PMD and a Visit to The Dealer

[BrentN]

Starting a thread to let people know how GM is handling warranty these days.
Day 1-Friday the 13th. My wife calls to tell me that the Suburban surged a few times then died. She was able to restart it. In the few days preceeding this, I did notice a slight "bump/surge" going down the road. Made a mental note to myself. All under normal driving (light throttle).
I wasnt really surprised when I got the call from my wife. Weather has been 75degrees. It died once last winter too.

A few minutes later, I place a call to my local Chevy dealer. Service advisor actually seems to understand the problem as I stated it. I went through the littany of what it had been doing, including the "backup surge". I told him I was a member of the DieselPage...Seems to have heard of it. I let him know I was aware of the warranty on the pump and pmd and that this vehicle would be clearly a candidate.

He told me to have it towed in. I told him it was still driveable, that I would drop it off Sunday night.

Friday night, well, I went ahead and pulled and replaced the filter and prepped it for a visit to the dealer. (per the recommendations posted), lest I get creamed for a tank cleaning. I also checked Lift pump pressure...howevering between 3 & 4. (my gauge doesnt have the best resolution.)

I had just replaced the filter about 6000 miles ago..Wasnt the model of cleanliness-it was black..But, I do buy my fuel from Chevron and I add 2cycle oil to the tank for lubricity.

It did not die again this weekend, but I could feel the bump/surge going on under light throttle.

I will give the dealer a call a little later today to see how things are going.

I definately want them to replace this and get things going right. I am planning on a family vacation from here to Rushmore and then another Southern California trip and a I dont want to have this baby die on the highway while towing the trailer.

Once I hit 120k, I think a SOL-D will be ordered and then keep my existing pmd as a backup.

I will keep everyone posted.

[JeffsTowTruck]

I see your 1st problem !!!
Day 1-Friday the 13th :eek: Is this the bad luck day ?? :D :D

Better luck with the dealer!! smile.gif

[sturgeon-phish]

It appears the dealer service rep may be enlightened. You may see if the dealer would be open to the idea of mounting the PMD remotely instead of in the original position, with you providing the mount. I was able to get a Heath remote with extension harness and the dealer installed it for me UNDER WARRENTY!!! :D

[BrentN]

Day 2-Monday-1st day at dealership. They didnt get to the truck until after lunch. When I called in, the tech was still going through it. Service advisor told me they would have something on Tuesday. I did tell him if they were trying to get it to repeat, it was totally intermittent at this point. The advisor agreed with me that having an engine that will stall at any moment wasnt something he would drive.

I am sure the tech is going through the flowchart:
Fuel filter, fuel bowl, lift pump pressure, codes, etc.
Once they diagnose the problem, I will broach the subject regarding remote mounting the PMD.

I will keep everyone posted. Somebody did mention that there is an updated PMD. Is there a new part number that I could use to make sure that my dealer is giving me the latest and greatest?

[BrentN]

Day 4- Wednesday.
After a little reluctance on GM's part, the dealer called today and said they were getting a pump & pmd on order and I will have my truck back friday.

Over the last few days it looked a little iffy, the dealer said that GM was indicating they wouldnt fix unless it actually had failed for the dealer. That they wouldnt deal with an intermittent.

The service advisor was very sympathetic, in that he agreed he wouldnt want his wife driving his family around in a truck with an intermittent problem. On Tuesday he said he would try again with GM and maybe talk to the tech about double checking to see if indeed he could reproduce the failure. Wink and a nod.

Something that I reminded him of as we talked was that I am a very pleasant guy when everyone plays right. But, I told him that should the pmd fail and the truck gets into an accident, not only would my insurance company come GM for reimbursement due to a known defect that was documented and not fixed, but I would go after them for pain and suffering/mental anguish. Or, should it fail while I was on vacation with the family...like in Rushmore this summer, I would become a very angry individual to deal with. Dont mess with my family time!!

He totally agreed that we all know that this symptom will only get worse, its just a matter of when the failure would happen.

The bottom line is the dealer went to bat and got GM to replace it despite the fact that it hadnt totally died yet-or maybe it had thanks to a good service adviser and tech!

I suspect that it helped that I was very well versed in the issues, the warranty, the process...all I credit to this forum.

Thanks for a great group!

[fastcat800]

Knowledge is power. Good to hear you will have peace of mind.

[jspringator]

What I don't understand is why GM won't simply replace the PMD instead of replacing both the pump and PMD. Anyway, I am happy you got a new pump out of the deal.

[gmcheek]

My dealer just keeps replacing just my FSD, thats not even lasting the year that GM service parts have. So I guess as long as the FSD"s don't even make a year I'll be under warranty indefinately!
Mine has only had one pump and that was about three years ago. It never had a single pump, FSD issue until the original pump was replaced! I personally think the pump has something to do with my rash of FSD falures. Who knows?

