GM power train warranty. PTO users screwed?

[Mikey P]

Who will be the first to go Diesel with their single wand PTOs?


Hydramaster?
Butler?
CleanCo?
Sapphire?

 

[Erik]

I think it will be Saffhire, now that their running a PTO off the trans.

 

[Sapphire]

We will keep looking into this, but the following is the best information we have gathered so far.

GM stated that GM does in fact look at the ratio of 1 hour running time equals 23 miles driven. This is nothing new and they have always used this equation especially in law enforcement or vehicles that run all day. He stated that not all of the warranty is effected by this, meaning that if you have a brake or suspension issue within the standard 3yr 36,000 mile warranty the hours of operation would not be taken into consideration. However if there was an issue with the engine the hours would be taken into consideration before honoring a warranty claim. As far as carpet cleaning machines, often it probably gets overlooked by various dealers and unless they know exactly what they are dealing with, many of them simply overlook it.

Not perfect information, and will share more as we get it.

 

[John Olson]

Thanks Dorrel. As I said the tech told my local guy GM just changed the policy for carpet cleaning machines to 33 miles per hour. That's the part that is supposedly new that they specified carpet cleaning and 33 miles per hour. Again this was a Tech at a GM working on a van that was a cleaning van but not a pto that had a warranty issue which brought up the tech checking to make sure the machine wasn't running off the van. Could be confusion or could be true I have no Idea but Jim said his contact backed that up so if it has changed it is a big difference between 23 and 33 and You guys and HM and Butler should have all that information directly from them if they are changing things up.

 

[Art Kelley]

It was only after the 3 year warranty expired on my 03 Chevy Express, about a month after I put on 3000 hours and 33K miles, that all hell broke and I had to start fixing and replacing just about everything starting with the air conditioner and the ignition switch (both very expensive, then alternator, starter, radiator, water pump, this gizmo, that gizmo, it was very depressing. It settled down after about 20K in repairs over a five year period, and after I realized I had to pop the hood and let out the heat from the engine area. I wouldn't worry about a brand new D/D van for three years though. GM doesn't need to worry either. Direct drive units really need a fan cooling system to blow on the radiator while it runs in driveways. That would solve a lot of problems.

 

[FB7777]

Ouch Art, sounds like you got a lemon of a truck

What do you mean by " a cooling system to blow on the radiator" ? Butler uses a modified fan system to simulate the airflow of a vehicle traveling versus while,it is running while stationary

 

[Mark Saiger]

Well, here is the info I have come up with....first of all, it is in our Manual under the "Vehicle Information" Section.

Also, my understanding is this "Scare" will come up every now and then and there are sometimes things are covered that maybe shouldn't be....It probably all depends on the relationship with your dealer, and your dealers relationship with their Reps....so my info is that there really isn't a problem creeping up.

Here are the pages I just scanned from my Butler Manual....take a look at pages 4 & 5 in regards to this particular info....the other info I scanned too just to be a nice guy

Matter of fact, I love my Butlers so much, I am considering ordering another custom Saiger's Steam Clean version Butler at this moment

 

[doylebloss]

I am getting the same information back as Dorrel from Sapphire Scientific above states, except that the calculation we have is 33 miles per hour. In talking with the fleet managers that we work directly with they specifically refer to US park service vehicles with direct winches on vehicles running off transfer case. Their opinion is that this is interpreted differently by different dealers based upon many conditions that the vehicle is being used for and the overall maintenance. Direct application back to our industry does appear to be a "grey" area, and likely the reason it does not come up more often is that if they are encountering a well maintained vehicle, the carpet cleaning application is not something that triggers most dealers to consider these clauses.
We will try and clarify this 23 and 33 discrepancy too because we received both numbers back in the inquiries that I did.