patron Report post Posted October 1, 2016 2003 Allegro Bus Freightliner Chassis, CAT, 107,000 miles, bought used @ 97,000 miles Dec 2015. Wholesale Warranties contract. Need help determining whether this Freightliner outfit is troubleshooting this correctly. Blew turbo charger in Montana on our way home to Georgia after a 4 month trip to Alaska. Towed to a Freightliner service center using Good Sam Roadside Assistance (great 2nd experience with them on our trip). Freightliner diagnosed as blown turbo charger, with oil blown through the unit. Repair requires replacing turbo charger, cleaning CAC, RAD and replacing air filter, etc. Wholesale Warranties covers the turbo charger, but no progressive damage. Freightliner initially indicated the repair may take up to 2 weeks, but would start pulling things out in the next 3 days. They had most of the parts and Wholesale Warranties had approved the main repair. Luckily, we have a CRV toad and took advantage of the downtime, headed off to several National Parks including Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons NP. Touched base with Freightliner almost everyday asking for updates and reminding that every day we are down we're out of pocket $200+ on motels/eating out, etc. 17 days in, this evening we were informed they are running the rig, road testing and we can come by late this evening to pickup. Receive another call from Freightliner an hour or so ago. After installing turbo charger and starting engine, running through tests, they discovered the head gasket leaking (running out) oil. They said they could not determine this was the problem as they could not run the engine. It seems like they missed this in the initial diagnosis and perhaps the head gasket created the blown turbo charger. How long should this repair now take? Any help from the FMCA experts appreciated here. We're now waiting on Freightliner to call us this evening with the newest repair details. They had just called us earlier before we ran over there to pick up our rig. Ron and Pat Brown Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted October 1, 2016 It is going to be hard for us to "arm chair" diagnose this. And, no idea of they have techs familiar with your engine. Were it me, I would check out the local Caterpillar dealer. Kind of like going to a cardiac surgeon for open heart surgery, not a GP. The Caterpillar dealer probably does more Caterpillar 3126 work in a week than a chassis dealer does in a month. This may not be the case where you are, but certainly worth checking out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manholt Report post Posted October 1, 2016 That's my first thought...In the past 6 or 8 years, chassis manufacturers have been working mostly with Cummins in RV's not mac or DD so much. Your also, talking a very large amount of money for the owner, should it turn out that the leaking gasket was the real cause of the blown turbo! So, towing it to Cat, is a much better option! Carl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted October 8, 2016 Agreed with towing it to a CAT dealer. There are so many items on that engine that will leak oil around where the head meets the block a misdiagnosis is easy to do. Especially in a DP where it's hard to see already. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted October 9, 2016 Like Brett said it is hard to do "arm chair diagnosis". Here is that big BUT, I am having a hard time understanding how a failed turbo would cause a head gasket to leak. Well it has been since Sept 30 and no update. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rpelatt Report post Posted October 9, 2016 When they pulled the turbo did they at least look it over to see why it failed? If the head gasket failed causing oil and water to mix which then went through the turbo I could see where the turbo would be damaged, but I would think there would be evidence readily visible, and I would assume they would explore further. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
