[FFPaul]

So after my 2018 Colorado Duramax quit running in the middle of no where pulling my small rv trailer. I got it back on the road after several restarts. When I got to Las Vegas I dropped it at Finlay Chevrolet for repair. The first stab at it was a bad fuel rail. Parts unavailable from warehouse. After 4 days of still don’t know if we can find the part. One was located. At the one week mark a part arrived and was installed. Test drive threw the same code. Next was the engine control module. Part was in Texas and wouldn’t arrive til next week. The part arrived and when inst appeared to fix the problem. One week later in northern Oregon the same code came back. Now Capital Chevrolet says it’s not covered by any warranty (50k miles on the truck) the fuel metering valve ion the injector pump is bad. For this fix they want 300 for parts and 5hrs labor IE $1k. I look the part up at gm parts direct and find it for $156.00 wow big difference. I then called Las Vegas dealership and inquire. $282+ 2.5 hours labor. Called the Salem dealer and and complained. the service reptalked to the tech and told me I should take it there because their manual said it should take 18 hours to replace. I asked if driving it to Vegas as is would hurt anything and was told no. So off to LV I went. It quit on the Ventura freeway once. Then 20 times in a five mile stretch of isolated desert before milking it in to Vegas. for parts I ordered it from gm direct. the transaction was canceled with a note unable to order none available. So I called Finlay Chevy parts. Nice guy their said the part was not available and no alternate part was made.
So now I’m talking with Chevy customer service (India accent lady hard to understand) we’ll see if I have a garage ornament or will again have a usable truck. So frustrating when the most reliable engine ever made(diesel) is regulated into unreliable.

 

[Coloradorob]

So after my 2018 Colorado Duramax quit running in the middle of no where pulling my small rv trailer. I got it back on the road after several restarts. When I got to Las Vegas I dropped it at Finlay Chevrolet for repair. The first stab at it was a bad fuel rail. Parts unavailable from warehouse. After 4 days of still don’t know if we can find the part. One was located. At the one week mark a part arrived and was installed. Test drive threw the same code. Next was the engine control module. Part was in Texas and wouldn’t arrive til next week. The part arrived and when inst appeared to fix the problem. One week later in northern Oregon the same code came back. Now Capital Chevrolet says it’s not covered by any warranty (50k miles on the truck) the fuel metering valve ion the injector pump is bad. For this fix they want 300 for parts and 5hrs labor IE $1k. I look the part up at gm parts direct and find it for $156.00 wow big difference. I then called Las Vegas dealership and inquire. $282+ 2.5 hours labor. Called the Salem dealer and and complained. the service reptalked to the tech and told me I should take it there because their manual said it should take 18 hours to replace. I asked if driving it to Vegas as is would hurt anything and was told no. So off to LV I went. It quit on the Ventura freeway once. Then 20 times in a five mile stretch of isolated desert before milking it in to Vegas. for parts I ordered it from gm direct. the transaction was canceled with a note unable to order none available. So I called Finlay Chevy parts. Nice guy their said the part was not available and no alternate part was made.
So now I’m talking with Chevy customer service (India accent lady hard to understand) we’ll see if I have a garage ornament or will again have a usable truck. So frustrating when the most reliable engine ever made(diesel) is regulated into unreliable.

This scares the hell out of me.
And this is not the first issue like this I have read about.
And it’s not just the lack of parts but the lackluster training the GM techs have when it comes to these diesel trucks.

 

[bigoilbob]

This scares the hell out of me.
And this is not the first issue like this I have read about.
And it’s not just the lack of parts but the lackluster training the GM techs have when it comes to these diesel trucks.

I like your explain better than "regulated into unreliable". Mainly because I didn't see any mention of pollution gear in the story. I know that some of the referenced parts/assemblies are CONTROLLED for emissions, but they would have all been required no matter what the rules.

That being said, scares the hell out of me too. Nothing we can blame FFPaul on here, and he might have treated his ride quite well. Since I also overserve my ride, but travel far and wide with it, towing heavy, I want to believe that Chev/GM can do better than just try stuff. So, I'm thinking that GM needs to do LOTS more training on diagnosing, unless they have given up on us. The whole idea of codes is that, by reading and evaluating them step by step, problems like this can be identified and remedied.

 

[Coloradorob]

I like your explain better than "regulated into unreliable". Mainly because I didn't see any mention of pollution gear in the story. I know that some of the referenced parts/assemblies are CONTROLLED for emissions, but they would have all been required no matter what the rules.

That being said, scares the hell out of me too. Nothing we can blame FFPaul on here, and he might have treated his ride quite well. Since I also overserve my ride, but travel far and wide with it, towing heavy, I want to believe that Chev/GM can do better than just try stuff. So, I'm thinking that GM needs to do LOTS more training on diagnosing, unless they have given up on us. The whole idea of codes is that, by reading and evaluating them step by step, problems like this can be identified and remedied.

It’s seems every post I read where there is a problem it takes way to long to get your vehicle back.
I been in equipment service for 45 years. And not having a part in stock is not unusual. But having it the next morning is expected.
It seems these days a mechanic has no idea how to diagnose a problem so MFGs try and help by having diagnostic codes to point to the issue. And these codes keep growing and growing. We have Power train codes. Emissions codes ect ect.

