Thanks for your detailed reply. I did wonder about chain of custody. I deal with that with regards to hazardous materials testing like asbestos etc.
I’m having a hell of a time getting someone from the Cat Finning lab to call me back. It’s been almost 2 weeks. Super frustrating to say the least.
Go to the same pump, clearly hit the diesel button, and see if it will pump gas. It shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t.
Of course, since the station knows you’re looking into it, they’ve likely fixed anything that may have been wrong at the time of the incident.
Ya that was my thought ever since I read your dilemma, just like in doping, your chain of custody is never going to fly in court. And even your receipt is going to be flimsy. unless you can show for sure that was the last time you filled up. And how do you do that without some verification of mileage at the time of that fill up???
I do have GPS data tracked on my truck and phone independently and it shows I didn’t visit any other gas station afterwards. Hopefully that counts for something.
The chain of custody re fuel. There is no company I could call to take a sample and do independent testing here that would have gone and take a sample. I spent a whole day calling around. Not sure what else I could have done in that situation.
I agree, it’s a shitty situation. Talk to the local news affiliate and see if they will look into it for you. If you’re the only person that this happened to you’re going to be fighting a losing battle but maybe they would have a way of finding other people that have the same problem.
Are you absolutely sure you don’t have someone with a grudge against you, like some neighbor you offended in some way, that may have dumped a bit of gas in your tank? I know you said you have cameras, but any other places you could have been where it could have happened?
I don’t think so. I’m in great standing with neighbors and quick to help out in the community if anyone needs it. I’d be incredibly surprised if this was some kind of retribution for wrong doing.
I started hearing the engine knock the morning after I filled up. So I really had like a 12 hour window for that to happen, and most of that time had cameras on the vehicle.
DM me the name and address of the station if you’d like. I have some friends in the environmental consulting industry that work routinely in Canada (not in BC, but they may have some useful info) and I can ask them about whether records of waste disposal and/or a tank cleanout would be publicly available.
that is a really interesting point, if the station had a diesel tank contaminated with gasoline there would likely be a record of them having to have it flushed and refilled. That would be a very significant thing because that fuel is no longer usable and would have to be disposed of in an incinerator I would think and that may have needed approval from the department of environment. So if a tank was contaminated there should likely be a trace of the issue and the resolution. Also one would think if that were to happen the trucking firm that transferred the fuel and improperly filled the tank would be on the hook as well. There would likely be a trail of things that would happen once this was noticed.
If the pump was programmed wrong, ie when you punched the diesel button it switched on gasoline, that would be really hard to trace but again one would think there would be a record of the pump company coming in to fix that problem on that specific pump. I note that pumps around here have stickers on them indicating the last time they were checked and approved(maybe serviced).
I’ll DM you, and tha k you so much for offering to look in to that. However, I just an email back from the lab and apparently I won’t get my results back until later next week.
Before I go asking anyone for favours it would probably make sense to get that sample back first. As Amnesia mentioned right now we are relying on the opinion of the mechanic.
This exactly. Either a programming error or worse a valve error. If it was a valve error, they might possibly notice issues with their leak detection tests.
Also, if this was in the U.S. and there was the incorrect fuel in the tank then they would be in violation of their permit. As the permit stipulates what type of fuel is stored in each tank specifically.
And since the tank was refilled not long ago it would still have traces of bad fuel because tanks are never completely emptied.
If you get it tested test for TPH-d and TPH-g range distillates
Did you get the test results back yet?
Well, it’s been a saga.
I did get the test results back, and the fuel was fine. Totally uncontaminated #2 diesel. Which means my mechanic was a fucking idiot.
I wasted 2.5 weeks at mechanic #1. Towed it to mechanic #2, who is a family friend and has run a very reputable shop for close to 20 years. He used to be the head mechanic at our Honda dealership. The truck sat there for a week, and I called to see how they were making out. I was informed they hadn’t even looked at it yet because, well, insert excuse here. I explained this is my work vehicle, I rely on it to make a living and I didn’t have time to waste. I had an appointment with them that I had to wait for, and they should not be making me wait any longer. They said they would diagnose it ASAP.
By the end of the following week I hadnt heard anything so I walked in, tore a strip off the guy in front of a few customers and took my keys back. Then got the vehicle towed to the dealership.
