HELLPPP!!!! Truck down and at Dealership for 4 months and counting

[bmhenry]

Here is the short. 2017 Powerwagon 101,*** miles, located in Missouri. Took truck to dealership on June 7th. They diagnose and determine that the transmission needs to be rebuilt and get final approval from RAM on July 7th, as this is under the MaxCare lifetime warranty. Still waiting on parts with NO ETA.. Contacted RAM (DOESNT) CARES and have been trying to pursue that with no luck either. Question of the group is, what avenue is there that can be taken. This is now 4 months - the hood decals have now delaminated from sitting in the sun and look like fried bacon - I am worried about the truck having bad gas in it and the oil seeping down out of the cylinders and would be a dry start essentially.

Do I have any grounds for a legal case - I just want the damn thing fixed.

 

[Dean2]

Do you have Lemon laws that apply? If not, have you done your own search for the parts that are needed or for an entire replacement transmission. Sometimes a guy has to help himself.

 

[bmhenry]

the last part they are waiting on is a Torque Converter. Flipping autozone has them within 24 hours, but MOPAR wont cover it without their parts in it.

 

[Dean2]

the last part they are waiting on is a Torque Converter. Flipping autozone has them within 24 hours, but MOPAR wont cover it without their parts in it.

The dealership sure doesn't sound like they are working hard for you. I would be calling around to find a Mopar Torgue converter myself.

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[Travelin Ram]

I would want OEM parts only myself.

Going adversarial will not make the dealer work faster. I’d talk with the dealer service and parts staff about what you can do to help. Sometimes they can tell you who to call or see; who’s got the authority to do something more than just wait for it to show up.

Can you locate a TC and have them buy it from that source.

If it were mine I’d offer to buy a MOPAR TC from anywhere with my own money and then worry about reimbursement later. Oftentimes just making an offer like that demonstrates good faith and urgency and will get the job unstuck from a queue.

 

[Dean2]

I would want OEM parts only myself.

Going adversarial will not make the dealer work faster. I’d talk with the dealer service and parts staff about what you can do to help. Sometimes they can tell you who to call or see; who’s got the authority to do something more than just wait for it to show up.

Can you locate a TC and have them buy it from that source.

If it were mine I’d offer to buy a MOPAR TC from anywhere with my own money and then worry about reimbursement later. Oftentimes just making an offer like that demonstrates good faith and urgency and will get the job unstuck from a queue.

I like it. Good advice. At least worth a try for the first go round.

 

[62Blazer]

People always throw out the Lemon Law statements, but there are a lot of stipulations and details before that is applicable. Laws vary by state but the Lemon Law typically only covers new vehicles still under the original manufacturer warranty. Did a quick search on the 'net for Missouri lemon law (that state is on the OP's signature) and it has statements about being within the first year of purchase, presumably of a new vehicle. Used vehicles are not covered under the Lemon Law. While you can do further research and even contact an attorney, I kinda' doubt a 6 year old vehicle with over 100k miles would be covered.
With that said I completely understand your frustration.

 

[bmhenry]

FYI - the TC are on national backorder - you cannot find them anywhere - I have looked. Dealership has 4 other trucks waiting for the same parts for tranny rebuilds almost the same amount of time as mine (give or take 2-3 weeks).

A status update - surprisingly.. Dealership just called - service manager is sourcing aftermarket rebuilt TC from a location in Iowa. He stated that they escalated all the way through district and regional to national reps. They advised that they need a price and to submit to MOPAR and they will authorize the aftermarket parts due to the national shortage. He ordered 5 of them for shipment on Thursday - we shall see.

 

[bmhenry]

Status update.. dealership got torque converter.. tore down to rebuild.. 10/14 metal in pan.. new trans cooler and lines ordered.. assembled and test drive 10/31.. throws code.. new valve body ordered. Valve body arrives and technician gets sick 11/02. Truck finally finished on 11/07 and picked up.. will post update after several weeks of driving.. just 7 days under 5 months that it took them to do a transmission rebuild..

 

[Daw14]

warranties can cost more then money I guess. Hope you have long term success with this rebuilt transmission.

 

[NCRaineman]

Welcome to the post-2020 world. Everything sucks and there's nothing anybody wants to do about it.

 

[PT-4]

Status update.. dealership got torque converter.. tore down to rebuild.. 10/14 metal in pan.. new trans cooler and lines ordered.. assembled and test drive 10/31.. throws code.. new valve body ordered. Valve body arrives and technician gets sick 11/02. Truck finally finished on 11/07 and picked up.. will post update after several weeks of driving.. just 7 days under 5 months that it took them to do a transmission rebuild..

Any idea what model the model of TQ is? Was it brand new?

 

[bmhenry]

Any idea what model the model of TQ is? Was it brand new?

It was a reman, not sure if MOPAR or not but dealership had to get approval from MOPAR warranty which leads me to believe aftermarket.

 

[r56ranch]

My first MAXCare trans replacement took 11 months and dealer provided me a 2 WD 1500 loaner the entire time. Second transmission replaced covered by MAXCare only took a week, got it back yesterday. Not sure what the firsts failure was but second was catastrophic failure of input clutch.

 

[bmhenry]

Just thought I would post a follow up. Rebuilt trans started showing issues within 2K miles. I took it to dealer. They said yes they replicated what I was feeling but it wouldn't throw any codes and "passed" the tests that were done. until it throws a code or something, nothing could be diagnosed. I guess I will drive it until it grenades again.

The issue is, when it is cold/ first started and put into gear, it will rev well beyond 3K RPM before it starts to move.. sometimes it replicates this issue even after warm, but usually only once when it is first put into a gear forward/reverse.

 

[olyelr]

Yea…definitely not normal.

 

[Dean2]

Personally, I would not accept, "if it doesn't throw a code we can't fix it". That is deflection and straight B.S. They can replicate the issue, that is not normal performance, make them replace the whole transmission if they don't want to go in and repair whatever is causing the issue. You should not be left stranded on the side of the road to prove the transmission needs to be fixed.

 

[Airmousam]

That sucks, keep us posted and good luck!

 

[Robertgoodrich40]

I have a 2022 Power Wagon which i
love . Had planned to go for 300,000 with
It but after hearing all these trans failures, when it's paid for I will get another,. I did that with all my vehicles when I had young kids, but now have two 2004 and two 2014. Of course they are all Lexus cars and don't break. If Lexus made a Power Wagon I would buy it. Much cheaper over the long haul!
Maybe I will find a used LX 460!

 

[EdGs]

Any vehicle can break at any time. All we can do is maintain them properly, and fix them if/when they break.