Good evening gents (and ladies) - A little less than a year ago I purchased a brand new 2019 Cab and Chassis 3500 with the AISIN that had been sitting on a dealer lot for a while. The dealer was several states away from where I live. I have an aluminum flatbed on the truck and use it for hauling snowmobiles, construction materials and towing an enclosed trailer and a gooseneck. I would describe the trucks use as ideal for wear and tear - no short trips, rarely below 50mph, rarely over 70mph, only empty about 50% of the time. I put 2-3k on the flatbed occasionally, the enclosed trailer runs between 6k and 9k, and the gooseneck runs between 9k and 12k. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say, I don't think I've ever put the accelerator to the floor.
I've had 6 different Cummins 3500's going back to an '03 . My last one before this C&C was a 2017 Dually with the HO motor. I knew when I bought this truck that the C&C motor produced less hp and tq than the HO motor. That said, this truck has always seemed kind of sluggish to me. Empty or towing the gooseneck I would say seat of the pants it feels at least 30% below the power of my dually. Towing 12k in the mountains the truck feels like it is near the top of its capability - whereas my '17 dually felt like it had a whole lot left pulling that same trailer and load. At the end of the day, the truck drives nice, stops great etc. so I just figured the lack of power was due to the C&C tuning. Maybe that is the case, just wanted to put this information out there.
On to the problem:
-I did my first oil change at about 6,000 miles (3 months after purchase). It appeared that I only got about 11 quarts out of it, but I didn't have a real exact measurement and just attributed this to factory fill or new engine break in. I spun on a new filter, put 11.5qts of Rotella T6 in, ran it for a bit to check level, added about 1/2qt, rechecked and called it good. Because I've never had a Cummins use oil I never looked at the dipstick again.
-A couple weeks ago, at about 11,500 miles I did another oil change because I had a 3,500 mi trip coming up and thought it would be a good idea. I changed it hot, drained the pan for an hour, drained the filter for the same hour, combined all the oil, and had a hair under 10 qts. Not cool. Filled it back up the same way, took 12 qts to hit the mark. And left the next morning on my trip. I started doing some research during my trip about oil consumption and found lots of possibilities - CCV, Turbo Seal Leaks, on and on. I also checked the oil every 500 miles and saw it dropping slowly - about 1qt over the 3,500 mi trip. The truck ran the same as normal, EGT's, oil temp, oil pressure, boost, etc. all looked normal the whole time.
-I got home last friday and parked the truck. Just got time to start digging in deeper today and as I looked around notice that my coolant reservoir appears pretty much full of oil - at least the part I can see. I'm fairly confident I would have noticed that if it had been that way for a long time, but very well could have been like that the last couple months as I haven't used or looked inside the truck much.
-Checking some other things - I loosened the oil fill cap and set it on the hole with the engine running - doesn't seem to be any significant blowby. Oil has always looked like oil - no milk etc. Trans fluid looks good, although the dipstick wire (up in the neck) was pretty grimy when I wiped it. After I put it back in, it came out with clean red tranny fluid on it. The stock air filter was pretty grimy (maybe even slightly oily in one spot) at 11k miles, which surprised me because I haven't offroaded or really even run on gravel. I put a brand new stock filter in before my trip.
So, truck is still damn near new and next step is getting it into the dealer. But I'm also trying to prepare for some of the possible outcomes, because this can't be good. Some current concerns:
-I'm just starting a 2-month process of moving my family across country and I need the truck almost daily for getting the equipment off the ranch we sold etc, and especially for 3 more x-country trips pulling a trailer.
-I'm assuming this is going to require some time for the dealer to figure out and solve - so I'll be without my truck. What can I ask/force them to do as far as a loaner vehicle?
-Assuming a turbo....or something bigger like an engine, needs to be replaced - what happens to the value of my truck and what is FCA responsible for. I sell my trucks every few years, usually under 50k miles, and usually for top dollar because I maintain them like my children. With this kind of repair on the Carfax I'm going to take a hit.
-If I were going to keep the truck for 200k miles like I should - I'm never going to feel good about a truck that has had oil and coolant mixing who-knows-where. What is the threshold for making FCA replace the truck so I still have the 'brand new' truck I purchased?
I'm sure I'm overthinking a lot of this, but hoping there might be some experience out there dealing with this situation - and that could help me make the right choices and say the right things to get the best outcome. I have not worked with my local dealer because they have a universally terrible reputation for service and sales. I'm 3 hours from a major city so can't just run to the dealer down the road. So, I'm likely taking the truck somewhere out of town anyway. Point being - I don't have a relationship to lean on. I plan to pick a dealership that has a good reputation and have a few options right now.
Any thoughts would be appreciated! I bought well used vehicles most of my life, but as I've gotten older I've migrated to newer vehicles just to avoid this kind of scenario. It's great that its under warranty, but I still can't envision a scenario that doesn't cost me money and major inconvenience. F$#@.
Bookmarks