Transmission Failure - Denied Warranty Claim - Help!

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

I read the whole work order, there was a recall on the dip stick that it looked like they didn't have in stock, you had a transmission over temp (P0218-00), that caused a gear 6 shift incorrect (P0729-00) ,and a gear shift 5 incorrect (P0735), and a hydraulic pressure sensor (P0933) ,Payload limited exceeded (C15DA) this all looks like a failure that started with a over temp fault, was ATF fluid spilling out of the dip stick tube?, with all of the new OBD systems in place all of these set a hard code that the dealer was able to retrieve, with that payload limit exceeded its going to be hard to get it warranted.

 

[chri5k]

Have next dealer check the transmission cooler bypass valve. Those have been known to fail causing transmission temperature to shoot up. If it has air suspension, have them test the pressure sensor.

If it doesn’t have air suspension, then the overload code might be spurious.

If you are really lucky you might have a leg to stand on with the codes.

If you bought 5 trucks from them did you work with the fleet sales manager? Worth a short talking to him or her to see if they might be able to persuade management to help you out based on good will and gaining future business.

 

[Travelin Ram]

If your weight ticket confirms the truck is not over GVWR or GCWR, make that document the centerpiece of your discussion with the next dealership. They are going to see the work order you posted, so you’ll need a convincing argument to dispute the truck being overloaded.

I would ask them to diagnose the system that reported the overweight code, to verify if it’s working properly.

Of course, if it IS working correctly, a skeptical person might wonder if someone ever used the vehicle for differing loads other than the one you weighed. For instance, does anyone borrow a vehicle for weekend projects or personal use?

Your secondary strong argument is the first transmission repair. Obviously there was no overload code at at that time. You’ll want to read that repair order carefully before your negotiations.

It’s surprising to me that the selling dealer didn’t step up and take care of you. I’d certainly have a talk with the sales manager and ask them if they expect this to affect your future truck buys.

 

[06 Dodge]

Thank you Ricktara! I'll look into the air suspension part. We keep all our vehicles/rigs under 26k pounds so that we don't need a CDL driver. That particular vehicle with all equipment in the truck and the trailer was at about 22-23k lbs of weight. Close, but not over. I've taken the truck, trailer, and all equipment to the weight station to get a ticket of the actual curb weight of it all (truck with equipment alone and truck with equipment and trailer with equipment). We purchased 5 trucks in a 6 month period from our local Ram dealer and I was so frustrated that they weren't able to assist us at all. We are in Florida and there are no hills. Just so odd that an older Chevy (not even a diesel) has been pulling/hauling the same weight and equipment for a good while now without issue. I'm going to go to try another dealership an hour away next week and see if I can get any help. So, in your opinion does the Aisin recall have anything to do with our codes?

FYI you can be over weight on payload yet not be over your combined gross weight limit and it sounds like you may have exceeded payload limit i.e trailer tong weight, people, fuel & cargo in the bed of the truck... Depending on what 2500 model you have it could have a little as 1700 lbs payload limit, my 2022 2500 CTD has a max payload of 2259 lbs and if I pull a trailer with a tong weigh of 1000 lbs it only leaves me with 1259 lbs of payload for cargo & people...

 

[BossHogg]

My 2 cents, the Hill-Kelly dealer incorrectly stated the transmission "burned up" due to payload exceeded, the DTC C15DA. The C15DA DTC was set because of a calibration error (unlikely) or you did exceed the payload of the truck, and by a lot. The DTC C15DA is a RAM-specific trouble code related to air suspension overloading and has nothing to do with the transmission's performance. You can find the payload of your truck in the driver's door jam on the same placard that shows the tire pressures.

As others have said, there were issues with the transmission spitting up and that is likely the root cause of the failure. As far as exceeding payload, you may want to look at getting a 3500 with a much higher payload.

You are in between a rock and a hard spot. You are blacklisted because of the first dealer's opinion of the root cause of the transmission failure and the likely cause of known issues. At least you have a weight ticket showing you GVW. Keep us posted on the fight progress.

