B.A.R.T. is in the Shop

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
I'll try to make this a short story.:( Yesterday afternoon the Chevy started acting up. Started OK but ran like crap. Spitting & sputtering and loads of blue/black smoke almost like too much fuel. Once up in speed a bit in 2nd & 3rd it seemed OK. Took the beast to dinner at Applebees and came out afterwards and it wouldn't start. Tried a couple times but just cranked but no fire. Called my road service. Guy shows up 2 hrs later with flat bed and has to pull the truck into the drive aisle to facilitate loading. As he was pulling me I cranked the engine to help with my power steering and the darn thing started. I think my truck noticed the tow vehicle was a Ford and thought "No way am I being hauled in by a Ford".;) I drove it to a dealer with the tow guy following just in case it died and wouldn't run. The warranty for the injectors ran out a few months ago but luckily I have an aftermarket policy that has done me well a couple of times already. Hope to be back on the road soon, We WERE leaving for Wisconsin today but ???
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
Ray,
Don't you have the GM extended warranty for the injectors? I thought all the LB7 engines had a 200,000 mile warranty on them. My '02 has it, but I'm crossing my fingers that my injectors won't go out.

Good luck,
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Ray,
Don't you have the GM extended warranty for the injectors? I thought all the LB7 engines had a 200,000 mile warranty on them. My '02 has it, but I'm crossing my fingers that my injectors won't go out.

Good luck,
That's what I thought but the dealer looked up the VIN and showed me 100K and 5 years. It's beyond the 5 years so??? I had a letter but can't find it. I'll see what I can find on the GM site. I'm still waiting on the diagnosis but I think it's the fuel regulator. Not sure if that would be included in the injector warranty.
 

cjbearden

Visitor
Hey Ray, sorry to hear about BART's problems. Hope everything is fixed up quickly so you can get on the road. Take care.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
This sounds like Deja Vue.
In Mission I had to change out the FICM (Fuel Injector Control Module). This seemed to be a problem with most of the Fords. The performance of my truck seemed to be better.
I went to Diesel Stop and was reading about the Ford 6.0 and found that another common problem with a lot of Diesels is the EGR Valve coking up and causing the loss of power. Guess what.. Yes she is in the shop today having the ERG valve replaced. While there I am having them clean the injectors.

I am hoping this will keep the girl running smooth and strong. Her name is Bertha. :p
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Update.

The diagnosis is a faulty connector plug at the firewall for the ECM. There's a service bulletin but I wasn't recording our conversation so the number escapes me. I's a 50 pin connector and the bulletin states the fix is to replace all 50 pins by soldering in new ones. We should have the truck back tomorrow. They also found a slight leak in the power steering pump shaft and have included that in the extended warranty authorization which, by the way , has been approved:D. So far, all is good.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Well Bertha is back home. Seems to be running good but will tell when we hit the road Monday.. The EGR valve was coked up and leaking so it was replaced under warranty.
 

ct0218

Well-known member
Ray, just so you know, the warranty is 7 years or 200K miles, and I think they extended it thru the 2004.5 models. The dealer just didn't dig deep enough into the service bulletins or was hoping you didn't know. It has been posted in several threads over the last couple of years at www.dieselplace.com. There have also been several threads of owners having problems with some dealers like the one you went to. There are some tests that have to be performed, and some guys have gone to 2 or 3 dealers before they got one to cooperate. It just takes a little dilligence on your part, unfortunately.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Ray, just so you know, the warranty is 7 years or 200K miles, and I think they extended it thru the 2004.5 models. The dealer just didn't dig deep enough into the service bulletins or was hoping you didn't know. It has been posted in several threads over the last couple of years at www.dieselplace.com. There have also been several threads of owners having problems with some dealers like the one you went to. There are some tests that have to be performed, and some guys have gone to 2 or 3 dealers before they got one to cooperate. It just takes a little dilligence on your part, unfortunately.
Thanks, I had a letter but must have either lost it or tossed it? I went to the diesel place and printed out the updated bulletin just in case but the dealer believes it's a connector problem. Either way it's still under warranty. I was pretty confident it wasn't injector related because it was getting way too much fuel. Also the entire fuel system is controlled through this connector they think is at fault. The dealer decided to order a new connector rather than attempt to solder 50 sets of new pins into the old connector so we're stuck here till next week some time.:( At least our Son has an extra vehicle available we can use.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Update

After installing a new connector and getting it running they still have a problem. Now they are saying there are a few bad injectors. :rolleyes: The good? It's under that extended GM warranty. The bad? It'll be in the shop a few more days. They can't find 8 injectors locally and had to order them. :( Hopefully Friday we'll be heading north.
 

snuffy

Well-known member
Sounds like they were just hoping it was the connector. Probably knew all along it was the injectors.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Bummer ray.

BAWT of mine went into shop today for the same (yet louder - since I can hear it this time :) read end whine.

Jim
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
Jim;

If you put a straight, turbo back exhaust on that BAWT, you won't hear that rear above the turbos. Keep on truckin.

