Things that make you say.....

snw blue by you · February 8, 2008

What the fuck!

Pardon the French.

'05 550 6.0L steamship.

New customer, says he had said truck at another local dealer (will remain nameless, unless bribed) for the issue on 1 28 08.

It was explained to him that the EGR had been replaced and the truck was all set.

However within minutes of leaving the shop it started steaming again, so he went back. He was told that the engine required headgaskets, WTF!

Now we all know that the exhaust will hold a fair amount of coolant and some may be thinking that this was the issue but wait, wouldn't you expect the tech to take a good long roadtest to cook that out?

Anyways, that's not it.

The customer, disgusted and with 2 other trucks in the shop decided to bring his vehicle to me based on recomendations from other Ford diesel owners in his line of business.

He explained the issue, I verified it in his presence, and told him not worry, it would be taken care of.

Pretty simple really, this 6oh required an EGR cooler along with a turbo, an EBP sensor, a MAP sensor, and some all around TLC to get it in tiptop shape.

Now, what I found under the hood suggested that noone had been there for quite some time and what I saw was disturbing.

The last warranty claim was made Feb. 07 and it was for 2 bank 2 injectors, well that explains why the FICM was not bolted on and just hanging on by it's connectors, but even better was the rear bolts were bottomed in the VC bracket, as well, the fresh air inlet was not attached at the FICM and only secured by it's worm clamp.

VC bolts were not in their correct positions, the IAT2 sensor was damaged, and God only knows why but the hotside CAC tube hoses were deformed because the AC hose had been put on the wrong side of the tube causing misalignment.

Well, long story short, the repair fixed the truck and all is well...

Except, the customer brought the invoice from the other dealer when picking up his rig, and yup, right there in black and white it says EGR cooler, not EGR valve, customers mistake.

Didn't show on OASIS, sooooo.. scramble to bill, close, and submit before the FRAUDS up the road have a chance of getting paid for work not performed, and we get stuck with a service parts failure and a repeat repair.

Luckily for the customer it was a 3/36 repair, so no coinage outta' his pocket and luckily for me, I now get all of their business. I don't even care about warranty, I'll always have work.

This one company has 15 Super Duties and a 650.

Now, I can almost deal with crap like misdiag, shoddy work, etc.

but flat out lying and stealing, it makes me sick. Nothing and I mean nothing was repaired or replaced on this vehicle 2 weeks ago, and I have the parts to prove it.

Where do we draw the line?

BTW, the coolant loss TSB actually pays fairly well.

snw blue by you · February 8, 2008

WOW, my partial got posted twice!!!

I'm just trying to get my count up.

GregH · February 8, 2008

I had one similar, although not nearly as interesting and provocative as yours... So I'll kee mine quick....

Had a truck in a while back for misfire under load. Traced it down to two injectors on the left bank. No fuel pressure issues, just some bung injectors. Stop by the parts department to pick them up, get the build date off the OASIS, and see that two bank 2 injectors and one bank 1 injector have already been replaced just a month ago. Uhhh oh, now I've got an issue.

Back up and punt. Rerun my diagnosis. Definately have cylinders 2 and 6 dropping out. Fuel pressure is great. Everything is telling me that the new injectors in holes 2 and 6 are bad.

I pull the valve cover. The color of the solenoids on injectors 2 and 6 are just as yellow as the solenoids on 4 and 8. Reread the OASIS - injectors 1,2,6 replaced. I looked at the connector for injector 1 - it is turned so the metal clip is facing forward instead of upwards. Injectors 3 and 5 are like that too. Injector 7 as well as the injectors on the left bank all have their metal clips facing straight up. Ah ha!

So, I'm a little bent. I'm feeling a little high and mighty. I look up the phone number for the other dealer, speak to service, reference the claim number, get them to pull the hardcopy, and hand it and the phone to the technician who worked on the truck. Asked him if he was absolutely sure that he put injectors in BOTH banks of this truck. He lies to me and says yep. I tell him I'm about to put two injectors - the two he already replaced - and need to know if I need to make it an SPW claim. He still lies and says yep.

Well, I thanked him for his time and hung up. What else could I do?

I photographed the truck with the valve cover off. Printed out the picture and attatched it to the RO. Charged the customer his $100 deductible, did not submit an SPW claim, and wrote up everything except the phone conversation.

Evidently it went through without a hitch. Never heard a thing after I turned in the paperwork.

I covered my bases. If the other tech can get away with it, fine. I can sleep at night just fine.