Mopar warranty....

[Wild Bill]

2015 2500 4x4 Cummins
Facts... amazing truck. Healthy...
The rest of the story...
Took the truck to a local shop for the 60k service. They’ve been in town since I was a kid.20+ yrs ago.

3k latter tranny blows. I’m in KY.

Dealership in KY says mech put wrong fluid in tranny.

Mech proves false, with a compatable fluid.

Dealership asks to tear into tranny (I assume a mistake on me here), I approve.

They find “ loose tranny pan bolts, a hole in a “”aftermarket filter”” and degrade craftsmanship of the job.

Dealership finds entire power train warranty void for aftermarket parts.

Mech looking into issue...


I talk with an Audi mech buddy at a high level In Audi... he says the mech is prolly wrong. Dealerships don’t head hunt, and to caution their side “”generally””


Thoughts...

My wife is about to abort my scalp... the dealership has me wondering. The mech has me confused. I thought I was doing the right thing at 58k. I’m about to coast it off a cliff and buy a pinto.

[Mark Brenckle]

I'd ask the dealer to document and take pics of everything they found, fix it and ssk the garage to reimburse you for it. If the local garage has been around that long, I'd think they'd work with you to make it right.

[timberghost72]

Read your warranty and owners manual. Aftermarket parts shouldn't void a warranty as long as they meet or exceed factory specs. Most do. Especially filters since most shops don't use factory filters. You're not required to have a vehicle serviced at a dealer either. At least from what I have known. May have changed? All of my previous vehicles have stated all of this. Also, if you did the work yourself, all you'd need is receipts for the parts. That being said, if the repair shop did poor workmanship than that's a different story but it sounds like they won't cover because of aftermarket parts and that is what they stated.

[JWEBB]

Wow so sorry to hear about this. Bad luck for sure. A truck that nice and practically new shouldn’t be having any problems like that. Hopefully everything gets resolved and someone is held responsible. In my opinion there had to be some hackjob work done

[jackelope]

First. Accessing the pan and filter does not, in any way, shape or form involve “tearing into” the transmission. It involves a bunch of small bolts and maybe 15 minutes of work unscrewing said  bolts. Loose transmission pan bolts won’t cause a transmission to fail unless all the fluid leaked out via a failing pan seal due to loose bolts.

Second. If they say there’s a “hole” in the filter have them show it to you. They have to prove that part X caused the failure in order to decline warranty coverage. This is more involved than someone just saying so. If there’s shoddy workmanship and a transmission filter that is faulty, then that’s not the dealership’s problem or Chrysler’s problem. That fault lies on the shop who installed the parts.

Third. If there is a bunch of aftermarket performance parts installed in the drivetrain of the vehicle, then maybe there shouldn’t be any powertrain warranty. What sorts of aftermarket parts are we talking about? You can’t completely modify the drivetrain of a vehicle and then expect the manufacturer to pay for it.

I would ask them to show you the faulty filter or whatever caused your problems and have them explain to you, in person standing at your truck, why there is no warranty coverage for the failure.  Aftermarket parts do fail, as do factory parts. The fault lies in whose parts failed causing the problem.

Need more info. Bottom line.

[jackelope]

Regarding the shop putting the wrong fluid in the transmission...is there an itemized invoice saying what fluid they did put in the transmission?

[jackelope]

I talk with an Audi mech buddy at a high level In Audi... he says the mech is prolly wrong. Dealerships don’t head hunt, and to caution their side “”generally””

What does this mean?

[Wild Bill]

The truck has zero aftermarket anything on. Bone stock.
They are calling the filter aftermarket somehow.

They are very hung up on the loose bolts proving that the work “was shorty”.
I have a picture of the filter with a tear in the seam, but have no clue how they could prove loose bolts, or the tear wasn’t done when they tried to remove it.

Invoice shows a compatable filter, and a compatable fluid.

[Wild Bill]

I talk with an Audi mech buddy at a high level In Audi... he says the mech is prolly wrong. Dealerships don’t head hunt, and to caution their side “”generally””

What does this mean?

He was the boss man at Audi. Basically he said they have no real reason or gain to feed a line of bs despite what people think. And often time prefer tomwarranty it vs have a consumer pay as the money is guaranteed, and the consumer comes back.

[Wild Bill]

Got off the phone with the dealership....
So I slightly misunderstood.
They have not tried to warranty the tranny nor notified Chrysler as they feel the warranty would no doubt be voided if they do. So they’re standing by waiting on me.

The local shop swears all was well.

The truck ran fine from 58-63 k no issues...

Not sure if I should try a lawyer, or risk the warranty.

[gasman]

I have had nothing but good experiance with Mopar warranty, one of the best in the market from my experience.
Stick to your guns, make sure either the lo am shop covers the cost of repairs for possible shotty workmanship,  or Mopar warranty it.

