First Hemi Horror story

[RamRod]

3 weeks ago i left a buddies house and barely got into it and about 5 minutes later my truck started knocking really bad, rpm related, i said screw it and drove it all the way home about 10 minutes down the road. After taking it to three dealers, because they told me the bully dog programmer, K&N intake, Electric Cutout, drop springs voided my warranty, the one said tech actually said "thats a full blown race truck"... eventhough i set my programmer back to stock and got rid of any evidence of it, it still left tracks in my computer. I finally found a dealer that could look past the upgrades and after having it for 2 weeks found out it was a collapsed lifter, which was my first guess. The tech actually pulled my motor to fix it, replaced all lifters and the cam. i picked the truck up and after inspecting it, it looked great and sounded great. I got 8 miles down the road and one of the tranny cooler lines blew off and sprayed my hot manifold and blew a massive cloud of smoke instantly... they come and towed it back to the dealer and fixed it, but what a mess there was oil everywhere, coated the motor and the entire underneath of the truck, the dealer did their best to clean it but i can still find some, which makes it hard to spot oil leaks. very discouraged. i was very tempted to trade it but when i bought mine they had $5,000 in rebates and now theres only $1500 and i am not spending another 4 grand for the exact same truck. dealer figured that the lifter was bad from the factory, and if it was because of any of the upgrades it was the programmer and the exhaust with the raised rev limiter and no back pressure... which could make sense because it did backfire into second gear a few times.. I've had the truck back a week and all is good so far. i was very lucky to find such a great dealer, he figured the job was close to 4 grand to fix and warranty covered it all. I hate that my motors been apart but i guess if its under warranty i shouldnt stress too much... still ****** me off!! sorry for such a long story!!

 

[Gunz86]

Wow that is awesome you found a dealer to do that for you, did you tell each dealer about having the tuner or were they just guessing you had it in. Just wondering if unplugging the negative battery for extended time would leave same print but I am not sure.

 

[RamRod]

I didnt tell the first two dealers and i did have the battery unhooked over night before i trailered it over and they said they seen it as soon as they hooked up the scan tool. the third and final dealer, i told before i even took it off the trailer and thankfully they helped me out!

 

[-Arana-]

Sorry to hear about your issues but glad they got you back on the road

 

[WhiteExpress]

I'm glad you found a good dealer to take care of you. I really hate hearing about your issues, and totally understand not liking having your motor apart already.

"Full on race truck" ahhh ignorance...

 

[S2kiHemi]

I'm super surprised that dealer fixed your truck under warranty. With a slight hint that an aftermarket part caused the problem and they still fixed it is beyond me.

 

[Designflaw]

There are very few programmers that don't leave tracks in the CPU. I know when I had my Cummins I went with Smarty for that very reason. It pulls the OEM down, and replaces it, them puts it back when returned to stock. No "Flashing" -

That to me should be what companies should concentrate on to separate themselves from the heard - JM2C

Glad you got someone to take care of it - might want to give them a shout out to the locals give them a boost.

 

[derek_m]

OP if you don't mind, pm me the dealer that helped you out. im in wny as well

 

[12TrueSport]

Man that sucks. It's never fun knowing your newer truck has been torn down and put back together like that. Did I miss how many miles you had on it? Hopefully all the new parts will break in with the old just fine.

If the last dealer thinks the lifter was bad from the factory it begs the question if there are other bad lifters out there. I'm not trying to start a doom thread or anything but I went through this on my Z06 with the dropping exhaust valves. Chevy claimed for the longest time that it wasn't a deisgn or part flaw until they were able to narrow down a batch of less than perfect valves during a couple of build years. Luckily mine was not included but I wasn't too worried since I had a bulletproof warranty.

Also, keep in mind that these days dealers have to be able to prove that a certain mod caused the problem. If you adjusted your rev limiter then the tech may be on to something but I don't want to think these motors are so mildly tuned just to prevent breakage.

X2 on programmers that leave tracks. Until i read this thread I didn't know of any that DIDN'T leave a trace. I'll be looking in to SMARTY.

Glad you're back on the road.

 

[AirborneSilva]

Sorry to hear about your troubles but am glad that you were able to find a dealer to look past the mods, especially since I don't see how that could have caused the issue.

It's my understanding that Diablo Sport tuners don't leave a foot print when you return the stock tune but of course they don't have a tune for our 13's yet...

 

[dsent]

OP
Glad you were able to get it fixed under warranty.

Sorry not trying to hijack your thread!

But this has to do with programmers.

My dealer is programmer friendly, but as of yet I have no programmer.

After talking to my dealer,I for one am not willing to void my warranty and possible have to pay for motor or any repairs out of my pocket weather it was factory problem or otherwise.

I have cummins 6.7 and I personally know most of the service guys,small town (service manager is my neighbor)at my dealer.

They have told me Cummins/RAM is watching very close for altered motors and programmers.

After speaking to them in more detail I learned the following.

Programmers may leave tracks even if you get one you think erases the tune it still keeps track of how many times it was (flashed) memory accessed.

So every time you go to the dealer and they access you computer it down loads and tracks how many times it was accessed.

If you go repeatedly in for problems and they compare the number of times your computer was accessed does not = how many times the dealer has accessed your computer they(RAM) have VOIDED WARRANTIES .

This coming from programmer friendly dealer and their service guys, have said RAM has voided 8 warranties at their dealership in the last 2 years because of programmers.

Just passing on what I have learned.

 

[AirborneSilva]

Thanks for the info dsent, intresting!

 

[quietpeen]

from what i remember returning your tuck to stock at least on the hemi's never really hid the fact that you had a tuner. What it did was keep the dealer from flashing your truck back to stock rendering your tuner useless.

 

[Lhemi]

My 2012 Ram R/T has backfired a couple times going in to second with my BD set at 6000. How long after did you start seeing issues? I've got 18k on mine.

 

[zogg]

I am certainly glad you got yourntruck fixed, but I am surprised that it was done under warranty....dont find many dealers like that. Good luck with the truck!!!

 

[RamRod]

i had the tuner in for probably 10,000 miles, i noticed the lifter noise about 5 minutes after a good backfire. it always backfired a little but nothing like this, i actually think it lit the tires going into second and then i was all over but the knockin' I actually traded the truck in yesterday for a Black express and i am much happier so far, the truck was never quite the same, ran good but still ticked and it drove me nuts. Just be careful with the programmers, the dealer said it woulda cost me over $4,000 to fix if warranty hadnt covered it. to me the programmers dont do enough to make it worth it. the only perk i really liked was removing the top speed limiter and disabling the MDS without having to put it in manual 6 or tow/haul.

 

[greychevy]

Lucky you found that 3rd dealer

 

[audio1der]

Glad you got into something you're happy with.
This could be considered a good, cautionary tale for the rest of us...

 

[JoshikusIII]

That is pretty scary...
I think I would have to demand that they prove it was mods and not just void warranty cause they effing feel like it, or get a lawyer.

 

[blackout11]

Dealer can only see your cpu was flashed they cant prove you had it tuned my dealer has replaced my tranny and a few other things and ive flashed mine about 20 times they asked me about it and i acted stupid and was like i take my battery terminals off alot lol nothing more was said.

But bottom line guys you want to add parts and make it faster then dont cry when your warranty gets voided you want to pay your going to have to pay if your worried about voiding your warranty dont mod it.