i'm gonna buy a chevy!!!!!!!!!

[tobaccogrower]

i apoligze in advance... .

here we go! 04. 5 600 delevered april. truck has had bad cold startup problems since cold weather( loping idle and blue smoke, 13. 1 mpg hand calculated milage). truck has been in and out of dc repair for over 22 days. first they said i had a bad injector, changed and released. truck still had cold start problems! brought back and found a loose injector. repared and released. truck still starts bad. brought it back in to diagnose. dealer said contaimanted fuel! let me first tell you i am a farmer and have a new 550 gallon tank with eletric pump. on the pump is 2 filters. this tank supplys not only the 04. 5 but also my 99, my dad's 2002, my partners 99 psd, and a buddys 04. 5. not one of these other trucks have a problem!! dodge told me today to call my insureinse company and put in a claim. they want to drop the tank, pull apart the whole fuel system and maybe replace the pump. said star has rejected the claim and wont cover it! service manager(5 star) said it's gonna cost $6000. 00!! bend over james! truck has 13,000 miles on it. the worst part of it is it's not even the dealer i bought the truck from. they don't have a deisel tech anymore. he quit! i'm gonna contact star and start a claim file. any other suggestions? BTW, i'll never stray from the cummins! i needf advice! i feel like i'm gonna have to snap a few necks!... james

 

[FDavid]

Are you using farm fuel in your truck? If so, kiss the warranty good bye when they go through the fuel system. and chevys are not bad trucks. I hear the duramax is good for about 20k miles :-laf

 

[Sarge]

If your signature is correct, the first thing I would do is return the truck to stock condition. With all your BOMBS, DC will laugh you off. If the truck still acts the same, then you will have a case. Right now your spinning your wheels... ... ...

 

[IC Smoke]

hes got a 04. 5 and a 99 It looks like in the sig that the bombs are on the 99. I think the air intake is fine they shouldnt complain about that

 

[ssanders60]

You need to call the 800 number in your operator's

manual and calmly explain your problem. From this

column, in many cases, it appears that the dealers

are divorced from DC and don't talk to them or else they

are afraid to talk to DC. It could be something simple

and the dealer is overlooking the defect.

My truck did the same thing one cold morning and the truck

loped until it warmed up and it did this about 3 days until

it corrected on it's own.





'03 h/o , 4x4, quad cab, 373, SLT, 48 RE

 

[lil red cummins]

i am curious how you got a 04. 5 600 in april of 2004, when they didnt actually start delivering them till december of 04, or am i missing something?



it is also confusing what mods if any you have on this truck.



jim

 

[juicedcummins]

First of all farm fuel will not hurt your warranty unless they pull a sample and it is bad. Time to find a new dealer!

 

[WMonroe]

Actually they started production of the "600's" in december 03.

Will

 

[JMingledorff]

Actually they started production of the "600's" in december 03.

Will

Correct, I ordered mine in Jan. and got it in March.

 

[lil red cummins]

OOPS: sorry... .



off by one year :{



my how time flies!





jim

 

[Cattletrkr]

Have your lawyer send a letter to the dealer and to DC. Nothing nasty, just let them know you ain't very pleased. It's amazing what kind of a response a professional letterhead will get ya.

 

[abdiver]

Are you using farm fuel in your truck? If so, kiss the warranty good bye when they go through the fuel system. and chevys are not bad trucks. I hear the duramax is good for about 20k miles :-laf

Whats wrong with FARM fuel, it the same stuff that is that is at your local stations, only with having your own fuel tank you know if it is conamitated or not.



I ran farm fuel through my 84 Ford for 20years and also through all my equipt and never had a fuel problem.



Retired Farmer

 

[nickleinonen]

farm fuel can be clear or dyed... clear is same as road fuel. dyed is offroad fuel. same stuff with a color added [unless they are buying the crappy low grade offroad fuel -high sulfer content, more contaminates overall]

 

[DragRacer]

Farm fuel or "off road" diesel has a much higher Sulfur content. Sulfur causes increased particulate emissions. Probably does not help your catalytic converter much. That may be your problem.

