Wow

[E7mack96]

My turn. While I was coming back from FL, I lost an injector. My truck was laid up in Knoxville, TN for a week. I had to pay for a rental to get home to Fairfield, OH, and again when I went down to p/u the truck. It was roughly 600 miles round trip to get it. DC didn't care. At least they paid for the tow to the dealer for me.



I nearly walked away from my dodge forever at that dealer. The only thing stopping me was about 13K in negitive equity if I had walked away. (funny how money will do that to you).



I didn't think I could trust the truck ever again. After several months around town, I have ventured out on long trips with no ill effect.



I am over it now, and you will be soon. Just go get your truck and enjoy it.



BTW, how'd you pay so much for yours? If they are that much now, I'll keep this one forever.

 

[jdaigle]

E7 mack96:

I understand... ... . I will go and get it and probably drive it until the doors fall off..... weld them back on..... then drive somemore. The $54,000 is approx. sticker used for conversation purposes... . even though I need pay a lot!!!!!!!

 

[sawmillman]

I am surprised

You live in Huston and you by a truck in another state. Then a dealer that did not make any money on the transaction had to take your anger at his expense. Eveyone knows holidays are difficult to get anything done. You flew out to pick up your new truck, now fly out and get it again. It appears you put the truck threw a lot right off the bat and did not even find out if it had any bugs in it. I learned a long time ago, anything machical will break, even new. Sorry I was so blunt but I call it like I see it. Gene

 

[jwduke]

Glad I have a floor shifter.

 

[ohnoitsyu]

With regard to the remainder of your story, I think Tomeygun, the wrecker driver, and the local dealership that sent out a tech deserve a round of applause for going the extra mile.



-Ryan

HERE HERE!

As it's been said many times, problems happen. They are mechanical things. Even new Hondas have been known to have problems, so even the best of quality is not immune to issues.



It was incredible that Tomeygun and the local dealer were willing to go above and beyond their normal call of duty. Kudos to them!



I feel your pain and frustration, but remember that calmer heads prevail.

Good luck, and I hope you're satisfied with the outcome.



Lee

 

[Coolslice]

"it's normal for that part to fail" in the first day of ownership? What a joke. . If thats what DC thinks about the quality of their products, maybe I need to dump mine before I get involved with that type of BS. Not that I'm not already considering it as we speak. :-laf

 

[DIESELMAN]

... . J. D. Power's annual Initial Quality Study said owners of a Lexus SC 430 reported 54 problems per 100 vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership.....



(The average number of reported defects across the industry is 118 problems per 100 cars, youv'e experienced your 1. 18 defects)



I've had 3 problems over 4 years with two trucks and a distance greater than the earth to the moon... ..... Glad I didn't buy a Lexus POS!

 

[rbattelle]

Glad I didn't buy a Lexus POS!

Funny you should mention this. My neighbor just had a 5-month old RX-330 bought back by Lexus because of an irreparable vibration.



-Ryan

 

[evldsl]

I bought my truck a 2004. 5 with 25,000 miles and all that has happened was the auto trans had to be rebuilt under warranty, other then that I have not had 1 problem. But I haven't tried backing up with the transfer case in 4x4

 

[coobie]

I'm going through the same thing right now. My 04. 5 is starting to fall apart at 27k miles. I think we all have a false impression that a high sticker price means high quality. In this case, that's totally wrong. Aside from the engine, I think the Dodge product is on par with Daewoo in the quality dept.



To the guy who said he doesn't trust any American vehicle. I completly agree. I have owned imports all my life and I decided to try out an American vehicle because you hear so much about how the quality has improved. Now I'm seeing why I have stayed away from them for years. It's easy to people to type on here and say "Hey, it's no big deal" or "It could be worse". That is true, but when I shelled out enough money to buy a small house for a pickup truck, I have high standards. If I don't, then it would be because I have more money then brains and I can assure you that AIN'T the case! :-laf

Coolslice,sorry to hear about your truck,I kind of felt the same way you do back in the early 1980,s. I started buying hondas cars,toyota trucks. I made the switch back in the early 1990,s. The late 1980,s toyota trucks rusted like hell in 3-4 years,great engines though. Some trucks were bad some good. I bought ford and chevy only with some painful results in the late 1990,s. I tryed the dodge cummins diesel(2004)I want to say this has been the only truck I have not taken back to the dealer for squeaks,rattles and so forth. Best darn new truck I have ever bought,as far as quality,no BS. Good luck to you,I hope you have better luck with your truck. coobie

 

[midlife crisis]

Thats a Big 10-4 on what Ryan said. (and a big 10-4 on the enter thing. I actually got eye pain from reading that)

If I didnt know any better- I would have thought this was a Twilight Zone episode.

