Re: Brand new f$cking trucks with TONS of problems
We had an 08 freight liner ( bought in early 10 ), and within a year it began running terrible, loosing power, DPF not working, shifting erratically, you name it. Sent it in under warranty, they fixed "wiring issues", a few weeks later was doing it again, reprogrammed ecu, ran 2 days then started acting up again. Basically it was doing a regen every run! this truck puts on 200km a week tops! (only gets driven friday and saturday) This went on for close to a year, every time we took it in they said "computer shows no errors, theres nothing wrong with it!", this went on for about a year, finally it began running so bad it became unusable. Took it back in, this time they replaced a turbo, and a bunch of other crap, reprogrammed the ecu and transmission control unit, charged us about 5 grand, because its now out of warranty!
This worked for about a month and it started doing a regen again almost every time it went out. Blah Blah Blah, freight liner tells us theres nothing wrong with it and to stop bringing it to them because they are done working on it! We took it to a couple other shops, they replace a bunch of crap, a few grand later still a broken truck.
Finally I get on the horn to Cummins Canada, they offer some advice but nothing really helps. In the end we submit a letter to them via a paralegal service asking for a service centre they recommend since freight liner no longer wanted to help us. They reply back and tell us they will look at it at their head office in mississauga.
We got to talk to one of their main engineers, he was super nice and offered to personally look at it. We arrived and he listened to the truck run and had looked over all the service reports and receipts we submitted for tall the work. He didn't even open the hood and said " I know whats wrong with it, I have the parts here to fix it, come back tomorrow it will be fixed"
Turns out, that particular engine had left the factory with defective injectors, the early 08's were all supposed to have been recalled and fixed, but somehow this one had been missed. Was dumping too much fuel, hence burning out the turbo and DPF system. They replaced the turbo, DPF and EGR systems, and a couple other things along with the injectors, has run like a top now for almost 2 years! Basically he said the service techs should have checked the list of recalls and fixes in the computer and noticed this one hadn't been done, could have all been avoided if they replaced the injectors back when it was under warranty!
Funny thing is we have a friend who has an 08 perterbilt with the same engine, had the exact same issues, and same fix was required!
In the end Cummins refunded us a bunch of cash in good will and performed all the final repairs to us at no cost! they were great to deal with. Freighliner on the other hand, not so much!
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