I have a 2003 Dodge Ram, with approx 60,000 miles. It has not been starting. We brought it into the dealer under warranty, they apparantly(not) fixed it. Started okay for a couple of days, and then would not start again. Brought back to dealer, they tore apart (again), called me in, and told me it was not covred under the warranty because the injectors (the computer) have too much idle time on them, thus plugging up the injectors for the fuel.
We Are FUMING. This is going to cost us approx $3,000.00 to fix, after he has over 20hours researching. Has anyone out there had this problem? Can we fight it. What recourse do we have. Any ideas would be helpful.
Thank you

 

What is your hours on the truck now? What is their threshold for idle time. Sound like quite a blanket statement.

 

Sounds like lawyer time.

 

Sounds more like a lift pump issue to me rather than injectors. I would find another dealer.

MikeyB

 

Kinda makes you wonder if dealer tells you its not covered under warranty and makes you pay, only to have it warrentied from dodge and keep the dough. There could be some crooked service writers/managers out there doing this with writing phony service bills with different serial numbers. I don't rember seeing a "idle time" limit in my warranty book where it says the injecters are covered under the 100k warranty.

 

Sounds like a load of bull to me too. Call other dealers. I bet you find one that will fix it under warranty.

 

Man, I definately have never seen in my owners manual ANYTHING saying that excessive idle time will void a warantee. Like said above, try another dealer. Just out of curiosity, is this the same dealer you bought the truck from? If it is, thats a pretty bad dealer. I've run into a hard time before at other dealers but the one I bought my truck from has ALWAYS taken good care of me. Good luck!

 

Call 1-800-992-1997 D.C. customer service and get the ball rolling! D.C. would NEVER pay 20 hours checkout because someone dosen't know what their doing. Nothing nowhere in writing about idle time.Fuel contamination etc yes.But not idle time.On top of that carbons been a issue with these things period.

 

And, if you do wind up having to pay for some reason.....ANY reason....I wouldn't go back with stock injectors. You may as well upgrade and get some Flux Injectors from F-1 Diesel and hire a diesel shop or diesel guy to install them for you.

Good luck and hope it all turns out well! Hopefully under paid warranty!

 

Fight it.You should not have to but I'd fight it all the way up.tell them you want a meeting with DSM etc.

 

Anything under 35 mph average CUMMINS classifies as severe duty, NOT DC. That said severe duty is NOT a reason for warranty denial as long as the severe service schedule is followed. To my knowledge DC has never published in the owners manual that extened idle time is a no-no, only that is not reccomended.

The 03's should not have the kind of carboning problems the later trucks had because they lack the 3rd injection event. However, the early injectors did have problems with longevity and that is what I would hammer them on. Since they got it running once and it was good and they called it good when they gave it back, it should be up to them to fix the problem as they implied it was OK.

Start making phone calls, talk to the general manager and generally letting them know you won't be pushed around. Find out what the acutal hours and miles are and verify that they are what is being claimed then have them point out where it says that is a non-warrantable item for YOUR TRUCK, not any of the newer ones. Good luck.

 

Guess the Cummins will never survive the ambulance, firetruck or construction industry, Because thats all they do 80% of the time is idle

 

I believe that the "idle time" number is derived from the engine PCM. They can pull up percentage of time at certain rpm windows. Dodge calls anything 1500rpm and under idle time. I have 285's and 3.73 gears, at 55mph; I'm at 1500rpm..I had a knocking injector last winter, took it in and was diagnosed as carboned up injector, from excessive idle. For $329 they would do an injection system flush. Told them no thanks, and started using Power Service every fill up instead of occasionally. This is Dodge's way of getting out of paying for warranty issues with the injectors. The knock is gone, but if it comes back, I will be discussing the issue with someone higher up than the service manager. BTW, the manual does caution about idling over 5 minutes at a time.

 

It's more likely DC does it like everyone else, divide the mileage by the engine hours and if its under 35 mph avg blame too much idle time.

The caution against more than 5 minutes idle time is minimize washing the cylinder walls down due to lack of combustion heat. Not the same thing as avg mph less than 35, Cummins position on severe duty, and what DC is trying blame failures on.

 

Nwjetboat was correct, the idle time is a measured parameter in the computer, as well as # of key cycles (on/off/on/off), and a whole lot of little items like that.

I second what TexasCTD said. Have the truck towed to a local diesel shop, order some F1's, and go on your way. I'm suprised that they are giving you warranty service at 60K anyway (you must have bought an extended warranty).