2003 Mack CX613

We had an E7 engine in chassis overhaul in El Paso, Tx in Sept 2011. 474,000 miles at the time. Company Truck. One muzzle loader kit, and oil pump changed out. I would assume the shop would have done a complete job and repaired and cleared all active ECU and VECU fault Codes. Cost $16,000.

Now the truck is in Utah with 547,000 miles. Both are dealer shops and all service and maintenance has been done at Mack dealers. The original shop would not give us a written Remack warranty even after 4 requests. El Paso Dealer never signed estimate, invoice or disclaimer. The fact we never signed the form for disclaimer of warranty on the final invoice should mean they have unlimited liability. Right?

The Utah shop claims driver negligence although they can only produce 15 active low coolant Engine ECU codes and 1 engine brake active code. By my calculation is this indicates 480 seconds of continuous fault (low coolant, NOT overheating) in one occurrence before the driver shut the engine down. That should not destroy a Mack engine pulling an empty trailer. Engine was not seized because the Utah shop was able to start it.

They now say the warranty is void. Because of these codes. Also, the Utah shop says we that although only #2 cylinder is scored, that we need complete overhaul including Fan Clutch, Turbo, another oil pump, surge tank, 2 heads and 6 injectors even though there were no active codes for for 6 bad injectors They show 2 occurrence codes for "Slow Down" both inactive . They said truck needed 5 gallons coolant. I think it takes 15 gallons all together.

If engine had all these original problems why they not show ECU codes for overheating, Excessive RPM, Turbo Failure,

They want another 25,000. This truck had only one driver.

What does this stuff mean about occurrences, active and inactive?

Apparently they claim even one code can void the warranty. (which we have never seen). And El Paso shop never told us about the extended 2-3 year remack warranty options even though we asked.

What should I do? We are a tiny company and cannot afford this!

Thanks.

 

Thanks for you reply. My issue is that I don't understand how to interpret the codes. It is my understanding that once a code alerts, it becomes an active code and the occurrences tick up every 16 seconds until the engine is shut down. So 15 Occurrences is 4 minutes. If other engine damage was done as a result of the first event, there should have been more active codes from other sensors. When a shop repairs a fault they are supposed to clear to codes. None of the codes have dates or times either. If you get an overhaul, an active code should not be a reason to void a warranty if the driver takes all reasonable actions to get the truck to a shop ASAP. How can Mack say oops, we have an active code, warranty is void. If the first overhaul was done 75,000 miles earlier and their was a repair defect the driver would not know until an active code appears. So how can that void a warranty.

 

The engine and radiator hold 15 gallons of coolant. While active an occurrence is recorded every 16 seconds. This vehicle had no inactive codes so the 18 occurrences happened over a 288 second period or 4.8 minutes. So from the time the low coolant alarm went off until the driver shut the engine down was barely enough to get the rig safely off the highway. The engine was then shut down and the vehicle was towed to nearest Mack dealer WHERE IT EASILY RESTARTED. Dealer claimed that any active engine code voids the warranty. He then said all Mack dealers are independent and the truck would have to be returned to El Paso Texas were work was done. In El Paso, we were charged over $4500 for a single muzzle loader kit. And a labor rate for one mechanic of over $160/hr. They charged 45 hours for the in-frame. I have seen Remack muzzle loader kits for the E7 for less than $3000. All the truck needed on one cylinder kit to stop the excess crankcase pressure and the crack in #1 head between exhaust and intake valves on that same cylinder it is my understanding could have been repaired. The shop refused to provide us with a written warranty or return replaced parts to us. In fact they refused to sign any thing at all. We never signed a work order or limited warranty disclaimer. We were essentially held hostage and our employee was a little green in these matters. When the truck went into the Salt Lake shop we were told the their were 18 occurrences of low coolant. But that does not even prove the engine was running. There were no codes for excess RPM or overheating. We have all the receipts showing the truck was serviced at scheduled intervals by Mack dealers. There was no coolant in the oil and oil in coolant. Also turbo was checked and shop said it was fine. In 35 years of trucking I never saw a situation like this.
You cannot blow an E7 in less than 5 minutes with no load. If anything serious was happening, many other codes would have shown up.

Now they want another 25,000. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? This truck only has about 550,000 miles. If these engines blew so easy, Penske and Ryder would be out of business. OO's take care and pride in there trucks.
The truck is in otherwise very good condition.