Factory Warranty?

[JamesgPW]

Has anyone experienced any issues with Ram not honoring the factory warranty because the PW was used off road?

I know this sounds like a stupid question but a friend of mine took his Chevy Trailboss off road and Chevy voided his factory warranty because mud was in the engine bay.

I recently took my PW through some trails and had to cross some mud and ever since I’ve had some rough start ups where my whole truck is shaking.

 

[tidefan1967]

Has anyone experienced any issues with Ram not honoring the factory warranty because the PW was used off road?

I know this sounds like a stupid question but a friend of mine took his Chevy Trailboss off road and Chevy voided his factory warranty because mud was in the engine bay.

I recently took my PW through some trails and had to cross some mud and ever since I’ve had some rough start ups where my whole truck is shaking.

Yes, I've read about that before. Just make sure to get everything reasonably clean before you have to take it in just in case. You might want to remove your airbox and intake tube and check them out and clean them up if needed.

 

[JohnnyMac]

And then delete this post so the said infraction is no longer in print for someone to see....

 

[Breaker Alex]

Has anyone experienced any issues with Ram not honoring the factory warranty because the PW was used off road?

I know this sounds like a stupid question but a friend of mine took his Chevy Trailboss off road and Chevy voided his factory warranty because mud was in the engine bay.

I recently took my PW through some trails and had to cross some mud and ever since I’ve had some rough start ups where my whole truck is shaking.

When backing up in 4x4 while full turning, the transmission sometimes goes on auto park.
Even if I said it happened with the original 33", they finally marked it as "heavily modified" because of the 37".

So I have to change dealer.

In the past: full CAI, tuner, 35" ( on a 1500 ), ABS fuse removal, etc and never had a problem.

Go wild and get a good service garage!

 

[JamesgPW]

I’ll have to see how my local dealership does

 

[Trailmaker]

The off roading you did won’t get flagged for the rough idle unless you went through some high water or broke an engine mount.

Is your oil milky?
How is the air box and filter?
Bad gas?

 

[JamesgPW]

The off roading you did won’t get flagged for the rough idle unless you went through some high water or broke an engine mount.

Is your oil milky?
How is the air box and filter?
Bad gas?

Oil is not milky and above the second notch on the stick. Opened up the air box, RAM makes that way my screwed down than it needs to be, there’s some normal off road dust in there but no sitting water under the filter and the filter is dry.

out of a force of habit from my old rig, I put about half a tank of 87 octane from Chevron on my last fill up. I would think if that was an issue the truck would run rough all the time.

I’ve been wheeling for years now and have done trails more advanced than the one I did with the PW recently. Part of the trail was flooded out with a stretch of mud water about 40 feet long and maybe a foot deep. As for for breaking an engine mount, i think the shaking would be constant and especially under acceleration.

The issue is sporadic and does not occur at every start up or at all when the truck is driving. It’s not a cold start issue, if anything it has only occurred after the truck was driven for some time, parked and started back up 20-30 minutes later. Engine Oil temp is 215-220, coolant 210-215, trans hovers around 158. There is dirt residue on the belt pulleys but Im nit sure that would be causing this issue?

 

[Trailmaker]

Oil is not milky and above the second notch on the stick. Opened up the air box, RAM makes that way my screwed down than it needs to be, there’s some normal off road dust in there but no sitting water under the filter and the filter is dry.

out of a force of habit from my old rig, I put about half a tank of 87 octane from Chevron on my last fill up. I would think if that was an issue the truck would run rough all the time.

I’ve been wheeling for years now and have done trails more advanced than the one I did with the PW recently. Part of the trail was flooded out with a stretch of mud water about 40 feet long and maybe a foot deep. As for for breaking an engine mount, i think the shaking would be constant and especially under acceleration.

The issue is sporadic and does not occur at every start up or at all when the truck is driving. It’s not a cold start issue, if anything it has only occurred after the truck was driven for some time, parked and started back up 20-30 minutes later. Engine Oil temp is 215-220, coolant 210-215, trans hovers around 158. There is dirt residue on the belt pulleys but Im nit sure that would be causing this issue?

Low idle will cause it to shake. If you went as little at 100 rpms and it went away, then that could be the ticket.

 

[JamesgPW]

Low idle will cause it to shake. If you went as little at 100 rpms and it went away, then that could be the ticket.

the RPM didn’t see low during the start ups, 700-800 rpm. I there is mud on the battery +/- posts, wondering if that could be causing an issue. I opened up the hood to take a look at it last time it was happening. The entire fan/intake/radiator assembly appeared to be the source of the shaking.

 

[Trailmaker]

the RPM didn’t see low during the start ups, 700-800 rpm. I there is mud on the battery +/- posts, wondering if that could be causing an issue. I opened up the hood to take a look at it last time it was happening. The entire fan/intake/radiator assembly appeared to be the source of the shaking.

If the fan had a bent or broken blade that would definitely cause vibration Inspect the blades.

 

[crazy jerry]

And then delete this post so the said infraction is no longer in print for someone to see....

is that like scratching off the guns serial number so when you leave it at the crime scene

 

[Trailmaker]

the RPM didn’t see low during the start ups, 700-800 rpm. I there is mud on the battery +/- posts, wondering if that could be causing an issue. I opened up the hood to take a look at it last time it was happening. The entire fan/intake/radiator assembly appeared to be the source of the shaking.

I run 1400 on warmup about 90-120 seconds( now that it is 80 outside. ) And 900 thereafter. With a/c on. Maybe 800 with a/c off.

 

[56PW17]

I used to take my 2017 in covered in mud for warranty work. They would return it to me the same way.
If you have the warranty it’s covered. If they try and give you some BS about how it’s your fault ask for the manager. I like to ask for the manager as soon as I show up haha.

