2015 Found On Road ... Yep

[davidaf]

7 Months, 10,000 miles and 3/4 tank of fuel and she finally disappoints me. Driving along minding my own business when the CE light pops on, Low Fuel Pressure then limp home mode. Restart the beast and she does it again in 1/4 mile. Luckily I was two miles from a dealer so I restart her again, drive in under normal power and drop her off. In lieu of an extended rant I'll just say I'm not too happy with the dealer and stick to the facts (mostly):

When they get to the truck the CE light is gone, they can't reproduce and there are no codes to be found. It's Magic! They want to hold onto the truck and test the fuel (funny all the boards talk about Ford trying to find bad fuel to blame the consumer). After two days of this logic I tell them to change the fuel filters and give me back my truck. "Sir, we can't recommend you change your filters this early".. Well, at least one of us reads the diesel supplement - Page 19 Second Paragraph.

Could it be the fuel? Of course, but I'm not in the middle of nowhere. The station I filled at last and all of the ones I've filled at for the last 5k miles are well used busy locations that I've filled at multiple times. Lets hope the fuel filters are just gummed up. I'll pick her up today and drive 100 miles to my home base. Should she do it again I'll give another dealer a try.

[Missfit Ramblers]

davidaf, just a question for you, where are you located? And are you using bio? If using bio that may be your problem. After 40 years of pushing a big truck down the road, I have encountered the things you described, changing the filters did the trick. Not to say that the fuel was bad but it's just the nature of things. With bio, additives are your friend. this is all based on my experience & so are my opinions. Others may not agree with me, but that is the great thing about this forum, you get meany different opinions. Good Luck!!
Wendell

[Capt Kidd]

We have a friend with a Ford that had the same sort of problem. The dealer had changed the filters and they went on a trip. As they were going up a steep long grade the truck lost power when they finally got to the top power came back. Same thing happened again down the road. Got home and went to the dealer who of course couldn't find anything wrong and told my friends the computer needed to be reset at a cost of several hundred dollars even though the truck only had 27,000 miles on it and was still under warranty.

Friend told the dealer to change the filters, dealer said no.

Not sure what the final outcome will be.

[WaltBennett]

Something I've always had since they came out with those OBD plugs is a code reader that can reset them. Don't know why a dealer would charge 'several hundred dollars' to push a button on one, and getting a reader for your year vehicle is something around a couple of hundred (if that). You can also find out if the truck acts up, if it's set any codes yourself. As to 'resetting' the computer, just pulling both battery cables off, waiting about a few minutes, then putting them back on will do that. It'll also clear any codes that have been set, so you probably should find out if there are any first. My mechanic recommended that to me as a last resort if you are stuck somewhere and things start acting really strange and you've no idea why.

[Artemus Gordon]

Never had any problems like that, nor has dealer charged several hundred dollars for resetting computers? I don't doubt the OP is having issues but Ford covers 100% of all issues while under warranty. Further if owner gets on Fords owner Web site, those guys react fast. Ford customer service has been great at getting things corrected. Please go on Web site ASAP !

[davidaf]

Picked up the truck and ran it as hard as I could w/o the trailer attached. Put almost 100 miles on it in comparable outside temps (95-100 degrees), no issues. I'll be towing this weekend hopefully the new filters have solved the problem.

Located in Southern CA between Orange County and Riverside County for the most part. Never ran Bio just standard Diesel from top name stations which all appear to have heavy traffic. I've only put "suspect" fuel in a couple times. Only reason I say suspect is I was in Baja but they also run ULS that is supposed to be the same grade as the states. These were heavy traffic Pemex stations. I haven't been there in about 6 months so roughly 8k miles ago.

I'll jump on the Ford Owners website and see what happens. BTW Ford wouldn't cover the cost of filters even if it did cause the issue while under warranty. At least according to my dealership. They would however cover the cost of me driving around in some crummy rental while they try and figure out the problem (that they can't figure out). That's all fine and good but I need to be back in town to be close to the office for a couple weeks. Without a truck my rig isn't moving which means 200 mile round trip commutes (mind you this is SoCal which means 2 to 3 hours one way in traffic).. Thats not going to happen. Unfortunately i've been down this road with Chrysler in the past (one of the reasons I don't own a Ram) so I'm a bit jaded. They held my Jeep hostage for close to 2 months over my warranty period while the hamstung mechanics were forced to followed corporates repair guidelines. No matter how obvious the solution was.

