Heard so much good news about the cummins motor I decided to buy one and get into 5th wheeling. Found a nice looking 2003 3500 with 106 gal aux tank, 5th wheel hitch, 6 speed manual, and 98500 miles. Bought the truck from the orig. owner in LA area and drove it the 250 miles to our home in Henderson NV. The truck seemed to start hard, as in, needed to be cranked for 10 seconds or so before it would start. That problem got worse and worse until it finally wouldn't start. Not knowing anything about diesels I used some common sense and decided to change the fuel filter, which seemed to fix the problem....at least for a day. The same problem developed and I'm now at a loss as to why the vehicle won't start. I let it sit for a few days then go out and try to start it....nothing. I try a few more times....nothing. I decide to check the fuel filter. I take it our and look at it and reinstall it and ......it starts. A friend checked the fuel pressure at the filter and then after it. The reading is 9.5 psi. Within spec's I'm told. Anyway, I take the truck to the dealer who runs the 101.00 diagnostic test on it and tells me the clutch fan is bad! I ask them if any other codes show up and the answer is no. What that has to do with the starting problem....I don't know. In any case, I do not authorize the 550.00 replacement of the fan and go to pick up the truck... but now it won't start. They run more tests and tell me the fuel pump in the tank is shorting out and that's my problem. I auth. the 600.00 job to "fix it" and they now tell me that it did not fix it and they want to change two more parts at an additional cost of 800.00! I told them to put my old part back on and give me my truck. I'm waiting to hear from the upper management on that. If anyone has any suggestions on what I should do, please share them. Your input would be much apprecaited. Sorry for the length of the expanation. George

 

Boat,
Welcome to the site 1st off. Secondly, if the engine has less than 100K miles on it, Cummins will foot the bill for repairs, but you have to find a reputable D/C dealership that has a SERVICE department and not a bunch of yahoos throwing parts on her at your expense. Thirdly, post a question in the 3rd generation posrtion of this site and see if ya get more replies.

Good luck in getting it running again, and when ya do, you will like the power that the Cummins can put to the ground (especially after a few mods...

Gary

 

Gary - Thanks for your reply. I will cut and paste my question to the 3rd gen section as you suggested. Finding a dealer or service center that will diagnose my problem accurately will be the biggest hurdle, I think. Pray for me!
George

 

Cummins does not foot the bill. D/C does all the warranty work. Cummins has nothing to do with it.

 

A couple things to think about:

Get the codes and post them. Turn the key on/off/on/off/on and leave it on and read the codes in the odometer window.

My guess is you are having trouble with your injection pump, but that's just a guess.

If it were me and I wanted help from a bunch of hillbillies who like their truck, I'd change my username from "boatanchor" to "boatpuller". I realize you are having trouble with your truck and I sympathize with you but why do you think the last owner sold it?

 

i thought the boat anchor was really funny!

sorry i cant help you on your problem

 

I'm betting you're not having your truck worked on at Desert Dodge on Sahara.

 

Well, it's like this: I am getting a little older now, 46, and I thought I should pay "the professionals" to do the work I used to do, on my truck, yard projects, etc., but you know, I am rethinking that whole idea. I can look at the truck and point to the fuel system components one by one and say eeni, meenie, minee, moe, and have just as much success at picking the failed part as they did........which, incidently, has been none. Here's the score:
Bought the truck for 24.5K, spent 100.00 more at Chapman Dodge to have them tell me my starting problem was a clutch fan. When I went to pick up the truck....because I wasn't going to spend 500+ on a part that didn't make any sense to change, the truck wouldn't start.....which they said was a good thing because now they can REALLY find out what's wrong. To make a long story longer, they told me the fuel pump in the tank was shorting out and that replacing the part would FIX it and cost me 575.00. Put it in I said. The call I got later in the day didn't exactally please me. Well George, the fuel pump didn't fix the problem and we need to change two more parts to get her done. We'll need your authorization for the additional 800.00 on parts and labor for the fuel pressure relief valve and fuel control actuator. Needless to say, the truck is not at that dealership any longer. I've been around cars all my life. I currently own a 68 camaro, 75 chevy truck, 84 chevy motor home, 91 mazda, and a 97 toyota. Except for the toyoty, every one of my vehicles has needed work and I've done it with the help of advice from friends, manuals, and by applying some common sense. I just can't understand why "the professionals" and the dealer can't get this truck fixed with all the resources they have at their disposal. I mean the truck is at a Dodge dealership for goodness sake. They can call Dodge, Cummins, or somebody, can't they!? I was going to get the additional parts from a local supplier, but my good friend and professional gas vehicle mechanic convinced me to give his good friend a shot at fixing it. The person working on it now is at another dealership in Las Vegas called Dodge Land. We'll see what he comes up with next week. Next post will be short.......I'll either say "It's fixed" and here's what they replaced, or, I taking the truck to the lake, and one of us is not coming back! There, I've vented.....think I'll go beat the dog for good measure.....just kidding.

 

Wait a second here. Unless you are not over 7 years (you're not) or 100,000 miles, then Dodge should be doing all the work under WARRANTY.

 

Not sure who is wrenching at Dodgeland (isn't that the one out on Ann Road?). If that doesn't turn out you might want at least stop by Desert Dodge on Sahara and talk to their diesel tech. I had a customer of mine call me from Vegas with a dieing truck. Sounded like a lift pump issue to me and he ended up at
Desert. He stopped by and talked to me after he made it back down here and liked the guy who did the work (and the truck was fixed).

 

Something to consider... As the truck came out of the Louisiana area, it's highly possible it's a Katrina casualty and this is the reason the guy sold it. If the truck was flooded, you could be experiencing all sorts of wiring problems.

 

Tom,

A guy named Craig is doing the work on my truck over at the Dodgeland dealership on Ann Rd. He comes highly recommended from my good friend Chuck who is a top notch gas motor mechanic. Anyway, I droped it off yesterday afternoon and told him to take as long as he wants to figure it out. Thanks for you help. The truck is totally restricted as far as the warranty is concerned and as far as I have been told, it's because of bad fuel at some point in it's past. To my knowledge, the truck is on it's 3 rd lift pump, 2nd fuel relief valve, and it's had an injector replaced. Oh well, what can I do but wait and see. George

 

J Body,

Posted this to the wrong person: A guy named Craig is doing the work on my truck over at the Dodgeland dealership on Ann Rd. He comes highly recommended from my good friend Chuck who is a top notch gas motor mechanic. Anyway, I droped it off yesterday afternoon and told him to take as long as he wants to figure it out. Thanks for you help. The truck is totally restricted as far as the warranty is concerned and as far as I have been told, it's because of bad fuel at some point in it's past. To my knowledge, the truck is on it's 3 rd lift pump, 2nd fuel relief valve, and it's had an injector replaced. Oh well, what can I do but wait and see. George

 

Does the truck have a salvge title?

 

The lift pump replacements are odd. I can see the first one failing as it was that POS that was mounted on the filter housing, but the intank ones haven't caused much grief from my experience. Are there any mods on the truck? (hp uprades, chip, timing box etc...or signs of old mods like velcro strips on the pdc cover?) Back in 03 the only psi relief valves I replaced were ones that were running mods of some sort. They would allow the rail psi to be increased and at times it would push the rail psi over the threshold and would take out the psi relief valve. The excessive rail psi would actually cut the seat in the valve and will eventually cause a lack of power or no run situation due to the rail psi falling off. Keep us updated and hope all goes well......and on the fan situation did they replace it because of speed sensor codes?...or did the fan "eat" the harness leading to the electro/hydraulic fan clutch (seen that quite a bit on 03's).