I'm new to the forum. After looking at all the posts, this looks like a great resource. Here's my PSD story.

In april of '02, I purchased a 2000 F250 w/ the 7.3PS with 50,000 miles, from a Ford dealer 70 miles from home. I went with Ford mainly because I wanted a diesel, and the PS has a good reputation. Since my purchase, the following has happened:

1. May of '02 (53k miles) - motor runs very rough, no power. Called ford dealer that I purchased from. They sent a tow truck to pick it up. They replaced an injector.

2. Jan of '03 (69k miles) - motor runs very rough, no power. Called different ford dealer (close to home). Drove it to new dealer. They replaced the Injector Drive Module (IDM).

3. Jan of '03 (still 69k miles) - I notice oil pooling on top of motor in valley area. Took back to dealer - mechanic notes read "verified concern. oil leaking from EBP actuator rod at turbo pedistal. turbo & pedistal and rebuild pedistal"

4. July of '03 (76k miles) - water pump lets loose. Had to be towed to dealer. Mechanics notes read "pressure tested system found water pump weep hole leaking severly"

5. June of '04 (96k miles) - motor runs very rough, no power. Drove to dealer. They replaced the Injector Drive Module (IDM) again!

6. July of '04 (97k miles) - driving w/ my 2 year old daughter - truck completely dies - won't start. Had to be towed to dealer. Mechanics notes read "Camshaft position/cylinder Identification (CID) sensor/transducer replace"


Up to this point - all this is covered under the 100k mile warranty. I had to pay the $100 deductable, plus, when the water pump blew up, the warranty didn't cover the new coolant and the $80 in labor to flush the system. AND NOW.....

7. October of '04 (101,018 miles) - I notice strange odor coming from vents, smells like coolant. I open hood, notice diesel floating on top of coolant in coolant overflow. Off to the dealer again. Mechanics notes read "Tested verified concern that diesel fuel is in coolant overflow tank. Did diesel daig. Looked in service manual. Found that injector cupps crack from over heat condition. Injector cupps cant handle over heating inside combustion area around coolant jackets. That's where fuel leaks into coolant passages. Needs both cylinder heads R-R off engine, needs all 8 new injector brss cupps and injector o-rings sealed. All gaskets that are removed during disassembly."

At this point the dealer tells me it will cost $3,350 to fix, since I'm past the 100k mile warranty. NO THANKS! So mechanics notes continue as follows"

"Custormer declined repair. Engine will get poor fuel economy and heater and radiator hoses will break down over time, where diesel fuel will swell up rubber and gaskets."

I asked the dealer to go to Ford on my behalf, to argue my case to have this repair covered under the warranty. The answer, as you can imagine, was NO.

I'm going to take this to a local mechanic, who is ford certified, to fix it cheaper than the dealer. But, does any one think I have a case...and it so, how do I fight it, and who doe I fight it with?

Sorry for the long post...I'm real frustrated with the truck and this situation. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Phil

 

I can see that you could possibly have a case if you could prove that the overheating was due to the failed water pump in July 03, and only the pump was replaced, without inspecting for collateral damage. This is assuming that it is possible for it to take 15 months to destroy the injector cups and seals. You seem to have a consistent fuel system problem, and maybe it was it was never correctly fixed, but I would think that you would not have made it to 100K without it being fixed. Is it possible that the injectors were removed/installed incorrectly for inspection or testing and that led to the failure of the cups? Can they verify that all 8 injectors went bad at the same time, or are they recommending they all be replaced just in case? My point is that if it is the replacemant injector only that has failed then it might be due to workmanship. If they all failed then you may have severely overheated the truck. Many warranties state that it is you responsibility to take all steps to prevent further damage. If they believe that you overheated the engine, and then continued to run it anyway, you could forfeit your warranty coverage.
This site is kind of touchy when talkin about lawsuits. In light of this I would recommend that you go higher up in the Ford chain of command until that avenue is completely exhausted. If this does not help then you may want to contact a professional to represent you.
Your experience with this truck is not typical of similar trucks. You have had more problems than most. It seems that your fuel system has failed 4 times. I'm sorry to hear that you have had so many problems. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply. When the water pump let loose, I was about 2 miles from home. By the time I got home, the temp gauge was up there, but not to the top. I shut it down right away, called the dealer, and they sent a tow truck. So it seems hard to believe that that would have caused "severe overheating". As far as what I use the truck for, I drive it to work and back, and my wife pulls 2 horses about once a month, no more than 50 miles. It's certainly not a work truck - so I don't know what else would have caused "over heating".
The last thing I'm looking for is a lawsuit. The only thing I've done is asked the dealer to ask ford if it could be covered. Does anyone know if I would have better luck contacting ford directly?

Thanks in advance

 

My only suggestion is to look here:

http://www.rj-performance.com/module...ewPart&id=1523

 

Craze - your suggestion is a new motor? Does that carry a warranty w/ it? I have actually thought about this.

 

The water temp. gauge only reads water temp, not air temp. I had my cam pos. sensor go out yesterday, so I called the closest ford dealer, was able to get it to them, and I asked them what it would cost, ohh its still under warantee, you won't have to pay a thing, so it takes them 3 times as long to get it fixed as they said, had to order the part and I go to pick it up and there is a 100 dollar bill waiting for me. I go nuts, they never once said anything about a deductable and I asked specifically. I could have got a sensor off of ebay for 49 bucks, buy it now before I ever took it to the stealership. I am seriously debating about selling the PSD and getting a friggin 12v cummins.

 

I would suspect this thing was a lemon when it was traded in. Any chance on contacting the original owner to see what issues he or she had during the first 50K?
Wondering if this PSD qualified as a lemon prior to trade in? or possibly sold as one without notifying you?

 

I couldn't tell you. Thats something you would need to discuss with the vendor. But it says on that site that it has only 8000 miles on it.
I, for one, am the type to get to the source, cut my losses and do it up right. IE: replace the engine.

 

Here's a question - with the previous problems I've had (replaced injector, replaced IDM *twice*) to those repairs require the mechanic to remove the injector cups to fix? I'm not half as smart as you guys on this stuff...but it would seem to me that if a mechanic had to take apart half the motor to fix these other things, maybe they didn't do a good job putting things back together - and that was the cause for the cracked cups, not overheating.

Whaddya think?

 

The IDM is just an electrical box that you unplug and plug back in basically. You could possibly damage an electrical connector in the process but that's about it. Replacing the injector though does involve some potential for damage to the seals and the injector itself if not done correctly. It also introduces the possibility of introducing foreign matter to the fuel system and the injector sealing surfaces. It is possible that someone removed and replaced more than one injector before they found the bad one. It is possible that two or more injectors were removed and swapped with each other to isolate a problem. I use the word "possible" because these are not things that an experienced and professional mechanic would normally do (cause damage). IMO I would not be satisfied with the general nature of the diagnosis. Can they tell you exactly which injectors are leaking? I would expect them to indicate that #3 and # 8 are bad, or something like that. You could have between 1 and 8 bad injectors (cups) but how do you know how many and how do they know? At this point though I would suggest that if the warranty can't be invoked you should consider a different engine vs. repair, and sell your old engine to help offset the cost. There are many people out there who would like to buy and repair that engine.

 

bodabdan -

Thanks for the reply and all your insight. I usually hate nit-picking things like this, but I'm just frustrated with this vehicle, and I hate to put more money into it when there has been so many other problems. The new motor idea does make sense.