Hello and Greetings to all the truckers who make our daily lives much better from helping to bring that fresh food to our tables to those needed building materials to keep building this great country. I will try to be brief but my story is so long, complicated and sadly said, expensive and stressful, to the point I’m thinking right now just to bail out of trucking altogether and file for bankruptcy after so many attempts trying to make this truck to run; this is a 2011 Freightliner Cascadia DD15; back in April after some research I decided to buy this truck from Nationwide Haul which acquired it from Crete Carrier in Salt Lake City; it had around 516,000 miles on it; on the way back to Las Vegas, a single check engine light came on briefly and went away, took it to do a diagnostic or dyno to the Detroit dealer in Las Vegas and after $350 the results showed a leak in the engine coolant system, Crete Carrier told the dealer they would pay for that repair, so we drove back to Utah, again! (430 miles one way), there I was sent to SLC Detroit and they told me they found some other problems beside the leak, of course!, like belts and bearings were all bad, bad batteries, etc.… but the worst they found supposedly was a problem with the camshaft, pistons and cylinder heads which luckily was still under warranty along with the coolant leak, I still had to pay $850 for other repairs, the whole down time sitting at home waiting since they told me it could take from 2 to 3 weeks! But it turned out to be a month and a half that it took for them to fix it, finally took my first couple of flatbed loads to Idaho and truck started leaking from between the engine oil pan and transmission box, took it back to Detroit SLC, they told me the leaking has nothing to do with the previous work done by them, so I ended up coughing up $2000 for these new repairs, on my way back to Las Vegas on I-15 after I passed Mesquite climbing a hill I ran out of fuel (my fuel gauge is defective and realized it shows the tank is half full when actually is near empty) then both engine lights came on and truck lost power and was shaking a lot, stopped at a rest area 60 miles from Vegas, noticed the leak was still there, got fuel in my tanks again and drove home fine except the leak was still there, Detroit SLC told me to take it to Freightliner in Las Vegas that they were supposed to honor the warranty of the recent repairs, sure enough I ended up paying another $6000 since mysteriously none of the leaks was related to the repairs done in Utah and on top of that they supposedly replaced the injectors harness and the input shaft that goes from the engine to transmission box; picked it up and took a route all the way to Coral Gables, FL, between loads; one morning in Louisiana right after turned engine on, boom! The two check engine lights appeared again with the same effect, power loss and engine shaking, so same solution, turn engine off and on then the problem went away until a few days later it did it again on my way back in Houston, TX; leak was always there like they never fixed it but I kept going to try to make some money and recover some of the repairs, got back to Vegas and took a load from Kingman, AZ and on the way to Bakersfield, CA the 2 dreadful check engine lights came on again!!, this time both check engine lights never went away even after turn the truck engine off and on; I barely made it to the delivery site since I had no engine power really, thank god it only weighted 9000 lbs., called Freightliner Las Vegas and told me to bring the truck in immediately, I was skeptical and wary of these dealers way of doing business but I trusted one more time with their promises that they will honor the repairs warranty, sure enough, 2 days after the truck was brought in, they called me with the magic estimate of $8000, to “repair” they said, 3 failed injectors but “strongly recommend” to replace all 6 injectors plus to “fix” the leak that once again, was not coming from a previous repair, therefore, is not covered by warranty!; I refused their service not before paying $600 they said I owed for the diagnostic, so I took the truck to a small, independent mechanic who confirmed the problem with the injectors, I replaced them all rebuilt and repairs again put the bill at $3075, took my truck home and then again those too hateful check engine lights came on one more time on my way to pick up a load, back to this mechanic again, told me that the alternator was generating too much voltage (15.3 V) and was affecting the computer, harnesses and ECM, replaced the alternator, another $360!; took it for a test drive, everything ok, next day the mechanic told me to drive it one more time to be sure and after 15 miles down the road those lights came again, same old problem still unfixed, the two check engine lights, loss of power and engine shaking, now I’m sitting at my PC to see if anyone out there has have similar experience with this type of truck or same problem, any help, advise or reply will be appreciated, drive safe and thanks to all fellow truckers that would answer this topic.
Help!...Need help with a 2011 Freightliner Cascadia DD15!
Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by William Barrizonte-Rojas, Sep 27, 2015.
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The code you show says that there is an injector wire shorted to ground. That would explain the vibration you get.
William Barrizonte-Rojas Thanks this. -
Hello and thank you for the quick reply, after this code, all injectors were replaced, two lights keeps coming back but no code!, Thanks again.
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1st of all, sorry for your troubles.
I think that the source of your problem lies with who owned your truck 1st, as in Crete. They don't order the best equipped trucks available, they don't maintain them properly, and get rid of them when they are trouble. On another thread, a driver was told that because his Prostar was so close to trade in, he was to continue to buy gallons of coolant and try to make it until his truck was traded rather than them fixing a failing EGR cooler. That is the mentality of that company, you got stuck with one of their problem child trucks. Sorry to say I don't have a clue to what the problem is, but knowing these new EPA approved trucks, it won't be cheap. I am not sure if there is a lemon law on used trucks, but because trucks like yours exist, there should be. Best of luck, hope the problem gets solved soon.William Barrizonte-Rojas Thanks this. -
No offense, but I think you kind of screwed yourself here. You should have taken the truck to Detroit in SLC before you bought it and walked away from it when they discovered the problems that would have been apparent then. It also would have helped if you had established a relationship with a quality, preferably independent, Detroit specialist before you bought the truck.
Buying any newer truck, with all their incredibly complex technologies is pretty much a crap shoot. All you can do is perform as much due diligence as possible and roll the dice. If a thorough inspection reveals any more than minor issues or if the truck has a warranty history- walk away. It looks to me like you've got a serious lemon here and if I were in your shoes I would find a way to bail on it. If you had an established relationship with a Detroit guru you could give them a shot at fixing the problems, but I wouldn't waste more time and money in an extended pursuit of the issues Taking it back again and again to random dealers is highly unlikely to solve the problem.
Good luck!William Barrizonte-Rojas Thanks this. -
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Hey just a thought....might be a free fix. Check all your battery connections and ALL grounds. From cab to engine, cab to starter and so on. The simplest little fluctuation in power or voltage could trigger something along the way. Might take you an afternoon to do, but might be well worth it. I had some problems I chased for months and that's all it ended up being. Good luck with your truck. I hope you get it fixed and working well for ya soon
rachi and William Barrizonte-Rojas Thank this. -
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