Opinion ID: 1595696
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: fourth engine failure

Text: Seeley was driving the truck when the fourth failure occurred in March 1997. Seeley testified that he was driving over a mountain pass when he noticed that the truck lost power and that the temperature gauge was higher than normal. Seeley did not observe a sudden puff of smoke like he had noticed during the third breakdown, but he did observe some smoke. Seeley continued to drive the truck until the gauge indicated that the engine was warmer than it should be and then pulled over to the side of the road to allow it to cool down. After the truck had cooled down, Seeley checked the coolant level, found it to be about half full, and added more coolant. Seeley then waited for the truck to completely cool down before starting to drive again. After Seeley began to drive again, the truck continued to overheat. Seeley testified that he had to stop and allow the truck to cool down quite a few times. Seeley testified that once the truck got over the mountain pass, it was still running a little warm, but was also running all right. Seeley finished his deliveries and started back to Nebraska. When Seeley attempted to return to Nebraska, the truck began overheating again. Seeley took the truck to a General Motors dealership in Commerce City, Colorado. On the way to the dealership, Seeley stopped to add coolant to the truck and allow it to cool down. During one stop, Seeley observed that the truck was leaking coolant. Seeley did not allow the truck to overheat to the point where the temperature gauge went into the red zone for more than a couple of seconds during any of the overheating incidents. When Seeley arrived at the dealership, an employee of the dealership told Seeley to park the truck and leave it running. After 20 to 45 minutes had passed, an employee told Seeley to turn the truck off because it would be a while before the dealership could look at it. Genetti was later informed that Caterpillar had determined that the truck had been allowed to overheat and that it was not going to honor the warranty. Genetti was also told that the repairs would cost approximately $12,000, but Genetti did not authorize the repairs because he could not afford to pay for them. The dealership, however, repaired the truck using remanufactured components and issued an invoice to the Genettis for the repairs on March 28, 1997. On March 26, 1997, 2 days before the invoice for repairs was issued, the Genettis' attorney sent a letter to both General Motors and Caterpillar stating that the truck had experienced engine problems on four different occasions and that due to those problems, the truck had been out of service for a cumulative total of more than 40 days. The letter stated that the Genettis did not wish to retain the truck and demanded that the manufacturer either replace the truck with a comparable vehicle or refund the full purchase price, including taxes and fees paid. Both Caterpillar and General Motors stipulated that they received the letter on March 26. The Genettis were unable to continue to make payments on the truck. Through a deal with a finance company, however, the finance company paid for the repairs, the Genettis picked up the truck in Commerce City, and the truck was sold on the open market to Eldon W. Heiser.