I was on My way back from a 400 mile trip to the In-laws across North Dakota. Noticed the temp guage start to rise some. I was at a Rest stop so I pulled in and checked it out. The water pump had blew out the seal and sprayed the antifreeze all over. Well I topped it off and made it to the the next major town, and the bearing on the water pump was rattling and it was pushing the water out faster than I could put it in, so I decided to shut it down. No rental cars to be had, and no dealership/repair shop open at 4:00 pm on sunday. Called AAA and a relative and they got us (Wife and 2year old daughter) home and my truck to my local dealership. Waiting for them to call this morning. This sucks to have your vehicle leave you stranded.

The interesting thing was the talk I had with the tow driver. He said if AAA doesn't raise thier rates he doesn't think AAA will have any Tow drivers left in ND. He was planning on dropping them after the 1st of the year unless they do a rate increase. They are too cheap. I may consider going with another Roadside plan.

 

Got a Call from the Dealership. $100 Deductable, 80K on the truck and the cummins warranty applies. Great....

Bad news Front Cardian joint is bad. $440???? I am making them show me that one. They replace the shaft cause the joints are not replacable? BS If that is the case, I am going to take the old one and try and replace it myself.

 

Well something to add to this whole ordeal if anyone cares. I picked up the truck from the dealership, paid my bill and left my spare vehicle there to pick up in the am when we come back to town. well I got 12-15 miles down the road, and no heat, but the engine temp was up to normal operating levels. I call the service guy that was in charge and told him the trouble and he said just bring it by in the morning. OK. 3-4 miles farther down the road the temp goes past 200 and keeps rising, and relatively fast. It was acting like it was froze up (mind you the temp here right now is 12). Well I stop at a small gas station and call him back and tell him what is going on, and he still says I can drive it home if I want and limp it in in the morning????? I still had another 8-10 miles to get home. I finally convince him to get a tow truck down here and tow it back. This isn't right. Man are these guys total morons? We shall see what happens in the morning.

 

Sounds like they got an air bubble in the cooling system system. Temps will rise and motor will get hot quick. Sounds like the dealership ain't all that great.

 

They called this morning and said that is what it was. I will pick it up this afternoon and we shall see. It would have been a lot less hassle if I would have just done it myself.

 

Keep an eye on your new pump.

Had my first water pump go out on me on a long road trip in my '03. I stopped in St Louis (next town with a dealer) and managed to get it ID'd at 99.8k on the odometer. I got the truck back to Denver with no problems and had them swap out the water pump under warranty. 10k later, it's spewing coolant all over the engine compartment and front axel already. Hope they have a guaranty on those pumps. Dealer told me that they had a few that needed to be replaced after they were swapped out.

 

FYI you can get a new front DS online for $200~...
I believe mydodgeparts, as well as a few others had them for around that price...

 

I kept the old shaft, I am going to see if I can replace the cardian joint myself next summer.