Fuel Problem

[jayprosser@gmail.com]

Several weeks ago while traveling through Maryland in my 2004 Fleetwood Providence pusher, I experienced power loss while climbing or decending hills. While the engine would choke, it would emit white smoke from the exhaust. This continued for over 100 miles.

I took the coach to Freightliner Sterling of Hagerstown, MD. I provided a complete description of the problem. They kept the coach for four days, which meant I had to get a motel room for my wife, myself, and our 2-year-old grandson. I called Freightliner every day and they just kept giving me the runaround.

Finally, on the fourth day, I rented a car and went over to the dealer to retrieve some items from the coach. By chance I ran into the mechanic and asked how it was going. He advised that the coach was fixed and all that was wrong was debris in the fuel pump screen, which he cleaned out. I proceeded to the office and asked for my bill. It took them one-and-a-half hour to prepare my bill. They charged me $1,800. I was shocked, to say the least.

I feel that I have been ripped off and wonder if anyone in the forum can advise if these charges were excessive? I would think that with the description I provided it would not be a problem for a qualified mechanic to diagnose as either a bad injector or a bad primary filter or a bad fuel pump. It is a relatively new motorhome with only 20,000 miles, so that should eliminate the possible injector problem.

Thank you for any words or wisdom.

[wolfe10]

Several weeks ago while traveling through Maryland in my 2004 Fleetwood Providence pusher, I experienced power loss while climbing or descending hills. While the engine would choke, it would emit white smoke from the exhaust. This continued for over 100 miles.

I took the coach to Freightliner Sterling of Hagerstown, MD. I provided a complete description of the problem. They kept the coach for four days, which meant I had to get a motel room for my wife, myself, and our 2-year-old grandson. I called Freightliner every day and they just kept giving me the runaround.

Finally, on the fourth day, I rented a car and went over to the dealer to retrieve some items from the coach. By chance I ran into the mechanic and asked how it was going. He advised that the coach was fixed and all that was wrong was debris in the fuel pump screen, which he cleaned out. I proceeded to the office and asked for my bill. It took them one-and-a-half hour to prepare my bill. They charged me $1,800. I was shocked, to say the least.

I feel that I have been ripped off and wonder if anyone in the forum can advise if these charges were excessive? I would think that with the description I provided it would not be a problem for a qualified mechanic to diagnose as either a bad injector or a bad primary filter or a bad fuel pump. It is a relatively new motorhome with only 20,000 miles, so that should eliminate the possible injector problem.

Thank you for any words or wisdom.

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

Debris in the fuel system would not be a warranty item, so contacting your engine manufacturer would likely do little good.

If the shop pays techs by the "flag" hour there will be notations on the dealer copy of the work order showing how much diagnostic time was spent identifying this problem. So I would start by talking with the Service Manager and have him explain the bill. If not satisfied, contact the General Manager or owner of the dealership.

Taking a rational, non-emotional approach with them generally gives much better results. You are just looking for an explanation.

As a future note, do you have both a PRIMARY and SECONDARY fuel filter? If so, the PRIMARY fuel filter is generally located between the fuel tank and fuel pump and should protect it from debris. If you don't have this filter arrangement, consider adding one!

Brett Wolfe

[jayprosser@gmail.com]

Thank you Brett, I do appreciate the info.

Jay

[hermanmullins]

Bret has given you sound advice, as allways. I recently had your same problem. The first place that looked at my problem spent 5 hours and found no problem. They did replace both fuel filters. At this same time I had a service bullentin from Cummins so I took it to the closest dealer. They first said they could preform the bullentin, but when they attached the computer to my unit they found a code they could not find anywhere in the books or on line. A call to Southern Plains Cummins told them that it was a factory code and that they would need the coach to preforn the task. The dealer didn't charge me one red dime. I took the unit to Southern Plains, they did the work and Cummins picked up the bill.

We have a Monaco Dynasty, 2002, with 60,000 miles on the unit. Our engine is a 400 HP ISL. If you have the 400 HP ISL I would advise you to check with Cummins on the Service Bullentin.

Your Bill for $1,800.00 is excessive. That is over 16.63 hours at (our area) $108.00 per hour flat rate.

As Bret said be nice and cool and ask for a recount with 1) Service manager, 2) General Manager and 3) Owner.

My total out of pocket was $301.41 at Diamond Service Center, in Howe, TX. They are great people to work with and they keep you informed with their progress.

I hear these horror stories of over charging and I feel greatfull that we haven't been in those situtations. (Now that I have put it in writing I am sure I will have my own story.

Good luck and Happy traveling.

"FAIR SEAS AND FOLLOWING WINDS"