Sabotage?!

[MarkB_MI]

Two weeks ago I loaded up my 2017 Silverado 2500HD Duramax with tools and headed out to Colobraska to help my sister with an eviction. She was renting her property and commercial building to a body repairman/shade-tree mechanic, but he wasn't paying rent, refused to get insurance and had turned the property into a junkyard. Not to mention he had sub-let part of the building to another shade-tree without her permission. I won't go into details about the eviction, but at least her tenant/squatters are gone along with most of their junk.

So Saturday morning I packed up and started to head home. Immediately I saw the dreaded warning message on my dashboard saying the truck's speed would be limited to 65 mph in 100 miles. Oh, darn. 1200 miles from home in a truck about to go into limp mode and it's Saturday to boot. I knew the local mechanics (including the guys we'd just evicted) only knew how to delete diesel emissions systems, not how to fix them. So I searched for all the Chevy dealers within a hundred miles and found a big dealership 90 miles away. They were open Saturday morning and best of all, that town has a car rental agency. So I drove to the dealer, dropped off the truck, rented a car and headed back to help Sis some more.

Monday the dealer's service manager called and said the truck had a wiring issue and needed an EGT sensor. The sensor would come in the next day. Tuesday they had the truck running. They ended up not replacing the EGT sensor, but found a broken wire and fixed it. (The broken wire was between the particulate matter sensor and fuel pump control module.) Six hundred bucks later I was on my way! I did notice as I pulled out that the backup camera flashed blue, but I didn't think much about it; I was in a hurry to get some miles between me and Colobraska. I later realized that the camera was completely out of commission. I figured the tech had left something unplugged and I'd figure it out when I got home.

Once home I climbed under the truck and started looking. The wiring harness to the tailgate was cleanly cut in two! You can't buy just the harness; it's part of the camera. The conductors are really small so I didn't think splicing would be practical. I found a new OEM camera on Amazon for 125 bucks and ordered it. All the time I'm trying to figure out why the dealer tech would have cut that harness.

THEN yesterday I discovered another anomaly: The left rear tire's valve stem was damaged, even though there was no damage to the tire or wheel. It looked like, uh, well just like someone had taken a pair of dykes to it. Maybe the same dykes they used to cut the wiring harness. Maybe even the same pliers they used to cut a wire going to the particulate matter sensor. I showed my picture to a bunch of automotive engineer friends and they all agreed the damage looked deliberate.

So... my current theory is that one of my sister's evicted tenants identified my truck in the hotel parking lot (Michigan license plate is a dead giveaway) and took a pair of dykes to it sometime Friday night. And there may still be other damage I haven't found just yet. Does anybody have a different theory?

 

[Loosehandle]

It seems like they would have done more, maybe drag the dykes down the side.

 

[NY 986]

You were in town for the evicted party or their friends to find your truck so very possible as to vandalism. Usually, vandals are not so subtle in their damage and would normally opt to slash tires and break glass but perhaps they have improved their "game." When I was school age during the 1970's there were dirtbag young people who picked up their ways from older relatives or neighbors. Today it seems far worse as television and online have many examples of poor behavior to emulate. Far fewer examples of ethical or moral behavior in the home, school, or workplace for the young to learn. No one era was perfect in terms of demonstrating morality but I would say 50 years ago society was doing a far better job and it takes little guesswork as to why.

 

[john in la]

So you saying someone crawled under the front cut EGT wire.
Got out and crawled under rear to cut camera wire.
Got out and went around side and hacked on the valve stem and was able to cut it with these same wire cutters.

If it was sabotage you would think all the damage would be in one area.

 

[40Mule]

They are smart enough to be dangerous. To always make you wonder what else. Maybe sister should report everything in case of future problems.

 

[used red MN]

Not trying to give your accused party any slack but here may be some other explanations. Do you remember possibly encounter some debris on the road or hear an unexplained thump or bump during travel?
You said

had turned the property into a junkyard

What kind of involvement did you have with property cleanup? I don’t know if this exists on the property in question, but did you have to go into an area with tall weeds etc. that may have hidden debris that could have caused this? Did you have to go to some kind of a dump area where you may have encountered debris that may have done this damage? I agree with the comment that said why damage a valve stem when they could have slashed the tire sidewall. One possibility there is that with a flat slashed tire in the hotel parking lot you probably would for certain be looking for the culprit and the hotel probably has security cameras. On the other hand whether true or not in your case often alleged mischievous deeds like this are often carried out by perpetrators who are under the influence of something. In that state whether or not they would consider the fact that the motel might have security cameras that would catch them in the act is questionable. To me the valve stem appears to have suffered from accidental contact with something.

