This is going to be long but I want to give you all the details.

Bought Dodge Ram 2500 on September 2 2004. Brand New. (Leased actually)

At 23 147 kms vehicle had to be towed into dealership. Low voltage detected at lift pump, it was removed and replaced.

At 30 944 kms vehicle taken to dealership they replaced rt lower ball joint.

At 34 444 kms vehicle taken to dealership injector, fuel was replaced.

at 34 444 kms Also replaced propeller shaft, w/universal joints. Also here is what they wrote on my invoice: Operation good at this time checked and found injector tubes leaking removed all injector lines and retorqued all injector tubes replaced lines and started vehicle made quite an improvement done complete flow test, had to block off #3 inj to get vehicle to start vehicle is required to have no more than 180 millilitres of fuel return with number 3 blocked off also blocked off all other injectors, oe at a time the farthest i could get return down to at any one time was 300 mililitres that was achieved when blocking off #2 adn #6 while #3 was blocked called engineering they said we should put new injectors in numbers 2 3 and 6 to start with after doing this vehicle starts but has #5 injector noisey and number 2 is not working properly when doing a kill test little change in number 2 injectr, I then took the new #2 injector and swaped with #1 to see if problem moves to different cylinder as to see if we got a faulty injector gord is to test drive installed new injector in cylinder number 5 and restest drive works good.

At 45 709 kms took to dealership they replaced turbocharger. Here is what they had to say: Took for a test drive and verified the noise only under load. More test to verifiy turbo needed. Performed the test for turbo inspection axial play on the turbo is 0.001 spec is 0.0001 to 0.005 this passes radial clearance is 0.014 spec is 0.013 to 0.020 this to is within spec. No cracks were found during the inspection and fins and housing all look good at this time. Pres. checked intake/turbo lines found leak near the inter cooler and tighten all clamps. took for another test run and noise is still there engineering is sending new turbo. removing turbo 2 exhaust nuts piled up and have to remove. had to cut old studs and drill, and use easy out to remove new ones on order. install new turbo and found also oil residue in the inter cooler lines this has to be flushed. reinstalled innercooler hooked up all hoses and retightened and check remaining clamps all are good. test drove and the noise is still there checked all exhaust clamps and all are tight.

At 51 037 kms took to dealership they replaced turbo charger all they said this time on invoice is check and replace turbo charger road test still some noise tighten case halves of turbo retest ok

At 58 203 kms vehicle towed into dealership this time it is low voltage at lift pump replaced lift pump with conversion kit. Also replaced rear u joint.

At 58 569 kms took vehicle in my husband "could tell" that the turbo was gonig to go again. They checked it said there was an exhaust leak at manifold, they removed and replaced manifold and said the turbo was fine. (this was at a new dealership that we had never been at before)

At 58, 801 kms vehicle towed in. This time they are saying that the engine is toast. the inner cooler, turbo charger. They are saying they arent going to cover it under warranty because there was mud and water in the engine. They have pictures which I have seen and there is mud and water in there. The total to repair the vehicle is $18 120.00 We are fighting this and going through CAMVAP (canadian motor vehicle arbitration plan) but we dont know anything about vehicle so I need your help. Does this seem right?? Should they not be covering us. My husband did drive on mud, he works in the oilfield and it had rained and he left work on the lease road. Along with 4 other vehicles and noone elses motors blew.

Anyways I know that was long, but ANY info at all would help me a ton we go to the arbitration on Feb 16 so I could use all the help youc an give me.

Thanks again

 

Sounds like your husband is hard on his truck!
He must have submerged it the mud or water and forgot to mention that to you.

 

Nope he didnt submerge the vehicle. He has witnesses that will attest to that.

It rained about 3-4 inches and he left work after his shift ON the lease road. If he cant leave work on a road then what was he supposed to do? Stay at work. And if it cant handle 3-4 inches of rain then why would anyone even bother to buy a 4 x 4.

 

just a thought, but if he teed someone off, they put sand or mud in his fuel tank, all these problems would occur, especially if this was done on a regular basis a little at a time, just because, lift pump, injectors, mud in engine, just my thoughts

 

I would be all over the lemmon law on this one, way too much stuff goin on here, would it qualify???

 

I don't know how mud and water would get in the engine otherwise.
You didn't buy it around New Orleans-Texas did you? Maybe it was a flood truck!

The inner cooler is toast? Did it have a big hole in it? Water and mud could get thru there!!!

 

I smell something fishy here

 

I agree. I have been on this board for a little over a year and I don't ever remember anybody coming on here having that many problems with their Cummins. Now, the Ferd Powerjokes on Dieselstop . com are another matter.

 

Sounds like way to much FUN off roading with the guys.I've had 4x4s Nissans &Jeeps come in that were SUPER clean,waxed etc.with blown engines or 5 speed trannys shot and diffs.Mud and water lines behind ever door panal,silt soaked air filters in clean housings etc.Even mud stains BEHIND the radio.One had PHOTOS in the glove box of a ROOF LINE only and two tow truck cables hooked to it.Husband and WIFE in the photo looking at the camera.I asked for their warranty book and they said its in the GLOVE box.OUCH!

