Lifetime powertrain warranty with discontinued parts?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

3pedals

Senior Member
Joined
May 28, 2020
Posts
180
Reaction score
86
Location
Central Valley
Ram Year
2008
Engine
4.7
This is more a question for what’s coming up in what I expect to be the not-too-distant future…skip to last paragraph of you don’t want to read the back story.

I have a 2008 ram 1500 4.7 4wd 6spd with 415k miles and the original lifetime powertrain warranty (zero deductible, no clause for buyout if repair exceeds truck value). It has been a fantastic truck that I have no intention of ever letting go, and frankly prefer driving it over my ‘16 2500 ctd 6spd. The LPT warranty has served me well, with a replacement rear differential at 275k, a replacement motor at a little over 300k, and numerous other covered repairs along the way (water pumps, Cv axles, etc). I am up to date on 5yr inspections and just recently had a Cv axle replaced under warranty with no issue.

What I am now concerned about is the Getrag 238 manual transmission. It has never given me any trouble but for the last 50k miles or so the transmission has been getting louder in certain gears. The noise is what I would describe as “gear whine” and is is quite loud in 4th & 6th gears, noticeable but not loud in 3rd, and silent in 5th. It’s actually a trip how the trans goes from super loud in 4th to silent in 5th to super loud again in 6th.

My concern is that it appears the Getrag 238 trans has now been discontinued, and doesn’t show as available anywhere online. So what happens when the trans does finally let go? I asked my service writer (good dude) if he could order a trans to keep in stock, but he basically told me nothing could be done until the trans actually fails. At that point they would try find a transmission…

Is there anyone on here that has/had the LPT warranty and ran into the issue of NLA parts? Curious as to how this has been handled for others facing the same issue.
 

BossHogg

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Posts
1,932
Reaction score
2,444
Location
Oakland Township, Michigan
Ram Year
2015
Engine
6.7L Cummins
The best solution may be for you to buy a replacement tranny and sit on it until needed, if ever. The new model seems to be if no parts are available you are SOL like those folks in Florida. They bought a used EV for their daughter just to find out the battery pack was kaput and no longer available.
 

pacofortacos

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2017
Posts
3,564
Reaction score
4,341
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
OP
OP
3

3pedals

Senior Member
Joined
May 28, 2020
Posts
180
Reaction score
86
Location
Central Valley
Ram Year
2008
Engine
4.7
That’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out…how does Chrysler handle an NLA part of anyone has come across this issue. Would they be willing to have my original trans rebuilt? According to my SA, with the original LPT warranty Chrysler is on the hook to get it fixed if/when the original fails regardless of cost vs truck value as long as maintenance and 5yr inspections have been adhered to.

Looks like that trans you linked is special order…will give them a call to check if they have any available.
 
OP
OP
3

3pedals

Senior Member
Joined
May 28, 2020
Posts
180
Reaction score
86
Location
Central Valley
Ram Year
2008
Engine
4.7
Looks like I’ll find out sooner than later. Transmission has become a lot louder in 3rd & 4th gears, and is now absolutely screaming in 6th. Surprisingly, 5th gear is still fairly quiet and I’ve been using it as much as possible to avoid getting a headache.

Truck currently has 418350 miles and I’d be shocked if the tranny makes it to 419k.
 

AlanV1

Junior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Posts
7
Reaction score
2
Ram Year
2014
Engine
Hemi 6.4
My 2014 ram 2500 Six speed transmission 315,000m just got it rebuilt I have the lifetime max care warranty but it took four months and three weeks dropped it off in November they kept saying it’ll be four weeks so I proceeded with a rental at four weeks came and went by proceed with And said three more weeks I was too deep into the rental to pull the truck make a long story short I’m at 5000 in rental I would happily put the $5000 into rebuilding my own transmission they claim they can’t get parts I went to three top transmission places in my area and got full quotes to prove to them that parts are available no back order Chrysler ram just wants to freeze us out so that we go get it fix ourselves I have inside information on that they clearly have the attitude what are you gonna do about it I had all the representatives that appease me along with sympathy reading a boilerplate letter every week to me about parts are on back order even gave me a fake shipping date one time. Through the continue hard push through the dealership they got approval to rebuild it at the dealership with the transmission guy by that time I’ll be down I have to accept it some might say I’m trying to get a new transmission for free I say I have a coming to me. Nowadays corporations are trying and will get away with whatever they can they have no regard to keeping up their end of the bargain on the contract we went into together and I paid Large for At the vehicle purchase. and taking my only vehicle bread-and-butter transportation off the road with no care in the world about it doing it used with lies and deceit To me weekly for almost 5 months. This isn’t my opinion it’s a true short story version they did it to me .
 

AlanV1

Junior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Posts
7
Reaction score
2
Ram Year
2014
Engine
Hemi 6.4
Frankly I believe this site may be run by ram Chrysler snd they are monitoring posts because there’s some other transmission posts and warranty issues and talks of attorneys
About this whole five months transmission repair but I can’t seem to find them / seem to have been deleted.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
194,927
Posts
2,864,183
Members
155,296
Latest member
VLG6963
Top