Our Truck is very sick! - Montana Owners Club

BamaBrowns · 10-26-2004, 12:45 PM

I am seeing such glowing reports on the Duramax/Allison combination I just have to see if anyone else has experienced the problems we are currently fighting.

While returning (thank goodness) to Birmingham from San Antonio a few weeks ago we lost almost all power just south of Meridian, MS. The truck refused to go over 55 miles per hour and going down hill it would start jumping or jerking or something like that. We managed to limp home but the truck has been at the dealer's service department since 10/11. They have told us we have defective injector rods. They replaced 2 and we picked up the truck. As long as we were on the interstate the truck ran fine. However, at the first incline (not mountain, not even hill) the power disappeared again. This while it was just the truck, no trailer.

The truck in a 2004 and only has 10,000 miles on it.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. My husband does not have much patience for these kinds of things and I am getting worried since we were planning to spend Thanksgiving in the Monty for the first time this year.

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-26-2004, 02:01 PM

Sounds to me like a bad fuel problem but I would think that your dealer would have checked that as well. Just in case I would ask the dealer if it could be bad fuel causing the problem. Did he change the fuel filter when he worked on it?

foggyb · 10-26-2004, 02:25 PM

Mine did that and it ended up being the air filter. Changed it and haven't had a problem since. Thought it was a fuel problem because if I unpluged the wire on top of the fuel filter for a minute or so and re-attacjhed it I could get going again. However it kept happening ( especially under load) untill I did the air filter thing. Dan

OntMont · 10-26-2004, 03:07 PM

I would definitely look for a simple solution first, fuel, filters, etc. Does your dealer do much diesel work? If not, try to find one who does. We use a dealer in the country who sells a lot of trucks to horse farms etc. Good luck!

Countryfolks · 10-26-2004, 03:11 PM

You might ask for info on a gmc forum. Here's one I found with a google search on "duramax forum". Don't take all they say as gospel though, but they may provide good starting point info.

http://www.gm-diesel.com/

Skip

Sue · 10-26-2004, 03:34 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by BamaBrowns
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

My daughters trainer has the same truck as you, and so does my husband. But, my daughters trainers truck did this once, and it was determined it was a dirty air filter or fuel filter (can't remember now). Even tho you appear to have little mileage I would think that it still could get dirty depending on the road conditions, fuel conditions, etc. (Listen to me, I'm a mechanic now

)

lawrenceb42106 · 10-26-2004, 03:57 PM

We had the problem similar to that when we came back from Alaska this summer. Took it to a dealer in Billings,Mt and they said it set the code high loss of fuel. The truck just de-powered. Turn off the engine and restart had full power. I changed the fuel filter and have not had anymore problems. Also GM has a bulletin out if any of the injectors are bad to replace all of them. Ask the dealer if it set a code in the computer? Also as others have said check your air filter. You may have to find a dealer that works on a lot of the Duramax's. The dealer around are not that familiar with them around here.

snowbunny · 10-27-2004, 04:12 AM

Three specialiats in diesels have told me that 90% of the powerloss complaints they get are solved by replacing the air filter. They all said to not trust the air filter indicators built in to GM and Ford diesel trucks. I'd try this first as it is quick and cheap.

Good Luck

Glass Guy · 10-27-2004, 04:52 AM

I installed a K & N air filter and I gained 2.5 miles per gallon and did notice a gain in power, the biggest thing for a diesel is they have to breath, the more air you can get into them the more power you will have. there are a couple of companies out there now that make high flow air filters they cost more but in my opinion are worth the money. Roman

DHenry · 10-27-2004, 05:13 AM

I have not had any problems with my Duramax but am interested in knowing the results of your problem. Thanks for the post.

BamaBrowns · 10-27-2004, 12:42 PM

Well, we picked the truck back up this afternoon and drove around for about 30 minutes before telling the dealer it seemed to be running okay.

It appears when they replaced the injectors they did not reset some computer thingy (technical term). We are planning on taking the Monty out of a "test" pull this weekend.

The dealer did mention the something about the fuel being a problem but they said it had to do with the high sulpher content in the diesel in the South. This did not make any sense to us since there are tons of diesel engines running around here from many different manufacturers.

We'll keep in mind the air and fuel filters.

I'll let you all know if we have any further problems. My husband is just glad to have a real truck back. We've been driving a Jeep Liberty

. Just not the same as the regular truck.

sreigle · 10-27-2004, 01:11 PM

Snowbunny, I tend to agree with you, at least about Ford's filter condition indicator. On the one we just traded the indicator still showed zero percent clogged at 51k miles. When I asked, the dealer told me they're good for 60 to 70k miles or more unless used in dusty conditions like dirt roads or offroad. I'll keep an eye on the new one to see if the indicator seems to work.

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