The DEF system on my parents 2012 3500 has been acting up and the dealership has not been able to fix it. Its has been in and out of the shop several times over the last few weeks with no clear answer to the problem despite them changing the pump and what not.

The dealer called them yesterday to say they found diesel in the DEF tank and wants them to pay $11,000 to fix the problem. 90% of the time they buy their DEF from a large truck stop, and the other is the 1-2 gallon jugs you buy at store. They never fill up a gas tote and take it home, so I am thinking the dealership just doesn't want to pay to replace the whole system since they can't figure out what is wrong.

I have read a few threads where people have said their dealership accused them of the same but haven't found what anyone did about it.

Does anyone have any advice on this situation??

 

Yup dealer is scamming them. Try a different dealer. I take it you live in Canada? DEF didn't hit us till 2013. You maybe able to try a dealer here if they are visiting.

 

We live in Georgia. The truck was a cab and chassis model when new, and it now has a flatbed on it.

It's just mighty suspisous that if you can smell when DEF becomes contaminated with diesel, that with all the parts the techs have changed that they never smelled it or thought to test it until they have no answer on how to fix our DEF pump.

 

I would seek another dealership. Something isn't right. Another option is to do deletes.

 

Just to let people know the answer to our problem. We called another dealer and he told us that he had no idea how the other dealer came up with $11,000. So my parents called the dealership where it was at and told them we were picking it up and were taking it elsewhere. My father went 15 miles down the road and noticed the truck was heating up, so he pulled into a parts store. He put some coolant in it and called the dealership that he had just left and asked them why they had messed with the coolant system. Long story short, the tech drained the radiator and forgot to refill it and my father about had a melt down. Told him if there was any damage what so ever to the engine, that they just bought the truck...

He made it to the other dealership, they pulled a sample of the DEF on the spot and you could easily tell it had somehow gotten diesel in it (why did the other dealership techs never notice until 2 weeks after the problem). He left it there and told them to correct what they had to. The next day they called and said it was ready and that they also fixed 2 recalls on the truck. Total bill came out to less that $56. Its safe to safe we will never be dealing with that dealership again.

It just goes to show how inept some dealerships are.

 

Glad you where able to get it resolved.

 

Some arab who barely spoke any english almost put diesel in my def fill port. Thankfully the nozzle wouldn't fit or he would have. I hopped out of the truck when I saw how confused he was. My def cap was open .. but the big red plug for my diesel port was still on. I fueled it myself that day ... and every day since.

 

Top down from management, if they're crooked, they'll allow everyone under them to follow suit. If business is not going well, any chance they can take to pad the numbers is fair game. Now the real question is if they were actually going to replace $11k worth of stuff, or were they just going to drain the DEF and charge for everything else. I would ask them that, and regardless of their answer, I'd probably tell everyone I know.