The money you spent, first time towing -encounter breakdown, call local dealer, that you didnt buy it from.

Ask for a Service call AND GET IT --ON A WEEKEND. Burnt electrical parts, dealer says "its normal".

Learn to use the Enter Button and you could write a screenplay.

Good luck with your decision- Seriously, if it was me, I'd keep it. Think of it this way- its been "Predestined". ( Like a house hit by lightning or a plane) Once its fixed its troubles are behind ya!

 

[jdaigle]

We We We We We, it doesn't only happen to me

I'm picking up the normally broken truck Friday and driving back to Houston... keep your fingers crossed

 

[MNielsen]

jdaigle,

Welcome to dodge world, first of all. I was a ferd-man and let me tell you ford is far worse than DC for customer service; in my opinion. They would not fix anything for nothing!!!1

As for the new truck breaking down, well, I fear there would've been some dnets on my new truck from "venting". what the heck ,if i'm mad I vent as to not explode (worse then venting). Well goodluck on your trip home.

Issue 50 is supposed to have the new travel guide, so put it in the glove-box to ward off evil spirits.

 

[JasonBrown]

A guy I work with had problems with a 2005 Honda Passport. He had it in for a front end vibration that nothing would get rid of. He had it to Honda 10 times in 4 months of ownership and 10K miles. Honda changed wheels, tires, front end parts, and I don't know what else over the 4 months with no success. After threatening a lemon lawsuit Honda finally agreed to give him a full refund "trade in allowance". He traded for a Honda Ridgeline.



The moral is they all have problems!

 

[jdaigle]

A very big thanks to everyone for listening, I'm feeling much better now!!!!

No need to pay big bucks for a therapist... . just pay your TDR membership instead

I look forward to many more discussions on this board and will continue leverging the broad knowledge base you guys have to offer... . cheers!!!

 

[bighammer]

Hope everything goes well from now on.

Best of luck,
Pete

 

[JTCHess]

Dodge may the best choice now when compared to ford and chevy, but that will change when toyota enters the fray. A $54k truck and a bad electric motor 5 days out. Unacceptable, period!!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

There's no such thing as a completely defect free vehicle - including Toyota. EVERYTHING manufactured will have some of them be defective soon after they are made - EVERYTHING. In the 2005 JD Powers initial quality study, Toyota had an average of 105 defects per 100,000 vehicles, Dodge had 130 defects per 100,000 vehicles. In my mind that isn't that far apart. Toyota had a defect rate of . 105% and Dodge had a defect rate of . 13%.

 

[DocDetonancour]

Had my 96 Ram for 8 years with NO TROUBLE. the 04 has also been trouble free and I paid 3 k more than the 96 was. thats more than 20 K less than the Mega! WTH? 54K is way too much cash for any rig that will be 20 something in 3 to 4 years. Doc

 

[jdaigle]

Update:

I hitched a ride with a friend back to Louisiana on Friday who happened to be in Houston working for the week... remember my 5 day old truck broken and stranded in La. I picked up the truck and headed back to Houston. . everything working great!! In Beaumount the weather started getting lousy, light drizzle with heavy traffic kicking up lots of road grim. I needed to clean my windshield so I pressed the windshield washer button..... nothing... only the wipers working no washer fluid... . tried again... . nothing only the wipers

I looked around and just started laughing and laughing... . I said to myself just be glad your rolling why are you expecting so much!!!! I got home checked to make sure the washer fluid bottle was full... . it was... . it should be... . the truck only has 1200 miles. I looked at all connections. . everything appears connected..... I start laughing again

Heading back to the shop this week... . the truck seems to like the shop, probably has made many new friends there, although I don't think it liked the wrecker ride. . must have been a bad experience since it's still rolling



Jason