A head's up to those who have purchased a Jake Brake for theie Dodge truck. I am talking about the OEM approved Jake Brake available from Cummins or Dodge.

Here's my story.

Purchased a Jake Brake from Cummins. The unit was considerably less the the Dodge dealer, as well as being available for local pickup. Mopar had a higher price and was back ordered.

Cummins advised my to have the Dodge dealer install, as they are better equipped to do this installation.

BTW - The paperwork that came with the unit states Mopar and Cummins multiple times, including the warranty sheets.

Dodge dealer installed a few days later. Unit worked fine.

The warranty states Mopar or Cummins will cover parts and labor for 36 months/100,000 miles or 36 months/36,000 miles, depending on the part.

About 13 months later, I have a problem with the stalk switch. The Dodge dealer says I have no warranty, as they state this is not an approved Mopar part. I contacted DC customer service and they confirmed this and als0 told me that I may have voided the warranty on any parts that may fail due to this jake brake. They indicated that only parts that were installed at the factory are covered under their warranty.

I contacted Cummins to verify warranty coverage, and they said that they had no record of the truck's mileage or if the unit was installed correctly, so they said they could provide no warranty either.

Any one else run into this scam and if so what did you do?

Thanks

 

I can see why the Dodge dealer would tell you no warranty....as you purchased the unit from someone else. The only warranty they should provide would be the integrity of the install.

The Cummins thing is another story. ***? Do you have your install and purchase reciepts?

Those should tell the whole story.

I would think "good" customer service would be to send you a new switch.

It would be up to you to provide proof of time line to get the labor paid for.

It seems warranties these days aren't worth the paper they are written on. Just there to suck you in.

 

Thanks for the follow-up. Even if I had bought from the dealer, Mopar wouldn't cover it in anyway, as it did not come on the truck from the factory.

Cummins position is that the switch could have come from any truck out there and they have no way to tie it back to the one I bought 13 months.

You are right, though, they will find a reason not to pay.

Another concern is the use of Fleetguard filters on our truck. They are not Mopar parts and may void warranty??

 

Have you tried contacting Jacobs yet?

 

Whats the issue with the Fleetguard filters. Don't tell me the dealer or DC is giving you crap about that

 

Just to be safe, I purchased my e-brake from the dealer, had them install AND had them register it to the truck so that it shows as a factory accessory. Just let them TRY to give me a warranty issue! Between the paperwork that comes with the kit to the papertrail I have...well, 'nuff said.

 

It could be because you have an '05 truck, and it was not an option until 2006. I don't think there is a problem with dealer installed options being covered, I think the problem is the '05 was never rated by DC to run an exhaust brake.

 

Perhaps you are right. However, the part numbers match the brochere that was given to me from the dealer when I bought the truck. Also the paperwork that came with the unit did not say that you couldn't use it on an 05???

 

With the manual trans, it should not be a warranty issue for DC.

I think the issue is that Cummins should honor the warranty.

The DC service receipt that shows the install should show how many miles were on it at the time of install.

You may also be able to use other recipts with milage near the time of purchase as corraborating evidence.

Be a well spoken and professional squeaky wheel. Don't get arrogant or beligerant. Hit them with hard data that they cannot challenge.

HTH

Tony

 

The cummins/mopar jake brake is listed in the aftermarket dealer accessories catalog, and was available on the manual transmission trucks for some time. It was only available on automatics from 2006 and above. The jake brake I have was bought and installed at the dealer, and the paperwork that came with it states 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. I think I would find another dealer.

 

I bought my jake brake from Cummins Northwest and picked it up there myself. I also installed the unit myself. Shortly after the install, I started having problems with the switch. I called Cummings NW and they told me I had to have the switch checked out at a Dodge dealer, which I did. The service guy was surprised when I told him what Cummins said and told me that they had no way to check the switch. I continued to talk to him and he finally grabbed a computer, plugged it into the truck and was shocked to see that the computer showed I had a jake brake on the truck. He actually called another service guy to come over and showed him the computer. They played with the switch for awhile and the computer showed that the switch would be off when they actually had it turned on. They verified that the switch was bad and so I called Cummins NW back and they promptly sent me a new switch. I installed the new switch and haven't had any more problems with it.

DMH

 

The dealer put one on mine before delivery and told me it was the only one approved AND warranted by Dodge. This was in September of '05.

 

My bad, I assumed it was an Auto, did not look to see it was a manual.

 

Has anyone every had DC or Cummins fix a problem on their Jake Brake for free?

The warranty states either Mopar or Cummins will warranty the unit and does does not mention where is has to be installed, where it was bought from.

The bottom I get is that DC will not warranty ANY part that was not installed at the factory and Cummins says that they has no obligations because they beleive the Jake Brake was not installed properly and I cannot prove that the Jake Brake on my truck was the one I bought from them.

In other words, I have no warranty at all.

 

Follow-up

Lastly, according to service manager at my local dealer, any part installed that is not a Mopar part is considered an aftermarket. This of course does not your warranty automatically. However, if you have an injector problem and you show them that you have changed the fuel filter every 15,000 miles, but used Fleetguard Stratapore filters, be prepared to have your warrnty claim denied. This is because the Fleetguard filters do not have a Mopar P/N.

Very sad...