I have pulled my travel trailer on some very long trips. And always in the back of my mind is will there be a problem that has my truck stranded at a dealer for WEEKS... And for what could be a simple problem.
It really kills the joy of ownership.

When you look at all the sensors on these trucks that are exposed to extream temperatures.
And dirty exhaust being pushed back into the intake causing soot to eventually plug it up or damage the EGR,
No wonder there is so many tuners out there.

One of the trucks at work with the 6.6 developed a valve issue. They had to remove the cab to be able to get the head off. What kind of stupid engineering are we doing these days?
Its totally crazy...
The other truck is a new 6.6 L5P and it continually has DEF issues that are always a bad sensor. It’s been in multiple times for the same issue.
The dealer says sensors have been problematic.

I work with a lot of equipment that is electronically controlled. And I see companies using sensors that are expected to last even though they are used very close to there tolerance specs.
Just because it says it’s good for 1000 deg doesn’t mean it will survive running at 900 for long.

Rob

 

[bigoilbob]

It’s seems every post I read where there is a problem it takes way to long to get your vehicle back.
I been in equipment service for 45 years. And not having a part in stock is not unusual. But having it the next morning is expected.
It seems these days a mechanic has no idea how to diagnose a problem so MFGs try and help by having diagnostic codes to point to the issue. And these codes keep growing and growing. We have Power train codes. Emissions codes ect ect.

I have pulled my travel trailer on some very long trips. And always in the back of my mind is will there be a problem that has my truck stranded at a dealer for WEEKS... And for what could be a simple problem.
It really kills the joy of ownership.

When you look at all the sensors on these trucks that are exposed to extream temperatures.
And dirty exhaust being pushed back into the intake causing soot to eventually plug it up or damage the EGR,
No wonder there is so many tuners out there.

One of the trucks at work with the 6.6 developed a valve issue. They had to remove the cab to be able to get the head off. What kind of stupid engineering are we doing these days?
Its totally crazy...
The other truck is a new 6.6 L5P and it continually has DEF issues that are always a bad sensor. It’s been in multiple times for the same issue.
The dealer says sensors have been problematic.

I work with a lot of equipment that is electronically controlled. And I see companies using sensors that are expected to last even though they are used very close to there tolerance specs.
Just because it says it’s good for 1000 deg doesn’t mean it will survive running at 900 for long.

Rob

Can't argue about lack of sensor reliability. Our only failure in ~46K miles was a failed EG sensor. Covered, but we were down 3 days, tripping back and forth between Souix St. Marie dealers in the US and Canada because of differing Independence days. We found great camping, but still....

 

[FFPaul]

FYI, the truck went to the dealer today. The part finally arrived! i called them at 3pm, was told the truck just went in for diagnostics. They keeping it overnight and still haven’t started replacing the part because another dealer did the diagnostic on the truck. Now it’s at the shop that replaced 2 parts already and didn’t fix the problem. Not a lot of confidence in the diesel mechanic that said it was the 2 parts they replaced and was wrong twice. Hoping this time it will be fixed. Paul, stranded in Las Vegas, day 15 this time and counting.

 

[bigoilbob]

FYI, the truck went to the dealer today. The part finally arrived! i called them at 3pm, was told the truck just went in for diagnostics. They keeping it overnight and still haven’t started replacing the part because another dealer did the diagnostic on the truck. Now it’s at the shop that replaced 2 parts already and didn’t fix the problem. Not a lot of confidence in the diesel mechanic that said it was the 2 parts they replaced and was wrong twice. Hoping this time it will be fixed. Paul, stranded in Las Vegas, day 15 this time and counting.

An unexcusable delay. Diagnosis, parts delivery, service, all together, should be 2 days or less. The whole idea of computer diagnosis is to get solutions, quick. We pay YUGE bux for these trucks to have many years of reliable, economical service. The mileage is a big draw, but as a diesel lover, I'd happily pay another $2-3,000/100,000 miles for the reliability of 3.5 liter EcoBoost.

 

[Coloradorob]

An unexcusable delay. Diagnosis, parts delivery, service, all together, should be 2 days or less. The whole idea of computer diagnosis is to get solutions, quick. We pay YUGE bux for these trucks to have many years of reliable, economical service. The mileage is a big draw, but as a diesel lover, I'd happily pay another $2-3,000/100,000 miles for the reliability of 3.5 liter EcoBoost.

GM is really really bad at Stocking parts and there techs are poorly trained.
We should have the ability to have parts shipp overnight.
Even if I had to pay for the shipping.

 

[oak1971]

I like your explain better than "regulated into unreliable". Mainly because I didn't see any mention of pollution gear in the story. I know that some of the referenced parts/assemblies are CONTROLLED for emissions, but they would have all been required no matter what the rules.

That being said, scares the hell out of me too. Nothing we can blame FFPaul on here, and he might have treated his ride quite well. Since I also overserve my ride, but travel far and wide with it, towing heavy, I want to believe that Chev/GM can do better than just try stuff. So, I'm thinking that GM needs to do LOTS more training on diagnosing, unless they have given up on us. The whole idea of codes is that, by reading and evaluating them step by step, problems like this can be identified and remedied.

There is a service that the Car Wizard on YouTube has mentioned several times which catalogs information from Mechanics nationwide. He says that it can normally nail things down to one or two causes from which he can then trouble shoot to narrow it down. Interesting that an independent shop has expertise and access to the right information and equipment that Stealer's can't or won't pursue.