Whew.. End Rant! Sorry I really did try and avoid it but now I feel much better

[Artemus Gordon]

David, I am sorry if I came across hard. It was bad typing. I just have had no problems and in addition, Ford has been great to me. My service manager at local dealership even told be how hard Ford is on them. They get bad survey Ford is on them the next day.

I am ultra sensitive because of horror stories from other owners. in 36,000 miles criss crossing the U.S. 3 times, the machine has performed well. Can't say that about our two 2014 Jeeps. My lack of confidence is why I did not buy RAM. I also want to add this point of information. The dealerships I have used, did not sell me my truck. They have no special loyalty or expectations of future business.

[davidaf]

No hard feelings on my end. I still like the truck and would purchase it again. I'm certainly not a fan boy or a brand basher. I just wish dealers and manufacturers would do a better job conveying that they actually care about their customers, if they do. Obviously there was more to my poor experience than the repair. The dealership I took the truck to sells a ton of trucks and they have a very large commercial sales and service division. I guess my expectations are too high. With the prices we are paying for these trucks I expect to be treated as well as I am at the Mercedes and BMW dealers where we have my wife's cars serviced. Night and day difference from start to finish; at least in this part of the country. Maybe it's time for a German made dually?

[Phil P]

quote:Originally posted by WaltBennett

Something I've always had since they came out with those OBD plugs is a code reader that can reset them. Don't know why a dealer would charge 'several hundred dollars' to push a button on one, and getting a reader for your year vehicle is something around a couple of hundred (if that). You can also find out if the truck acts up, if it's set any codes yourself. As to 'resetting' the computer, just pulling both battery cables off, waiting about a few minutes, then putting them back on will do that. It'll also clear any codes that have been set, so you probably should find out if there are any first. My mechanic recommended that to me as a last resort if you are stuck somewhere and things start acting really strange and you've no idea why.

Hi

When I purchased my 2009 Silverado Duramax I also purchased the OEM repair manuals.

An example why it cost $250 to change one glow plug is in the manuals. The manufacturer requires the dealer to follow the manual. The Duramax manuals have 1.5 hours to go thru all of the computer diagnostic checks to make sure it is the glow plug and not something else. Then another hour to change the bad plug. If you have 2 plugs on the same side of the engine the second one only cost you $35 to change.

So to say the least I scan my truck for codes that tell you which plugs are bad and change my own glow plugs.

Phil P

PS: Pulling the cables off the batteries on the GM product with OnStar incorrectly sets off the emergency OnStar unit and that is $700 to correct.

[jimcol]

Phil P

PS: Pulling the cables off the batteries on the GM product with OnStar incorrectly sets off the emergency OnStar unit and that is $700 to correct.
[/quote]

Phil, What is the correct way to disconnect the battery? We have a 2008 GM product with OnStar. I have disconnected the battery a few times and it never caused a problem. I don't want to make a $700 mistake. Jim

[Phil P]

quote:Originally posted by jimcol


Phil P

PS: Pulling the cables off the batteries on the GM product with OnStar incorrectly sets off the emergency OnStar unit and that is $700 to correct.

Phil, What is the correct way to disconnect the battery? We have a 2008 GM product with OnStar. I have disconnected the battery a few times and it never caused a problem. I don't want to make a $700 mistake. Jim
[/quote]

Hi

There are 2 ways. The one I like the least is shut off truck close all doors and wait 30 minutes before discounting the batteries.

The second one is to leave the driver’s door open and disconnect the batteries.

This is out of the 2009 Silverado 3500 owner’s manual. You may want to check your manual to make sure I am correct.

My understanding is it doesn’t alert the OnStar emergency system but does start the internal battery backup system and once it is started there in no way to reset it so the battery goes dead and the unit quits working.

The one time I discounted the batteries I hadn’t read the manual I was just lucky that I had left the drivers door open. LOL

[mlh]

Why does it cost $700. I've never heard that before.
Lynwood

[1retired06]

On our third ford diesel. Ford dealerships at home and in Florida have always provided super service and honored all warranty coverage.

[Phil P]

quote:Originally posted by mlh

Why does it cost $700. I've never heard that before.
Lynwood

Hi

There is no way to reset the emergency backup battery system and the battery goes dead. When this happens the unit will no longer work. There is no provision for charging the battery or changing it in the field.

The only way to replace the battery is by exchanging the OnStar transceiver for a rebuilt one. Cost $700 installed.

My unit had a different failure and I had to have it replaced.

Phil P