New Ford Superduty owners beware (diesels)

[frischtr]

Then the dealers would be denying claims based on the use of aftermarket parts.

Some do, it depends on the dealer, and ultimately, the individual tech... Personally, I don't buy new vehicles so warranty concerns don't apply to me.

 

[BigBoyinMS]

OK then there would be nothing in the computers memory saying he ignored the WIF light. If the system failed to alert him they should cover the repairs IMO.

JB

Of course, they should pay. But it sounds like they have a policy not to cover it... no matter what. The only way to force them is with a lawsuit. He got his insurance to cover it, it's back on the road, end of story.

 

[BigBoyinMS]

What did they do, an inframe?

Nope, that's just the labor and parts (at factory list prices) to replace everything in the fuel system from the fuel tank to the injectors and everything in between.

 

[BigBoyinMS]

Some do, it depends on the dealer, and ultimately, the individual tech... Personally, I don't buy new vehicles so warranty concerns don't apply to me.

Same here. After 2 new ones in the 80's I'll never buy a new vehicle again. I do 99% of any repairs or maintenance on my vehicles.

As far as warranty, most companies will warranty what they are supposed to with no problem or maybe after a call to a factory rep but Dodge (Chrysler) seems now to be the worst at covering repairs... at least costly ones.
I've worked in auto dealerships parts departments for almost 30 years and I can't say that any manufacturer I've worked with has been neglectful at covering an actual warrant-able repair. A lot has to do with the dealership itself and how hard they want to intercede on the customers behalf. From what he told me I think the dealer probably did his best in my bro's case but Dodge wasn't budging.

 

[jeffsw6]

All common rail diesels run high pressures and don't like dirty or contaminated fuel. Low sulphur is the norm for european diesels which Bosch supplies a pump or two for, I'd bet its being used as a scape goat. We've been running it up here for a while, no problems here but I don't have any common rail stuff.

Some people think the Ford water separator design is poor and allows fuel (and water) to get through when the filter gets full/blocked.

If you do enough searching on forums you will find some stories of water-in-fuel issues with Duramax trucks also. The difference is these are usually owners whose truck has suddenly went into limp mode, and replacing the fuel filter is usually a sufficient fix. I have read a few stories of guys who had injector damage but not many.

My personal belief is Ford is trying to wish away a fuel system design flaw that will eventually come back to haunt them in the form of a class action pay-out, warranty extensions for owners, and more reputation damage for their diesels.

OTOH I could easily be wrong and I will freely admit that I am a 'Chevy guy' so my opinion is probably a little biased. But I would buy a trusty 7.3 PSD in a second if the right deal came along.

 

[sandman2234]

Some people think the Ford water separator design is poor and allows fuel (and water) to get through when the filter gets full/blocked.

If you do enough searching on forums you will find some stories of water-in-fuel issues with Duramax trucks also. The difference is these are usually owners whose truck has suddenly went into limp mode, and replacing the fuel filter is usually a sufficient fix. I have read a few stories of guys who had injector damage but not many.

My personal belief is Ford is trying to wish away a fuel system design flaw that will eventually come back to haunt them in the form of a class action pay-out, warranty extensions for owners, and more reputation damage for their diesels.

OTOH I could easily be wrong and I will freely admit that I am a 'Chevy guy' so my opinion is probably a little biased. But I would buy a trusty 7.3 PSD in a second if the right deal came along.

So why does the fuel that affects the new engines not affect the older ones also? Is it the HPFP having tighter tolerances, or is this fuel going to affect all of the diesels at some point? Not hearing the same problems with the 7.3 makes me wonder why now, or is it just that I haven't been hanging around diesel pickups very long, not long at all...
If adding fuel filters is good for the 6.7, why not the rest of the motors to keep the same water and trash out? Sounds like something that might be worth while.
David from jax

Oh, I have always owned bowties also...so a 7.3 in the driveway and all these horror stories about fuel problems is keeping me on the edge of my seat!

 

[jeffsw6]

So why does the fuel that affects the new engines not affect the older ones also? Is it the HPFP having tighter tolerances, or is this fuel going to affect all of the diesels at some point?

It is not going to affect everyone. I sure would not worry about your 7.3 PSD.

Bosch has been making high-pressure common-rail fuel systems for road use for a long time. In fact, they have supplied the Duramax pumps and injectors since the beginning. They also supply the Ford 6.7 HPFP. You don't see tons of Dmax owners crying about $20k repair bills and denied warranties over water in fuel causing their HPFP to fail catastrophically and take the entire engine with it. To be fair, there aren't zero, either; but there seems to be a LOT of people with exactly the same story with the 6.7, and **** few GM owners.

Cummins has been making engines like this for road use for at least ten years, too.

Again I am just giving my own opinion, and I am not an automotive engineer or a diesel tech or anything, but I think it is a Ford problem that they are hoping will go away. Sometimes big companies are successful at ignoring burned customers rather than spending money to make things right. Ever see a purple Dodge Neon without the paint falling off it? No one else has, either. It was defective paint and it was so obvious that they stopped even making that color because no one would buy the cars anymore.

 

[nunyabinis]

I wanted one of these new 6.7s so bad I could taste it. I test drove one and it's head and shoulders above my old '94 F250 7.3 PSD. However, I read the following article where a Chevy monkey-stomped the Ford in a shootout in the Rockies:

Ford Got Monkey-Stomped!!!

I figured I'd wait a year or two for Ford to "work out the kinks" and get their truck up to the DMax level of performance. I also figured that waiting a while would be a Good Thing to give time for any design flaws to rear their ugly heads.

Now comes the news of these HPFP failures. Looks like I'll be driving the '94 for a little while longer while I watch the latest developments closely from the sidelines.

 

[JasG]

Maybe I missed it if it was posted, but why is this a $12000.00 - $20000.00 dollar repair? Is this issue damaging the whole engine?

I'm for now a Ford guy, but one things I have noticed going back to the early 2000's is they have had issues with diesels that I think are self inflicted. The other engines were build by Navistar, yet certain issues didn't happen, or happen as much in Navistar products. Maybe they were happening, but not as many engines out by Navistar?

 

[PSDStu]

I have debated along time about getting a new 6.7 but after reading at The Diesel Stop about Ford denying the water in fuel warranty claims I decided I'd wait awhile longer and see if Ford changes the current filter system or makes some other change to reduce the problem.

I have had my 97 7.3 PSD since it was new and have had the WIF light come on before and had to clean water and trash out of the bottom of the fuel filter bowl and never had a problem with the engine.

I know the 6.7 could run circles around my 15yo PSD, but I will wait and see what happens with Ford, and see if they try and correct the WIF problem in the 6.7.

I sure feel sick for those who are told by Ford sorry about your problem...... but were not going to cover the problem as a warranty issue.

Stu