you do not have to have the synthetics done at a dodge dealership to have something covered, you must have records of having it done, you have a friend with a garge have him write you a bill that says you had them changed and do them now,you may be doing a white lie but they did one to you too, chrysler seems to hide all the problems with a run a round answer so they do not have to pay for it,im going to do a post on here after im done writing this about steering boxs,wish you luck,we all need it ;D

 

This is the first I have herd about this. When I bought my 01<br>3500 the sales mngr. sales person and the owner asked what I would be doing whith the truck and I told them at the time I had a 28 ft. tag I now have a larger 5ver so they all knew that I was going to tow at least part time with the vehicle.<br> First of all thank you to the membership for the information and I will act on it asap, secondly this is absolutely ufb.<br> Mike<br>

 

<br> When I bought my 3500, everyone in the dealership knew that I towed a 26' enclosed trailer, and not one of them mentioned the synthetic lube for the rear!!! Not that I'm against synthetic, it's used in my Drag car for everything, once the new parts are broken in. And would be in the truck eventually, more than likely. I guess that I haven't towed with it yet!!!!!!

 

Belvedere and Cummins 1<br><br>I also have a 2001. Check pages 163, 216, and 214 of your owners manual.

 

Sorry, Page 213 not 216

 

get the name of a good warranty attorney and give them a call. most will charge you about $50-100 to send dc a letter saying that you will sue them for compensatory and other damages uynless they take the matter seriously and take care of the problem. most times dc denies responsibility for something because they know the average person wont fight them. dont except dc's first offer to take care of it, make them pay any attorney's fee's you have, or let it go to court. they always settle out of court and your attorney will collect his (your) fee's from dc as part of the settlement. dont take they're bs cuz thats all it is!! a friend of mine at work sued gm and ended up with a $40,000 settlement for a $2500 part (engine) that should have been covered under the factory warranty. granted it took 6 months to get settled, but he had payed to get the engine replaced in the first weeks anyway. it was mostly a settlement for him having to go through all that. big corporations have no sense of customer service anymore!!!!

 

[quote author=Wilber1 link=board=4;threadid=8240;start=15#85011 date=1040929796]<br>Belvedere and Cummins 1<br><br>I also have a 2001. Check pages 163, 216, and 214 of your owners manual.<br>[/quote]<br><br>I just checked my 2001 manual and couldn't find the references on your noted pages. However, on page 171, it states &quot;Synthetic Rear Axle Lubricant For all trailer towing or heavy duty applications it is strongly recommended that the factory fill rear axle lubricant be replaced with an SAE 75W-140 synthetic gear lubricant. Mopar Synthetic Gear Lubricant is of this type.&quot; I guess their gottcha is on page 165, where it says &quot;To maintain warranty coverage, follow the requirements and recommendations in this manual concerning vehicles used for trailer towing.&quot; <br><br>Since my truck is actually a 2001.5, they may have changed the manual as well for whatever obscure reason.<br><br>~Dave

 

I also have a late 2001 but it is a Canadian truck so the manual may be different, although it says printed in USA on the back.<br><br>P163<br><br>&quot;If you plan to utilize your vehicle to pull a trailer for a significant number of miles, reduce the potential for real axle overheating by replacing the rear axle lubricant with SAE 75w-140 synthetic gear lubricant. Mopar Synthetic Gear lubricant is of this type.&quot;<br><br>I realize that it doesn't say you must use it. I was just making the point that even though the dealer didn't mention it, the information is there if you just read your manual. Considering the cost of a LS differential, why would you not use synthetic if towing? This is not part of any debate about the benefits of synthetic vs conventional oils, it is a specific recommendation by the manufacturer.<br><br>P214<br><br>&quot;Limited slip differentials require the use of a friction control additive @6.5% of lube quantity. Mopar Hypoid Gear Oil Additive Friction Modifier is a material of theis type an is recommended. This should be added to the gear lubricant whenever a fluid change is made.&quot; <br><br>I doesn't differentiate between regular and synthetic.<br><br>From posts on the topic Differnential Oil Change it seems that some synthetics already have the modifier. When I had mine changed at a dealer, they added the modifier to the Mopar synthetic. I wonder if it was really necessary but am not about to take risks considering the amount of money involved.<br><br><br><br>

 

I have 250,000+ on my truck today. I changed diff lube front and rear at 70k in 2000 with Valvoline when I bought the truck. I have not changed it since. Check it every oil change (5-6K) never added any, still is clear.

 

Perhaps the differences between the manuals can be attributed to the fact that my truck is Anti-Spin Differential equipped. Perhaps the failure on the part of sales personnel to advise purchasers of trucks intended for towing is due to the ignorance of the sales personnel relating to modifications required or stipulated in the &quot;manual&quot;. For what ever reason, you are absolutely correct in your risk assessment. Once again, we have to be smarter than &quot;them&quot; to avoid their, we would hope, &quot;unintended pitfalls&quot;.

 

I'm not a lawyer, but I think the vehical must be delivered in condition to meet the advertised hauling capacity. I didn't buy a 11,500 GVW truck to not haul with it. I doubt they can void you warrenty for not running synthetic if it did not come with synthetic lube from the dealer. If DC wants me to run synthetic in the rear diff to maintain warrenty, they can pay for it. Untill then I will follow the maintenence recomendations in the owners manual.

 

<br>As previously stated, synthetic is a recommendation that is in the owners manual (in mine at least). I don't know what the warranty implications are, but I work on the principal that I don't need a broken down truck and synthetic oil is a lot cheaper than lawyers.

 

I stumbled on to this post last night. Today I called D.C. and complained real loudly (gave them a real big rash of $=@%) after all was said and done the rep transferred me to the tech support staff and they have agreed to refund the price of the lube change. Gave me a file # to reference when mailing in for the refund .My appointment is on Monday afternoon so I’ll let you know how things progress.

 

Now let me get this straight; the new 2003's come with the synthetic already in the rear axle, and I assume in the front axle on the 4x4's?