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Major fuel problem

19935 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  zoomie, 
T
Good morning.

I picked up my brand new ED on 9/17/14 after about 4 months of research into this new flavor of ram. This is my first dodge purchase, after owning two chevy 1500's in the last 8 years.

1700 miles and three weeks into my new ownership, I parked the truck in a parking lot, and when I got in about 10 minutes later the truck wouldn't start. The starter would engage, but no fire. Tried several times, and finally had it towed in.

Dealer had it for over a week scratching their head before star told them to replace the injector pump. After that, the truck still would not start.

Star told them to get some sort of diagnostic tool to tell them which injector was bleeding off pressure, but nobody actually seems to have this tool except the training centers. I started feeling like I was about to be trapped in a 6.0 powerstroke scenario already.

Mechanic has been fantastic throughout this whole mess, and finally got tired of waiting for star. So he pulled an injector and guess what? Metal. He showed me where he had cleaned it out on a white napkin and the metal is like a very fine sand consistency. So he did a little digging and found out that apparently they had a bad run of injector pumps.

So now, he is telling me that they are ordering new everything forward of the injector pump and *hoping* that replacing those components will fix the problem.

My main concern is this: What are the chances that this metal could have caused damage inside the cylinders? The dealership seems resistant to my request to have the cylinders inspected (In fact, their answer was "If it starts and runs ok, then we are done). I am not so comfortable just accepting this answer and driving off. I also requested they change the oil before I take the vehicle and again 500 miles later in case there's anything else floating around out there. Is this reasonable?

So far, the dealership has had my truck two days less than I actually had it on the road.

Any ideas or feedback would be greatly appreciated at this point.
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A
Thats an interesting predicament. I don't know if this small metal in the fuel would have the same detrimental effects as metal in the oil. To that, even if they were to change and flush the oil now and again in 500 mi I don't think it would be worth much, the problem originates in the fuelling system IMO...

Good luck , keep us info'd
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1
This is not the Ford 6.0. Your situation, bad as it is for you, is unusual.


Can't see how the metal could get past the tiny nozzles of/in an injector. Also do not think there is a "run" of bad injector pumps although I did hear of something similar before. Not sure it was on an Ecodiesel though.


First post - Welcome. Too bad you did not join and post earlier on to share your joyous experiences. Hope it all is taken care of and soon.
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J
Have to agree with 10%more. Anything small enough to pass through the injector into the cylinder won't hurt the cylinders. Especially for this short amount of time.
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zoomie
Personally I would let them make the changes they want then watch your fuel and oil consumption closely and document it. If your cylinders are bad it will show up there.
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T
I appreciate all the feedback, everyone!

10%, when the mechanic and I were talking the other day, he said that (I'm assuming star) told him that they had a "clean" date and a "dirty" date on the injector pumps. He also said that mine was installed 5 days prior to the "clean" date, and that apparently the problem they are experiencing with those prior to the "clean' date is that they begin to come apart internally. - Edit: I am going to stop by this afternoon for an update and I will ask him for more info about the injector pumps - I will post anything I get because this may affect others on this group. My truck gave absolutely no indication that this was going to happen - running smoothly, etc.

I am literally chomping at the bit to have my truck back, especially since they put me in a hemi 1500 that i've finally nursed up to 14.6mpg. Not to mention the fact that it's a beautiful truck and I've waited a long time to buy it.
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H
Good tip on tracking those things, monitoring them is key.
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T
Well, the saga continues.

Dealer has now had it for four weeks and three days. I only had it on the road for three weeks.

Replaced entire fuel system. Drained and cleaned tank & lines, everything else is new. Truck purred like a kitten Friday without even smoking but the tech noticed fuel spraying out of the left side rear injector housing. So he tore it apart and couldn't find anything wrong with it. Swapped it with another cylinder's injector, problem stayed with the left rear cylinder. Finally he put a scope in the cylinder head and noticed some carbon buildup (1756) miles. So that was it for last Friday.

Nowhere I stopped by, he said cleaning the deposits fixed the leakage problem, but now he is seeing the same (but not as bad) issue on a few other cylinders. So he's going to clean all of them out and *maybe* I'll get my truck back tomorrow

What a process
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K
Ever find out any additional information on the possible bad injector dates? Your rig ordered or purchased off the lot. Built date etc?
Thanks!
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T
I Have not been able to get the exact build dates or the exact date range for the bad injector pumps yet, not sure if they just don't want to tell me or if I'm just not asking the right person.

I have been making daily trips to the dealership, and I will make sure I get at least the build date before I go home with the truck. Assuming that I do at some point get to leave with the truck.

It was bought off the lot...kind of. I was pretty specific about the options I wanted, and apparently that combination of options was rather hard to find (nav,etc but not Laramie) so my dealer (huntsville tx) had to get it from a dealer in Louisiana. But for that, straight off the lot.
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T
Build date March 5, 2014. That puts the "clean date" on the injector pump at March10.
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K
Bummer. Hope your rig gets fixed fast!
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T
Update:

Got the truck back Wednesday last week. All seems ok, towed a trailer Friday and Saturday without problems.

Heard through the grapevine while at the dealership last week that there's another ED customer in Texas with identical fuel problem.

My total repair bill (to warranty, of course) was just over $11,000.00
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zoomie
tgilbert642 said:
Update:

Got the truck back Wednesday last week. All seems ok, towed a trailer Friday and Saturday without problems.

Heard through the grapevine while at the dealership last week that there's another ED customer in Texas with identical fuel problem.

My total repair bill (to warranty, of course) was just over $11,000.00
Click to expand...
Wow! Good to see chrysler fixed your truck.
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