 

[jejb]

FYI you can be over weight on payload yet not be over your combined gross weight limit and it sounds like you may have exceeded payload limit i.e trailer tong weight, people, fuel & cargo in the bed of the truck... Depending on what 2500 model you have it could have a little as 1700 lbs payload limit, my 2022 2500 CTD has a max payload of 2259 lbs and if I pull a trailer with a tong weigh of 1000 lbs it only leaves me with 1259 lbs of payload for cargo & people...

Yep, this is key. It's not the weight of what you are pulling necessarily, it's the weight on the axles of the truck when fully loaded. Total combined for the truck is 10K. I doubt that is the root of your problem with the tranny though, unless you were way over 10K.

 

[Silver21Ram]

Is it drivable at all ?
Trade it in. Problem solved.

 

[mtnrider]

I'm going to go to try another dealership an hour away next week and see if I can get any help. So, in your opinion does the Aisin recall have anything to do with our codes?

You are black listed, they are not going to do anything it is out of their control now. And pretty sure it's not just the original dealer involved, on big ticket items they need Ram approval for warranty work and they request all the codes etc. I'd bet corporate Ram said no based what they saw and black listed you.

You may have to fight it with a lawyer or just go to and outside transmission shop and get it fixed. You can get a nice built transmission for under $10K that will hold more HP or just get that one repaired for much less.


.

 

[Jim BB]

Thank you Ricktara! I'll look into the air suspension part. We keep all our vehicles/rigs under 26k pounds so that we don't need a CDL driver. That particular vehicle with all equipment in the truck and the trailer was at about 22-23k lbs of weight. Close, but not over. I've taken the truck, trailer, and all equipment to the weight station to get a ticket of the actual curb weight of it all (truck with equipment alone and truck with equipment and trailer with equipment). We purchased 5 trucks in a 6 month period from our local Ram dealer and I was so frustrated that they weren't able to assist us at all. We are in Florida and there are no hills. Just so odd that an older Chevy (not even a diesel) has been pulling/hauling the same weight and equipment for a good while now without issue. I'm going to go to try another dealership an hour away next week and see if I can get any help. So, in your opinion does the Aisin recall have anything to do with our codes?

you stated you bought 5 trucks in 6 months are they all the same truck equipped the same? if so are the other 4 trucks doing fine? no issues with trans ? doing the same job towing ect!?
If they are the same truck and doing the same job with no issues I would be asking why these trucks are not having any problems and why only this one truck is !?????

 

[Timsdually]

What are you towing has been asked, but not answered.

 

[mtnrider]

What are you towing has been asked, but not answered.

On the other forum she said she was around ~24k so no doubt way over the payload capacity for that truck if loaded properly but still technically within the "towing" limit.
Kind of a misleading spec from the manufacturer because if you are towing at max load with that truck your proper pin weight (~20% of trailer weight) would be waaay over the payload.

.,

 

[2020PW]

Thanks for all the replies! I manage the firm and have been tasked with helping solve this issue. I attached the receipt for maybe someone to take a look at? This is the visit they told us we needed a new transmission and it wouldn't be covered. We have been towing the same trailer and equipment since this failure with a 2017 Chevy 2500 (gasoline, not diesel) and haven't had any trouble. I was absolutely certain the trailer and gear did not exceed any of the weight ratings of the 2500. I did call a Ram Recall number I found on another post and they advised to try to take it to a 3rd dealership. I plan on trying that next week. I'm just at a loss and was hoping someone had someone who knew who to call to get some actual help. Does the attachment show anything that anyone understands?

Are you seeing a trend?

 

[Riccochet]

On the other forum she said she was around ~24k so no doubt way over the payload capacity for that truck if loaded properly but still technically within the "towing" limit.
Kind of a misleading spec from the manufacturer because if you are towing at max load with that truck your proper pin weight (~20% of trailer weight) would be waaay over the payload.

.,

It's a trend of people being hyper focused on one number, towing capacity, while ignoring the other number, payload capacity.

Especially on a 3/4 ton.

 

[Travelin Ram]

The comments on the work order are interesting. It’s hard to get help from someone without communicating.