John
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Sounds like they were just hoping it was the connector. Probably knew all along it was the injectors.
I suppose that's possible. I went to the truck a few days ago to retrieve some stuff we needed and saw the bulletin about the connector on the passenger seat. It had all the symptoms that the truck was doing. They also had the connector disassembled. The way I understand it, once the connector was replaced they were able to get the truck running and pull other codes from the computer that said some injectors were failing. Either way, it's all covered by a warranty.
 

htneighbors

Unbelievably Blessed!
Chevy

Ray - FWIW

My Duramax currently has over 205k miles. Back at 152k, I had my injectors replaced by a dealership in SE Oklahoma. Covered by GM, up to 200k miles. This past holiday, between Christmas and New Years - driving through Vernon, TX - truck lost power. Dealership there replaced the electronic fuel module at a cost to me of over $1200 - called me, @ 20 miles later...same problem - lost power. Got back to the dealer, they put my old module back on, told me (2 days later) that the connectors used on the injectors were the wrong connectors and they were not tightened correctly. This was work that had been done by a dealer - over 12 months and 12k miles ago - and after refunding my $1200+, it cost me over $700. GM refused to reimburse me a penny over the whole thing, although ALL the work had been done at dealerships. :mad::mad::mad:

On the bright side - the 03 Chevy is paid for, running great at the current time and averaging 20mpg on a daily basis. :D:cool:
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
HT,
Even with your particular sitiuation I am happy to hear that your 2003 truck is doing so well. Encouraging to me since we have a 2003 also. Hope to get a lot of mileage out of it especially since it costs so much.

Mark
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Our Truck is back on the Road.

Here's the whole story, start to finish. Kind of a long read but hey, your not that busy. ;) I learned a valuable lesson too.:eek:

The story begins with a problem I started having on April 15, 2009. I started the truck to go shopping. It ran but was spitting and sputtering and blowing a lot of blue and black smoke. It was as if it was getting too much fuel. We drove off and as I increased speed and it shifted into 2nd it smoothed out and seemed much better. When we stopped, the scenario started all over. Wednesday evening we went to Applebee’s for dinner with the truck still running bad. When we tried to leave after dinner the truck failed to start. We had the truck towed to the local Chevy dealer in Sterling IL. The next day I contacted the dealer and they couldn’t work on the truck because they didn’t have a diesel technician. I was able to get the truck running and drove it down the street to Ken Nelson GMC. The saga begins.
Nelson’s diagnosis was a Faulty Connector for the control module. They would have to get authorization from my GE Warranty Service before beginning the repair which was to re-solder 50 new pins into the connector. They also found a leak in the shaft of the power steering pump. Thursday afternoon I received a call and was told the repair was authorized for $643 and work would be done. I called Friday for a status report and was told parts were on order and would arrive Monday. Parts? I thought it was to be re-soldered. I suppose it’s safer to install new than to repair. I went to the truck Friday afternoon to get some things we would need for the weekend. While there I saw the disassembled connector on the bench. The tech said the parts were due Monday.
I called Tuesday the 21st and was told the connector didn’t completely cure the problem and now the problem is the injectors. Not to worry though, it’s all covered by a GM extended warranty and it’s only an eight hour job. But! There were no parts in stock and it would take 24 to 48 hours to get parts. I went to the dealer Thursday afternoon, 48 hours later, to see how things were going. Still no parts and they were being shipped from California. They should arrive Friday the 25th. They can remove the old injectors to get a head start on the job. Friday we got a call from John that the parts had arrived. At this point I assumed the truck would be done sometime Monday the 27th.
I get a call from John Monday afternoon and they are having trouble. It’s taking much longer than expected and he would get back to me. He called again around 4:30 and said he was hoping to finish the job Tuesday. They still had one bank to finish. That translates to 4 out of 8 injectors. They’re only half way done? He would call me by noon Tuesday with a report. Keep in mind, they are not sure that this will solve the problem. It’s now almost 9AM Tuesday the 28th. I’m very frustrated with the whole situation. I feel as if they are only working on my truck when time permits and they are doing their own regular customers service ahead of mine.
It’s Tuesday, April 28, 2009. I get a call from John just before noon. They have about an hour and a half worth of work to do and then a test drive. It should be ready by 3 PM. I get the call a little after three. John says it has a very slight hesitation but only while cold. If I can live with that, I can pick it up. We arrive at Ken Nelson GMC and get all the paperwork done and talk with the tech regarding the slight hesitation and the injectors. I get in the truck to leave and low and behold, the truck won’t start. Isn’t this just peachy. John and the tech both come out and it looks like the truck will be staying a while longer. John has arranged for a free rental for us. The saga continues.
The following morning, Tuesday, the truck was taken to a nearby “sister” dealer in Dixon. They just happen to have a Master Diesel tech for Duramax engines. I got a call from Jeremy in Dixon saying they detected gasoline in my diesel fuel. No way say I. I mentioned I had receipts in the console. Jeremy calls me back. I screwed up big time. 21 gallons of unleaded regular were mixed in with my diesel fuel. Jeremy hopes the new injectors aren’t damaged. They are going to drain the tank, purge everything and hope for the best.
It’s now Wednesday. Two weeks from the day this all started. I got a call from John. He can’t explain why his guy didn’t find the contaminated fuel in the first place. I agree but what’s done is done. The good news is the truck is done. The bad news! I only have to pay for the services provided by the other dealer. The total bill to me was $265.00. To me, that’s not bad news at all. The saga is over and I learned a lesson. And my new injectors are OK.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi Ray,

Wow,,, what a mistake, Ray. Sorry it took so long to find something like that, but you would think a competent mechanic could tell when diesel has gasoline in it. Especially 21 gal in a, what, a 35 gal tank, more than 50% gasoline can't be that hard to spot or smell when he is pulling the injectors and the stuff is running all over his hands.

Hard lesson to learn, but maybe you can say "Lin did it".

Jim M
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
Ray
I can relate to the bad fuel.....I can feel your pain, but it cost you a lot less than mine cost me. You got new injectors and the new connector for the module as well as a cleaned out fuel system.
 
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