Well the gutless wonder has finally started to leak in the block! There is very little sense in wasting any more money on something that has been an EXCESSIVE COST since day one. Well the do_g_ mechanics have proved that I couldn't a FORD a Do_G_ truck with FACTORY problems now all 3 problems have come to fruition!

1. Excessive toe in from the factory! Cost $5000.00 plus.
2. Engine gutless 175 rwhp /235 hp Cost $10,000 over
3. Burning coolant since new, 53 block. Now cracked. Cost repair/ replace!
Junk!!!

 

If you hate it that bad , SELL IT already , i think we are all getting tired of listening to your moaning and whining about your truck that apparently has been worse than driving a power wheels since it was new , SELL IT, move on , leave us alone...

I don't know who bent you over to correct your toe in , but with a wrench and something to turn the adjuster , as well as a measuring tape , you could have fixed the toe in yourself , FOR FREE, i don't know what you replaced for 5000$ , but i could put and entire new front axle under my truck for that much , including all steering gear , two rims , and two tires.

If it was burning coolant , you needed to put a new head gasket in it, you knew it had a 53 block , because it is in your sig , you bombed the engine anyways knowing that 53 blocks are only marginally strong at best , you rolled the dice , and you lost , that is YOUR fault , not DC's fault.

 

Go to a cummins shop and see what they have to say. A guy at the cummins place round here said that on a lot of the 53 blocks, cummins agreed to replace the block and customer pays for labor. just do your research- good luck

 

So...

You knew it was "burning coolant since new" How about a warranty? How about asking for it to be fixed? Oh, i'm sorry, you modified it--that means that you knowingly defeated the warranty of your own ability - if you read your manual.

Gutless 175 rwhp? Well then, this is a TRUCK, not a sports car, and my 215 bhp 12-valve is probably only putting about 160 rwhp to the ground on a good day. Guess what? It's fine. I don't need to drive that fast, perhaps better planning of your day would work better than adding more rwhp. But this begs a better question: Tell me - how long did you actually drive the truck on your test drive? 15 minuites? An hour? Why didn't you drive it enough to see if it would meet your requirements then? And you didn't notice the toe problem then?

I'm sorry to be blunt, but it you've lived with and complanied about these problems since you bought it (apparently new) in 1999, you've needed to sell it and move on with life. I hope whatever you buy at least steers you in the direction of happiness...life is way to short to complain about it....

By the way...why did you post this in the "help?" section? You apparently don't want help here anymore.....

 

gents, i know some things can be frustrating at times, please lets try to keep this civil and the flaming down to a dull roar.

 

Easy guys.....I get tired of the constant whining too but he has the right to be upset at his bad luck. He may or may not have added to his troubles but either way he doesn't need a slap in the face to go along with it.

Sorry for your troubles maybe now you can finally get some closure.....

 

Well for start on the steering the factory made the excessive toe in and the dollarshops mechs couldn't identify it in 2 visits.I had to tell them on the next visit by then that had damaged the steering componants. So all the parts to do with steering had to be replaced at MY expence. Not DC's. As for power I complained that welding trucks could handle beat me out of an intersection same year they just had alot more weight on!! to date I have operated 50 diesel engines from farm tractors to hiway tractors. When a loaded supper B chip truck has more getup and go well then ???? ( How many have you?????) As for the 53 block I had to BUY the dye at cumins in surray and inquired about the loss of coolant there answer was that DC was responsible for warranty. The dollarshop was hopeless. I was wanting to advertise for them and it is all the TRUTH.

So be very glad that you got one that has few problems.By the way thanks for the understanding. BYE.

 

I too have a truck that has been wrought in many problems. I have been told many times sell it. Well selling a new truck as most know is not a smart option no matter how bad off the truck is. The majority of people do not have disposable income that they can take a $10,000 loss on a new truck.

I have expieranced first hand Dodges lack of standing behind their warrenty as a corporation. They pass the buck hoping that the customer will just go away.
The number of people on this site and others fail comparison to the number of people who drive, buy or operate Dodge Diesels on a day to day basis.
The number of problems that have plagued the Dodge Cummins engine and chassis are numerous. The common denominator seems to be a lack of true commitment on their part to fix known problems before they become huge failures.

Although this guy has modded a a block that was weak to begin with, one has to look at the factor of the block itself was never made to spec to begin with.
Another example of this are the 3rd Gen trucks with injector issues. does one mod or not? Can the customer multiply the failure of the injectors by idling to much, not running the proper cetane of fuel, by driving to hard etc?

I figure if a vehicle even hints at a problem of design flaw, manufacture flaw recall it, fix it then put it back out. To rely on every customer to find out on their own is silly and at best a tactic to save money. The crappy notices they send out do not reach halve of the people, and only 50% of the other halve (so 25% over all) actually understand what is needed to be done.
Then they get plagued by the dealerships who have no clue them selves or so they make it out to be.

