horsepoor68

Ok this is what i learned today if i choose to have the repair my truck all they will do is a short block. Clean the oil off replace rear breaks. Or trade mine take it in the shorts and get there truck at invoice plus rebates. Either way i am screwed. I called Dodge corporate since it was a workmanship problem nothing they can do. I was told it was something i had to deal with the dealer directly. I really cant afford an attourney and im sure i would run out of what little money i do have long before they do.

04ctd

Talk to the General Manager again.

Explain to him what options are on your truck, that you want to take them off,

and ask him if he will do a dealer trade for a truck you want.

the GM usually makes things HAPPEN, and he doesn't have time to be talking to you all the time.

I'd call around some Lemon Law Lawyers in your area, and talk to them,
maybe they can just make a phone call, and suddenly increase the trade value of your truck.

maybe tell the Lawyer, "how about a a couple hundred or so, and you call down there and just ask around."

Lawyers make car dealers nervous

horsepoor68

I have a call into a friend of mine.He has a friend he says may be able to help me but if not not much i can do. I alway thought i would end up screwing up the truck myself. Not letting someone else do it for me HAHA!

staarma

You sure are taking this well. Sorry about your trouble. It always happens to nice guys.

Scotty

Having a new engine, long or short block on any service record will definately hurt the resale down the road unless you plan on running the wheels of this truck.

Not long ago I was getting warranty work done on my 04 Ram.
We learned that there is a complete long block, injectors, and injector pump on my service history. Long story short...Rod from Wildcat had an 03 that blew the engine. Since he wanted to get rid of that truck, his dealer put the work order/warranty under my VIN since it was bought at the same dealer.
Strange thing is, the mileage for the long block was WAY more then service work done on this truck after that date. Does not matter, as I had a buyer, she checked the VIN, found this out and I lost the sale. I tried to convince her that the engine was indeed the original engine, I put her in touch with the selling dealer and the service mgr I deal with but she was not interested.

So now I have a truck that both dealers say has had this work order screw up corrected...no...its still on the history and nobody wants to own up to it.
I am making calls to DC this week.

Sorry to go off track, but I did learn firsthand what something like that on your service/work order history can do.

Do you have one of their trucks now? I would get a free consultation with a lawyer, explore your options in the courts and then go from there.
I sure wish you the best on this one. I can somehow relate.

Scotty

horsepoor68

Still have there truck. HAHAHA!

frogspit

HP68 , I agree . You seem to have a ton of patience . I hope that things work out in Your favor ,as You did nothing to deserve the troubles You now have .
Good luck,and all the best , John

TexasCTD

Nobody loves your truck like you do. Again, sorry to hear about your trouble. Hope it all works out in the end.

I still vote to get a new truck and forget the new block for your ruined one. I'd just be very very very persistant about making sure they give you the value of your old truck prior to them ruining it.........and then even more off of theirs and throw in some goodies since you have to hassle with all of it.

gerry

If you do want to keep the truck "till the wheels fall off" then I would insist on a long block.. No telling what damage was done to to top end of the engine in the cam bearing area...!!

horsepoor68

Well my wife is thinking we should just get the new one. I travel alot for work and we dont want the hassle of them not putting the truck together rite. Verizon has not sent there can you hear me guy to alot of the back roads around here.It makes it harder to pick what we want when the same options i had on my truck seem to have gone up quite a bit and still keep the truck affordable.

sweetwaterguy

Perhaps you might insist that you get a better price than invoice. There are dealer hold backs that allow the dealers to buy their vehicles for less than invoice. The dealer should be allowed to break even, not profit from their mistakes. Good luck.

hotmopr

See if they will do a apple for apple swap. Another 05 with the same options and the same mileage.. They can find one at auction and still be ahead on the deal and you would be happy... I think.

sled4fun

I am a service advisor and have worked at a dealership. I for one thank you for being patient and understanding. It is usually the advisor that takes the brunt of the confrontation for a mishap/accident/mistake in the shop. Us advisors are your middlemen and have to take orders from managers just like in the Army. Yes they are going to try and get out of this problem as cheap as possible and systematically give you a little more until they say that this is their final offer (sound familliar, like when you bought the truck)

DO NOT GIVE IN!!!!!!!!

You are in the drivers seat with this mistake....yes a mistake that probably every tech. has made at one time or another.....me included, but I caught it before it did damage.

Their liability insurance is what comes into play here or if they do not want to put in a claim they can eat it all. But only if you let them. They do not have to be the ones that fix it.

OPTION 1

Get ahold of their claims rep and demand that they put you into a truck of similar type to drive while your truck is taken to a Cummins shop for full teardown and inspection. I hope you have pictures and demand that you be able to take pictures of componants once dissassembled. The insurance company is going to cry out the word BETTERMENT and want you to pay the difference between the 20k engine you had and the long/short block they put in........tell them to shove it and ask the dealership for the difference. You may or may not take a hit during resale. But if you have good documentation of all of this I think you would be ok.

OPTION 2

Have the dealer replace all mechanical componants that come into contact with the engine oil ie: Longblock, Turbo. Have them do the repairs using a journeyman Tech. Have them provide you with an extended warranty contract and service contract for your troubles. You get piece of mind and basic service for the duration. I can tell you that anytime your truck comes in to the shop they will want to make sure this never happens again.

OPTION 3

Take their offer on a new one (I would'nt unless your truck has been a constant problem from day one)

You seem to be a cool customer and VERY understanding. The old saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease holds true at a dealership. Give them a chance to WOW you and take care of your truck. And if not start squeaking very loud.


I have seen a dealership write a check for $2000.00 to a customer so he could replace all the rims on his car because he said that the rims were defective. Why were they defective? because they were bending (his wife was curbing them and it was very very obvious) He was a Highway patrolman and when my service manager told him that his wife was curbing the wheels he stormed out of the shop. He then bought white letters wrote a story on the rear glass of his car stating that our dealership does not take care of it's customers etc. etc. The owner of our dealership saw it and demanded that the service manager make this problem go away. Hence the $2000.00 check. YES THE SQEAKY WHEEL GOT THE GREASE!

Jim Dynomite

This really has me wonderin' . When I had a cracked 53 block that happened out of warranty, my dealer said they only buy and install complete engines from DC. They said no dealer will long or short block the motor. Are they liars?

Long story short, Cummins West replaced my block and reused all my old parts.

My point is, they might be sending your motor out to have it short blocked. Lets hope they send it to Cummins

Good luck...............Jim

horsepoor68

DTR memebers i thank you for all your input in this problem of mine. If you all could see me beleive I am so discusted with this dealer ship i cant even begin to explain how i feel i have not slept more than a couple hours a night since all this began. We have demanded till we are blue in the face but they just dont care what we want. It is just me and my wife against this co. They know the law and they are just going to do the minumun the have to get this resolved. I have spoken to 2 lawyers about this. I really dont know what else to do. I dont know how legal it wold be to post there name and number and have people flood there phone lines with calls. Or if anyone knows Tony Sopranos # HAHAHA! As for now this may be the last Dodge product we ever buy. Love the truck just not there buisness ethics. I just dont know how these people sleep at night.