I think it does come down to if someone is running with or without the w58 bandaid. At least where I travel traffic can be a real pain in the @$$, especially in the dense metro areas i've seen people block disabled autos from getting to the side of the road but then these are probably the same sorts that won't move for emergency responders, but you know how that goes. It's a shame you can't drive your 2015 without some doubt, i'm in the same boat on my 2015. I made a couple trips up to DFW and between heavy traffic, construction I couldn't help but think to myself the whole time if she goes down let it happen out of town.
My reluctor wheel failure story
So I've been running the pre EPA GDE hot tune and trans tune since July 2019 and have driven around 35000 miles with it. Not having the EGR active was a big comfort to me and I had the mindset that since it's closed off I likely won't ever have the EGR cooler failure due to thermal fatigue.
Well this winter I had begun smelling unfiltered diesel exhaust in the cab when remote starting the truck to warm up but it would go away after the engine warmed. One cold morning in March this year I smelled coolant so I popped the hood and with a flashlight I spotted a couple drips of coolant coming off the EGR cooler.
I had been hoping to avoid the recall but I had a week long camping trip coming up and I'd be pulling a travel trailer so decided I'll get dealership to perform the EGR recall. I opted to not keep my original ECU so I knew this meant I'd either need to upgrade to the EPA complaint GDE Tunes or try buying a used ECU and programming to my truck. I chose to just get the EPA tune and move on.
I first used my GDE trans flash tool to return the truck trans back to stock tune so that my tool could be used for the EPA compliant tune I would be purchasing.
My service department at the dealership where I factory ordered the truck was great. They ordered the EGR parts under the recall, performed the repair and of course flashed my truck to their newest software. The whole process took only one week.
The newest software as you all know included the "band-aid" fix to allow the engine to continue to operate if the reluctor/tone wheel fails.
Well spring break arrives and we hit the road starting the 8 hr drive to our destination. The wife and I decided on traveling at night so our 8 month old daughter would sleep thru most of it. 3 hours from home @12:15am we were pulling into a small town in the middle of nowhere, the highway came to a stop light, when it turned green I began to take off and the truck lurched forward and stumbled dramatically then the dash lit up with warnings and went to limp mode. We were fortunate enough to be close to a gas station and I was able to limp into the parking lot. 12mph was as fast as I could go.
I checked the codes with my reader and it was crank sensor error. I immediately knew it was the reluctor wheel that failed and our trip was over. Ended up having to tow the truck and the travel trailer 170 miles back home.
Long story short if I hadn't just had the recall done I would have been stuck in the middle of an intersection with a trailer.
My dealership was quick to order the $42 reluctor wheel for me, only took a week. Unfortunately it was $1350 in labor to replace it due to having to drop the transmission to access the part. If you're curious what a failed reluctor wheel looks like here are some pics. The magnetic tape around the wheel had fractures all throughout and a couple chunks finally let loose just under 118000 miles.
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Well this winter I had begun smelling unfiltered diesel exhaust in the cab when remote starting the truck to warm up but it would go away after the engine warmed. One cold morning in March this year I smelled coolant so I popped the hood and with a flashlight I spotted a couple drips of coolant coming off the EGR cooler.
I had been hoping to avoid the recall but I had a week long camping trip coming up and I'd be pulling a travel trailer so decided I'll get dealership to perform the EGR recall. I opted to not keep my original ECU so I knew this meant I'd either need to upgrade to the EPA complaint GDE Tunes or try buying a used ECU and programming to my truck. I chose to just get the EPA tune and move on.
I first used my GDE trans flash tool to return the truck trans back to stock tune so that my tool could be used for the EPA compliant tune I would be purchasing.
My service department at the dealership where I factory ordered the truck was great. They ordered the EGR parts under the recall, performed the repair and of course flashed my truck to their newest software. The whole process took only one week.
The newest software as you all know included the "band-aid" fix to allow the engine to continue to operate if the reluctor/tone wheel fails.
Well spring break arrives and we hit the road starting the 8 hr drive to our destination. The wife and I decided on traveling at night so our 8 month old daughter would sleep thru most of it. 3 hours from home @12:15am we were pulling into a small town in the middle of nowhere, the highway came to a stop light, when it turned green I began to take off and the truck lurched forward and stumbled dramatically then the dash lit up with warnings and went to limp mode. We were fortunate enough to be close to a gas station and I was able to limp into the parking lot. 12mph was as fast as I could go.
I checked the codes with my reader and it was crank sensor error. I immediately knew it was the reluctor wheel that failed and our trip was over. Ended up having to tow the truck and the travel trailer 170 miles back home.
Long story short if I hadn't just had the recall done I would have been stuck in the middle of an intersection with a trailer.
My dealership was quick to order the $42 reluctor wheel for me, only took a week. Unfortunately it was $1350 in labor to replace it due to having to drop the transmission to access the part. If you're curious what a failed reluctor wheel looks like here are some pics. The magnetic tape around the wheel had fractures all throughout and a couple chunks finally let loose just under 118000 miles.
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We drove the truck from New Mexico to Kansas for Thanksgiving. I hauled an empty trailer there and an old grain wagon back to New Mexico. The trip was 890 miles one way (1,780 miles round trip). That's a lot of rural driving.
We've got several long trips planned for this summer, but we'll be driving the 2020 EcoDiesel. I'm too nervous to take the 2015 until the tone wheel is replaced. I can't afford to be broke down in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, or Oklahoma. Those are all the states we'll be towing through this summer.
That is fantastic setup you got with both trailers, love New Mexico not familiar with Kansas but can appreciate all the wide open spaces, there's nothing quite like the experience of enjoying all that comes your way on a road trip like that.We drove the truck from New Mexico to Kansas for Thanksgiving. I hauled an empty trailer there and an old grain wagon back to New Mexico. The trip was 890 miles one way (1,780 miles round trip). That's a lot of rural driving.
We've got several long trips planned for this summer, but we'll be driving the 2020 EcoDiesel. I'm too nervous to take the 2015 until the tone wheel is replaced. I can't afford to be broke down in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, or Oklahoma. Those are all the states we'll be towing through this summer.
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I miss the days when you could travel the interstates without so much congestion, how crazy is it when you're hours from nowhere and there's heavy traffic you're just not able to appreciate all that surrounding landscape.
When the defective tone wheel de-laminates it often times destroys the sensor but it is replaced as it could be may be functional but is damaged it is better to replace while accessible.
This is a damaged tone wheel ->
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