I dont agree with the original poster complaining about things after he has modded his truck.
At the same time time to tell a person to fix it himself when the truck is still under warrentry is silly, especially if Dodge messed it up in the first place.

 

not to sound like an idiot, but how can i find out if i have this '53' block every ones talking about

 

this is neither here nor there, but 175 rwhp out of a 235 is not out of line. Standard operating procedure time and time again tells me that 182 to 185 whp out of a 235 is about all you're ever going to get. So as far as low power, grains of salt go a long way.
I have had my problems with my 01, DC doesn't stand behind their product, and thats fine. I run my business my way, they run theirs accordingly. Just because their lack of commitment to customer satisfaction has been a pre-emptive strike against me ever buying another new chrysler product... thats ok too.
One thing I will say. Pioneer Chrysler / Jeep in Wetaskiwin AB, where I bought the truck, has been a stand-up outfit to deal with. Regardless of the inability to deal with the locals here, the crew down there has done everything they can to back me up, including sending parts as needed, whether or not the local gurus would do the work. And thats fair enough. being a mechanic, I am pretty sure I can handle the rough work.
Now, as far as Never's truck is concerned. I seem to recall something about 300,000 km. While this is a drop in the bucket, it is still more than a lot of people put on in the lifetime of a truck. And, I don't know how driving style and/or maintenance factored in to the whole equation. That is not for me to decide.
Hopefully, Never has better luck with the next truck he buys, if not, I hope everyone in the world hears about it, in a slightly less abrasive manner than we have heard it here so far.
Best of luck in future truck endeavours.

 

Well, I think some jb weld, drag comp.,and a couple spare tires would fix your prob.

 

My stock 03 made a whopping 190hp stock. I agree that the hp numbers are not out of line.....

 

If you knew the Toe in was off right away , why didn't you just tell them , instead of taking it in TWICE before finally telling them the third time what was wrong. I am not sure where you buy your steering parts , but there is no way they cost your 5000 bucks, if they charge that much for parts out there , then i am going to start buying them here , trucking them out tot he west coast , and re-selling them (after i multiply the price by 10).

I drove B trains all summer on harvest , hauling grain, i rolled onto the scales as high as 155 000 lbs gross weight one time (the fine would not have been mine to pay) , and i had rolled on the scales as light as 90 000, and never once was that semi as fast as a stock dodge truck , my truck was 160 crank HP stock, and it wasn't the fastest rig on the planet , but like it has been stated , it is not a race car.


Lary- It ususally isn't in my personality to flame someone like this , but if you re-read his origional post , he did not ask ONE single question, let alone a question that required immediate attention/help. He does not want help, he has never asked for it , every single post i have seen him make is of a bashing/flaming nature , and it is directed at DC every time, if he hates it THAT much , he should not own it.

03 ant a hemi - I realise that not many people can take a 10 000$ hit on their truck, that's why i bought a truck that didn't cost 10 000$ to begin with, i can't afford that kind of truck/lifestyle, and if someone else can't afford it either , they shouldn't have bought one either. My truck will likely be worth just as much if/when i sell it a few years down the road , because it is somewhat desireable , a low milage 12v truck that is in good condition, if it started giving me alot of trouble right now , i could sell it and break even.

 

I too am wondering how you tell if you have a "53" block.......

 

I'm not trying to flame either, but I have to ask, how can you drive a new truck, under warranty, (let see 99-06= 7 yrs) for 7 years with a major alignment issue? How many set of tires would you have to go thru in 7 years?

Have you ever looked at a hp/tourque chart? Any mfg will advertise the max hp, but you have to read into it. You have to look at a chart. What rpm range do you drive in most of the time? An 06 325 HP Cummins (I'm refering to this because I have an 06 chart on my desk) only puts out about 175 hp @ 1600 rpms. And everyone knows the advertised ratings are in a lab, and in some cases, downhill off a cliff. (meaning not real world). So you can always expect less than what is advertised. An 06 peak rated hp is 325, but that is at 2900 rpm. Who drives 2900 rpm all day long? You've got to be ralistic.

Another fact about these engines. The crank stroke is longer than what you'd find in a gasser, so just by design they will be a slowwer running engine. So if you turn your crank slower, you turn your trans slower, and you certainly can't expect a slower turning driveshaft to make the tires go any faster. A big real world misconseption that people have is HP/Tourqe= Speed. It don't work that way. RPMXGear Ratio=Speed is the true formula to work with.

About the coolant? Is your truck burning it (I didn't know water would burn) or is it leaking it? These are two very diffrent animals. You need to find out before you jump top a cracked block conclusion.

Now, lets top all this off with a driver that wants his truck to be a race truck.