 

[62Blazer]

There is absolutely no reason they should deny warranty work on a Power Wagon because there is evidence it went off-road.....think about it, off-road capability is the sole reason they make a Power Wagon and they heavily advertise that. No difference in having them deny a warranty on a 1-ton dually Cummins model because you towed a trailer with it as compared to a Power Wagon that went off-road. A manufacturer can't advertise and tout about something specific about a vehicle and then deny warranty work because of that.

I will say there is a difference between going off-road and abusing the truck, so if you go out and sink it to the windows in a mud bog they might question it.

With that said we need to know some more details about your friend's Trailboss that got denied. Same thing applies to that model as they advertise it as having better off-road capability. The questions I have is exactly what does it mean there was mud in the engine compartment (see my previous comment). Not saying that is the case but I have personally seen a vehicle in person where it was obviously abused and even wrecked, and then heard the owner go around and tell everybody it only had a little scratch and small amount of mud on it. Also, who exactly denied the warranty? Was it the 20 year old kid working at the service desk, or did it come directly from Chevrolet? I do know of the dealership trying to deny warranty work because they don't know any better. I did work with Jeep/Chrysler/FCA back when they first launched the Rubicon and they had issues with some dealerships trying to deny warranty work because of evidence the rig went off-road, but the factory service techs went in and told the dealers the stuff should be covered.

 

[GREGORY BRIGGS]

I own a 2019 1500 longhorn beautiful truck bu having electrical issues tranny goes into manual mode by itself when coming to a stop. Radio not showing time and 4 wheel drive shifter lights blink when below 10 degrees. Also had to replace battery at 6 months dead cell truck would start but not stay running this happened at 34000 miles.

 

[David Burrows]

the RPM didn’t see low during the start ups, 700-800 rpm. I there is mud on the battery +/- posts, wondering if that could be causing an issue. I opened up the hood to take a look at it last time it was happening. The entire fan/intake/radiator assembly appeared to be the source of the shaking.

 

[David Burrows]

Bad gas. Buy some 91 and put a little cleaner in it. After that if it doesn’t stop just bring it in and say it’s running rough. Say nothing else. It’s no biggie to run the thing through water or mud. Hope they find it for you.

 

[JamesgPW]

So an update on this thread and a response to 62Blazer’s reply.

I actually took it to the RAM dealer today and they said this is a common problem if any mud gets into the fan assembly area. A tech came out to talk to me because the advisor wasn't to sure but was concerned because he saw mud splatter in the engine bay. Tech said if any dirt or rocks get into the fan’s clutch assembly it will cause a sporadic heavy shaking until it falls back out. Ive never taken apart what he talking about so I dont know if this would be true. He asked me to spray it out and if the problem persisted to bring it back in and they will take it apart. Given the service advisors concerns about the mud splatter, if I bring it back I will probably just start with a manager. I drove my Sierra 2500 through plenty of mud washouts on trails and never had this issue, probably because the skid plate covers more of the front underside.

On the topic of my friends Trailboss, he went up to Big Bear with a few other off roaders and their rigs. While on a trail they had to cross a mud washout about 12-18 inches deep. A RAM Rebel drove through first with no issues, he drove his Trailboss through next and the engine hydro locked about 50 feet later. This was recorded by a friend in his ZR2 which also drove through the mud with no issues. At the dealer, he was told Chevy would not cover this under warranty because they found mud splatter in the engine bay. He took it to GM Corporate and showed them the video recorded from the ZR2 along with GM produced advertisements of the Trailboss driving through muddy water. Their official statement to him at this point is they will not cover the engine under warranty because the damage was caused by driver error and they officially consider the Trailboss to an appearance package not an off-road performance package.

 

[Trailmaker]

So an update on this thread and a response to 62Blazer’s reply.

I actually took it to the RAM dealer today and they said this is a common problem if any mud gets into the fan assembly area. A tech came out to talk to me because the advisor wasn't to sure but was concerned because he saw mud splatter in the engine bay. Tech said if any dirt or rocks get into the fan’s clutch assembly it will cause a sporadic heavy shaking until it falls back out. Ive never taken apart what he talking about so I dont know if this would be true. He asked me to spray it out and if the problem persisted to bring it back in and they will take it apart. Given the service advisors concerns about the mud splatter, if I bring it back I will probably just start with a manager. I drove my Sierra 2500 through plenty of mud washouts on trails and never had this issue, probably because the skid plate covers more of the front underside.

On the topic of my friends Trailboss, he went up to Big Bear with a few other off roaders and their rigs. While on a trail they had to cross a mud washout about 12-18 inches deep. A RAM Rebel drove through first with no issues, he drove his Trailboss through next and the engine hydro locked about 50 feet later. This was recorded by a friend in his ZR2 which also drove through the mud with no issues. At the dealer, he was told Chevy would not cover this under warranty because they found mud splatter in the engine bay. He took it to GM Corporate and showed them the video recorded from the ZR2 along with GM produced advertisements of the Trailboss driving through muddy water. Their official statement to him at this point is they will not cover the engine under warranty because the damage was caused by driver error and they officially consider the Trailboss to an appearance package not an off-road performance package.

Do you have pictures of this mud hole? It sounds deep to get into your fan clutch. I have not been “mudding” in my truck in years. What got me, was the 3rd hour and 2nd roll of quarters at the car wash... I pull something that takes the beating and less quarters to wash it. Haha

 

[JamesgPW]

Do you have pictures of this mud hole? It sounds deep to get into your fan clutch. I have not been “mudding” in my truck in years. What got me, was the 3rd hour and 2nd roll of quarters at the car wash... I pull something that takes the beating and less quarters to wash it. Haha

View attachment 202545

Attached is what I drove and also a snap from a FCA Power Wagon commercial.