Less than a month ago I had to take my truck in for its second fan clutch because it keeps eating the wires, the first one was only 4 mo.s after I got the truck. So last night I was out on the sand bar on the river and was having a hard tme moving around (who'd of thought right) but was moving. So we pull up to the campfire and the fan is running, I sit there and idle up to cool it off and get my egt's down and everything goes great. In an hour or two I go get back in the truck cause some fool has brought his 2wd chevy down and made it about 200 ft and gets stuck. Everyone comes over and we take turns hooking up to try to move him but no one has any luck and I end up needing a bump from a four wheeler to hop out of my holes, hardly stuck in other words. I happen to look down and the water temp is nearing 245 . So I stop and let her cool down cause the fan is no longer working. Obviously the Dodge service personnel are incapable of correctly diagnosing and fixing the problem. Secondly, I had a u-joint go out last week and made a trip to the dealer about warranty coverage and cost if not. After standing there for 10 min. while the service rep lady told a joke, I stood and looked over her shoulder and walked her through a computer system I had never seen before to cross refference my name to get my vin cause I wasn't in my truck. Once we had that figured out and I explained to her that it was the rear u-joint three, count them THREE, times we finally found the part and she dissappeared for another 10 min. Once she finally came back she looks it up to see if is under warranty and as I look at the screen she tells me it is. she scrolls down the screen farther and it says in red letters "Covered in full by 7/70,000 until 5yrs. after which 100$ deductible applys". She turns and tells me that I would have to pay 100$ ded. So I ask how much is the part? Parts guy says $80-130 depending on which one it is but she can't figure out which one it is . So I say I'm going to run to autozone and check on a price for one and I will call if I want them to do it because I really want a greasable one in anyway. THE PART COST $15.99 AT AUTOZONE.
I can't believe how big of crooks these dealerships are and how incompetent some of the people working at them are.
Anyways sorry for the long post but this type of crap can't be tolerated and I won't allow any dealership to do any service on my truck after I get the fan clutch fixed for free this time only to bring it home and fix it correctly my self after all the necessary new parts are installed.
Nick

 

I feel your pain............seem like no one can do a good job these days...

Last year I spent about $25K in repairs on a couple of Peterbilt trucks.......had to re-do about 1/2 of the repairs myself within the year.....talk about Edit off...............oh well..............next year I will spend my money on some new scan tool programs so I can do all of the repair work myself to ensure that it is doen correctly and at a fair price

 

Nick,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope you get it all straightened out with a minimum of hassle.


I try to avoid the dealership myself. So far I have been pretty lucky and have only had a ECM reflash and the TSB for the door weatherstrips things. I did let them recalibrate for the larger tires and do an alignment but in all cases I was standing right there with them.

Are you going to be able to make Sedalia/Caddo Mills/Redline Raceway event on May 20th? We would love to have you come over and campout with us if you can make it.

 

I REALLY want to come but I don't know what my work schedule will be after I get out of school around the 13th so I haven't chimed in. I may get to come but most likely I will be somewhere between here and Alabama spraying research plots. If it works out that I'm home I will be there although I won't know till last minute.

 

last week i had my lift pump replaced under warranty and the service advisor
calls and says there is one part not covered under warranty---fuel filter.if not replaced warranty on new pump would not be honored.i was due for a new one in about another 1000 miles anyway so i say how much?he says
42.95!i tell him they are 12 dollars and change at cummins dealer and i would
bring him one in the morning.he asks if it is a dc approved part!so i took it to him and they tried to charge me 65.00 to put it in!65.00 for a 10 minute job!

 

It pays about a .5 labor.Whats the labor rate in Calif.?

 

ah yes dealer service. Feb. "05" I had my "04.5" at the dealership to erase another batery sensor code . I picked it up 5 hrs later with both pax doors smashed in. To this day it's still in court and I haven't recouped a dime.
Take a picture when you leave your truck to be fixed.

 

...so you say the fan is not working. What's wrong?