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DEF fluid contaminated from GMC dealer

9K views 18 replies 15 participants last post by  mizterwizard 
#1 ·
Went to a GMC dealer in Tacoma for oil, tire and rotate. They courtesy added 3 gallons of GM DEF, truck miles was 11000.

Now at 14000 miles, DEF system warned speed limit, went to dealer in Denver, GMC. Long story short. $2235 to replace contaminated DEF system.

Last person to touch the DEF tank and service it was dealer in Tacoma.

Not warrantable item. And in case you wonder I didn't add diesel to my brand new Denali 2500HD! OMG I was sick.
 
#2 ·
Any ideas would be appreciated. No other item was added. The tank was filled By GMC Titus dealer in Tacoma.

Now 3000 miles later this brand new 2500 HD Denali cost me 2235$ to replace entire DEF system.

What recourse do I have. The finger pointing has begun.

Denver GMC said that it could not have been contaminated prior to Tacoma since it worked fine for the previous 11k miles.
How is it possible, I have no idea. But a busy shop in Tacoma, lots of bays, technicians, is it possible that the wrong item was placed in a different container.


In fact I hav not opened the hood in the last 3k miles , so how could I have done this??
 
#4 ·
Have you called and talked to the service Manger at the Tacoma dealership about this?
Don't act angry just state your problem and where your at now, and say I believe your dealership should stand by their work and pay for the repair.
 
#5 ·
Actually, I was super polite, explained the issue to the dealer who put contaminated DEF in my truck.

He told me flat out , sorry, no way. His techs don't make mistakes. His DEF is fine. So, no help there.

Called GM to kick this to next pay grade of decision makers. The Denver dealer who made repairs was great! Fantastic job. Real professionals.
 
#7 ·
The entire def system shouldnt have been replaced. When we have bad def come in on a semi, we drain and refill. If their def is outside and in the open, the def will go bad.
 
#8 ·
The contaminant in the fluid was actually diesel fuel. All the seals were damaged.

Since I have not ever added diesel fuel to the DEF tank, and I drove the first 11k fine, leaves only one answer.

That the Tacoma dealer somehow grabbed something that had diesel in it. No other explanation.
 
#10 ·
This does not make any sense. It is not like a Ford/Dodge where the DEF filler neck is right next to the diesel one. Was the dealer's bulk DEF container contaminated? Or did they fill it using jugs of DEF? In either case, how would diesel get into it? Since you made it 3k miles, it does not sound like buddy poured pure raw diesel into it (besides, you'd have to be odor blind to not be able to smell it)...

The misfortunate part is that since it was contaminated with diesel, it is very easy for the dealer to accuse you of negligence and say you clearly filled the DEF tank up with diesel by accident. I wish you luck in trying to resolve this.
 
#11 ·
^X2. The bad DEF msg would have popped up much soon then 3K miles if the fluid was indeed diesel fuel or some other fluid.
 
#13 ·
I'm sorry to hear about your problem, but I don't understand the part where "they courtesy added 3 gallons of GM DEF". The Chevy / GMC dealerships are charging about $14 a gallon for DEF by me and there's no way they would top it off for free. I don't think they even topped it off when I picked up the truck new.
 
#14 ·
I had asked the dealer when I bought the truck new in TX as I had a drive back to NY to make sure they checked the fluids....
They told me that they did so,...
Driving through Kentucky while breaking the truck in.....the DEF message popped up..
I stopped later, and checked my fluids..i filled them accordingly, however screwed them on their survey...
You know the dealerships make money off those surveys, and GM pays them based on what you get back, they get back as much as $3K...
They told me it wasn't fair as the service dept was responsible....I was like tough luck, you guys need to work on communication, as I had to get back to NY.
I get inconvenienced, you get a bad survey...tough.

I doubt a GMC or Chevy dealership is going to courtesy fill you 3 gallons. They can do 1 gallon fill as per warranty, as my dealer did here locally.
 
#19 ·
He says it was contaminated with diesel so it isn't an expired DEF problem. Someone probably used a container that had a little diesel left in it to fill the fluid from a bulk DEF tank. I bet they didn't even check the container before filling it. Maybe it was supposed to be DEF only but someone use it for diesel and didn't tell anyone.

Everybody makes mistakes. What the dealer has to decide is whether the mechanic screwed up or the owner screwed up. If your truck had enough DEF in it to run 3000 miles when you left the Tacoma dealership then the likely perpetrator is the mechanic. If you have records to support the fact that you routinely go to the dealer for service then you have a pretty solid case.

I have worked for several different dealers over the years. They get scammed by their customers all the time. They know it and expect it. There is a limit though. Some dealers are more resistant to what they consider improper claims then others. I know that Ford requires their dealers to provide a certain amount of "good will" service and I presume GM does too. They often reserve this for their repeat customers though.

I suspect that the dealer thinks they are getting scammed and you are not that important to them. Make yourself important to them.
 
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