Interesting conversation with a Ram technician at dealer service dept.

[bnold]

11 Ram… 4 dealer issues under warranty. The only times the truck saw a dealer. Wouldn’t trust any of them to set the air pressure in the tires…

1 water pump failure at 80k
1 steering recall
1 transmission wire harness recall
1 AC…

All pretty easy except the AC.

If the truck was cold (less than 200F coolant), the fan would not turn on (modulating) when the AC compressor turned on. Could be 100F outside and 140F in the truck. No AC at idle. Could stop the engine fan with my pinky.

No airflow over condenser, means tripping on high head. Pretty dang simple. Watch the compressor turn on and off every few seconds.

Probably no less than 10 trips and 4 weeks at dealer with less than 5,000miles…

I was so irritated by the techs, service manager’s incompetence it was just baffling… they couldn’t grasp the basic concepts of how the refrigeration cycle worked.

Exact symptoms had TSB, but my VIN wasn’t included. TSB replaced electronic fan clutch with a different part #.

To make a long story short, I finally made a deal with the service manager. I would pay up front for labor and parts to put this fan on my truck… if it worked, I got a full refund plus $500 for my dang aggravation .

If it didn’t, I was out the labor and parts and wouldn’t bring the truck back to his shop .

Worked perfect for the next 230,000 miles I owned the truck… and I had a few $$ for diesel fuel. Still never brought the truck back to that dealer… definition of insanity

I was told ~5 other trucks in shop for same issue… they still weren’t going to apply the ‘fix’ because no TSB from the mothership.

Idiots.

 

[Hay Dude]

What I have found with my dealer is they are a huge dealer and they move a LOT of Ram/Cummins. You can’t do that consistently for several years as they have with crap for service. What DOES concern me is they only seem to have 2 guys on diesel trucks (that I know of).
The other thing is they are pretty high priced for service.

My wife and I also have a BMW. We once took it to our “local mechanic”. Very good people, but their lane is basic work on basic vehicles. The X5 needed brakes and they had no software to finish the brake job. It was a mess. Never again. We use the BMW dealer and although expensive, not as bad as we thought and fixed perfectly every time. Again, another VERY successful dealer, so we are fairly confident going back to them. Surprisingly, we needed tires and they were as cheap as anyone else around.

 

[dstig1]

My wife and I also have a BMW. We once took it to our “local mechanic”. Very good people, but their lane is basic work on basic vehicles. The X5 needed brakes and they had no software to finish the brake job. It was a mess. Never again. We use the BMW dealer and although expensive, not as bad as we thought and fixed perfectly every time. Again, another VERY successful dealer, so we are fairly confident going back to them. Surprisingly, we needed tires and they were as cheap as anyone else around.

You don't need anything but your finger to reset the service indicators on BMWs. I do it on ours when I perform service on it. It depends on the model, but basically you put it into service mode by either holding the trip odo reset button down for a very long time or pushing the start button 3 times quickly while not pressing the brake pedal on newer stuff. Plenty of videos on the Tube of You showing how to do it.

I pretty much do all car work myself other than tires. Don't trust anyone else and have had that feeling reinforced too many times when I broke from practice and let others work on my stuff. It keeps getting harder to do with how deeply computerized they are getting, but still most service comes down to oil changes, filters, wipers, brakes and maybe suspension (and tires). None of these are really computerized to speak of on any car.

 

[Hay Dude]

You don't need anything but your finger to reset the service indicators on BMWs. I do it on ours when I perform service on it. It depends on the model, but basically you put it into service mode by either holding the trip odo reset button down for a very long time or pushing the start button 3 times quickly while not pressing the brake pedal on newer stuff. Plenty of videos on the Tube of You showing how to do it.

I pretty much do all car work myself other than tires. Don't trust anyone else and have had that feeling reinforced too many times when I broke from practice and let others work on my stuff. It keeps getting harder to do with how deeply computerized they are getting, but still most service comes down to oil changes, filters, wipers, brakes and maybe suspension (and tires). None of these are really computerized to speak of on any car.

There was something on this newer BMW he did incorrectly with the brakes that caused all kinds of problems.
Wife tried the U-Tube solutions with no success.

 

[FERLING]

When I bought my Ram 3 &1/2 years ago, I decided I would take it to the dealer for maintenance/repairs and follow strict maintenance schedule. I repair everything else (tractors, farm equipment, trailers) myself, to the degree I can, but I decided to have the Ram maintained at the dealer. I would NOT have done this if the dealer didn’t have a great service department and I trusted them.

Today, I went in for a small recall and yes, some maintenance (that I could do myself). Talked to my tech for a bit while he was doing work on my Ram. In his 2nd bay next to my truck was a Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. The cab was lifted off. Looked like big trouble. The diesel seized in it at 156,000 miles. It was far beyond it’s 100K warranty. New EcoDiesel was $19,000 installed!! Thats insane. The tech then dropped a bomb on me. All covered and paid for, even at 56,000 miles past warranty!! I was in disbelief. The tech went on to tell me that the owner of it bought it there and brought his truck to the dealer for every step of maintenance. The tech explained he sent all the service records to the local Ram service rep for our area and he approved a complete new engine installation.

He went on to tell me that over 90% of customers out of warranty are given the same treatment so long as they follow the strict maintenance schedule from Ram and do the maintenance as much as possible at the selling dealership service dept. He went on to tell me that should I have a failure out of warranty, it’s VERY likely I will receive the same preferential treatment because I used the dealers service department.

I had no reason not to believe him.

Anyone else like dealer service?

