Posted by Gordon Maney on Monday, January 27, 2003 at 1:16PM :
Subject: Daimler/Chrysler warranty issues
I have a 2001 Ram 2500, Cummins, 6-spd. Starting very early in my ownership of this truck (the first 1,000 miles), the clutch would not always fully disengage, which made it difficult to impossible to get it into gear from neutral. In the early stages of the problem, it would not do it often enough for the dealership service people to see it happen. By the time it would do it often enough, the synchros in the transmission were destroyed, and it was decided that replacement of the entire transmission was appropriate. At that time they also replaced the clutch master cylinder and slave, all of which is replaced as an assembly.
That occurred at about 30,000 miles. At about 34,000 miles, the symptoms began creeping back. As this is written, the truck is at the dealer to repair a transfer case leak and to address this shifting problem. During test drives they could not duplicate the problem. The service manager wanted to drive it over the weekend, asked me to fax a statement of permission to him to allow that. The general manager of the dealership vetoed that plan.
The best I have gotten out of the dealership is that there is history on it, and if it happens again, Chrysler would “probably help me out.” Given the price of the transmission, and the mystery of the cause, the bill could be ferocious, and I can’t afford to pay it, should it happen again.
I have spoken to Chrysler about this and only got a remark similar to the “they will help you out,” language offered by the dealer’s general manager.
If the truck had gone 100,000 miles and then developed this problem it would be a different matter, but this has never been quite right, even from the beginning. I am not asking them for free parts, since we don’t know what to replace. I am asking for Chrysler to take responsibility in the event this problem repeats itself, which from my experience, it is beginning to repeat itself now.
Does anyone have any useful thought on how to get Chrysler off dead center in this matter that is clearly their responsibility? I would like them to take a much more well-defined position on this than, “….will probably help you out.”
Thanks for your thoughts,
Gordon
PS, phoning their customer assistance number puts you hip deep in menu choices that may be repeated, but may not necessarily seem applicable. I am on hold, and earnestly hoping….
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