rossn2

I agree about the Tech's being able to talk to the customer. Too many service writer's think they are tech's and never pass all the info to the tech's.

I actually had one service writer tell me I had to order the cold-weather pkg in order to get the block heater cord, had to pay for an hour labor and that the block heater already installed in the engine from the factory was just a dummy/blind plug. He also told me that I had to change oil/filter every 3500 miles on the 305/555 engine. Oh, yeah...don't have to wait for the glow plugs to warm up...just turn the key, even on cold days...

Any how, I take truck into another dealership for warranty work. Called about truck last night, another injector is bad and being replaced today. They don't know why the injector's are going bad...I wonder if it's the DFA or Diesel Kleen?

rossn2

Call from dealership today about bad injector. Guess they ran the DRB and came up with a 29% idle time on truck since it rolled off the assembly line. They said the truck is idling too much and this may be causing the injectors to go bad? Any guesses out there?

I've had the truck over a year now with 23,500k on it. They want to talk to me about a diesel additive too when I pick up the truck, different than DFA or Diesel Kleen. I'm suppose to talk to the diesel tech directly. Anyway's it's covered under warranty....

grandblanc

I got the same story from Star. When I had the truck in for the "Knock" Star had the dealer pull the engine stats and with 14k miles they said it had 20 hours of idle. Diesels are supposed to idle is my response. The dealer found two bad injectors and replaced them. The knock was still there. Star wanted me to drive the truck to clear out the carbon build up, so I took it to Kentucky for Thanksgiving and the knock is still there. Back to the dealership for round three.

HdPower

I think they are "programmed" to give you the old "idling to long" song & dance, I had mine say the same thing....I busted out laughing. I asked them if I was supposed to shut the engine off at every stop light...or maybe take the Wife's gasser if I run into town....wouldn't want to hit any traffic jams.

Jerry R

I had my truck back the other day for injector knock and this time it's #6. This will make 3 I have had to have replaced. Truck is just over a year old with 23,000 miles. At first I thought it might be additive related because I was using Primrose 405 but I don't think that was it. I herd a rumor that it is particulate material in the fuel in the 5 to 6 micron range and fleetguard is working on a replacement filter for our trucks to clean to that level. ( ours now are only 10 micron ) I'm not waiting, I bought an Air Dog that arrived yesterday and I hope to install tonight. It comes with a 3 micron filter (for common rail trucks) and along with it's other benefits I'm hoping this solves the problem. If it works as well as its made it should, I am very impressed with the quality and attention to detail. I'll let ya'll know what happens.

kingofdodge7131

as long as its warrentied with dodge/cummins. Otherwise you could have another one go bad and not have warrenty for uncertified filters

Jerry R

Fleetguard makes the filters for Air Dog. They even have the little Stratapore name and symbol on them. I was talking to the Diesel tech at my dealer and told him what I was going to do and he said it should not be a problem but it all depends on who is working on your truck.

realsquash

I'm seeing a very distinct pattern here-95% of the trucks here seem to be 2004.5's or 2004's. I only saw one post about an 03, which is supposed to be the same as the 04, but maybe some people put 04 when they have an 04.5?

I'm also seeing that the knocking doesn't go away for a few people after "bad" injectors are replaced.

So does anyone know what is actually "bad" about the failed injectors? What do the people who hone/EDM them say? What have they seen?

If I yank my injectors what can I do to inspect them or test them?

I have an 03 and it knocks like an old-school diesel when it's cold until it gets a little boost. When it's hot it will knock when it's lugged from idle to 1500rpm or so.

My problem is surging and an erratic idle once in a while, hot or cold, any conditions. It's been like that since the day I got it and I've got 40k miles now and I get 18-20mpg driving to work every day.

Andy

realsquash

I just went and looked at my 03 HO and it has injector line holders on cylinders 2-4 but none on 1 nor 6. On my engine #1 really rattles a lot when you just put your finger on it, compared to the other *5*, which are nearly undetectable.

So I got out my automotive engine sound analyser (40" chunk of 1" diameter 1/8" wall al tube) and held it right on my ear and touched it (yes touched it, metal to metal contact) on each injector line for grins. The harder I bear down on the #1 line the more it sounds like an air hammer ripping through a chunk of steel. The rest make nowhere even close to the same sound, as best as I can tell.

Maybe this is all useless, but #1 and #6 both are lacking the hold downs.

Andy

sawboywv1

same here. #1 line has a clunk to it when i place my finger on the line. i think this is normal. mine is quiet after it warms up. not as quiet as a 04.5. i think alot of the noise is the programing of the injector cycles.

rossn2

Picked up the truck and they replaced #6 injector. Here's the remarks at bottom of Invoice; " SP CK Code P0514, BATT. TEMP run cycl performance CE Test, ater getting hot and run again with F CA Unplugged, reprogrammed ECM/1530515`AF to 1 5305151AG, TSB # 18-037-04, in an attempt to get idle up feature to work, won't work on this truck, replaced injector #6 per STAR, recommend Fuel additive (NO Products containing Alcohol and No ATF, recommend Stanodyne) Don't let idle excessively, Chrysler will not pay for repeat injector failure with high idle time per star due to knocking noise and flash module.

Service writer stated 0-1000rpms was at 29.5 % of engine time and that's too high. Service writer stated STAR says engine should be between 2000-2500 rpms going down the road for peak performance.. I guess I'm not beating on the truck enough?

I'm wondering if the 3.73 rear end with the 315's installed, is keeping the rpm's too low and lugging the engine? So, I won't shift into 6th gear anymore unless I'm over 45mph, which equates to running in 5th gear around 1500-1600rpms....When driving on the highway at 65mph, I'm turning 1750-1800 rpms in 6th gear. Guess, I'll just drive around 70-75mph to get rpms past 2000 rpms...

All Sounds like a bunch of phewy to me?

grandblanc

I just heard back from my dealer. They are going to take my truck to Cummins on Monday and have them work on it. The dealer already replaced two injectors and the knock was still there. We'll see what happens when Cummins tears into it.

tdupuis

My guess is that not beating on the truck enough would have something to do with it. If you think about it, it makes sense. On a gasser car that gets grandma-driven around all the time, you have massive carbon buildup and the thing is a real slug. Do an Italian tune-up to get all the crud out of the engine and suddenly the thing runs like new. Can't tell you how many cars I've done this on.

Drive your truck around piddling it around and idling all the time and you get the same buildup on the injectors. Only thing is that these are all fancy injectors unlike older style diesels. So, fancy injectors get all this sludge on them and suddenly the engine doesn't run too well. Go beat on the truck and you get high enough cylinder temperatures and pressures that it cooks the sludge off. Idling doesn't do that. I'm not sure I agree with what the dealers are saying, but it would make sense that beating on the trucks would keep the injectors clean.

Jerry R

I'm not buying into it one bit! Especially recommending Stanodyne or any other additive and the rpm's that you turn (loaded or unloaded) have nothing to do with it either. The problem is these injectors are to high tech for the fuel (dirt in the fuel)we put thru them. I have heard several 3rd gen ctd's with injector knock and the owners don't have a clue, but i'm not the injector knock police so I keep my mouth shut. This problem is bigger than DC wants to address so they are doing everything they can to pass the buck or say it is caused by something else. The bottom line is Cummins says we will fix it but DC has to pay for it, at least thats the way it seems to me. And we all know how that goes, next is the finger pointing game. What, not me.

tdupuis

Pretty soon this thing is probably going to become enough of an issue that they'll have to do a TSB/recall to replace all injectors with a new type that doesn't suck... that is after they decide on a new type of injector that doesn't suck, and work from there.