Rock in pulley in brand new truck

I'm surprised by the number of people who think the dealer should have to pay for this truck because while driving down a gravel road, a rock flew up in there. Why? Just because it's a brand new truck? That doesn't have anything to do with your warranty! That's just one of those random bad luck things that happens to vehicle owners, like running over a nail or having a big rock hit your windshield. And it just so happens that a bad luck incident happened very early for the owner of this truck. If the dealer fixed it, then that was very nice of them. But they certainly didn't have to.

 

I've never seen an advertisement that said they were impervious to flying rocks either. Have you?

Maybe I'll have a look on You Tube.

 

Tin Foil Hat.



That is silly.

 

I will indulge my tin foil side occasionally.

 

Stuff Happens, on my older BMW I once found a rusted nut caught in one of the front brake calipers. Tore the crap out of a fairly new brake rotor, but did not damage the caliper. As I had done the brake job a month or so before, and I was the one that found the nut, it was a one in a million fluke. Crappy luck, but again stuff happens. Debris is kicked up and bounces around and who knows where it winds up. There is a reason there are guards and shields.

 

This shocks me! Everyone at the dealership told me this is a one and a million chance. That is rather strange that they said this too you without even looking at the truck.

 

it is one in a million.... now that you got it fixed for free, stop it from happening again.


Some of the rocks my truck has eaten with the front end closed off. This is under the windsheild washer resi (resi removed)



typical clean out of my skid plates

 

Been a bit since I was able to get back in here. I know some threads go really fast so I will try and catch up here....

As mentioned, the OP stated that they immediately offered to show the rock and the pulley. Without any of US actually SEEING the rock and pulleys, we can only speculate, and that is what 90% of people are doing: Speculating because they are mistrustful of dealerships. Of course I am speculating that it COULD happen because I have seen identical types of things happen first hand.

Depending on how long the engine ran, and how long it took before the belt itself came off would have a lot to do with this. Since the coolant pump is belt driven, then eventually it would get hot. The CEL most likely wouldn't come on, but the battery light should when the belt came off.

Edited quote for the important part: You can't realistically doubt an event happened solely because you don't trust dealers. Just because you don't trust someone, doesn't mean that they are wrong.

The only way I could really answer that would be if I knew every detail of what happened. When did you first hear the noise? When did you first notice that there actually WAS a problem? How long after the problem occurred did you pull over? How long was the engine running after you pulled over? A lot of information would need to be known before ANYONE could offer a real explanation about what you would have seen as far as warning lights and such.

You REALLY think that the dealership should warranty a rock causing damage? I can't tell if you are trolling there or are seriously just deluded. Just because it is designed to drive on a gravel road doesn't mean that it is 100% protected from every possible situation. So if you are driving on a gravel road and a small tree branch gets kicked up by the tire and punctures the gas tank, then by your theory warranty should cover it? Wow....
There is no way to 100% protect the undercarriage of a vehicle unless you TOTALLY seal it with metal plating. Do that and then you would have overheating conditions, and interiors getting burning hot from the exhaust system, and everyone would bitch about THAT.

I totally disagree with you, and I HAVE worked at dealerships for over 20 years. If a belt came off because a PDI was not done properly, we would replace the belt, apologize to the customer, and the tech that did the PDI would get dinged the labor costs of the belt, or he would be the one made to install the new one.

One of the things I learned in management training, and over my career, is that the BEST way is to be honest. Customers can accept faults in humans, because they know sh!t happens. Tell the customer the TRUTH, and take care of a problem and they will be more included to return. Lie to a customer and they will not trust you at ALL, and will never return. It is stupid and illogical to do otherwise. And I have never seen a single screw up at ANY dealership I have been at where we withheld the information from the customer. Now I am not saying that nobody here has been lied to in their past. What I AM saying is that being lied to is the EXCEPTION, not the rule. Most dealerships could not stay in business if they lied and cheated as much as everyone claims.

Unless someone else has had a problem with this dealership, why all the hate? Why can't we just take their word for it and let it go? They offered from the start to show the rock, and the pulleys. So WHY would they go through the time of finding a rock, damaging the rock, finding two pulleys, damaging THOSE, and then offer to cover the repair for free? I mean come on. Do you REALLY think that is what they did? Hell, they are wasting valuable time and money trying to even come UP with that. It is simple, a rock got itself caught in the belt area, and caused damage. The dealership has offered to go ahead and fix it, and the OP has to pay nothing. How does all of this roll into a dealership being dishonest and trying to cheat someone?

As for the start of your second paragraph I have to laugh. I see more INDEPENDENT shops just throw parts at a car instead of doing a diagnosis. The dealers spend SERIOUS cash in training a tech to properly diagnose a vehicle. The difference is that when it comes down to making the decision on what repairs to make, the dealership will be cautious and recommend a repair that will GUARANTEE a fix, and have the least likely chance of a return. You do realize that dealerships get audited every year, sometimes twice or even 3 times? If the warranty clerk from the manufacturer decides that an improper diagnosis was made, or an incorrect repair is made, then they get backflagged for the repair, and it comes out of the dealer's pockets, which then trickles down to the tech, who gets backflagged for the repair, and looses HIS money.

So it is smart for a tech to do a proper diagnosis and fix it right the first time. That is how I ALWAYS trained my techs. Better to do it right the first time, and KEEP your paycheck, rather than do it wrong, or guess, and end up with NO money. Now sure, there are some techs out there that try to short cut it. Those are the techs that I fire and replace with someone who actually WANTS to fix cars. You will find this at ANY company, I don't care WHO you work for, or what your company does.

I have to strongly disagree with you on your comments. Though I won't say that you don't have bad apples in the bunch, I will tell you that it is the exception, not the rule. Dealerships pay their techs too much money to allow a continued failed diag after failed diag. If you diagnose a failure and perform a repair, and are wrong, then my shop foreman gets involved. If you honestly made a simple error in diagnosis, then fine, we work with it. If you were totally wrong then you installed the RIGHT part for free, or you found another job. And this is at EVERY dealership I have worked at for over 20 years. Not just one.