First disapointmnet with DC on my Magnum RT

So I took my 05 Magnum RT in today to correct a nasty pull to the right
problem. Dealer had it all morning, and came back with same problem (I
could have sworn it's actually worse)

I intend to give them 3 shots at it, then I want a new car. So sad that a
company that can design and build such a fantastic engine, and such a
fantastic ride, and a super cool body, can't fix a simple god&*%n alignment
problem!

I wonder if they will replace my tires that are wearing wrong?

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

 

I believe there is a tsb on it. Perhaps you should tell them. Nah, wait
till they hit the lemon law limit in your state. Check your manual.... the
law should be there. Meanwhile drive the hell out of the car.

 

The tsb covers cars before my build date!

The Service Manager for that dealership finally confessed after I threatened
them with calling the TV, He has the same car as mine, and same problem.
Chrysler is making a replacement part for the problem.

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

 

Typical chrysler...great styling...terrible build quality...50% resale value in
2 years...Take it from someone who has been driving Chryslers for 25 + years.
I have learned my lesson....

 

Bunch of crap. Honda had to replace auto transmissions on their minivans
and Acura's because they were failing all over the place. Sh?t happens.

 

Wish it didn't happen with my car! less than 2 weeks into ownership!

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

 

Even if they admit the problem, it doesn't follow that the problem will
be fixed (for whatever reason - incompetence or lack of integrity).

The laws of physics being what they are (i.e., constant), you could have
a plan B which would involve taking the matters into your own hands and
finding out what the alignment parameters are compared to the specs and
limits (including the bilateral tolerances - sometimes those are
overlooked, yet are often important in a pulling situation) - this may
have to be done on your nickel thru a cooperative independent shop (one
that does print outs and will talk to you like an adult, i.e., will go
over the information at hand so that the root cause can be identified
and fixed).

Otherwise you're at the mercy of someone who either may not understand
how to analyze the situation or not have the initiative or incentive to
get to the bottom of it. Not saying you shouldn't pursue any number of
options, including the lemon law if it comes to that, but if you wanted
to keep that vehicle and fix it yourself so that you have a vehicle that
is enjoyable to drive (after all that is the goal), then you may want to
consider plan B.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

You make a lot of sense. At this point though, my pennies on that car will
go to mods, and Chrysler will fix the pulling rather quickly or give me a
new car soon.

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

 

..........must not be very smart if it has taken 25 years to learn a lesson!!!!!

 

Had the exact same experience when I bought my Intrepid (although a
different problem). The day I drove off the lot I noticed a loud
oscillating noise from the front passenger side. I brought it back and
they looked it over and found nothing wrong.

I brought it back the next day and took the service manager for a ride.
He called it "an aggressive tire design".

I brought it back the third day and I got the hardball "what will it
take to make you happy" treatment from the sales manager.

So I took the car to a different dealership and left 45 minutes later
with a new wheel bearing, and the car has been quiet as a kitten ever since.

A few weeks later I really enjoyed filling out a maintenance
satisfaction survey regarding the original dealership.

BTW: I agree with Mikeygmoed in this thread. I bought the Intrepid
mostly for the price and styling. I don't think these will factor in as
highly next time. Problems with my Intrepid to date:

- Rack and pinion failed + related problems caused by it.
- Bad wheel bearings (both front bearings replaced now).
- Cam sensor failed.
- drivers side seat retaining bolts failed. I actually fixed this
myself after the first failure. It lasted until a dealership "fixed" it
again without consulting me on a recall. Those failed too.
- Power steering pump blew out.
- Rear power window acuator failed.
- Front and rear rotors lasted all of one brake pad lifetime.
- Air conditioning compressor is failing and makes screaming loud noise.
- Front spoiler came loose under wind load.
- interior trim hiding side mirror access snapped off, both sides, from
opening and closing doors.
- Steering wheel veneer has in large part rubbed off.
- Trunk lock cylinder failed. Driver's side door lock cylinder
occasionally jams up.

And the kicker is, after thousands in repairs, I still live in fear of
the "big one" for this unsellable car: the sludge problem with it's 2.7
litre engine. Although, I seem to be immune, perhaps for the same
reasons another poster in this group mentioned: 3000 mile oil changes,
always with a filter, and the fact that the bulk of wear on this car is
through a 70 km each way daily commute. The engine has 115,000 miles
on it with no apparent sludge problem. I have decided to use synthetic
oil from now on since recently learning about this problem.

BTW: If you suspect I'm hard on my vehicles, my car before that was a
Pontiac Sunfire that I sold at 200,000 kms and never repaired a single
thing. The car before that was a Ford Taurus that I sold at over
200,000 kms and never repaired a thing.

 

You were lucky on your Taurus. I had 2 91's and were it not for the
extended warranties I bought they would have just about bankrupt me.

 

I think mine was a '91 or '92. But I only offered it as support that my
Intrepid troubles are not end user related.

