DEF Heater Failure Repaired: Still Have "65MPH" Countdown

[jasonvp]

Hey guys -

 

I hit the wonderful "DEF Heater" issue on my 2015 last week.  This was accompanied by the CEL/MIL, and the warning that I had 100 miles (and counting) before I'd be limited to 65MPH.  I brought the pickup in Monday morning, they swapped out the tank today, and told me I could come take the truck.  Interestingly, the CEL/MIL is gone, but the message about "Miles until 65MPH" is still present on the dash, and it's continuing to count down.  They insisted that this would have been fixed if they'd done a regen (at my cost... I told them to FO) or if I just keep driving it.  Well I'm down to 40 miles now before the limiter kicks in.  Did they screw something up, or forget to reset something?  Or will driving it eventually clear that warning?

 

Thanks.

[newdude]

It needs a service regen it sounds like. 

 

How many miles?  Was it repaired under the special policy? 

 

Sucks they wanted to charge you (only takes about an hour or so). 

Edited March 12, 2019 by newdude

[jasonvp]

2 minutes ago, newdude said:

How many miles?  Was it repaired under the special policy? 

Truck has less than 18K miles on it and was repaired under the special policy.  Wouldn't there be some sort of Regen-specific warning on the DIC?

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by jasonvp

[newdude]

3 minutes ago, jasonvp said:

Truck has less than 18K miles on it and was repaired under the special policy.

 

 

"In order to clear the DEF lamp, perform the reductant malfunction warning test. Refer to Reductant System Malfunction Service Bay Test."

 

This should have been done NO COST and NON ISSUE by the dealer then. 
 

Quote

 

 

 

#29400-01: Special Coverage - Diesel Emission Fluid Tank Reservoir - (Nov 8, 2017)

 

 

On certain 2013-2015 model year Chevrolet Express, Chevrolet Silverado HD, GMC Savana, GMC Sierra HD, and 2014-2015 model year Chevrolet Cruze vehicles that are equipped with a diesel engine (RPO LML/LGH/LUZ), a malfunction-indicator light (MIL) may illuminate due to an offset in the temperature sensor in the diesel-emission-reduction fluid (DEF) tank reservoir or increased DEF tank-heater resistance.

 

This special coverage covers the condition described above for a period of 10 years or 120,000 miles (193,000 km), whichever occurs first, from the date the vehicle was originally placed in service, regardless of ownership.

 

For vehicles covered by Vehicle Service Contracts, all eligible claims with repair orders on or after November 17, 2016, are covered by this special coverage and must be submitted using the labor operation codes provided with this bulletin. Claims with repair orders prior to November 17, 2016, must be submitted to the Service Contract provider.

 

Dealers are to replace the DEF tank reservoir. The repairs will be made at no charge to the customer.

 

 

Shame on them for trying to charge you for it.  I get the tech working on it is flat rate, and he probably bitched for time that the advisor won't give him for it, but he can grow up and make $$$ on his next repair in his bay. 

Edited March 12, 2019 by newdude

[jasonvp]

1 minute ago, newdude said:

This should have been done NO COST and NON ISSUE by the dealer then. 

The claim was that the regen, since it's not specifically called out in the bulletin, isn't covered by it.  They replaced the DEF tank as prescribed, and did so free of charge.  It's the regen they wanted to charge me for.

 

[newdude]

16 hours ago, jasonvp said:

The claim was that the regen, since it's not specifically called out in the bulletin, isn't covered by it.  They replaced the DEF tank as prescribed, and did so free of charge.  It's the regen they wanted to charge me for.

 

 

That's bull.  We do these special policies all the time.  Everyone we do gets that service bay test, warranty, special policy or customer pay. 

[jasonvp]

4 minutes ago, newdude said:

 

That's bull.  We do these special policies all the time.  Everyone we do gets that service bay test, warranty, special policy or customer pay. 

Thanks for the follow-up.  I'm going to sit tight for a short while and see what happens.  They may be getting a little call from someone in Detroit, as I know people who know people.  My case has been made to the engineering folks; we'll see what comes of it.  Perhaps something interesting; perhaps nothing at all.

[2017Darkness]

Yep, absolute B.S.....we always do the regen as well. Tech should be good enough to get it done in time to let it regen outside while he grabs another ticket....

[jasonvp]

Just now, 2017Darkness said:

Yep, absolute B.S.....we always do the regen as well. Tech should be good enough to get it done in time to let it regen outside while he grabs another ticket....

Pardon my intense ignorance on the matter, but: is that what's required?  It'll be limited to 65MPH due to "Service Exhaust Fluid System", but it's the regen that's needed?  Curious that it's not listed or called out in the TSB.

[redwngr]

Is it possible the 'procedure to replace' the unit includes the service regen, and the bulletin just calls out 'replace' without giving the specific details of 'how to' replace -- and assumes that the service facilities/techs will know the 'replace' means they should do the entire regular procedure?

 

[jasonvp]

2 minutes ago, redwngr said:

Is it possible the 'procedure to replace' the unit includes the service regen, and the bulletin just calls out 'replace' without giving the specific details of 'how to' replace -- 

It could be; I don't have the Helm manuals for the truck, and I'm guessing the tank replacement procedure is detailed in them.  It may very well include the regen process and was expected to be done.

 

[2017Darkness]

35 minutes ago, jasonvp said:

Pardon my intense ignorance on the matter, but: is that what's required?  It'll be limited to 65MPH due to "Service Exhaust Fluid System", but it's the regen that's needed?  Curious that it's not listed or called out in the TSB.

At minimum they need to do the Service Bay Test. If that fails, then it probably going to need to do a regen. It all has to do with pride in workmanship. Make sure the customer's vehicle is repaired.

[newdude]

2 hours ago, 2017Darkness said:

At minimum they need to do the Service Bay Test. If that fails, then it probably going to need to do a regen. It all has to do with pride in workmanship. Make sure the customer's vehicle is repaired.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.  I hope I didn't confuse OP as I kept mixing the service bay and the service regen up. 

[jasonvp]

On 3/13/2019 at 9:57 AM, 2017Darkness said:

At minimum they need to do the Service Bay Test. 

Thank you, once again (all of you) for helping clarify this for me.  I've documented the entire transaction and am lucky enough to have contacts at GMHQ.  The documentation and email that I received back from them seems to indicate a high likelihood that the dealership just didn't perform the Service Bay Test at all.  That test is what clears the "Limited to xxx" message.  That was his guess, anyway.  And he knows they've already performed the test because he checked to see if GM's been billed for it (they have).  Meaning: there's a paper trail. 

 

I've yet to get back to the dealership to get this all unfornicated; I hope to do that tomorrow.  I'll respond back when all is fixed.

 

Thanks again.

 

[jasonvp]

And done.  I had to have an ... "energetic" debate with the service writer, and then another one with the GM of their service department.  As the manager began clicking through the online documentation, his facial expression told the entire story.  He finally said, "Oh, I can see your train of thought here..."  which is probably the closest I'll get to an apology from him.

 

Later, the tech who was working on my truck came out to explain what had happened.  They read through the bulletin where it says, "Replace the tank!" and they did that.  They didn't read the entire "Replace the tank" document that clearly says: "Run the Service Bay test" at the end of it.  So he did that.  And I have my truck back.