# Towed to the dealer



## 1877 iris ave (Sep 23, 2011)

2014, 28000 miles--car in driveway starts runs barely for a few second and then dies. Had it towed to dealer. They quickly found that the egr valve was stuck open. They said a new part will be in tomorrow. Hope all goes as planned. I guess it would be an expensive fix if the care wasn't under B to B warranty. Why would this happen and could I have done anything to prevent the valve from being stuck?


----------



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

I think that there have been two others. And any unexpected repair is an expensive one. 

No idea why the failure. Gator was one and he is a high-miler. 

I have 50,000 miles on mine and no such indication yet. But not regretting buying GMPP either.


----------



## DslGate (Jun 29, 2016)

Tomko said:


> I think that there have been two others. And any unexpected repair is an expensive one.
> 
> No idea why the failure. Gator was one and he is a high-miler.
> 
> I have 50,000 miles on mine and no such indication yet. But not *regretting buying GMPP either.*



I can still get one, but am not sure I'll keep car long enough to justify the price of admission.


----------



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

DslGate said:


> I can still get one, but am not sure I'll keep car long enough to justify the price of admission.


It's good to know you've got the option. 

But don't fool yourself. They make money on it. But they don't necessarily pay retail for their parts and labour like you might.


----------



## 1877 iris ave (Sep 23, 2011)

i'm happy i bought the gmpp plan too, even though I don't need it for this repair.


----------



## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

1877 iris ave said:


> 2014, 28000 miles--car in driveway starts runs barely for a few second and then dies. Had it towed to dealer. They quickly found that the egr valve was stuck open. They said a new part will be in tomorrow. Hope all goes as planned. I guess it would be an expensive fix if the care wasn't under B to B warranty. Why would this happen and could I have done anything to prevent the valve from being stuck?


Do you ever drive your car hard? The theory is that those who drive WOT and redline frequently are less likely to have this issue, and those who drive gently are more likely to have it. I drive mine hard and floor it every day, several times a day, and have not had an issue like this. 178K miles so far.


----------



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

diesel said:


> Do you ever drive your car hard? The theory is that those who drive WOT and redline frequently are less likely to have this issue, and those who drive gently are more likely to have it. I drive mine hard and floor it every day, several times a day, and have not had an issue like this. 178K miles so far.


Just to add some additional evidence: I have 50K on mine. It has never seen WOT and is always driven like a lady. The heaviest throttle it has ever seen is when the cruise is resumed. However, I have always run Shell V-Power diesel - and to date I have not had the EGR issue.


----------



## BlueTopaz (Aug 25, 2012)

Tomko said:


> Just to add some additional evidence: I have 50K on mine. It has never seen WOT and is always driven like a lady. The heaviest throttle it has ever seen is when the cruise is resumed. However, I have always run Shell V-Power diesel - and to date I have not had the EGR issue.


I wish we had Shell V-Powered diesel around here. I just make sure I fill up from a station that has a large turn over. That way I know the fuel is always fresh.


----------



## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

I drive my car at least once a day hard and to redline after it is warmed up. Just for the record, my lady likes to be driven hard and often.:eusa_clap:


----------



## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

90% of my driving is city and often the car doesn't reach full operating temperature before I reach my destination. My car is 4 years old next month and has never missed a beat. The only thing I can think of is that the diesel in Australia has to be at least 50 cetane, could this make a difference to reliability? My DPF light has only come on once since I bought it and driving at 3,000rpm for 10 minutes saw it go out and it has never come on again. That was at 6,000km and the car now has 47,000km on the clock, so short trips don't appear to cause any problems.

PS I was in 4th gear when I drove at 3,000rpm and sat on 110kph.


----------



## 1877 iris ave (Sep 23, 2011)

I do drive the car WOT but not every day. i often drive 65 miles to Iowa Cit on a two lane road, and stomp on it when passing a car in front of me.


----------



## 1877 iris ave (Sep 23, 2011)

So I got my car back. Fesler Auto ( both a ford and Chevy dealer ) was very efficient, diagnosed the day it went in, EGR valve arrived the next day and was installed right away. Not bad for a Dealer in a town of 9500. And they were not only efficient but genuinely nice people. They let me look at the part. The valve looks just like a valve in a head, about 3/4 inch in diameter which moves about 1/4 inch. It was definitely stuck open. The valve is controlled by and electric motor. I would have liked to take it apart to see why it was stuck. It could be that the shaft of the valve was galled and then frozen in place, but I think it more likely that the motor failed. The dealer said they had to sent the part in for inspection. I wonder how much this repair costs when not covered by warranty or GMPP.


----------



## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

1877 iris ave said:


> So I got my car back. Fesler Auto ( both a ford and Chevy dealer ) was very efficient, diagnosed the day it went in, EGR valve arrived the next day and was installed right away. Not bad for a Dealer in a town of 9500. And they were not only efficient but genuinely nice people. They let me look at the part. The valve looks just like a valve in a head, about 3/4 inch in diameter which moves about 1/4 inch. It was definitely stuck open. The valve is controlled by and electric motor. I would have liked to take it apart to see why it was stuck. It could be that the shaft of the valve was galled and then frozen in place, but I think it more likely that the motor failed. The dealer said they had to sent the part in for inspection. I wonder how much this repair costs when not covered by warranty or GMPP.


I would imagine that after warranty in most cases it will cost about as much as a block off plate of aluminum and a few new bolts...


----------



## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

1877 iris ave said:


> So I got my car back. Fesler Auto ( both a ford and Chevy dealer ) was very efficient, diagnosed the day it went in, EGR valve arrived the next day and was installed right away. Not bad for a Dealer in a town of 9500. And they were not only efficient but genuinely nice people. They let me look at the part. The valve looks just like a valve in a head, about 3/4 inch in diameter which moves about 1/4 inch. It was definitely stuck open. The valve is controlled by and electric motor. I would have liked to take it apart to see why it was stuck. It could be that the shaft of the valve was galled and then frozen in place, but I think it more likely that the motor failed. The dealer said they had to sent the part in for inspection. I wonder how much this repair costs when not covered by warranty or GMPP.


Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear you're back on the road. Apparently my "driving it hard" theory doesn't seem to hold up.


----------



## 1877 iris ave (Sep 23, 2011)

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear you're back on the road. Apparently my "driving it hard" theory doesn't seem to hold up.

Maybe so, but driving is hards is still lots of fun!


----------