 

Is the truck 100% stock?

You need to find out WHY there is mud and water in the engine. Did it get in through the intake? Is it under the valve cover? In the oil? Based on all the things that it has been in for, including intercooler leaks/holes, turbo's etc, I would be checking things to find out the source and how the mud/water got in the engine.

The dealer is assuming what HOUNDDOG is assuming. I am going to assume that you are an honest upstanding couple. If there is a bad intake tube, broken/cracked boot, leaking intercooler, etc that would have allowed mud/water into the intake, then, in my opinion, the motor should be replaced under warranty.

I would guess that the dealer called STAR and said there is mud/water in the engine and asked them what to do. All STAR said is nothing, that's not a warranty claim.

 

I'd get the truck taken to a senior qualified Cummins mechanic or a respectable professional diesel mechanic and have them go over the truck and find where the water and mud got in...water and mud can't get through the fuel filter and injectors....the only source in is the air intake. Was the filter plugged was there mud and water the bottom of the air box. They might try to deny it just because there is mud and water in the intake box. If the filter plugged up with mud and water its gonna make the turbo suck till she goes limp. Without a boost and EGT gauge you'd be blind and just keep flooring it till she popped. Not hard on muddy wet muddy roads to get mud and water in the air box especially if the prefilter foam piece was out of the fender well and the fender well was torn or out of place. Get someone professional to do assessment. You can get everything under the hood complete on a pallet for less than $10,000. ks

 

Star does NOT have a thing to do with warranty or not.Its purely a TECH line etc.how I knew these other trucks over the years had been sunk once or a number of times was LOOK.Once you started looking it was obvious.Last one I had was a Jeep Wrangler with 10k and BOTH diffs were trashed.Once WE looked tell tell signs of boonie bashing like a WET Baja 1000.Ended up it was a MOMS Jeep and Parants were out of time and the YOUNG SON had been playing.But I have had Mr and Mrs Middle age with 1600 miles and THE pictures of the ROOF LINE only showing.Wife finally aplogized for the little untruths.Georgia red clay welds lots of things togather and drys hard as cement.

 

Hounddog,

STAR is a joke when the tech talking to them is not experienced or capable enough to diagnose or explain the problem properly. Without hijacking this thread, I had a tech call in for an oil leak on my truck, and STAR told him to replace the CP3. That was my point. The tech didn't take the time to diagnose properly before calling STAR.


You keep thinking that all of us are out to screw the dealer, and I'll keep thinking that this couple might have a valid issue with their dealership/Dodge and should consider that something(intercooler, turbo, loose boost tube etc.) might have allowed the water/mud into the motor that SHOULDN'T have. With as much warranty work as they have had done, there is a valid concern in these areas. That would make this a warranty issue.

 

Your timeline is close to when those trucks all got saturated on the boat from Mexico to the mainland.
One other thing is if they found oil in the intercooler and a leak, perhaps some of the residual was in the engine already. Did you see them remove and clean the intercooler?
If the bottom intercooler hose was loose or even off...and he was in mud...that is how I would suspect he got the mud in the engine. Check all the intercooler hoses and see if any have rips in them.

There was a big write up in the paper here...Regina...Buyer beware...the Hurricane vehicles are making there way into Canada and folks are encountering a lot of problems inherent to being flooded.

Scotty

 

First off did your husband ever check the air filter and if he did, did he notice excessive amount of dirt on it.
One thing I can see happening on his truck to injest that much crud would be for the airfilter to have injested it. On the 03 and into the 04's some of these trucks had a very hard time keeping dirt,water, mud, snow etc out of their air filter housings. The end result was a plugged filter and or a water saturated filter. I have been battleing Chrysler for just over two years now to fix the problem with my truck. I am not saying this is your husbands problem but it makes total sense to me if he drives in heavy mud or snow.

Yes I would take them to the CMAVP over this problem. Ensure that you have all the work orders from the dealership in reguards to this matter. Make sure that the truck is removed from the dealership before they can clean it up. And take lots of very detailed pictures of the whole system. Take apart the air filter system and get pictures of it. Then remove all the boots from the inner cooler and do the same. keep doing this untill you have pictures of evey possible spot where the dirt and water has been injested.

The low voltage to the lift pump seems to me to be a big problem, some where along the line their seems to be either a faulty wire and or bad computer programming. Either way the dealership needs to fix this situation.

I have written a fair bit here. Ask about the air filters. How often were they changed? were they ever wet when changed? how dirty were they? Is their dirt inside of the intake tube between the air filter and the turbo, between the turbo and the innercooler, between the innercooler and the intake horn, intake horn and the engine. inside of the engine. How much is inside of the Innercooler, has it started to corrode the inside of it? This will give a time line as to how long this water mud has been inside of it.

Hope some of this helps abit.

If you don't mind what City or province do you live in.

Cheers keep us posted as to what is happening.