My string of recent bad luck continues...in a big way. While on my way up to visit my in-laws who live on the Indiana Michigan border my truck started to run a little funny. It is a 08 Dodge Ram 2500 with the new 6.7 Cummins diesel and at this point it has 11,000miles. I drop it off at the dealer on Thursday who says it has a water in the fuel code, but when they check the water separator there is no water. Code gets cleared, truck runs fine. I put almost 1,000 miles on it before this last Wed when while driving back through Indianapolis it dies on me and has to be towed back to the same dealer. They find all kinds of problems with the exhaust and replace both entire DPF filters, the catalytic converter, 2 oxygen censors and the temperature censor in the exhaust. Good thing it is under warranty because the parts bill alone was over $7,000. I pick up the truck on Friday (yesterday) afternoon at 1:00pm and by 3:30pm I am stranded on the side of the road again. Truck gets towed into another dealership and I spend the night in a hotel in Terra Haute, IN. This morning they call and tell me that there is a ton of water in the diesel and the fuel looks like dirty brown water in general. So now any subsequent damage, the cost of draining the fuel and diagnosing any other

Alex,

Sorry to hear about your string of bad luck. I have an 04 with the 5.9 and I love it. You can install an additional fuel pump without voiding your warranty. I recommend the Air Dog. Available in 100 or 150 gallon per minute. It has a fuel/air separator and a water separator. I am using the 2 micron filters have had it installed for a year and the flow restriction(time to change filters)light has yet to illuminate. As I understand it the new 6.7 engines are ultra sensative and suseptable to any contaminants in the fuel. Also sounds like you got some REALLY bad fuel. Try buying fuel somewhere else.
For 35 dollars a year you can join the Turbo Diesel Register and have access to their website, a quarterly magazine, and the help from thousands of others with similar problems and their solutions. The TDR is dedicated soley to owners of CUMMINS diesel powered vehicles...mostly Dodge.

Andy

Keep careful documentation of all repairs and problems. Assuming you bought this vehicle in Texas, it is subject to the lemon law......some relevant sections are.....

Sec. 2301.605. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION--REASONABLE NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS. (a) A rebuttable presumption that a reasonable number of attempts have been undertaken to conform a motor vehicle to an applicable express warranty is established if:

(1) the same nonconformity continues to exist after being subject to repair four or more times by the manufacturer, converter, or distributor or an authorized agent or franchised dealer of a manufacturer, converter, or distributor and:

(A) two of the repair attempts were made in the 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever occurs first, following the date of original delivery to the owner; and

(B) the other two repair attempts were made in the 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever occurs first, immediately following the date of the second repair attempt;

(2) the same nonconformity creates a serious safety hazard and continues to exist after causing the vehicle to have been subject to repair two or more times by the manufacturer, converter, or distributor or an authorized agent or franchised dealer of a manufacturer, converter, or distributor and:

(A) at least one attempt to repair the nonconformity was made in the 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever occurs first, following the date of original delivery to the owner; and

(B) at least one other attempt to repair the nonconformity was made in the 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever occurs first, immediately following the date of the first repair attempt; or

(3) a nonconformity still exists that substantially impairs the vehicle's use or market value and:

(A) the vehicle is out of service for repair for a cumulative total of 30 or more days in the 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever occurs first, following the date of original delivery to the owner; and

(B) at least two repair attempts were made in the 12 months or 12,000 miles following the date of original delivery to an owner.

(b) A period or a number of days or miles described by Subsection (a) is extended for any period that repair services are not available to the owner because of:

(1) a war, invasion, or strike; or

(2) a fire, flood, or other natural disaster.

(c) The 30 days described by Subsection (a)(3)(A) do not include any period during which the manufacturer or distributor lends the owner a comparable motor vehicle while the owner's vehicle is being repaired by a franchised dealer.



Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1421, Sec. 5, eff. June 1, 2003.

Be advised that there are specific time periods and things you have to do under this law for claiming your rights......

you need to buy my 93 dodge and troubles will be over

I'd follow Gatos lead and look into the lemon law. Request to speak with a regional rep and be persistent but not obnoxious.

If you got a tank of bad diesel fuel then in all honesty it's not dodge's fault, they shouldn't be expected to foot the bill out of their own pocket, it's not warranty work. Same thing with the lemon law idea. What are you going to lemon law it for? The truck not running on water? That'll hardly fly with an arbitrator or judge.

Your only real option is to try and figure out where you got the bad diesel fuel and make them pay to fix the truck. I have a 98.5 dodge diesel and once got a load of bad fuel, $2500 for a new injection pump and six injectors later it was fixed. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out where the bad fuel came from since I'd filled up three times in four days.

