On 12/21/09, my 1998 Freightliner Classic was taken to Performance Truck in Beaumont, TX because of water in the oil. They put it in the shop, drained the oil and water, and removed the oil pan. They found that it was leaking at #6 liner.
I called Caterpillar to work on it, but they were closed for 2 weeks due to the holidays. So I called Beaumont Freightliner and asked them how much they would charge to rebuild it. They originally said $7,500 if I would let them do it. Performance Truck was almost $9,000.
We had it towed over to Beaumont Freightliner on 12/30/09, with the pan still removed. Here's a list of the things they said they did, but they did not do:
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On Freightliner's service invoice they said they drained the pan and found full of oil and coolant; however, this was done prior to arrival at their business. They also said that all liners were leaking, but only one actually was leaking.
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They said they sent out the fuel lines and had new ones made. I could see by looking that not one was ever changed - they are the same old fuel lines.
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They said they found #2 and #4 are pitted at location where liners seat on top of block. I was never informed of this.
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The invoice also states that customer says to reassemble as is, but I never said this. If my truck needs a part, it gets done. If I was spending $7,500 anyway, why would I not spend $400 more and have it done right?
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The invoice says no repairs to block, per customer. That is an untrue statement.
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They stated that some of the injector calibration codes were gone, so they set them all the same. Calibration codes were readily available on the injectors and the codes that they set it at were performance codes that would make the engine run a little stronger, but use a lot more fuel. This is an EPA violation.
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They stated that they cranked the engine and found no oil pressure, so they changed the oil pump. Again, after they cranked the engine, still no oil pressure. This was due to not cleaning out the oil galleys as required whenever repairing an engine that had water in the oil. It did not need a new oil pump, but we were charged for one anyway. They finally cleaned the bypass valves at the filter base and had oil pressure then.
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We picked up the truck on 1/30/10 - 30 days later. It only takes 45 hours to do an in-frame on a Caterpillar engine. (An in-frame is where an engine is rebuilt while it's still in the frame of the truck.)
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The day after I picked it up from Freightliner, I took it back to them because there was a massive oil leak at the oil pan because they used the old oil pan gasket.
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They also damaged the clutch rod, causing the jake brakes and cruise control not to operate.
It was February when we finally got the truck back. Their $7,500 verbal quote turned into a $14,617.46 final bill. I never signed any Freightliner invoice. After we picked up the truck and paid the final invoice, we found we had a parts-only warranty. Now, since Caterpillar worked on this and repaired it correctly, I have a nationwide warranty through Caterpillar.
On 3/30/10 - 60 days later - we took the truck to Ohio CAT in Columbus, OH for an oil leak on the rear of the head. Things they found wrong were:
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Freightliner didn't use moly paste on the head bolts; instead, they used high temp anti-seize. This would cause the head bolts not to torque correctly and ultimately, lose their torque, causing a potential head gasket leak.
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They stripped out a bolt on the turbo oil supply line to the turbo. This was done because they used the wrong style bolts. Freightliner knew about this, but said nothing. This could cause a catastrophic failure to the engine and also, an oil fire that could have destroyed the truck.
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They didn't put a spacer on the exhaust manifold, causing it to leak. The engine needs optimum pressure from the exhaust manifold in order for the turbo to work within specs.
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One bolt was missing on the intake side, causing a loss in turbo pressure to the engine intake.
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The liner protrusion was found to be low on all cylinders. This is the distance from the top of the liner to the top of the engine block. Setting this low was also a potential for a head gasket leak.
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Ohio CAT, after finding these problems, completely disassembled the engine to repair it correctly. While removing the liners (this is what the pistons fit inside of), found one with a used O-ring. This was done with the hopes of no one finding it at Freightliner. This would cause, within a year, water in the oil again.
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They checked the engine block and found no pitting anywhere, as Freightliner said.
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Oil cooler had not been removed as Freightliner stated they did.
We called and e-mailed Mr. Chris Duval at Beaumont Freightliner. He initially advised that he would stand by his work; however, even after Ohio CAT e-mailed Beaumont Freightliner with the details, he responded that Beaumont Freightliner "will not be accepting responsibility for the repairs to be completed by Ohio Cat."
Run — do not walk — away from Beaumont Freightliner.
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