SUBJECT: NEGLIGENT AND UNSCRUPULOUS BUSINESS MANNERS AT NORCAL KENWORTH OF MORGAN HILL, CA
In June, 2019 we dropped our truck off at NorCal KW of Morgan Hill, CA to replace leaking head gasket per their recommendation.
NorcalKW used a WIRE WHEEL (an abrasive material attached to a power tool) to clean/polish the surface of the block, the head shows signs of polishing as well. PACCAR does NOT want wire wheel to be used on their engines because they are not designed to be resurfaced.
The Technician Sam G also noted that our unit was more difficult to work on due to the suspension, the two OEM air bags on the springs made it difficult to find proper footing and made it more difficult to torque the cylinder head to spec.
On 4/10/2020 (less than 10 months / 16,000 miles later) the head gasket failed. On 4/17/20 Norcal KW told us that PACCAR will not do repair under warranty due to pitting of the head and block. Norcal KW stated that we put watered down coolant, bad coolant, wrong coolant, low quality coolant in our truck.
On 4/21/20 Norcal KW Shop Mgr Sam Benavidez called and told us firmly that the head gasket did not fail, he told us that we refused to have new coolant put in our truck when they offered it to us in June, 2019.
On 4/23/20 Norcal KW Shop Mgr Sam Benavidez called us into a meeting with NorCal KW and told us that he MISSPOKE on the coolant, our coolant was good, they tested it. We asked again why the head gasket failed prematurely. Shop Mgr Benavidez told us that the head gasket did not fail. We asked him why the head gasket is severely burnt ? Benavidez didn't know anything about the condition of the head gasket. He asked the Tech "the head gasket is burnt?" Norcal KW Tech told us that it was liner protrusion that caused the head gasket to burn. We asked if NorCal KW checked for liner protrusion in June, 2019 and Shop Mgr. Benavidez said NO. We asked WHY NOT? Shop Mgr. Benavidez said they didn't check for liner protrusion in June, 2019 because we didn't tell NorCal KW to do that. We were under the impression up until that moment that diagnosis would be part of any dealership's or repair shop's procedure. Benavidez told us that NorCal KW doesn't do diagnosis unless it's requested by the customer. He explained, it is because UPS, Fedex, the State, the County brings their equipment to them and tell them what to fix so NorCal KW assumes that all other customers are the same.
Sometime in April/May,2020 NorCal KW did a complete teardown of our engine WITHOUT our Consent/Authorization or Knowledge and sent it to a machine shop for resurfacing AGAINST PACCAR (Manufacturer) recommendation. The machine shop noticed that the counterbore is worn, sent our block back to NorCal KW for removal of access parts because it was prohibiting them from being able to resurface the block and cut the counterbore. Our motor shouldn't have been there in the first place...1. Because we never authorized this work 2. Because PACCAR (Manufacturer) already told NorCal KW that they can no longer continue with repair due to the pitting of the head and the block.
NorCal KW emailed us on 5/7/20 and asked us to come into their shop to discuss engine failure.
On 5/8/20 during the meeting NorCal KW explained to us that worn out counterbore is what caused the head gasket to fail prematurely and ultimately caused engine failure and Sam Benavidez told us that resurfacing of the head and the block is still a repair option.
On 5/12/20 we were provided with a nearly $10,000 Repair Order for the Unauthorized work that NorCal KW did when they did a complete teardown of our engine and sent it to a machine shop.
On 5/22/20 we told Norcal KW we are not paying them for the Unauthorized work they did, and Sam Benavidez in response told us okay, we are not getting our truck back until we pay. NorCal Kenworth ignored our emails regarding this matter from 5/26/20 thru 6/19/20.
After many calls and emails to Kenworth Corporate Headquarters finally on June 24,2020 NorCal KW called us into a meeting and Randy Bradshaw - Director of Operations told us that FORTUNATELY for them PACCAR procedures have changed in the last 3 months so it gets them off the hook regarding their NEGLIGENT ACTIONS 12 months ago.
WE HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH MONTHS OF DOWNTIME DUE TO NORCAL KENWORTH'S NEGLIGENCE and UNSCRUPULOUS BUSINESS MANNERS and PACCAR'S POOR COMMUNICATION SKILLS TO NORCAL KW REGARDING THEIR REPAIR RECOMMENDATIONS OF THEIR PRODUCT (PACCAR MX 13 ENGINE)!!!!
AS OF TODAY 7/9/2020 RANDY BRADSHAW - DIRECTOR OF OPERATION AT NORCAL KENWORTH SAID THAT SINCE PACCAR DID NOT PROPERLY COMMUNICATE THEIR REPAIR PROCEDURES TO NORCAL KENWORTH THEREFORE NORCAL KW IS NOT AT FAULT FOR RUINING OUR ENGINE....PACCAR IS!!!! read more