 

[RBnWA]

Might have been the guys evicted or the dealer wanting more money. I DO NOT TRUST DEALERS either. RB

 

[MarkB_MI]

Usually, vandals are not so subtle in their damage and would normally opt to slash tires and break glass but perhaps they have improved their "game."

Had someone slashed a tire or busted my windshield I would have gone straight to the sheriff's office and filed a complaint with the same deputies who had served a writ of restitution three days earlier. And they would have immediately identified two prime suspects.

 

[MarkB_MI]

So you saying someone crawled under the front cut EGT wire.
Got out and crawled under rear to cut camera wire.
Got out and went around side and hacked on the valve stem and was able to cut it with these same wire cutters.

If it was sabotage you would think all the damage would be in one area.

The broken conductor was between the particulate matter sensor and the fuel pump controller. The sensor is the last one in the exhaust pipe, near the rear axle, while the controller is above the spare tire. I'm unsure where the actual repair was made. The harness was cut right behind the spare tire, and you can probably reach it without actually getting under the truck. The valve stem was on the left rear tire, so everything is within a few feet of each other. FWIW, the truck was parked facing the hotel building, so it would make sense to vandalize the rear of the vehicle.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Not trying to give your accused party any slack but here may be some other explanations. Do you remember possibly encounter some debris on the road or hear an unexplained thump or bump during travel?

No I didn't. Which one would expect. And although it wouldn't be unusual to hit debris on a 1200 mile trip, I'm pretty sure I didn't.

What kind of involvement did you have with property cleanup?

The ex-tenants paid a local wrecker company to haul their junk cars to their new location. They sold the scrap metal and auto parts to people who came and got them. We still had a lot of cleanup to do, but my truck wasn't involved with that. Mostly we used my sister's tractor/loader to do that.

I don’t know if this exists on the property in question, but did you have to go into an area with tall weeds etc. that may have hidden debris that could have caused this? Did you have to go to some kind of a dump area where you may have encountered debris that may have done this damage?

Although the property has plenty of tall grass and weeds (which hadn't been mowed in years), I didn't drive through any of that. And we used roll-off dumpsters rather than make trips to the landfill.

I agree with the comment that said why damage a valve stem when they could have slashed the tire sidewall. One possibility there is that with a flat slashed tire in the hotel parking lot you probably would for certain be looking for the culprit and the hotel probably has security cameras.

As I said earlier, a slashed tire would have resulted in law enforcement getting involved. And they would have known that.

On the other hand whether true or not in your case often alleged mischievous deeds like this are often carried out by perpetrators who are under the influence of something. In that state whether or not they would consider the fact that the motel might have security cameras that would catch them in the act is questionable. To me the valve stem appears to have suffered from accidental contact with something.

All valid points. Which is why I'm not 100 percent certain this was all due to sabotage.

 

[MarkB_MI]

The broken conductor was between the particulate matter sensor and the fuel pump controller. The sensor is the last one in the exhaust pipe, near the rear axle, while the controller is above the spare tire. I'm unsure where the actual repair was made. The harness was cut right behind the spare tire, and you can probably reach it without actually getting under the truck. The valve stem was on the left rear tire, so everything is within a few feet of each other. FWIW, the truck was parked facing the hotel building, so it would make sense to vandalize the rear of the vehicle.

I'll add that I'm not 100 percent certain that the repair was made to the particulate matter sensor harness, since I can't find any evidence of repair there. Coupled with the technician's initial diagnosis that the problem was an EGT sensor, he might have mistakenly identified the wrong sensor in the invoice. There are actually four different EGT sensors, starting at the turbo and running down the various stages of the exhaust system.

 

[Gambles]

Six hundred bucks later I was on my way!

