11 dodge diesels with the VM engine at dealer

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Clevy

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So I dropped my moms crossover whatever thing at the dealer this morning and noticed a long line of trucks near the service bay doors. So I asked how they were selling and whatnot,small talk right.
I learned that all 11 need serious engine work and likely replacement.
He clammed up at the obvious next question.....why


Good call Dermapaint on putting off buying. There's apparently many gremlins to find.

Anyone got any idea what is going on here. That's a lot of trucks for a single dealer. Do other dealers have a stockpile cowing back too?


Ideas,
What've you heard.
 
Good thing I didn't buy one . I have little faith in Made in Italy stuff especially Fiats.
 
The VMs are used by GM overseas too and have been around.Cant imagine any serious problems unless they are ramping up production too fast.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
So I dropped my moms crossover whatever thing at the dealer this morning and noticed a long line of trucks near the service bay doors. So I asked how they were selling and whatnot,small talk right.
I learned that all 11 need serious engine work and likely replacement.
He clammed up at the obvious next question.....why


Good call Dermapaint on putting off buying. There's apparently many gremlins to find.

Anyone got any idea what is going on here. That's a lot of trucks for a single dealer. Do other dealers have a stockpile cowing back too?


Ideas,
What've you heard.


Idea? Call your local TV news station and ask them if they are interested in looking at this problem.

Foreign content with Dodge pickups is raising with only some of the production originating in Michigan with more and more production moving to Mexico. With drive trains components now coming from Italy it appears that soon the Ram will be an import truck.

Manufacturing in the US used to be a world leader. Now it's a target for government legislation and control. Evidently the government is fixing it just like they do with everything else they touch.
 
I dunno, that thread sounded like the random failures that occur. The 11 needing "serious" repair in the OP's post,mthat sounds worse--but who knows, sometimes a string of bad goes down the line. I guess you could color me unconvinced at this moment.
 
Clevy I'm glad I held off!!!! I'm betting it is probably something to do with the emissions system. The EGR and PCV don't play well with that engine at all. In some instances messed up turbos and valves for starters. If you run them hard it might be OK, stop and go and short hopping will probably mess them up big time. Then there's some reported problems with the DEF system, in extreme hot and extreme cold climates.

I did a lot of research, and asked a lot of questions when we were considering a diesel GC. A friend/former co-worker is now a service writer for a Ford dealership. He has contacts with Chrysler people where he worked before Ford. He confirmed what I had already discovered reading on message boards and asking. They advised against buying one. I totally scrapped the VM diesel idea, they just made the decision easier.

There's lots of talk of installing catch cans, and the possibility of using a tune, and blocking out the EGR. That's a lot of work [might not be successful], illegal, and kiss the warranty goodbye if you have a problem.

Are they all bad? No, probably a only small %, and the internet amplifies it. But the odds of me getting one and having problems with it are not worth the risk.
 
This doesn't sound good.
Wonder whether the problem is in the engine, the implmentation, or simply that the Dodge Boys are still low on the learning curve with this thing?
VM diesels have been around for a long time, so I'm guessing that the engine itself is okay.
The implementation in this truck may not be.
 
Diesels have never done well with short-trip stop and go driving.
They're at their best when run hard.
The legendary old-school Benz diesels were always okay in actual use since they were sized such that you always ran them hard, even if you were just running down to the local grocery.
On the highway, your foot is all the way down much of the time.
I defy anyone to operate any W123 diesel gently.
Can't be done, and I write this having owned two of these very entertaining cars.
As a local grocery getter, a diesel might not be all that good of a choice unless it's low enough on power that it gets run hard most of the time.
JMHO
 
Sounds about right, most modern OTR diesels are shop queens. To many complicated emission controls and turbo set ups.

When I ordered my truck they offered the VM engine for another $4k, I couldn't say no fast enough.
 
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Sounds about right, most modern OTR diesels are shop queens. To many complicated emission controls and turbo set ups.

When I ordered my truck they offered the VM engine for another $4k, I couldn't say no fast enough.


I know this is true for the Freightliners at work. They've got a yellow check engine light and a red CEL. All I know is when they're both on and *flashing*, the engine shuts itself off after so many seconds, no matter where you are. It will restart, but the process continues.
 
A lot of business's and municipalities around here are switching back to gas trucks. A lot of the companies seem to offer a gas option in medium duty trucks which were all diesel a couple years ago.

Diesel jumped ship, only worth putting up with if you tow OTR all the time. For running around town get gas, my town just did. 3 F750 dump trucks with V10's from Ford.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Diesels have never done well with short-trip stop and go driving.
They're at their best when run hard.


One in a while I think about the Cruze diesel; that little thing would be great on my weekend 1000-mile highway jaunts. But it would probably suffer the rest of the week with my four-mile each way commute. So I stick with gas.
 
Regarding the VM diesel itself, they are pretty solid motors, or at least were before all the emissions junk. I had a 2.8L inline 4 VM diesel in a 2006 Jeep Liberty that I was very fond of. Ran great, worked like a champ, and did substantially better on mpg than the window sticker said. It did have EGR, but a modified tune took care of that. Never was really a "short trip" vehicle, as it was 12 miles to town, so it always got fully warmed up. The fuel filter design that Mopar put on the vehicle was a little flawed, but that was about it. Sold it to my son, as he had been chomping at the bit to get his hands on it almost from the time I bought it.
 
Diesel engine manufacturers have been forced to adopt all the new emissions [censored] to save the planet, but in reality the emissions systems create a lot of havoc on a diesel engine. I'm not familiar with these VM diesels, but my Dodge Ram 2500 with the 6.7L Cummins was in the shop for a lot of warranty work involving the emissions system. They even had to replace the $3,000 turbo at less than 30k miles because it got cooked to death by the DPF regeneration process. Fortunately I hit a big pothole soon after the warranty ran out, causing all the emissions parts to fall off! It runs so much better now.
 
Since the DPF is downstream seems strange that the DPF "cooked" a turbo. I would contend that the higher EGT's due to restriction made waste of the turbo and the coolant was taking care of it properly. All of these modern VG turbos related to the emissions stuff are coolant supplied to dissipate heat. As for probably the higher EGT's causing the turbo to grenade, I would probably suspect that the DPF was not burning off properly so that restriction wasn't being eliminated.

Either way, this ia all a mess. But always remember..... your government cares for you.
 
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