Aack! Broke down in the middle of nowhere!

[mgriffrus]

Originally Posted by doug&maggie

Wow.

Have you thought about bringing it home, to a mechanic/garage you know and trust?

Maggie

Well, it's still under warranty, so Dodge has to do it for now. If they replace anything, they tell us there's a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty on that. If they don't replace parts, but just do labor (cleaning, reprogramming, etc) there's no warranty in place.

Have no fear, if I'm not happy when I leave said dealership, it will go to mine when I get home. When it's there I can really get some pressure on someone and visit it often. I've spent WAY too much money with them to get brushed off, and I'm pretty sure they want my repeat business.

We're also happy to work our way UP the food chain over the phone.

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by mgriffrus

Well, it's still under warranty, so Dodge has to do it for now. If they replace anything, they tell us there's a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty on that. If they don't replace parts, but just do labor (cleaning, reprogramming, etc) there's no warranty in place.

Have no fear, if I'm not happy when I leave said dealership, it will go to mine when I get home. When it's there I can really get some pressure on someone and visit it often. I've spent WAY too much money with them to get brushed off, and I'm pretty sure they want my repeat business.

We're also happy to work our way UP the food chain over the phone.

Good.


Maggie

[dznf0g]

I can only speak from my GM experience and do not know if Ram's system is exactly the same, but...There are two exhaust pressure sensors; one upstream of the particulate filter and one after. When the pressure differential reaches a pre-programmed level, a regen will occur. The only three scenarios I can think of which would prevent a successful regen would be:

1) If a vehicle sees a lot of idle or low speed time during a commanded regen, it cannot complete and will turn on a light. If it is still ignored after some time it will exhibit reduced power and eventually will only go 5mph (anti-tennis shoe mode). This is a Federally mandated mode of operation, forcing action. I usually only see this in Ambulance or police, or fire vehicles. Feds have given an exemption to Ambulances only.

2) Engine produces so much soot that a regen cannot completely clean the filter. Look for bad injectors, turbo, etc.

3) a defective particulate filter which has come apart internally and needs to be replaced.

All I can think of right now. Dodge may be different, somewhat.

[mgriffrus]

It's my understanding that they're now searching for the cause of excessive soot. They mentioned turbo (which was replaced somewhere around 50,000 miles) and then going to injectors and checking there.

[mgriffrus]

If I was to write a song about how I feel, especially about Chrysler warranty and customer support the FCC wouldn't let me sing it on the radio!

Long story short. Dodge denying extended warranty because they don't cover emissions.....no, wait its a maintenance item.....no wait we do cover selective emissions items. My Chrysler whiz bang 2 yr unlimited mile advantage pro 5000+ component warranty doesn't cover dpf filter unless their inspector proves something upstream caused it.

And....

Dealer tells me he needs new dpf filter before he can proceed with more tests. ($2100+ out of pocket)

Meanwhile....

There's a Class Action Lawsuit about the Egr and dpf system and no one on the phone knows anything about it, especially when I ask if this pending litigation has any bearing on my flat out denial.

[mgriffrus]

Okay, latest update.

Fought with Chrysler last weekend and never got anyone to call me back. I wasn't working out of town on Monday, so DW and I camped out with my salesman (who had just returned from the Happiest Place on Earth) and the shop manager for our local dealer where I bought the truck and have the service done on it. We hashed out a plan to get the truck down where we could see it, touch it, kick it, or cuss it depending on our mood and shop manager promised to work with us and help us out.

While there, the wife finally gets a case worker and a case number with Chrysler, who promised to call back within one business day (which he did) and we tell him of our plan to get down to our local dealer shop.

The hot-shot duo of my parents go get my truck out of hock in Arkansas and load it up and drop it off Wednesday morning here in Ruston.

I get back into town and head over Thursday morning to make sure our guys found all the parts, etc that they just loaded in the bed of the truck and to make sure they know the complete history of the incident.

My truck is put together and running.

They have already looked it over, couldn't find anything wrong with any of the parts, including dpf filter, and were about to go on a test run....

Hmm....

So, here's what we believe went down.

