Attention: TDR Forum Junkies Alright, I was a little deceptive on the title to this thread it did not blow up and spew steam and leak oil and die on the road, but read on... something sure blew out!!
My next door neighbor owns a '01 4x4 2500 24v. He has been slowly gaining interest in the '03, largely due to my order of one and this website. Well yesterday we decided to go down to the dealer to get a test drive. My neighbor has bought many a vehicle from this dealer, see my neighbor's father was a Chrysler employee so he gets the double super secret deep pocket discount when he buys Chrysler vehicles. We go in and see the fleet manager, who my neighbor knows from past purchases, and we find out that the dealer has two identical '03 3500 4x4 SRW (ST Trim) trucks on the lot and the manager goes and gets one for us to test drive.
Well the three of us head out on the test drive, I am riding shotgun and my neighbor is driving. We are in city, stop and go traffic heading to the interstate and my neighbor is commenting on how nice the ride is, good the steering and brakes are compared to his '01, etc. As we pull away from a light, I say, "Man this thing is just a SO Cummins (has the 47RE), but it has more get up and go than your '01 (which is stock), give it a little pedal. " Neighbor replies, "This thing only has 25 miles on it, you aren't supposed to get on it until it is broken in, you can hurt it. " Fleet manager from the back seat says, "You aren't going to buy this truck, drive it like you stole it!"
We get to the next light and we accelerate away and I look at my buddy, thinking to myself "Gas it sissy. " He appears to be concentrating real hard like he thinks he is giving it hell but it is just slowly accelerating. Nobody, calls him out, we just keep driving... A little further down the road we come to the interstate on ramp which is going up an incline. We start up the onramp and at about 25 mph my neighbor gives her between 3/4 and full pedal. The truck drops down a gear and slowly starts to accelerate about 2 seconds later it is up to 28 mph, when "BAMM!!" a big damn backfire sounds comes from under the hood.
Well my neighbor and I exchange that famous, "Oh crap, this may cost big money, look" and my neighbor looks sheepishly in the rearview mirror at the fleet manager and says, "You want me to pull over, that did not sound to good... "
Well, a quick scan of the gauges showed everything "normal" and the truck was still running, although noticiably louder than before, so we just limped back to dealer and pulled the now 32 mile broke virgin truck into the service lane. Turns out my neighbor thought the truck was down on power from the start of the test drive, but was going to wait until he got on the interstate to comment on it if it continued. Fleet manager, although giving my neighbor a good ration of crap about, "How do you want to pay for your truck. " "Come over here and sign this service ticket", "We detail this truck up and you can get it tonight", etc. , went and got the broken truck's sister vehicle for us to drive. We took the sister truck for a ride and everything was fine.
In summary, good thing my neighbor and I are die hard Dodge/Cummins fans, 'cause an experience like that could send a gun shy Ferd and/or Duramax fan running back home to mama!! Don't know what the problem with the first truck was yet, sounded like some turbo plumbing or exhaust plumbing/manifold blew off or blew loose, cause it got loud and had no power...
What a crazy test drive, though you all would want to know...
My next door neighbor owns a '01 4x4 2500 24v. He has been slowly gaining interest in the '03, largely due to my order of one and this website. Well yesterday we decided to go down to the dealer to get a test drive. My neighbor has bought many a vehicle from this dealer, see my neighbor's father was a Chrysler employee so he gets the double super secret deep pocket discount when he buys Chrysler vehicles. We go in and see the fleet manager, who my neighbor knows from past purchases, and we find out that the dealer has two identical '03 3500 4x4 SRW (ST Trim) trucks on the lot and the manager goes and gets one for us to test drive.
Well the three of us head out on the test drive, I am riding shotgun and my neighbor is driving. We are in city, stop and go traffic heading to the interstate and my neighbor is commenting on how nice the ride is, good the steering and brakes are compared to his '01, etc. As we pull away from a light, I say, "Man this thing is just a SO Cummins (has the 47RE), but it has more get up and go than your '01 (which is stock), give it a little pedal. " Neighbor replies, "This thing only has 25 miles on it, you aren't supposed to get on it until it is broken in, you can hurt it. " Fleet manager from the back seat says, "You aren't going to buy this truck, drive it like you stole it!"
We get to the next light and we accelerate away and I look at my buddy, thinking to myself "Gas it sissy. " He appears to be concentrating real hard like he thinks he is giving it hell but it is just slowly accelerating. Nobody, calls him out, we just keep driving... A little further down the road we come to the interstate on ramp which is going up an incline. We start up the onramp and at about 25 mph my neighbor gives her between 3/4 and full pedal. The truck drops down a gear and slowly starts to accelerate about 2 seconds later it is up to 28 mph, when "BAMM!!" a big damn backfire sounds comes from under the hood.
Well my neighbor and I exchange that famous, "Oh crap, this may cost big money, look" and my neighbor looks sheepishly in the rearview mirror at the fleet manager and says, "You want me to pull over, that did not sound to good... " Well, a quick scan of the gauges showed everything "normal" and the truck was still running, although noticiably louder than before, so we just limped back to dealer and pulled the now 32 mile broke virgin truck into the service lane. Turns out my neighbor thought the truck was down on power from the start of the test drive, but was going to wait until he got on the interstate to comment on it if it continued. Fleet manager, although giving my neighbor a good ration of crap about, "How do you want to pay for your truck. " "Come over here and sign this service ticket", "We detail this truck up and you can get it tonight", etc. , went and got the broken truck's sister vehicle for us to drive. We took the sister truck for a ride and everything was fine.
In summary, good thing my neighbor and I are die hard Dodge/Cummins fans, 'cause an experience like that could send a gun shy Ferd and/or Duramax fan running back home to mama!! Don't know what the problem with the first truck was yet, sounded like some turbo plumbing or exhaust plumbing/manifold blew off or blew loose, cause it got loud and had no power...
What a crazy test drive, though you all would want to know...
What came off?