 

All of the other problems in your list are some of the more common
failures on the 2nd gen LH's - probably unusual that all would be
experienced on one sample vehicle, but that was apparently the luck of
your draw. I do find it unusual that the rear rotors failed - they
generally last *quite* a long time (not so the fronts - that seems to
vary) - probably the life of three or more front rotors to one rear.
Perhaps the rears were replaced unnecessarily. But the rest of your
list is certainly credible.

I'm probably that other poster that you refer to. BTW - I changed out
my oil pan this past weekend (due to stripped out drain plug threads),
and as promised, took some digi-pics of the bottom end of the engine and
pickup screen and inside of the old pan (after 120k miles). Will try to
get them hosted and linked sometime in the next week.

Re: switching over to synthetic - with the mileage and tendencies of the
2.7L, I would advise gradually transitioning over to full synthetic
rather than a sudden switch. Something like 1 qt. synth. to 4 qts.
mineral for the first change, change it (oil & filter) after 1000 miles
with 2 qts. synth to 3 qts. mineral, change it (oil & filter) after 2000
miles with 3-to-2, than 3000 miles 4 to 1, then full synth at the
schedule that you decide on. This is in case there is some sludge
(there will always be some, 2.7 or otherwise), and you want it to be
released and discarded in a controlled manner. Some people go with
quick flushes before the switchover, but that seems to me to be asking
for trouble if there is more sludge than you think that happens to not
have become problematic yet.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

That may be. I wasn't in the mood to argue at the time. They looked
pretty bad to me, but maybe they could have been turned.

Yeah, it's my understanding that most of these things are fairly common.

You are, but you may not remember the last time I crossed paths with
you. Either that, or you're a bigger man than me. ;^) Either way, I
appreciate the response.

Funny: that's another thing that has happened three times now: a
stripped drain plug (not the pan threads, the drain plug). The most
recent time, I had to weld a box wrench to the bolt head to get it out.
I chalked it up to idiotic quick-lube places, maybe there's something
more to it?

So, the synthetic oil will flush out any existing sludge? Interesting
and thanks for the advice. I may look to an alternatvie additive like
yourself in the meantime.

Thanks again.

P.S., Out of interest, as stated, I bought the Interpid for price and
styling (as well as size - I need a decent sized car). There were no
other full size cars even close to the same price. However, if the
motor goes on this car, I will be approaching 50% of the original
purchase price in repairs. This certainly makes me rethink whether I
could have afforded that Acura 3.2TL.

 

I think if you were happy in the Intrepid you would have been less happy in
the Acura no matter what the price. My neighbor bought one and although he
initially loved it the auto door relocking after you get out drove him
crazy. That and other reasons led him to buy American next time around.
I've found one way to almost guarantee minimum problems with a Chrysler is
to buy the extended warranty. Somehow the car seems to know who will be
footing the bill. LOL.

 

I agree with Bill. I don't see the fun owning a car if you can't understand
what is happening to it. The alignment geometry is not complicated. You need
to be more curious about it, for the sake of your own enjoyment. Unless you
enjoy even more getting all prissy with the Chrysler dealer, calling the
customer service folks, picketing the dealership, and threatening to sue
them and all that stuff. If it was me, I'd enjoy knowing which of my tires
got cambered wrong, and why. But that's just me. I don't think it's too nice
to expect a guy with a high school education to fix a machine that was built
by 500 engineers, and then holler and threaten and complain and file reports
with the BBB if he can't. I realize my point of view isn't popular. I guess
I'm not a "consumerist".

 

You weld under your car, but don't change your own oil? I think I missed
something there.

When threads come off, it's always the user's fault, isn't it? I mean, you
can't really come to any other conclusion. The temptation to tighten too
much is oooooh so great. Threads are so simple to cut, you can't really
blame the object. If it's soft like aluminum, for example, it won't take
much abuse, but even then the user is supposed to know that too.

 

Sometimes, sometimes not. Maybe you're not as busy as me. As in, job,
child, wife, house. Maybe you are. I just spent 3 days of a precious
long weekend rebuilding my front porch. Did you change your oil? I
didn't. But, apparently, I do have one of the few 2.7l engines over
100,000 miles that haven't completely failed. You tell me.

Yes. Did I come across as implying otherwise?

Well, my greater source of anger is the lack of washer installed by the
last place that changed my oil.

Not sure what your point is. Of *course* it's a user related problem.
If you're objecting to my mentioning it in a thread of complaints about
the quality of my car, you might want to notice I was asking, not claiming.

 

You may be right! But for now I just want to bitch uncontrollably!

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

 

Yeah - something didn't sound right about that. I took it to mean that
the hex of the plug had rounded off, but maybe he did mean the threads
of the plug. Whichever of the two sounds weird being that its steel and
the pan is (soft) aluminum. Anything that would have otherwise rounded
off the head or stripped the plug threads would have stripped out the
pan threads first. Maybe he'll come back with a clarification.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")