A Baaaaad Christmas Present From Gm ....

[Jsdirt]

My brother had his Duramax's block heater self-destruct today, taking the second battery with it. This is an '02 2500 HD with about 180K on the clock.

 

If you own an older D-max, might not hurt to can that block heater!

 

Just disgusts me that we can't even build a decent block heater these days. No wonder the country is in the situation it's in. I feel a rant coming, so I'll just shut up & enjoy my Christmas. My brother is going to have a hard time enjoying his though ...

 

 

 

[Chris]

im just speechless thats all i have

[redvett]

Bet it wasnt mad in the USA.

[Silverado4x4]

Kills me that when something happens they want to blame GM, how did the block heater take out the battery? There not connected to the battery if something shorted it should have blown the breaker where it was plugged into like the house breaker. Its an electrical device things go bad sometimes. Looks like the battery shorted out but I"ll bet its GM'S fault too.

[redsled2007]

A.... he did have insurance, right?

[SouthCo]

Kills me that when something happens they want to blame GM, how did the block heater take out the battery? There not connected to the battery if something shorted it should have blown the breaker where it was plugged into like the house breaker. Its an electrical device things go bad sometimes. Looks like the battery shorted out but I"ll bet its GM'S fault too.

 

+1

[Zembonez]

Smitty. I don't think these guys mean to jump on you. I realize the situation sucks... but some more detective work is in order here I believe.

 

Hope it all gets worked out.

[bluArrow]

 

 

f you own an older D-max, might not hurt to shitcan that block heater!

A better recommendation would be to put a 4 amp fuse inline with it. The block heater is in the block and made of metal. The cord, on the other hand, probably overheated due to lack of maintenance and self-destructed because it was on a minimum 15 amp circuit from the house/garage and wasn't on a National Electrical Code required GFCI.

[Jsdirt]

Hey, You guys enjoy paying $50 grand for something that can't even make it 10 years? WTF is the matter with you?

 

Take a look around! Nothing but Toyotas, Lexus, BMW, Nissan, Audi, .... Wonder why that is?

 

Listen - I've been a GM fan for over 30 years. It's all I own & all I work on. But WTF!! Catches on fire because it's plugged in???

 

No it's not connected to the battery -- the cord was laid beside the battery in order to reach the plug in the parking lot of THE TRUCKING COMPANY, You know ... 100 DIESEL TRUCKS in a parking lot??? You know ... heavy trucks are diesel too, right??? And they've been getting plugged into these same plugs for over 30 years and guess what??? NO FIRES!!! WOW!! Can you believe it!

 

If it isn't GM's fault, then who's fault is it??? Gm offered the block heater -- you'd think it'd would last longer than 8 friggin years!!

 

A 4 amp fuse??? You thing GM could MAYBE convince the UAW to maybe cut back on the pensions a little for that .10 cent fuse AND INSTALL IT THEMSELVES, ON A $50,000 TRUCK????

 

I'm all about brand loyalty, but some of you guys are just F'ing brainwashed .... or as smart as that F'ing cord ... I can't believe anyone would enjoy spending that much money to just throw it away in 5 years. I've got an EL Camino that's 38 years old. That hasn't caught on fire yet ... and I paid $500 for it!!

 

Jeeze guys .... your something else! I going to bed. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[caddycruiser]

Calm down. Bad things happen. The block heater is a 110% separate entity than the GM truck itself...even if GM sold it to you. Sucks, and is a mess, but at 180k, I would hope the truck has been great otherwise--the actual truck, not accessories like the block heater.

 

EVERY brand and company have issues, and everyone can have different experiences. Import, domestic, etc. I just sold my GM truck to a friend and bought an import...but not because the truck had issues. Just a different kind of a change. No brand discrimination, every brand has issues and has perks.

 

This is a bad issue, and needs to be investigated. Just don't kill off GM because of this...if the engine blew, the truck was constantly falling apart, had other gremlins, sure, but this is different.

 

How much is damaged? Looks burnt, of course, but fixable? Hopefully the investigation turns up something more. Merry Christmas, regardless!

[hockeypro1411]

Only two of those companies (attempt to) make trucks. And if I recall, the recent Toyotas weren't exactly a model of ideal engineering. Tell Lexus to make a 3/4 ton truck and market it here so I can finally have a reliable truck with absolutely no issues for the 25 years and 450,000 miles I plan on owning it.

[8.1HD/ALLISON]

Not sure where the block heater is on a duramax, but that looks like a battery issue, as mentioned above. Not a good present for sure. Hope it gets straightened out!

[jtramsey]

Sorry for your brother not a good start to Christmas.But No one was hurt,Hopefully Insured and can be fixed or replaced but does stink.Stuff happens I seen a New volvo on the Intersate the other day burning to a crisp.Thought what happened for that New car to burn up on the highway.

[Shmittey]

Hi, I'm Mike, this is my truck...

 

The way the block heater cord is strung it goes around the back of the battery and then follows the fender to come out under the air box... basically what happened is that the block heater wiring turned into a light bulb filament and since it was in contact with the battery housing, it ignited the battery from the outside.

 

Now I am not going to get into how I feel about the design or how I feel about GM right now... Everyone here knows exactly where and how ALL manufactures cut costs during production, and it is usually found in the electrical system... enough said on that, this is a GM forum so we could go back and forth with the usual people till we have bleeding fingers...

 

I am fully insured and pending the claims adjuster I believe they will fix it, just don't know how much stuff melted behind the firewall...

 

thanks for all your concern, I hope to be back on the road soon... till then I am stuck in this POS Ford explorer rental... barf!

[jtramsey]

Good that you have a ride even though it is a ford.Yuck that made my mouth taste bad.I have had my badstring of things going wrong with past Gm products.And I have vented and ranted so I know your feeling.Enjoy the holidays and things will work out.