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Caterpillar claims C9 unsuitable to task

LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
My Sterling 9500 with a C9 engine and 294k miles is down with bad cylinders 3 and 6. Caterpillar claims the rings are completely worn out and therefore no warranty coverage even though it has engine warranty to 500k. They claim the C9 engine is not suitable for the application. If that is so why did they classify it as an on highway engine? Why did they sell Sterling however many dozen/scores they sold them for this application? Why are who knows how many trucks doing similar work with even C7 engines? This is a 33k gvw truck, not an 80k semi. Any input on how to get Cat to do the right thing will be appreciated.
 
OntarioVanMan

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
unless you have plenty of money to fight them..or maybe try to get a few others together for a class action suit and find a lawyer that will take the case...
 
davekc

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
Something doesn't sound right.
Who is telling you this? Caterpillar or a Caterpillar dealer?
Secondly, do you have current and past oil analysis on it?
Lastly, is there a different oil filtration system on it ?
Heard of a few claims being denied for having a bypass system on them.
 
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
It may be a dealer issue. I don't know, I wasn't there but I would call Cat and ask for a regional service manager to talk to.

OVM, Class action suit? Really?
 
Lawrence

Lawrence

Founder
Staff member
Yes, I want to know - is that Dealer or a rep from CAT?

That would have a negative impact on hundreds of Expediters.:mad:
 
davekc

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
Lawrence said:
Yes, I want to know - is that Dealer or a rep from CAT?

That would have a negative impact on hundreds of Expediters.:mad:
Click to expand...

Myself included. We only have one in our fleet now but they (Cat) has been real good with the warranty issues.
Ours is a 06 9500 but has the 750K warranty.
If it doesn't get resolved, Leo can send me a PM and I will give him a good go to guy for this.
 
LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The truck is at the Freightliner dealer in SLC. My understanding is the local Cat guy said it was covered and the regional guy came along and said no after that. The truck is stock with no bypass filtration. It has run the .02 micron Baldwin filters from T/A that are the equivalent to the Cat filters and that there is a White Paper on saying they are acceptable. I'll have to talk to the team about oil analysis documentation.
 
moose

moose

Veteran Expediter
davekc said:
Heard of a few claims being denied for having a bypass system on them.
Click to expand...
Can you please provide even one Phone # of a dealer or manufacturer that denied such a claim ? with more specific info. so we can follow up on this ?
as a user , this will mean a lot to me .
me thinking that if a claim is large enough - the repair will be covered ,by court order if needed .
 
RLENT

RLENT

Veteran Expediter
davekc said:
Heard of a few claims being denied for having a bypass system on them.
Click to expand...
This doesn't relate to Leo's situation since he apparently doesn't have a bypass on it, but I believe under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, CAT would actually have to prove that the bypass caused the problem in order to legally deny coverage ....

Hold their feet to the fire LDB and make them take responsibility for it .... hope you are able to get it resolved to your satisfaction.

I'm dealing with oil in engine coolant myself ..... I just replaced my oil cooler and I hope that resolves it .... if it not, it's gonna be alot more expensive ...... :(
 
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piper1

piper1

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I hate to say it, but unless you purchased extended warranty from CAT, this is going to be the new normal.

CAT has little interest in honoring original warranty claims as they no longer have any incentive to since they do not sell on highway engines any more. CAT was always a "pay it forward" kinda deal.

If you get a rebuild done and buy coverage, yep, they will gladly honor that, you paid for it. Factory Original warranties....they are trying to get out of them any way they can.

Trans Am trucking ordered 1050 new Kenworths with the new Paccar engine, it replaces their whole fleet. Wanna guess what color is under the hood now that is making them take such a drastic replacement?

Fight it tooth and nail Leo, you have nothing to lose.
 
davekc

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
If they say a claim is denied, make sure you are talking to a CAT rep from IL where CAT is located. Forget the rep in SLC and the FLT dealer. I would as well take it to a actual Cat dealer even if you have to tow it. You don't want FLT doing that kind of engine work.
On a side note, with regards to the bypass system, the people where this happened didn't have any past oil tests so Cat said the problem could have been identified prior to a total engine failure.
Kinda turned into you have to prove it wasn't the bypass rather than the other way around.
 
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Bruno

Bruno

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
US Marines
Having 7 trucks with 6 of them having CAT Motors I have never had any problems with CAT.
I would get it out of Freightliner and get it to a CAT dealer. For a truck that don't have that many miles on it you would think this wouldn't be a problem.
 
LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The SLC dealer has been great. They have said all along it should be covered and are working on our side. We have the 500k engine warranty since new so it should be covered. The latest as of last hour is the district rep hasn't even been out there. It was a blanket refusal sight unseen. Needless to say things are heating up and it is being pursued from multiple directions. Thanks for all the good input so far.
 
LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Yes, I have that brochure downloaded and so does my team out in SLC. I haven't talked direct to the Cat person yet, probably thankfully at least for him and perhaps both of us, but intend to stress that even at 33k gross that is only 55% of the Caterpillar advertised GCW designed into that engine.

I understand they have no incentive to get me as a repeat engine buyer since there are no more. I understand the guy's job is to minimize cost and maximize profit. I also understand Cat has a reputation they should want to maintain as a quality company but I guess the money is more important.

I never wanted a Cat engine but let myself be sold this one. Thank goodness I only made that mistake once and will never make it again.
 
R

RETIDEPXE

Veteran Expediter
Leo, what kind of oil consumption were u experiencing? Mine drinks 1 gal every 2500 mi.s or so and has for the last 200,000 miles, Rot T6 Synth 5W-40.
What may be at issue here is; does the warr. cover components that wear out rather then just total failures. When I was a gm dlr, a sales point for gm's ext'd warr. was that it also covers components that wear out (w/ proper mntnce ofcourse). Anybody have a link to, or copy of, a Cat warr. contract they can send me? Maybe we can put this issue to rest and get Leo's trk fixed under warr. w/out question.
My 400k mi. C9 has been an inexpensive mtr so far, no major issues that Cat didn't fix ('cept oil consumption), mileage good (10.25mpg running 58mph) as long as i keep my foot out of it. One thing I like about the C9 is i read Cat is cominig out w/ pre-pkg'd rebuild kits ( Caterpillar On-Highway Engines: Truck>Parts & Service>Precious Metals Overhaul Kits ) on the cheap, like around $2500 depending, since the C9 is a sleeve mtr. I planned to run mine in the ground and slap a kit in it and do it again since we really like our trk, getting it fixed up just like we want it.

Retidepxe
 
LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I'm not sure what their consumption was prior to last week when it started spraying oil and jumped to a gal a thousand. The latest is someone in the Cat foodchain is coming out Monday to actually look at things rather than making a blanket denial from the office. Their line that it was overloaded is so deep in dookey it's pathetic since it's rated for up to 60k and a 6 wheel truck is max 33k. I'll likely never have another Cat product after this experience. The only thing positive to say about it is the sleeved aspect you mentioned that reduces expenses.
 
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