warranty or lack of .. metal on metal noise

[mmeyn]

Ok have a 2003 6spd HO 4x4. had for a little over a year bought new, and has a little over 40000 miles on it. Started to notice a noise and wasnt sure what the heck it was. Checked the truck front to back no sign of anything unusual. Transfer case was a tad low everything else was good to go. drove the truck around now there is no noise until you hit about 45 once you hit 45 it starts , no matter what gear you are in tried out of gear , T case in Neutral and once you hit 45 that noise is there no matter what clutch in out no difference. Noise got a little louder so I took a friend with me he was stumped. You could almost feel somthing out of wack not really a vibration but just an unusual feel . Buddy opened up back sliding window and stuck his head out and said damn that sounds like metal on metal. . Took the truck into the dealer and took them for a drive. Stumped to and they guessed it must be somthing in the transmission. Although never had any problem with shifting at all. They had it for a day and a half called and said it was 5th gear they had had a problem with a truck and 5th was banging into 6th inside the transmission. Ok no problem. Well didnt hear from them for a cpl of days so I stopped in. . Truck is in pieces and told hey its your clutch. I was like ok damn what did it do come apart. went over and yea the clutch didnt look new but was completely intact no unusal wear , although was just about to the rivets and they said I had a cpl of heat spots on my pressure plate and the throughout bearing was dry. Ok so you think this is the problem? why? well your clutch is worn down. Now this isnt my first truck let me tell you I have seen some torn up clutches and throughout bearings that never made a noise like this. and for 40000 miles seems quick for a clutch to go. anyhow I asked why they thought that was the problem and he said in there opinion that was the noise and it needed to be replaced anyhow. I disagreed and asked so your going to make me buy the clutch and all ? Yes well I dont think that is the noise , and they for some reason think it is. So I asked if you put this back together and that noise is still there what?? well I am still going to have to pay for the clutch but they will work somthing out with me on the labor. BS I say. . why dont you take a look in the transmission , and they say they cant cause if they take the transmission apart and find nothing they wont get paid . So I get stuck with the bill of them trying to troubleshoot this noise huh. . Then he tells me I am going to have to pay a deductible if it is somthing in the transmission or t case, what deductible?? what happend to that drive terrain warranty??? anyone having any advice or knowledge of how there troubleshooting is suppose to work?? I tell you what if that noise is still there I am not paying a damn penny of the clutch. Any advice would really help me out. Sounds to me like this dealer doesnt know whats going on and this is just a line of BS . So please if anyone has and suggestions give me a shout. . Thanks sorry so long but this dealer is a pain in my a*^ right now.

 

[lmills]

I don't know what help to offer you. However I can tell you when they replaced mine at 25,000 miles it was like brand new with hardly any wear. Of course I spend most of my time on the road also.

 

[jelag]

The release bearing has no pressure on it when the clutch pedal is in the rest position... The bearing design is such that it would fail from lack of grease and wear out if it spun with a load on it all the time..... As the fork retracts and the bearing releases from the cover assembly there should be a slight air gap between the two parts... . this being said. . your noise is not the bearing... as you heard it going down the road with your foot off the clutch... .



A bad disc will make a metal to metal snap noice if there is a miss alignment problem with the engine and transmission... the input shaft is sitting at a slight angle... and each rotation of the disc as its locked between the flywheel and cover assembly will allow the broken metal to rub... . and make the snap noise... . I've seen this a lot on Fords but hardly ever on the dodge...



I've also seen a bad needle bearing in one of the Ujoints bind up and cause a snap noise you can hear from the cab... and I'm guessing that they don't the drive shaft completly apart. . this might be a problem...



I'm with the other guys... if they didn't fix it. . you shouldn't have to pay for their learning curve... . we all do to some extent... . but shouldn't have to.....



Hope I've been of some help... .



Jim

 

[rbattelle]

Well, you've really got no choice right now except to shell out the cash for the clutch job. Just relax and accept it... keep your blood pressure low.



So what might happen?

1. The new clutch solves the problem and you walk away a happy customer (albeit several hundred dollars poorer).

2. The new clutch doesn't fix the problem. In this case you calmly negotiate with them to get the real problem fixed under warranty and work out some sort of refund for your clutch job.



I strongly urge you to retrieve the old clutch and all the parts from it before they wind up in the trash! That way you've got something tangible in case you really have to fight them.

 

[mmeyn]

Well guess what. . it was the u joints in the front axle how about that. . after pulling all this crap apart here was the problem. well while they had the transmission off they saw that the rear main seal was leaking. fixed that. . seems like I should be getting a break from the labor charges on the clutch job since they had to repair the rear main huh. . well guess I will find out soon. . anyhow This is how smart they are. Dodge doesnt let the replace the ujoints they had to order a whole new drive shaft. great. . I just hope that vibration didnt screw up my t case. . not on the best of terms with the dealer right now. . I argued with them about the clutch not being the problem but they insisted even tried getting the GM in on it she said if I didnt like the service go back to where I bought the truck at and my thoughts about the problem where pointless becuse thats what they have "certified techs " for. . isnt it great. . what a warranty program. . after this I maybe going back to Ford there customer service was always outstanding. . anyhow. . thats the story for now

 

[Boonieman]

I've been thru the lousy service department experience before and it's no fun at all. After doing some looking around though, I found out there there are some really good ones out there too. As far as Ford having outstanding service, suggest you take a little visit to dieselstop.com and do a little browsing. Best of luck and hope they end up treating you right.