I got an engine code relating to the Egr system on the truck. This we believe has been traced back to the 67,500 mile Egr service that wasn't done on my truck causing issues 25,000 miles later. Because I had an engine code, the truck wouldn't go into regen mode, in fact it's programmed not to. It doesn't want to damage anything further. Why first dealer didn't tell me that, I don't know.

As far as them telling me I needed to drop $2100 on replacing dpf filter before they could perform more diagnostics? That's another mystery. I'd hate to assume they might've been trying to take advantage of a traveler with car troubles, but with the way it all played out....

Also, my Chrysler caseworker is supposed to call back today for a follow up conversation. That could get interesting.

[RamblinManGa]

Hi from AZ. . . thanks for sharing all your trials & tribulations with this. Sure hope you get it resolved soon ! I may be stating the obvious, but not too interested in buying a Dodge truck anytime soon ! As I found out some years ago with a class C mh on a Dodge chassis, the dodge was fine, but those dealerships (imo) not fun. Good luck & thanks, Craig

[Lily&Me]

Yikes!

Good for you guys for perseverance,


Maggie

[janeinthemtns]

Ford tried to do this kind of stuff to me years ago when I got my first new Powerstroke. I could hear something was wrong with the standard transmission. After the third trip 90 miles to Santa Fe with them driving it all over and not hearing anything (men apparently can't hear very high sounds), I went in there one morning when the dealership was full of ranchers with pickups. I announced that if my daughter was killed or injured hauling hay out of the mountains, I would sue Ford until the end of days. I also stated that I was getting ready to buy another Powerstroke, but I just might have to get a Cummins instead. Hahaha. You could have heard a pin drop. Worked like a charm. The took it right in, gave me a new 4x4 loaner van so I could get the kids to college and tore down the transmission. I walked right in the shop two days later and asked the mechanic what he had found. MISSING PART! It had about 30,000 miles on it. Never give up.

[Skatiero]

Yikes, Jane! That's scary! So glad it turned out so well, you sure handled them great!

[mgriffrus]

Everything back where it should be. Well, maybe not. They should be out in a campsite somewhere instead of sitting in the driveway.

Our biggest issue now is to make sure this doesn't happen to someone else! Who knows what "broken part" they would've tried to get me or Chrysler to replace or how much money they would've scammed. My wife wants an apology, too. That'd be nice.

[cwf]

Looking at pic, are you SURE everything is in order? Dodge or AS not in correct order...or are the saying "where ya been?"

[mgriffrus]

Originally Posted by cwf

Looking at pic, are you SURE everything is in order? Dodge or AS not in correct order...or are the saying "where ya been?"

No doubt! They really hadn't see each other for almost a month! My parents went and picked up the truck for me and my mom sent me this picture from their backyard.





She said she knew they missed each other, so they parked close.

[mgriffrus]

Last weekend! Finally!





Had some friends coming through on their way home. Had some other friends here in town on business. Phones get called, messages get sent and before I knew it we had an airstream friends reunion here at Lincoln Parish Park. I can't take credit, I was working in Arkansas when it all went down, but by the time I made it in Friday afternoon, there were six Airstreams there for the weekend.

Friends, food, fun, and fellowship. What else could you want?

It also rained inside our airstream, but on the plus side, I now know how to clean the condensate gutter and drain tube of my old roof air!

[xrvr]

So basically the problem was because of a missed required maint. Dealer could not discover this? AAll they had to do was ask? Sorry for your troubles. The dealer could have checked to see if maint was done via their computer, if service done at dealer. Might be wrong, jim

[mgriffrus]

Originally Posted by zigzagguzzi

So basically the problem was because of a missed required maint. Dealer could not discover this? AAll they had to do was ask? Sorry for your troubles. The dealer could have checked to see if maint was done via their computer, if service done at dealer. Might be wrong, jim

That's basically what my dealer told me. When I went in to talk to them about it and describe symptoms, the shop manager mentioned that and said that could be the problem and looked at the guy by the computer and asked him to look it up. That all happened within the first ten minutes of me being there with the truck.

The first shop in Arkansas? Not so much. He wasn't interested in all in helping me out, just in trying to get money out of me.