holy crap. i would have serouis talk with the shop that worked on it!

 

I have been talking to the shop that did the injector work. Of course, they are trying to get out of their responsibility. They are saying the truck has/has had a chip in it. I do not see any evidence of the truck being chipped. I have a torque dog in it......but I don't think it I have had it hooked up more than a couple hours.

They are also telling me that they are POSITIVE the truck rolled off the assembly line with a gasoline engine in it. They say the vin number tells them this (I did tell them it was sold new in the US) as well as the mounting hardware under the hood. I do not know how to verify this one way or the other.

 

Well.............it's official.
The shop that did my injector work has officially told me that it was just a coincidence that my truck blew up an hour after it left their shop.

They said they consulted with a number of engine rebuilders, and it is common for a cummins engine to drop valves.......and it had nothing to do with their work. They told me as a favour, they would get the problem fixed for $3g. The truck needs a new head, new injector and a new #6 piston and rings.

Is this possible?

 

Nobody knows if this is the shops' fault or the trucks' fault?

 

ok i have read this from the begining. i have had an 03 that dropped a valve. a good machine shop can fix the head they did mine. they will drop a valve but as far as i know it requires a lot of heat to do that or in at least my case. You can get a list of what your truck came from the factory with from the dealer by giving them the vin# this will either prove them right or wrong as far as the came with a gas motor therory.for 2 more g you can get another complete motor. all the symptons that you have had have to deal with the injectors not a valve dropping. i would think that there should be something on your paperwork that states which injectors where bad, see if they list #6 if it was good then i would suspect their rebuild work. it mite not hurt to talk to a lawyer about this and what you can do

 

Rich

Your list of dead cummins scares me a bit. My impression was that these engines should last A LOT longer than the truck itself.

After talking to Eric at Hoesli Diesel in Indiana and doing my own search with the VIN number, I determined that the truck did come with the cummins (which only makes sense) This is the site that will decode your VIN http://www.pronto-net.com/vin_app/vin.php.

I can hardly even believe that the injector shop refuses to take responsibility!
I bring them a truck that is hard to start, but runs like a champ. I get back a truck that starts great.........but blows up after an hour of driving.

I had all six injectors rebuilt. They told me that 4 out of six were leaking back.

I had the truck moved to an authorized cummins repair shop now. They estimate the repair bill at $5000 plus taxes.

I;m not sure where you got a price for one of these engines. The cummins shop here has a used one for $8000 plus labour. I think they are about double that new

(ps- where did your 03 go?...........this one came from Texas

 

Just got off the phone with the cummins shop. They said the cylinder is scored.

According to them it will be cheaper to replace the engine with a used one than tearing mine down and repairing the destroyed cylinder. They estimate the bill at a minimum $10 000.

Hard to believe the injector shop could not (did not want) to find this major scoring of the cylinder wall. They were going to drop in a new piston and let it go!?

 

most of the trucks wore out before the motor, the 03 caught fire about 3 months after i put a 12v in it. i got a buddy who deals in 3rd gen salvage trucks so i can get a pretty good deal on parts. i had the #4 cylinder score on the original motor after dropping a valve on it and was able to hone it out and put a new piston and rings and have the head fixed was less then a 1,000. to get it done did most of the work myself and inframe. here is my guys number if want to price a used motor from him Tom Gonzales 210 354 5229 central time. he mite have one laying around for a good price. last time i checked witht he dealer a short block was 10k. the only other truck to out last the motor is my pos 07 5.9, but soon as i get time it will be fixed way better then new. i would still talk to a lawyer abut that other shop and see if you can get something out of them

 

I have talked to a lawyer and about 20 diesel mechanic shops across north america. All the shops can't believe the injector shop will not accept responsibility.

The exhaust valve on #6 was the one that dropped.

The common opinion of what happened (and it makes sense to me) is that the installer was working on # 6 injector - putting it in, taking it out- and bent the valve. Although the truck started when it was all put back together.........it was just a ticking time bomb.

The owner of the injector shop finally told me to go pound salt!!

 

I also developed a hard starting..."Long Crank" issue after my first winter with my 2003 Truck went without issues. My problem began in Oct '08 after the temp dropped below 50'. I needed to plug in the block heater (which I didn't last winter) and the truck would start after 30-40 mins or so. Over the last 4 mos. of this past winter the problem got worse eventually requiring me to plug it in and use ether to start. I researched my cold start sytem, heater grids, this forum etc. Many others with this problem with the 2003 CTD have posted them same issue and were told over and over again to "replace all the injects" and/or "replace the injector pump as well". My buddy's Snap-On Modis Scan Tool showed all pressures reading right, no smoke etc. I also had the "Slow Fuel Gauge response after adding fuel" as described on TSB 18-003-04 available here: http://dodgeram.info/tsb/index.html .

To shorten this up, I was referred to a local "friendly Service writer" and gave the diesel tech a 5 minute review of what I had tested and asked him to look for ECM updates and flash it if needed. He found a "Long crank" update and upgraded my ECM from 5073543AK -> 53040202AF Serial ... problem solved and now it starts great even below 45' without waiting for the preheat light to go out.