulling the truck out of there but it's up on a lift with no power. Plus, I don't know what parts are going to be needed or were taken off, the tech here does. But I am very afraid the dealership will go out of business or that the cleanup will take months. Any suggestions as to what I should do? I have some crude pics I took with my camera on low quality that tell the story if anyone is interested. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



Also, does anybody have a contact with Snap-On? I am trying to get the tech that saved my truck something to say thanks. I know exactly what I want to get, but I'm trying not to pay list price(Snap-On usually offers big discounts over retail). Thanks again.



Mark

 

[Black-Smoker]

That sucks mark if it was me i would get my truck out of there as fast as i could no telling when they will get around to fixing your truck and what about that extra 450 bucks for a bracket? How could the bracket be bad and why did they say nothing about it before. The lift should have a manual override lever on it to lower it down if not make the dealer hook it up to a generator they should have one there by now. By the way where do you live and what caused the flood?

 

[mr111]

The Hanger assembly is just the name (probably in other circles) of the part that hangs into the tank with the rheostat and float for the fuel gauge and the suction line filter, etc. The one on our trucks doesn't even have a fuel pump on it like they normally do. I just bought one for a different vehicle with the fuel pump for half that amount of money. The tech said that there are neoprene seals and check valves in the system that ensure air stays out of the diesel. I asked if he could simply inspect and clean the assembly, but he said there would be no way to know if it is still leaking and they couldn't warrantee the fuel pumps or engine if I didn't replace it. I was caught between a rock and a hard place and agreed, but said I wanted to look at it for myself afterward to see if replacement was warranted so they should hold on to it. Now there is mud all over it along with the gas tank (that is probably filled with flood water so inspection would be impossible. I hope they're not still gonna charge me to clean out the tank ($400) since they would have had to do that anyway on account of the flood. I am located in Pittsburgh, PA and the flood was caused by the hurricane that swept through. We had a terrential downpour and there was flooding all over the city. I was trapped at work and couldn't even get home because the roads were flooded in all directions. It was incredible. There was a guy that drowned in the very creek that caused the dealership to flood. The pictures I have are incredible, showing an upside down minivan, waterline on the showroom window and some of the other devastation. Too bad they came out so crappy. Thanks for the response.



Mark

 

[rs454]

Sorry about your luck mark I Live in central FL and I can relate as jeanne shakes the trees outside as I am typing this . I just wanted to mention my brothers 98 24 valve had the lift pump fail suddenly and completely no warning. after it was replaced the truck ran great until he was ready to take a 300 mile trip the truck did just as you mentioned earlier he went to a shop and the tech erased the codes the problem mysteriously went away and has not returned. Its been about a year now.

Good Luck on your truck Rich