I got my a fuel injector cleaning on my Saturn at the dealer. They sent me on my way with the car smelling like gas. After days of driving with the smell of gas, the service engine light on, and the car stalling I took back into the dealer. Now they are telling me that the fuel pump is broken and they want me to pay for it. This does not seem right. Can someone explain to me what happened. This seems to me something that the mechanic messed up and I should not have to pay for it.
Specify your year & specific Saturn model. Give other info such as mileage and basic maintenance history .
A bad fuel pump is not going to make your car smell like gas.
Were you having any problems before the “fuel injection cleaning?” (If not then you didn’t need one). What kind of fuel injection cleaning was done? Did it involve actually removing the injectors? (Usually its just a chemical process).
With the engine light on, there are error codes stored in the computer. Find out what your exact code(s) is (are) and report the exact code - format: P1234.
What did the dealer shop say about the gas smell? Its best to just find a good, local, independent shop rather than going to a dealer.
A fuel injector cleaning could mean as little as they poured some “cleaner” in your gas tank. You’ll need to find out specifically what they did step by step. What parts were disconnected, removed, and how cleaned? Really not sure how it could have affected the fuel pump until I get more details. What was the charge for this service? How much was the labor charge for it? How many tech hours? Were any fuel filter(s) replaced? Ask the dealer for some of this information and you’ll find out more about what they did to the car.
2002 Saturn L series 72,000 miles. It is a well maintained car. The car idled fine, but it would, on rare occassions, stall out. I took the car in for general maintanence- oil change. The dealer’s mechanic told me that my fuel injectors were clogged and I need to get them cleaned. The procedure was called terra clean. Now the fuel pump is broken and they want me to pay $$ to fix it.
‘‘terra clean’’ doesn’t mean anything to me.
Is that an ‘‘in tank’’ cleaner ? A too strong in tank cleaner may have been too strong for the pump parts.
Or was it an fuel line direct cleaner ?
Here at the Ford dealer our injector flush ( when a vehicle displays a definitive problem ) is a pressurized can which attatches to the fuel intake lines on the top of the engine and would not affect the pump.
Class, let’s google terra clean and see what we get.
The stalling out was not caused by clogged injectors. Any kind of problem with even one injector (allegedly clogged, poor spray pattern, etc) will cause a rough idle or a stumble at idle to some degree.
If the engine only stalled out at an idle then I would suspect an Idle Air Valve problem. If it stalls out at road speed then it could be the fuel pump.
The way I read this is that the engine was stalling out before this Terra Clean service was done and it’s possible the pump or Idle Air Valve was iffy from the get-go.
I’m also wondering how often the fuel filter is changed on this car because even a partially clogged filter can shorten the pump’s life while providing no noticeable symptoms.
Terraclean must be some sort of additive: http://www.terraclean.net/product.php?id=15
Not sure whether that would cause the fuel pump to go south, though.
It smelling like gas seems weird. There’s no reason for that, unless they unbolted something related to the fuel system.
Edit: I guess it can be more than am additive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCuki_-vXQ
From the looks of it, they disconnect stuff and run your engine off this machine.
Edit2:
The middle of the page on the following forum, someone purporting to work for Terraclean mentioned that they disconnect the fuel rail and run it off their machine: http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/68535-solution-carbon-build-up-terraclean-5.html
My bet is that they screwed up.
If they poured Terraclean into your gas tank then it probably destroyed your fuel pump. If that’s the case then the fuel tank must be emptied and the old fuel disposed of before you install a new fuel pump. I’m betting someone screwed up as RemcoW has already stated.
Looks like they inject this stuff right into the fuel rail…Notice the red scale on the pressure gauge…If they overpressured the fuel system, they could have ruptured the flex hoses inside the (or outside) the tank that connect the pump to the fuel system…
Given the smell of gas I’ll guess they messed up with the cleaning service - or at least in buttoning things back up.
However, on the fuel pump there’s no way to say. As ok4450 mentioned the stalling could have been the pump on its way out already.