Wish me Luck! Truck at Dealer!

[BCFAST]

I need your thoughts and prayers, guys. My beloved "Grinch" is in the hospital at the hands of the factory-trained quacks! Am getting the steering column clunk fixed (a TSB) and the cruise control fixed... and of course they had to order the parts. I just hope the power windows and A/C still work when I get it back.

 

[jjohnson1177]

I guess I'm lucky because I've always got great service from the Dodge dealer here in Lawton. Most of the mechanics have been there for well over 20 years and know what they are doing. If you're ever around Lawton, Oklahoma stop by Eddie Cordes Dodge Inc. I think you'll be impressed.

 

[rrl989]

Best of luck. Whatever time it would take you to do the job (assuming you do not know anything about anything), Double the labor and cost, and you should have a pretty good idea what your friendly DC shop is going to charge.



I paid DC $1750 for a OD case (spun bearing ?) and thrust bearing replacement. A completely new 4th gear OD unit costs $1350, go figure. Thanks, Riverhead Dodge you guys really earn your 5 star rating !!!





Ron





PS- I realize there are some professional mechanics who post on the website. I'm sure even DC has many experienced pro's working for them, just not at my local shop, besides, my beefs with the service manager, not the mechanic.

 

[Archive]

BCFast... good luck! Kind of scary to take it in when even the lot boys will have a hand on it. Let us know!

 

[SteveH]

We are blessed with a really good 5 Star dealership in Billings. The only thing I notice when I get my truck back, is that they have been hot rodding it!! There's always something thrown from the little jockie box onto the floor that they missed picking up, leaving behind the evidence of some pretty quick starts.

Steve H.

 

[BCFAST]

Holy Overcharge, Batman!!

Well, with rediculously over-priced parts and a shop rate of $72/hr... I just spent another $300 I dont have! The TSD on the steering column collar supposedly billed . 3 hours, and I was charged . 8 = $57. 60. the part was $51. The cruise control diagnosis was a bad vacuum servo. Part was $37. 50, labor $130. And even though the cruise works correctly, I still have a small clunk left in the front end. I can induce it by swerving at slow speed... . it seems to be comming from the left side. Any ideas? At least it isnt comming up thru the steering wheel!

 

[BK]

Ron,



Ya, I've been to Riverhead myself. Bought my truck there, as did friends. I give the sales department there a #1 rating. Very honest and do work to close the deal without the fluff and double talk. No after the sale, sales garbage..... It was a pleasure to buy from them. I'll go back.





But the service, while they tried, I wasn't happy with the end results. It took three tries before they could fix my Transfer Case rear output shaft seal leak. If they had followed the FSM to begin with, it would have been only one try.



I will admit that they did their best at times to squezze me in, but with the hitch recall I ran into problems... wound up buying a new reese hitch myself and installing it to get ride of their POS.



I got a nice chip in my hood from one visit.



Bad information on another... in the middle of trying to fix the TC leak, the "drive line" head mechanic told me that I should run the fluid level much lower, that the level is too high as specified and it instigates leaks... . @#$#@$ numb nuts... the yoke had a badly machined surface and that's what was eating the rear seal... .



During another visit they noted on the repair slip that they road tested it, I know they didn't , they told me they didn't ... the reason they didnt was - too windy and wouldn't be able to make a judgement on my steering complaint.



I lost a transmission line while towing up to NH. I had to hit a local dealer in a small town (by NY standards. . big for NH). They were in Littleton NH, Crosstown Motors, Dodge...



They squezzed me in, ordered the part, called when they said they would, squezzed me in to install the transmission line... .

There's more to the story, all good on how they handled it, but thats the short of it.

Thanks Nate Friend, he was the Service Adivsor in Littleton that took care of our needs and got us back together again.





Bob

 

[Missouri Mule]

BCFast,

I feel your pain and so does Grinch (your truck)! Shame on you bringing it to a dealer to work on.

Hopefully it was a warranty item that brought you there.



I will gladly keep Grinch in my thoughts and prayers and I will reluctantly keep your demented mind/soul/heart in them too.



I just hope they don't steal his power away (yours too) I would hate to leave a fellow member in my black sooty exhaust smoke from my stock engine!





Forgot to mentioned I have to bring mine in for the throttle cable recall. I check my cable now and then it looks like new and it has the plastic sheath. But they mite have to do the linkage ( I hope not I just got the linkage broken in right).

 

[kcv67]

I brought my truck to the dealer friday, for three recalls. The fan relay switch, the hood latch and throttle cable. They had the truck done when it was promised. I asked to see the old parts the service manager gave me a blank stare and went back to the service bay. While he was back there he found a end off of the throttle linkage that was broke and said the throttle cable was already replaced so it didnt need replacing. The hood latch looked good so that was greased, electrical for the fan switch looked good. I was wondering how they broke the end off the linkage when they didnt replace the trottle cable. So I looked at the linkage and it was bent and I no longer had full throttle adjustment. So I have no idea what all they molested and violated on my truck. I am pretty disapointed. I went away with no answers and had to work on my truck when I got home to finish their job they didnt do.

 

[illflem]

Casey, sounds like you went to Grizzly, I hear bad reports on them. Should of gone south to Bell-McCall in Hamilton. Small shop= good work.

 

[catoiler]

Throtle linkage put on wrong

took my 96 in for the throtle cable,ign. switch,trailer wiring. got it back broke!! went back got into it with service writer told him i would fix it right my self he said if anything went wrong it was on my head,told him thats why i wanted to fix it myself did not trust morons working on my baby!told him i have more expierience working on autos and trucks than him!(he must have been all of 30 yrs old) fixed the thing in about 20 min. runs great again.

 

[BCFAST]

Just noticed yesterday... after having dealer work on my steering column, my horn doesnt work! Don-cha just love it!