Hope it works out the best for you.

On a side note, I only take my vehicle to dealership for work during warranty coverage for this very reason. All work is documented in there computer, but after that, I'll do the work my self. It's even cheaper to have the dealership do my oil change on diesel motor,  $69 And then they call me with  a survey and after I do the phone survey I get a $25 off any service on my next visit 

[Knocker of rocks]

Got off the phone with the dealership....
So I slightly misunderstood.
They have not tried to warranty the tranny nor notified Chrysler as they feel the warranty would no doubt be voided if they do. So they’re standing by waiting on me.

The local shop swears all was well.

The truck ran fine from 58-63 k no issues...

Not sure if I should try a lawyer, or risk the warranty.

Is it a Mopar warranty, or an aftermarket extended warranty at this point?

If they say there’s a “hole” in the filter have them show it to you. They have to prove that part X caused the failure in order to decline warranty coverage. This is more involved than someone just saying so. If there’s shoddy workmanship and a transmission filter that is faulty, then that’s not the dealership’s problem or Chrysler’s problem. That fault lies on the shop who installed the parts.

Would a "hole" in a tranny filter even cause a broken in transmission to fail in only 3,000 miles?   This isn't an engine, seems like you could run without a filter and all would be fine? 

Am I crazy to think this?

Maybe the filter supplies some needed back pressure for the valve box to operate correctly?   The last AT filter I changed was in a 1982 Chevy S10 with 62K original miles, so I may know squat for modern stuff.

[Woodchuck]

Stick to your guns and push them to warranty it. Do some research, what brand filter was put in it? There is a decent possibility that it is the same company that sells them to Dodge. Loose pan bolts mean nothing unless there was a leak, have they mentioned lack of fluid? If not, the bolts mean nothing. I am in no way an auto trans guy, but with my limited knowledge I just don't see a "tear near the seam" destroying a trans in 3k miles. 

[jackelope]

The truck has zero aftermarket anything on. Bone stock.
They are calling the filter aftermarket somehow.

They are very hung up on the loose bolts proving that the work “was shorty”.
I have a picture of the filter with a tear in the seam, but have no clue how they could prove loose bolts, or the tear wasn’t done when they tried to remove it.

Invoice shows a compatable filter, and a compatable fluid.

I spent 10-ish years working for a Chrysler dealer and have worked for Ford for the last 5.5 years.  I sort of know how it works.

If the filter wasn't a Mopar filter, it is an aftermarket filter. Has no bearing on warranty or not. You can maintain your truck however you see fit. As long as you do it when you're supposed to, you're fine. You can do it yourself if you want...just keep a record of what you did when.  Keep receipts of the parts you purchased, maybe a log with date and miles, etc. That's all you need to do.

If the truck has zero aftermarket modifications, then there are zero reasons for them to void your entire powertrain warranty. Literally zero reasons.

They can't void the entire powertrain warranty because you put an aftermarket filter in the transmission. When you say entire powertrain, to me that means engine and all internally lubricated components, transmission, transfer case, front and rear differentials, hubs, etc. They simply won't do that.

The dealer has to be able to prove that whatever they're saying caused the failure actually caused the failure. So...if they can prove that loose trans pan bolts caused your trans to fail, then you're in trouble....but they can't. 

I talk with an Audi mech buddy at a high level In Audi... he says the mech is prolly wrong. Dealerships don’t head hunt, and to caution their side “”generally””

What does this mean?

He was the boss man at Audi. Basically he said they have no real reason or gain to feed a line of bs despite what people think. And often time prefer tomwarranty it vs have a consumer pay as the money is guaranteed, and the consumer comes back.

Warranty work is easy money. 99% of dealership service advisors and service managers are paid by commission. There is more gross profit in a warranty transmission replacement than there is in a customer pay unit. We make a lot of money doing warranty work.

[jackelope]

Got off the phone with the dealership....
So I slightly misunderstood.
They have not tried to warranty the tranny nor notified Chrysler as they feel the warranty would no doubt be voided if they do. So they’re standing by waiting on me.

The local shop swears all was well.

The truck ran fine from 58-63 k no issues...

Not sure if I should try a lawyer, or risk the warranty.

They don't have to "try" to cover the transmission under warranty. They disassemble it, report their findings to Chrysler and Chrysler tells them whether to fix it or replace it. If the transmission failed because of the filter, your aftermarket shop should be covering the repair. If not, Chrysler should be covering the repair. There would be no reason to void the warranty on your entire powertrain. They just can't do that...

Have you talked to the service manager through all of this and asked him to prove whatever they're saying caused the failure of your transmission? Or are you just dealing with a service advisor?