Mike

[gmctd]

Part of your problem was that black fuel filter - Chevron is clear greenish yellow gold fuel, new Diesel fuel filters are beige to white.

I use 2oz dark blue two-stroke motor oil per 20gal tank, Chevron and Shamrock fuel, my filter at 15000 looks same as when installed, only wet.

The Racor pre-filter, installed because the clear plastic bowl offers easily checked status while on the road, does not darken, either.

Might try a heavy-traffic truck service station for better quality fuel.

Check it out......

[BrentN]

GMCTD-
Thanks for that bit of insight. I am using a 2 cycle oil that is black/brown in color. I wonder if that is what is blackening my filter. I also wonder if that could be the cause of an intermitent, if the optical encoder cant see through the murky fuel due to the oil.

I do think the chevron that I am using goes through a lot of diesel. Its a farming area, lots of logging trucks and guys with diesel pickups. I once in a while go to the Fred Meyer Store, which is right by the freeway..If I am getting dirty fuel...that place would probably be the culprit.

This is an interesting point you raised though. I guess I will change to a blue 2 cycle oil and then start checking the filter to see how clean it is. Mine is certainly not as clean as you say that yours is.

I put a new filter in it last fall and it was filthy, had been replace when the previous owner replaced the engine. Last fall, the truck stalled, I changed the filter, it did have and optical encoder error.

When I changed the filter Friday night, it was black, just like the photos that are on the web page. It maybe had 5k miles on it.

Either I am getting some really dirty fuel or the brown/black 2 cycle oil is discoloring the fuel significantly.

Although, when I pulled the filter, the fuel in the filter bowl looked pretty clean.

I guess I will count my blessings that I am getting a new pump and pmd and maybe have learned something else in the process.

Maybe its time to also price out some other pre-filtering systems, hopefully with filters that arent $20 each.

Thanks for everyones help. More to come.

[JeffsTowTruck]

ALWAYS GOOD TO HEAR THAT A DEALER WENT THE EXTRA MILE TO GET YOU TAKEN CARE OF. smile.gif ( I SEE YOUR INFO HELPED AS WELL !! ) ;)
SEEMS TOO MANY TIMES THE DEALER IS JUST OUT FOR THEM SELF!!!
I DO NOT UNDER STAND WHY THEY REPLACE THE WHOLE THING WHEN THE FSD COOLER SYSTEM WILL FIX THE PROBLEM.. I GUESS GM HAS PLENTY OF MONEY..
I AGREE,,THIS FORUM IS THE BEST PLACE I HAVE SEEN TO GET INFO ON OUR GM DIESEL PROBLEMS.. I DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF A WARRANTY!! AND THIS PAGE HAS HELPED MY POCKET BOOK A LOT..

SOUNDS LIKE FRIDAY THE 13 WAS NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL!! :D

[BrentN]

Completely Agree.

As an engineer myself, I understand GM's issues. Most likely a look at the original warranty issues early on, initiated a design change to the pump (and pmd). I suspect the service bulletin called for the upgrade of the pump with the new pmd-Knowing that both had issues. Given the comments that I have seen on this page that the newer pumps seemed more robust, GM could have gotten away with just changing out the pmd in later years.

However, the focus on this problem isnt GM's only concern and that they could have probably circled back around and just call for PMD replacements on secondary replacements or on the new pumps...but it takes a lot of time to go through warranty returns and really make some good assessments....but, since either one would require removing the pump to fix (if the original location was still used)...they probably just said bag it and wait for the Duramax to make their pain go away and keep the existing service kit with the pump and pmd.

Most likely their was some politics involved with stanadyne and they probably only would warrant the pmd if the pump was replaced too...who knows.

I will just wait until I hit 120k and purchase a Sol-D with a remote mount.

Now I just need to make sure I get some good lubricity into my new pump so that I can get a boat load of miles out it!

[BrentN]

1 Week-Friday the 20th.
Picked up my Suburban. New pump and pmd, plus they washed it too while I waited. Something of interest, they added a lubricant to the tank. Apparently this is something that they do with new pumps due to the low sulfur fuel. Probably to help with break-in of the pump.

Question for the group:
The suburban now seems to have a bit of a hesitation, almost like a light stumbling as you take off from a stop. Nothing major, but I do notice it. It clears itself very quickly and then seems to perform fine after that. I am wondering if this is a timing issue and that I need to run it back and have them take a peek? Thoughts on this?

[sturgeon-phish]

After the dealer replaced my IP they failed to connect a vaccum line from the turbo to a sensor and displayed similar symptoms as you are having. Check under the hood and confirm there are no loose connections.
Jim