The mechanics there ran in to some issues so had to consult with Nissan, and the diagnosis is I have a faulty injector and probably need to replace the main wiring harness to the tune of $12,000. In addition to that, I may need to replace the exhaust system for another $10k, but they can’t properly diagnose that until the injector is fixed. This is an 8 year old, well maintained vehicle with under 100k miles.
Un-fucking-believable. So here I am, a month of headaches and several thousand dollars in diagnostic fees, towing and vehicle rentals wondering what to do next. We just replaced my wife’s car which had a catastrophic engine failure in Sept. I really wasn’t banking on spending $125k this fall.
Really sorry to see this.
Fuckballs.
How does faulty injector = new wiring harness? And even if it’s a wiring issue, one would think that could be sorted for <12k…
I don’t know much about diesels but do know that 5L Cummings is a bit infamous for issues….including the engine wiring harness to the injectors. However, it sounds like they’re quoting you for the entire harness which doesn’t make sense. There’s a fair amount of labour involved in replacing the harness (think exhaust manifold has to come off) but even with that there’s no way it’s 12 grand even if they replace all injectors. Cursory web search shows somewhere in range of $500 - $1,700 depending on source and new/used.
Exhaust system could mean anything from EGR, to DEF, to everything being sooted up. Parts for this can be expensive and hard to source from what I’ve heard. But 10k still sounds like they’re using the parts cannon approach and want to replace everything!
Unfortunately the dealer will want to do everything the easiest and most expensive way (i.e. replace everything with new parts with dealer markup and labour costs). Wish I knew of a good diesel mechanic there who could help. I’ll ask around and DM you if I get anything useful back. This sucks and very sorry to hear.
Again, sorry. If they are sourcing individual injectors, you are looking at 4-5 hundred a pop. Did some digging and found this
https://shop.cummins.com/SC/en-CA/product/cummins-kitinjector-4376287px/01t4N0000048jpgQAA?srsltid=AfmBOoqAyD_gxsg42DMn3Tobo1uJyPpW1l4esDi44cur3WAdgXxmbQrD
That will save you a few grand.
As to the harness, i would first have them test the fuel injector pressure regulator first.
Unfortunately you are fighting with a short run discontinued engine, so parts are scarce and pricey.
Wow, didn’t know injectors were so pricey for these. But still, can’t (well, unlikely) be that all of them died at once.
Yeah, the 5L certainly has its issues.
I believe the high cost is because the dealer isn’t going to source other parts than Nissan certified. The Nissan injector, which I’m fairly certain is just a rebranded Bosch, is like $2500. For one. The generic Bosch one is 5-700.
The wiring harness I’m unsure of why they need to replace the whole dang thing. But again, dealership is just going to choose the most expensive option, and they aren’t really interested in spending time finding out what the root of an issue is. They scan the code, it shows a fault in the harness, their procedure is to order a new harness. I’ve read on other forums people having this issue and simply replacing the injector connector, a $100 part, and solving the issue.
I guess I could take this info and go to a shop more willing to be flexible with parts and procedures, but s you can see, I’ve been burnt a few times already doing that.
Ugh. Tough spot especially when you need the truck for work. Certainly Nissan does not make injectors. So if you’ve found Bosh with the same part number then that’s the one.
I don’t know much about the harness either but had a friend with same truck and remember him complaining about replacing the harness and thinking Nissan should have done it as was a known issue (at least known to him and probably on some Nissan forum). Could be worth buying a can of contact cleaner and dousing the connectors……for $5 bucks worth a try but not sure if that’s possible if truck’s at the dealer.
For the price the dealer is proposing to fix it seems worth it to take the truck back and sell it for parts. Quick look at Autotrader shows only a few for sale and most around high 20s to low 30s. Prob could get 10 - 15k at least to put towards a new truck.
Sorry, wish I could be of more help. Maybe ask Windy? 
Thanks, I really appreciate your input, as well as that of @jriosa and others who have chimed in.
And yeah, I desperately need the truck for work so have my back against the wall in terms of timing. Pretty much anything new is running in the $65-70k range plus tax. I guess only one of my kids really needs to go to college…
Not really sure what next steps to take. If by some miracle I can get away with a Bosch injector and fix the harness issue with a $100 connector, I’d go that route. But looking at the full repair cost really doesn’t leave me with many options but to spend money I’d really rather not spend, especially after having some very large expenses come up over the last year or so. Just feels like going backwards financially.