“CALLED CUSTOMER 04/05/2023 4:00PM PTSC DECLINED TRANSMISSION LEFT MESSAGE FOR KIMBERLY OFFICE MANAGER TO CALL BACK CALLED OFFICE MANAGER 04/07/2023 7:34AM LEFT VM ASKING ON HOW THEY WANT TO PROCEED. VM BOX FULL TEXTED OFFICE MANAGER 04/10/2023 12:02PM SEEING HOW THEY WANT TO PROCEED CALLED OFFICE MANAGER 04/14/2023 11:29AM LEFT VM NO ANSWER CALLED CUSTOMER 04/20/2023 1:54PM LEFT VM NO ANSWER AT THIS TIME CALLED CUSTOIMER 04/25/2023 1:20PM CALLED AND LEFT VM. STILL NO ANSWER FROM COMPANY AT THIS TIME 04/27-PAUL IS CALLING WE CANNOT GET A PHONE CALL BACK FROM CUSTOMER 04/27-EMAILED KIM TO CHECK ON TRUCK BEING APPROVED-PAUL”

 

[rule18]

The comments on the work order are interesting. It’s hard to get help from someone without communicating.

“CALLED CUSTOMER 04/05/2023 4:00PM PTSC DECLINED TRANSMISSION LEFT MESSAGE FOR KIMBERLY OFFICE MANAGER TO CALL BACK CALLED OFFICE MANAGER 04/07/2023 7:34AM LEFT VM ASKING ON HOW THEY WANT TO PROCEED. VM BOX FULL TEXTED OFFICE MANAGER 04/10/2023 12:02PM SEEING HOW THEY WANT TO PROCEED CALLED OFFICE MANAGER 04/14/2023 11:29AM LEFT VM NO ANSWER CALLED CUSTOMER 04/20/2023 1:54PM LEFT VM NO ANSWER AT THIS TIME CALLED CUSTOIMER 04/25/2023 1:20PM CALLED AND LEFT VM. STILL NO ANSWER FROM COMPANY AT THIS TIME 04/27-PAUL IS CALLING WE CANNOT GET A PHONE CALL BACK FROM CUSTOMER 04/27-EMAILED KIM TO CHECK ON TRUCK BEING APPROVED-PAUL”

I was just going to point that out. @Kbritt0309 the service dept notes indicate that they were trying to contact you for a month with no responses. That typically increases the chances of a dealer not wanting to go the extra mile for a customer.

 

[chri5k]

Here is the window sticker. It does have auto-leveling rear suspension. That is where the overload code came from. The max payload per the VIN is 2699. If the combination weighed 23,000 Lbs - 6,000 Lbs for the truck then the trailer is about 17,000 Lbs. The VIN shows the gooseneck prep package. 20% of 17,000 is 3,400 Lbs. So looks like it was a good bit over max payload.

 

[2020PW]

It's a trend of people being hyper focused on one number, towing capacity, while ignoring the other number, payload capacity.

Especially on a 3/4 ton.

We have a winner! But… how does exceeding payload affect transmission? Can’t see how that is a transmission issue, suspension, braking, frame… Yes, transmission, No

 

[Riccochet]

We have a winner! But… how does exceeding payload affect transmission? Can’t see how that is a transmission issue, suspension, braking, frame… Yes, transmission, No

It wouldn't. The transmission can only sense a load, not where said load is. Whether you put 5000 lbs in your bed or 5000 lbs behind you in a trailer it's still an extra 5000 lbs that the transmission has to deal with.

 

[jejb]

But… how does exceeding payload affect transmission? Can’t see how that is a transmission issue, suspension, braking, frame… Yes, transmission, No

Exactly. Same motor/tranny you can get in a 3500, so it can handle the load. Ram just taking the low road, I guess.

 

[Tulecreeper]

It's a trend of people being hyper focused on one number, towing capacity, while ignoring the other number, payload capacity.

Especially on a 3/4 ton.

True, while most people will never need to worry about their GCWR it does come into play when towing/hauling heavy loads.

With my truck I have a GVWR of 10,000#, a 4000# payload capacity, a 15,500# towing capacity, and a GCWR of 22,000#. If I max out my truck's GVWR at 10,000# that lowers my towing capacity from 15,500# down to12,000#.

Conversely, if I were to tow my maximum of 15,500# that would automatically limit my payload capacity to 1000#.