My boss just had his Kia SUV in for a recall (tech said to get it fixed or it might burn to the ground) and while he was there, he questioned them about two tpms (tire pressure monitor system) sensors that weren’t working. They said them had them on hand and could replace them while doing the recall. He goes to pay and was informed that they only had one sensor and the other was back ordered and would be in next week. I was on the other side of the wall listening to all this. They had him pay for both sensors and the sensor installation. The two sensors were $333. Each. So both sensors were $666. Then there was the installation charge. $150. My boss wasn’t happy, to say the least. He said he had all 4 sensors replaced on his Ram truck for $200. Parts lady said these were “genuine Kia factory parts”, not generic like his Ram obviously received.
It gets better. When he got home, the tech had written on the bill that the sensors were back ordered, so they used an O’Reilly replacement and the tech had written the O’Reilly part number on the ticket. When my boss saw that, he called the parts lady and ripped some butt. She still had the gall to say they used a genuine Kia part, not an O’Reilly replacement.
I kept my mouth shut about me getting four name-brand tpms sensors for my vehicle from RockAuto for $25/each and they work great.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

They are smart enough to be dangerous. To always make you wonder what else. Maybe sister should report everything in case of future problems.

To whom would she make what kind of a report? To law enforcement it is just a miscellaneou report as sister is not the victim or reporting from her first hand information. No one is going to look at a misc. rep again. But the poster can make a phone report to the agency where it took place. It will be a vandalism, destruction to property, generally reported as an insurance courtesy although every now and then a case like this gets cleared up by someone snitching to get out of a jam.

 

[NY 986]

To whom would she make what kind of a report? To law enforcement it is just a miscellaneou report as sister is not the victim or reporting from her first hand information. No one is going to look at a misc. rep again. But the poster can make a phone report to the agency where it took place. It will be a vandalism, destruction to property, generally reported as an insurance courtesy although every now and then a case like this gets cleared up by someone snitching to get out of a jam.

This is my understanding as well. To help move along an insurance claim with little to no effort as to finding the culprits. Now had they damaged well over a dozen of which has happened in Rochester, NY in recent months then the cops might invest time in looking for the offenders.

 

[CEP ACB]

Maybe they were going to steal the tailgate ?
Cut the harness and couldn't remove the gate ?
Michigan tailgates don't always pop off the hinge , and the harness is a pain to unplug properly.
The valve stem could be from road debris

 

[40Mule]

To whom would she make what kind of a report? To law enforcement it is just a miscellaneou report as sister is not the victim or reporting from her first hand information. No one is going to look at a misc. rep again. But the poster can make a phone report to the agency where it took place. It will be a vandalism, destruction to property, generally reported as an insurance courtesy although every now and then a case like this gets cleared up by someone snitching to get out of a jam.

I was thinking of his sister having future problems, not his truck. I assumed it was a formal eviction and they had the police involved. All info is good to trip someone up.

 

[Ray,IN]

Might have been the guys evicted or the dealer wanting more money. I DO NOT TRUST DEALERS either. RB

Had a Chevrolet dealer's service dept. tell me to replace the oil pan gasket on my Silverado's 5.3 engine they had to pull the engine = $3,000 +. There are Utube videos showing how to replace the pan gasket from underneath in less than 2 hrs.

 

[Jaden]

Don't know about sabotage, but I have had 2 car problems caused by squirrels or other critters. Wires cut as good as my best electronic pliers could do. I also had a 3 day repair on a grain dryer for squirrel damage.

 

[Powered By IH]

Had a Chevrolet dealer's service dept. tell me to replace the oil pan gasket on my Silverado's 5.3 engine they had to pull the engine = $3,000 +. There are Utube videos showing how to replace the pan gasket from underneath in less than 2 hrs.

Flat rate jobs at their finest...

 

[NY 986]

Had a Chevrolet dealer's service dept. tell me to replace the oil pan gasket on my Silverado's 5.3 engine they had to pull the engine = $3,000 +. There are Utube videos showing how to replace the pan gasket from underneath in less than 2 hrs.

I would allow for the right way versus the quick way in jobs such as that. Also, tricks to gain clearance such as a 4 ft pry bar and gently nudging sheet metal back into position so the vehicle owner is none the wiser. I would venture to guess that most dealer technicians are trained by a company rep as to a remove and reinstall that they are expected to use without exception.