Did you get that guarantee verbally or in writing. If only verbal then I would say you ran into an employee that was 'selling the dealership story'. Now if you got it in writing you have a 'leg to stand on' at 100001 miles and your engine dies. By the way, I have no reason to lie either!
All, by the way I heard they fired that employee yesterday? Be prepared to hear that statement if you have problems after the warranty expires.
(Remember that 'over 90%' from the 'tech'? Hopefully you don't fall into that 10% he was covering his butt with)

 

[FERLING]

Other than the legal requirements, why no red dyed diesel?

Because it is an excuse to turn down warranty repairs.

 

[nknelsen]

When I bought my Ram 3 &1/2 years ago, I decided I would take it to the dealer for maintenance/repairs and follow strict maintenance schedule. I repair everything else (tractors, farm equipment, trailers) myself, to the degree I can, but I decided to have the Ram maintained at the dealer. I would NOT have done this if the dealer didn’t have a great service department and I trusted them.

Today, I went in for a small recall and yes, some maintenance (that I could do myself). Talked to my tech for a bit while he was doing work on my Ram. In his 2nd bay next to my truck was a Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. The cab was lifted off. Looked like big trouble. The diesel seized in it at 156,000 miles. It was far beyond it’s 100K warranty. New EcoDiesel was $19,000 installed!! Thats insane. The tech then dropped a bomb on me. All covered and paid for, even at 56,000 miles past warranty!! I was in disbelief. The tech went on to tell me that the owner of it bought it there and brought his truck to the dealer for every step of maintenance. The tech explained he sent all the service records to the local Ram service rep for our area and he approved a complete new engine installation.

He went on to tell me that over 90% of customers out of warranty are given the same treatment so long as they follow the strict maintenance schedule from Ram and do the maintenance as much as possible at the selling dealership service dept. He went on to tell me that should I have a failure out of warranty, it’s VERY likely I will receive the same preferential treatment because I used the dealers service department.

I had no reason not to believe him.

Anyone else like dealer service?

I've never had a motor fail on me. I tend to buy Ford only and I run them to 300000 miles before selling.
It's my experience that bodies develop rust and corrosion issues long before the motor gives any problems.
But my current ford is aluminum and at five years old and 160000 miles it still looks brand new.
Maybe I'll keep this one beyond 300000 and see how many miles I can get on it.

You may think your dealer is doing a great thing buy offering such an extended warranty.

But when you really think about it, would you continue to buy a brand If you had a diesel motor fail on you at such low kilometers? Regardless of whether the dealer covered your maintenance? If I bought a ford diesel and it failed like that eco diesel you are referencing in your story, I'd probably never buy another Ford. And I'd probably do the same IF I had a gas motor fail at such low mileage.

Modern motors and modern machining techniques and manufacturing technology have vastly improved what's available to the consumer.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Other than the legal requirements, why no red dyed diesel?

Several good reasons, at least here in Alberta. Several retired farmers have mentioned more power and increased fuel mileage when switching from a dyed fuel to clear. This is with both diesel and gas.

A neighbor bought a used truck where the oil hadn't been changed for a while. The oil had a purple tinge. I can tell right away if a carburated engine has had purple in it just by the purple tinge all over the top of the motor.

Small engines start/run considerably better with clear gas vs purple.

Right now in Alberta there is no price advantage to running dyed fuel as the government has cancelled the fuel tax on clear fuel. They are both the same price.

 

[Hay Dude]

I've never had a motor fail on me. I tend to buy Ford only and I run them to 300000 miles before selling.
It's my experience that bodies develop rust and corrosion issues long before the motor gives any problems.
But my current ford is aluminum and at five years old and 160000 miles it still looks brand new.
Maybe I'll keep this one beyond 300000 and see how many miles I can get on it.

You may think your dealer is doing a great thing buy offering such an extended warranty.

But when you really think about it, would you continue to buy a brand If you had a diesel motor fail on you at such low kilometers? Regardless of whether the dealer covered your maintenance? If I bought a ford diesel and it failed like that eco diesel you are referencing in your story, I'd probably never buy another Ford. And I'd probably do the same IF I had a gas motor fail at such low mileage.

Modern motors and modern machining techniques and manufacturing technology have vastly improved what's available to the consumer.

Disagree. Ford had extremely high failure rates on the 6L & 6.4L diesels. I owned 3 of them. If Ford would have stepped up to the plate and covered them the way Ram offers to with complete dealer service, I’d still be buying Ford. Those engines were junk and Ford never gave me a PENNY of help after the warranty expired.

The point I made with my opening post is this Ram dealer will cover failed components, beyond the warranty on not just engines, but transmissions, transfer cases, axles, etc. IF the dealer service it regularly and no signs of abuse. It’s not a 100% guarantee, but at least a very good chance.
It’s NOT just the engine.

The 6.7L Cummins engine I own does not have a high failure rate like my previous Ford diesels, so I’m not worried, but the offer of peace of mind beyond the warranty is welcome assurance.

So yes, I’d rather buy from a dealer who at least will give me a chance at helping me beyond the warranty.

 

[Hay Dude]

Did you get that guarantee verbally or in writing. If only verbal then I would say you ran into an employee that was 'selling the dealership story'. Now if you got it in writing you have a 'leg to stand on' at 100001 miles and your engine dies. By the way, I have no reason to lie either!
All, by the way I heard they fired that employee yesterday? Be prepared to hear that statement if you have problems after the warranty expires.
(Remember that 'over 90%' from the 'tech'? Hopefully you don't fall into that 10% he was covering his butt with)

No I didn’t get anything in writing. Have found in life that even contracts promised on paper ain’t worth spit sometimes, too. Seen many trucks IN warranty have warranty service refused for various BS reasons.

I did see a customers truck, long out of warranty, get a new engine right before my eyes, though. Actions speak louder than words. The eyes don’t lie.
That was the point of this thread.

That to me is even better than a verbal or paper commitment.