My buddy is a mech at a Chevy dealership in Lansing,MI
And they hate doing warranty stuff because most of the time the dealer gets screwed. He said you only get paid for a set amount of time and thats it.
So if you run into some problems and can't get it done in the set amount of time they're screwed.
Which is BS if you ask me. I think its the dealership and DC fault for all the warranty problems.
Dealerships have always been know to charge way to much for stuff.

Just last month my wife took her Trailblazer in for warranty work to get the some front end work done. ( she has larger mud tires on it as well ) The dealer didn't care they know that a tire thats a tad bigger won't cause any problems.
So anyways they fixed everything and told she needed a new battery, And tell its $80 for a new battery and $125 to install!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK its a battery. that stuff right there is what gives dealers a bad rep.

 

How did you get them to change bearing under the warranty at 67K miles? I thought the everything ended at 36K other then the motor, transfer case and tranny.

 

They don't always lose money on warranty work. My buddy who is a Ford service manger never cared if it was warranty or not. He said Warranty work was based on Fords time, which was usually less then whatever other book they used, but he was still able to get most everything done in less time.

If the book called for 3 hours for a job, Ford would say it was a 2 hr job. He still got it done in about 1.5 hrs. That's the reason when it was busy, he would get paid for 80+ hours in a week. Yes, he preferred non warranty work, but he said they weren't getting ripped off by Ford either.

If I had to take a guess, it's not that shop techs are getting shorted on hours (taking more time then what they are paid for), it's that they don't make as much as the book says.

Yes there are times when it does take longer, but there are more times when it takes less hours.

BTW, I can't remember what it was but a few years ago, there was something that the book called for 9 hours to do, but Ford was only paying 2 or 3 hrs. Come to find out, the 9 hour job was removing the body, but Ford's had a short cut where they just jacked the motor up or something like that. Lots of out of warranty customers got ripped off because the the body was never removed! The techs were following Ford instructions to do the fix but charging based on the book. What a rip off!!

 

I Know Of A Warranty Voided On A 2500hd Chevy Because Of 285 Tires, Another Time For A Broken Loop On The Hitch For The Safety Chains, The Dealership Would Not Warranty Drivetrain Parts Because Of These Things On Two Different Trucks. I Heard Of Ford Voiding The Warranty On A 6.0 Stroker For Mbrp Exhaust.

 

After Sale Service Work Is The Number One Reason The Imports Are Taking The Sales Leads

 

Yet my buddy has a 2005 Sick.Oh with banks exhaust and intake, and an Edge box to boot (sounds like a 747 taking off when he accelerates). The local Furd dealer hasn't refused any warranty work on his truck, and being a Sick.Oh there's been plenty of it .

Maybe admin should add another Forum on dealer experiences so we could avoid the bad ones. Then again, DC might punish the ones with reputation for no-nonsense warranty work.

 

Well here's the latest. My apointment was today at 3pm. So I get there and they tell me they won't do the update!! Why right?? They said they have to see the white smoke for themselfs. Which they know I can't do because I work out of my truck everyday from 5am-3pm at which there computer guy leaves at 4pm.
What a crock of BS. So I pull out the TSB right from dodge and it says.

If the vehicle operator (me) or the technician (them) experieces the sysmtoms/condition, Perfom the repair procedure.

So I said who is the vehicle operator? the service tech guy says you are.
So I said then why won't you do the repair then if dodge tells you to if I experience these problems. He says I don't care if you have a whole stack of papers from dodge If I don't see I'm not fixing it. Which is BS because he knows I can't leave my truck there over night and not have it the next day. and they aren't open on weekends.

This is exactly whats wrong with GM,FORD and DODGE. they want you to pay top dollar for your american made car or truck but not hold up there end of the bargin.
Well after a couple harsh words with him I walked out now I'm looking for another dealer to fix the problem.

 

That just sucks, man.

In the time they spent arguing with you they could have done the flash and then had time leftover for

 

What do you do for a living that you could not find just one day to be without your truck? They may be worried about taking your word about your trucks condition because many customers don't have the slightest idea when it comes to diagnosing problems(not saying you, just in general), and once you update these trucks there is no going back. Once the old program is erased and the new one put in it's in, period, unless they come out with another one later. I know we would be a little leary about reprograming a truck without being able to varify the syptoms. I know I personally have found a TSB on one of my trucks and thought that I had that problem and wanted it updated, only to have one of my techs look at the truck and find something completely different wrong that resolved the problem. There are two sides to every coin.

 

Thanks, Luke. That's good info to know.

Maybe you can answer this. Why doesn't DC just want all trucks to have the latest update/upgrade? If there is a known problem with white smoke/hard starts and a customer complains, why would flashing the ECM with the latest update be a big deal? I think it's safe to assume anyone complaining of white smoke and hard starting has seen the very obvious white smoke and had extended cranking. (FWIW I've had it happen twice myself in completely different situations with under 2k miles.)

Even if the problem isn't ECM software related, I just don't understand why DC doesn't want all trucks to have the latest flash?

 

buy a smarty, update the tires yourself, the latest programs(flashes) are in the smarty already, or are downloadable from madselectronics, the heck with the uncooperative dealer.

 

sorry luke, you're doing a fine job with the dealer side, but I decided some time ago, that I am my own warranty. I can only be dissappointed with myself from now on.

 

I deleted my previous post. That was a heck of a smart mouth thing to say on my part. I am sorry. I have a habit of blowing my mouth off once in a while when it should be shut.

 

This warranty stuff is Soooooo out of control from Dealer to Dealer. And I'm sick of this M.M. act crap.
When I purchased my truck the dealer had a B.F.N. 2500 CTD Dolled up to the 9's setting on the lot, Tire's & Rims (size I'm not sure of, but they sure as hell were way over stock), full Pillar gauge pack, Mag Hytech covers every where......etc. etc. Chip mod. I doubt, but I didn't look either. I mean this thing was as Trick as Trick can get, a real Beauty.
I asked who's truck that was, and he said "OUR'S", we did it up rite to show just how nice a Dodge truck could look.

Gezzz, Luke S. is rite on alot of this stuff. If I pump my truck up to 500HP and hatch the tranny, engine, rear end or what ever, then DC is surely not responsible. I'll give him that.
I just can't help but wonder what a guy who's family own's several different dealerships is doing watching over a forum like this.
Damm, I'd be out Bombing the truck Daddy gave me

 

luke, you are entitled to your opinion as much as i am. i didnt find anything wrong with it. 99.99% of the time, you are very level headed with your responses even when getting slammed.