Tow Vehicle Brokedown In Longmont Colorado

[gfortelney]

Currently stuck in Longmont CO since Saturday. My 2008 Chevy 3500HD went into limp mode with a P0087 code 10 miles out of Estes Park heading to Denver. Vehicle was towed to Longmont CO, and 5th wheel was towed to a parking loot of a hotel where we have a room. There was not RV spot within miles to put my 5th in a camping spot. I changed fuel filter several times, even replaced the fuel filter housing with a new one from GM before we left out of Estes Park. A lot of people recommended Knotts Auto Tech for repairs in Longmont, right now that's where the vehicle is, waiting until Tuesday morning. Not a rental car to be had anywhere since the holiday weekend, so the wife and I are just sitting in the hotel room. Any recommendations are appreciated.

[donn0128]

For a lot less money if you have a smart phone download the Torque app and spend less than 20 dollars for a OBDll dongle. It will give you way more, plus the ability to read and clear codes.

[BobsYourUncle]

I had an extensive run with the P0087 code on my truck in sig. Mine is 07 Classic, yours is the newer style, but much of the same components.

My P0087 code started the first time on a very hot day, pulling the TT uphill in the mountains. Went into limp mode, wouldn't rev over 2000.
I was hundreds of miles from home but I managed to limp it home. On the flat it wasn't too bad. The key was to get it to upshift to have acceleration power under 2000 RPM. As soon as it hit 2000 it was like throwing an anchor out.

I bought a code reader as soon as I got home. With that I was able to clear the code and drive normally. I changed the fuel filter to no avail too. It ran fine until the next time I towed up a hill in hot weather. But this time I had my code reader and could pull over to clear it. I learned to take it easy up the hills, keep my foot out of it and drop a couple gears to avoid this happening. Winter or cool weather driving, no problem, even when towing.

No trailer, no problem. I went a couple years like this, but it progressively got worse to the point where it would happen if I was going uphill without the TT.

We were planning a long trip, so 2 summers ago I took it back in to the dealership for an extensive analysis. Cost me a couple hundred for that but they did exhaustive testing on all components.

Primary issue was a weak injector pump starting to fail. My heart skipped a beat but I told them to fix it. They replaced the injector pump, one injector and a couple other little things.

The truck ran like a champ after that, and we headed out through the Rockies, 32 foot 9000 pound TT in tow. It was really nice to drive normally, without the code reader plugged in and laying there ready to erase the code every 2 minutes going up hills.

The truck has, however thrown the same code twice since the repair, both times during a very long hot haul up a steep grade. Once on the first trip out and the 2nd about a year later. Only 2 times.

Truck had 303,692 Kilometers on it at the time of the repair. 374K now

Total cost of the repair, with taxes etc was 31 cents under $7700. But this bill was including 6 new Michelins mounted and balanced, so safely say the cost of the new injector pump and related stuff was about 6 grand. This is all Canadian pricing. US is likely cheaper. We seem to pay more here for everything.

I recommend everyone with an older tow vehicle gets a code reader. You never know when something's going to put you in limp mode a long ways from home. They are simple to use and could avoid a ruined trip and expensive tow bill.

[gfortelney]

NMDriver2 wrote:
One possible cause is the rubber portion of the fuel line near the transmission is collapsing.

This is a known problem with the 08 Chevy diesels (like mine). There is no fuel pump and that is part of the problem. You can install an aftermarket fuel pump, like FASS, for around $1200 and that will solve the problem. You can also change the portion of the fuel line that is rubber, instead of metal like the rest of the line is, for around $150. There is a tech bulletin out on how to do that and the correct material to use.

Generally this surfaces when towing up hill in high temperature. The engine wants more fuel and sucks the hose down until the computer believes there is either a clogged fuel filter or some other problem that results in low rail pressure. If you go to a dealer they will likely try to charge you for a full rail and injector job ($15,000).

Any competent mech can do hose exchange job and the hose can be fabricated following the specs in the bulletin.

I will try to find the bulletin and post it as an edit.

This discussion on the Chevy Duramax forum may help. Poster JC1843, the third one down after the initial question, has all the info you need.link

It did keep triggering the change fuel filter message, I went through 4 fuel filters and it did not help. Went to the dealership and bought a new diesel fuel filter housing assembly that had a new filter and water sensor and put it on and reset fuel filter life. Made it 30 miles and it said 0% fuel filter life. When I hooked up the trailer and was pulling it under a load for about 10 miles (probably enough to get hose heated up so it could collapse) it through the P0087 error code and also said 0% fuel filter life.

[gfortelney]

Marcela wrote:
Starting fluid is a good way to ruin an engine, cracks pistons and rings, especially on a diesel with high compression. You thought gasoline was hard on a diesel engine.......

I have the engine spinning before i sprayed just a little starting fluid to hopefully reduce the risk.

[NMDriver2]

One possible cause is the rubber portion of the fuel line near the transmission is collapsing.

This is a known problem with the 08 Chevy diesels (like mine). There is no fuel pump and that is part of the problem. You can install an aftermarket fuel pump, like FASS, for around $1200 and that will solve the problem. You can also change the portion of the fuel line that is rubber, instead of metal like the rest of the line is, for around $150. There is a tech bulletin out on how to do that and the correct material to use.

Generally this surfaces when towing up hill in high temperature. The engine wants more fuel and sucks the hose down until the computer believes there is either a clogged fuel filter or some other problem that results in low rail pressure. If you go to a dealer they will likely try to charge you for a full rail and injector job ($15,000).

Any competent mech can do hose exchange job and the hose can be fabricated following the specs in the bulletin.

I will try to find the bulletin and post it as an edit.

This discussion on the Chevy Duramax forum may help. Poster JC1843, the third one down after the initial question, has all the info you need.link

[Marcela]

Starting fluid is a good way to ruin an engine, cracks pistons and rings, especially on a diesel with high compression. You thought gasoline was hard on a diesel engine.......

[gfortelney]

newman fulltimer wrote:
Sounds like your fuel pump went out

I forgot to mention its a 6.6 duramax diesel. I can start it on starting fluid and it will run and idle good for a few miles and then go back into limp mode with a 2000rpm max. The p0087 shows low fuel rail pressure. Hoping its just the fuel rail pressure relief valve.

[newman_fulltime]

Sounds like your fuel pump went out