Good luck with it, it's a bad situation and I've been there. Nothing will shut down a diesel quicker than bad fuel, and it's not all that uncommon.

My stance on the repairs that have been caused by the water in the fuel is this: This truck is equipped with a water in fuel sensor, which went off and last week (before I bought this tank of fuel) and as I happened to be right across the street from the dealer I took it to them. They drained the fuel/water separator but found no water, reset the code and sent me on my way. That was 6 days before the exhausts failed.
This time I got no indications from the truck that there was a problem. No water in the fuel light or warning from the overhead console. Subsequently, I drove the truck and caused damage because the truck never indicated that there was water in this batch of fuel. If the truck had warned me I would have taken the appropriate action to prevent damage..but since a system on the truck failed the damage was caused. Hence a warranty issue.
The lemon law doesn't apply to my situation...it has to be 3 failures of the same system/part that has been repaired. So far it looks like I have 2 water in fuel issues, and one exhaust.
The truck is supposed to be done today and I have to deal directly with crhysler customer care to get the warranty to cover the cost of repairs.... but they won't call me back.

Keep calling!! Don't take no for an answer, and if you get a firm no, ask for the next guy up the food chain. I have seen countless times where waranty claims that were denied wound up being approved if the customer squealed loud enough and long enough. Just keep pluggin away at it and I bet you'll get satisfaction.

I have a '99 CTD I love it.

So do the New Cummins trucks have catalitic converters and those stupid exhaust sensors? YUK.

Buy a Ford. Problem solved.

quote:

Originally posted by MAC:
Buy a Ford. Problem solved.

My 08 F-250 6.4 has more miles up and down on the hoist than down the road. 3 radiators, egr cooler, brake system malfunctions, etc. 40,000 miles.

Run Power Service every tank and try to buy fuel from high volume dealers. This new ultra low sulfer diesel absorbs a lot of water for some reason, something to do with taking the extra sulfer out. Keep up with dodge also, if the water in fuel light didn't come on, there should be no event code stored. Might have dealer due a printout for you, or cummins can get one to, but they charge about 75 dollars for it.

I know they had tons of problems with the 07.5 with the new 6.7. Supposedly they fixed it the problems with the 08 models but who knows I haven;t had any problems mine yet knock on wood. Its a 08 model I bought in feb of last yr.

Alex,

Sorry to hear about your issues! Here are a couple of items for you-

For starters, regardless of the problem, the dealer let you take a vehicle they claimed was fixed and obviously was not. It should not matter whether it was water in the fuel or elephant pee, unless you got a tank of fuel right after picking it up you were given a vehicle that had still not been fixed and still had contaminants in the fuel.

In the back of your owners manual there is an 800 number to call if you have a service issue, it is not to Dodge but a federal consumer protection something or other, I forget. I would suggest only calling them after you have put forth "reasonable" effort trying to deal with Dodge about this issue.

quote:

Originally posted by MAC:
Buy a Ford. Problem solved.

I have been driving Ford trucks since 1995, and I know better than that.

quote:

but they won't call me back.

Hurry while they're still in business.

Duramax.

quote:

Originally posted by wymple:
Duramax.

Out of business shortly. No chance of survival under any reasonable circumstances.

quote:

Originally posted by wino:

quote:

Originally posted by MAC:
Buy a Ford. Problem solved.

My 08 F-250 6.4 has more miles up and down on the hoist than down the road. 3 radiators, egr cooler, brake system malfunctions, etc. 40,000 miles.

All that shows is that YMMV is true for everyone. I put 483,000 miles on my Ford F-250 diesel and the only problems I ever had were that I wore out 1 cruise control, one injector pump, and a small cap-full of injectors. It spent most of those miles hauling a loaded horse trailer, too.

I added one of the after market Phoenix-made turbos (Airesearch)to the corn-binder engine and it had all the power and reliability I ever could have expected or hoped for. I finally traded it in on a new GMC gas engined rig for my frau, and the old Ford is still going strong in the new owner's hands. (BTW, my wife's GMC 3/4-ton has never been a lick of trouble for her either.)

The last Dodge Power-Wagon I bought, both the whole ehaust system (including both exhaust manifolds) and the two side-mirrors fell off in less than a week. I finally went under it and started tightening every screw, bolt/nut I could find (and MANY were loose).

It was fairly reliable after that, but it sure hurt my trust of the assembly guys at the Chrysler Corp.

dealer saw it twice for the same repairs, and bilked chryster warranty for the cost of the other repairs ... if you take it in and they told you there was NO water in the fuel, and there was,
THEY ARE THE PAID EXPERTS

If they want a cent from you, explain that title in lieu is an option.. note, that MAY screw your credit