Alexe
New Member
I'd like to tell my sad story mainly for your amusement but hopefully people can learn by it.
I was driving my wonderful 6.5 van early on a Sunday morning back to NYC 3 weeks ago. Traffic was light (that means bumper to bumper at 65 mph), I was on the Bruckner Expressway and all of a sudden she shut right off with no warning, no stumble, just like shutting the key. I coasted to and up the next exit with hard steering and brakes. It was the bottom exit in the South Bronx, where Fort Apache was filmed... not a friendly area even today to say it mildly. On investigation, no lift pump sound or glow plug light on start. No tools on hand either. I did have a drop light which I stripped wire from to jump the lift pump, it ran and had fuel pressure at the schrader valve (fuel tap). No start on a warm diesel with fuel pressure, oh boy.... has my alarm system gone bad and shut off the fuel solenoid? I'm stuck...
I called my insurance company roadside service for a tow. After a half hour on hold they said "We'll tow you to Pep Boys in the Bronx" I replied "They sell parts", I was assured they work on cars and their mechanics could fix it and if not, Monday morning their master mechanic would be in.
Come Wednesday he still didn't show for work and I had her towed to the closest Chev dealer, Chevrolet of Harlem.
At the end of that day I got a call, "You need a new pump and it'll be $3600.00" I said It had a new pump under warranty 40k miles ago, and with the lift pump not working also I doubt that's the problem. I was at the dealer in person first thing when they opened the next morning and spoke with the excellent tech directly. He said, "I isolated it to an internal short in the fuel solenoid itself or the PMD, your wiring harness is good. I have no way of checking the PMD". I held up the bag I was carrying and said "here's a remote mount PMD with a 6' extension on a heat sink, it's plug and play". He got a big smile and said he'd heard of that. Well, the PMD was the problem all along and at the end of the day I got a bill for $1440.00 for diagnostics and no they won't take my business check. The service writer looked me in the eye and said the hours were put in. I doubt the tech worked into the night...
Moral of the story, Know the PMD can die instantly and take out the same fuse that runs the lift pump to give you these symptoms. And although I got a royal screwing, I owe this forum a big thanks for providing me knowledge. You guys saved me from a $3600.00 dealer pump.
Thanks again all here.
I was driving my wonderful 6.5 van early on a Sunday morning back to NYC 3 weeks ago. Traffic was light (that means bumper to bumper at 65 mph), I was on the Bruckner Expressway and all of a sudden she shut right off with no warning, no stumble, just like shutting the key. I coasted to and up the next exit with hard steering and brakes. It was the bottom exit in the South Bronx, where Fort Apache was filmed... not a friendly area even today to say it mildly. On investigation, no lift pump sound or glow plug light on start. No tools on hand either. I did have a drop light which I stripped wire from to jump the lift pump, it ran and had fuel pressure at the schrader valve (fuel tap). No start on a warm diesel with fuel pressure, oh boy.... has my alarm system gone bad and shut off the fuel solenoid? I'm stuck...
I called my insurance company roadside service for a tow. After a half hour on hold they said "We'll tow you to Pep Boys in the Bronx" I replied "They sell parts", I was assured they work on cars and their mechanics could fix it and if not, Monday morning their master mechanic would be in.
Come Wednesday he still didn't show for work and I had her towed to the closest Chev dealer, Chevrolet of Harlem.
At the end of that day I got a call, "You need a new pump and it'll be $3600.00" I said It had a new pump under warranty 40k miles ago, and with the lift pump not working also I doubt that's the problem. I was at the dealer in person first thing when they opened the next morning and spoke with the excellent tech directly. He said, "I isolated it to an internal short in the fuel solenoid itself or the PMD, your wiring harness is good. I have no way of checking the PMD". I held up the bag I was carrying and said "here's a remote mount PMD with a 6' extension on a heat sink, it's plug and play". He got a big smile and said he'd heard of that. Well, the PMD was the problem all along and at the end of the day I got a bill for $1440.00 for diagnostics and no they won't take my business check. The service writer looked me in the eye and said the hours were put in. I doubt the tech worked into the night...
Moral of the story, Know the PMD can die instantly and take out the same fuse that runs the lift pump to give you these symptoms. And although I got a royal screwing, I owe this forum a big thanks for providing me knowledge. You guys saved me from a $3600.00 dealer pump.
Thanks again all here.