 

[catoiler]

Man somebody has got to tell me how it is that the off road fuel is any differant than on road fuel!In the old days the fuel was high sulfer but anymore it is just dyed as it is loaded into the tankers!I hauled fuel for 3yrs and all the dyed we picked up was the same just with the dye injected when loading ,didn't matter what refinery we got it from they were the same!

 

[tobaccogrower]

it's on road diesel. i belive it is yellow in color. i also have 2 filters on the pump before the nozzle. they are golden rod filters purchased at tractor supply. i thought about calling my insurance company and having them take care of it. but last night i came to the conclusion to let the dealer i bought the truck from worry about it. why should farm family shell out $6000? if it came to that id probally have really high rates or get dropped all together! as far as im conserned the truck came from mexico with contaimnated fuel and is dodges problem... ... ... . also, how can they warrant contamanted fuel simply by dumping some fuel on a white piece of paper? how scientific is that? every time i change a fuel filter not mattering who's truck it's ever been on, there has always been some crap in the bottom of the housing... ... ..... another thing. dodge says the contamanted fuel is clogging my injectors causing ruff idle and blue smoke. it's funny that 19 days ago the problem was leaky injectors, not plugged up injectors... ... james

 

[macdaddy]

Cat

You're right on the money the diesel fuel in question is standard "EPA Diesel" and is dyed during transfer and delevery. EPA Diesel has a max sulfur spec of 500 PPM as of date. In 06 the new EPA sulfue spec will have an EPA mandated spec of 15 ppm max.

Mac

Conocophillips, Los Angeles

 

[tractorseller]

2003 Chevy Duramax/Allison... ..... in the shop 8 times in the first 6 months I owned it for the same transfer case problems (left me stranded with loads a few times). They never could fix it. GM finally bought it back after putting me through a lot of BS they shouldn't have put me through . Lots of down time and they gave me a worthless half ton loaner that I couldn't do anything with. Cost me lots of money.



Another 2003 Chevy Duramax/Allison I bought after that... ... . pretty good truck. Lots of problems with side mouldings, clanking steering wheel linkage, but runs ok (31,000 miles, mostly pulling). Biggest difference? The Duramax has to be wound up tight to pull a heavy load. It sits low to the ground. The engine isn't nearly as quiet as the Cummins. I guarantee you, and I don't care what the "ratings" say, the Cummins pulls a load better, does it quieter, and at lower rpms. I've used both. Just my experience.



Could have bought another GM at employee price (well under invoice), but bought a Dodge @ invoice price. Hope you make the right decision.

 

[JLovas]

tobaccogrower~ Don't let anyone harass you about using farm fuel, especially the dealer. Red fuel (Off road) & Clear fuel (taxable) all has to meet the same EPA standards as macdaddy pointed out. The only difference is the red dye in the off road fuel. If the dealer gives you lip for it, tell them its none of their business and that that issue is between you and the state of Connecticut. It really burns me when city-slickers tell us farmers that red fuel is "dirty" and isn't good enough for our pickups, despite that I run it through $200,000 combines and $150,000 tractors with Cummins engines!

 

[DPelletier]

Tobaccogrower,

I would be very upset if I were in your shoes. My suggestions;

- take a sample of your fuel and have it professionally analyzed. The dealer will no doubt suggest that your "bad fuel" was a different batch, but it can't hurt

- I would contact DC directly and explain the issue calmly and rationally. Take it to a different dealer, but you need DC to be involved now that the first dealer has red flagged it as a bad fuel problem.



From my perspective, there are two pces of evidence that support you;

- 1) The other trucks are running fine on the same fuel

- 2) The original diagnosis was for a bad and/or leaking injector so how did it now become bad fuel. If the original diagnosis was wrong, what lends credibility to the second diagnosis?



Good luck

Dave