Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | |||
| 06/26/2004 | 32500 | 2 | 09/15/2003 |
| I own a 2003 dodge ram 1500 4x4 quad cab slt vin 1d7-hu18n53s-188168 assembly point, warren, michigan. the truck stalled while in traffic making a 10-15 mph right turn. the second occurence was july15, 2004. very close call here. i was in the smokey mountains camping. the six hour drive home towing my popup was nerve racking to say the least. especially, since my 13, 6 and 3 year old were in the truck. i mentioned that the truck runs extremely rough intermittently to the dealer morgan dodge durham north carolina on at least two occasions. i am also experiencing an intermittent shudder that seems to be coming from the transmission, also mentioned to the dealer on at least two occasions. the dealer simply said that they could not reproduce the shudder or stall. i also had a severe brake pulsation. they did replace front pads and calipers and cut rotors. they were supposed to follow up with me regarding the shudder and stall but as of this date, 7/18/2004 i have not yet receive a call back. | |||
| 12/16/2003 | 500 | 8 | 10/03/2002 |
| When going from reverse to drive, at times engine idles rough and rpm's drop to about 350-400 rpm. approximately 75% of the time it happens the engine quits. the other 25% of the time it happens the rpm's increase after a short period of time (20seconds to 1 minute) and if still in gear the truck will lurch forward when rpms increase. pressing the accelerator to increase rpm's does not affect rpm's when engine is stumbling and truck will not move. dealer has been notified, known problem with engine programming. problem has existed since truck was new.*ak | |||
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE | |||
| 10/29/2005 | 84400 | 1 | 09/25/2004 |
| Sept. 2004 bought 2003 dodge quad cab w/hemi. had approximately 34,000 miles on it. truck was in great shape,ran good,drove good. then in oct,2005,had a valve spring break on left side of motor,causing motor to lock-up. at this time the truck had 84,400 miles on it. we live 30 miles from our jobs,so we put a lot of miles on our vehicles. i called daimler-chrysler to see if they would either fix the truck,or at least help with the repairs(after all,you would think that a hemi motor should be good for a lot longer than 80,000 miles).daimler-chrysler said that they would need a certified dodge dealershipto check out the truck to see what exactly happened and why it happened. i had the truck towed to the local dealership(savannah dodge,savannah,ga).they confirmed the broken valve spring and broken valve. the mechanic at the dealership said that he has seen a few of these same problems,and the fix is to replace the head(it was damaged)use new valves and valve springs(with newheavy-duty valve springs).he also suggested that i replace the valve springs on the other head with these newheavy-dutyvalve springs. i called daimler-chrysler again and told them what their five-star dealership said. after calling daimler-chrysler several more times,they said that they(daimler-chrysler)would call the dealership and then decide if they would or could help with the repairs. needless to say,i had to call daimler-chrysler back(they do not return phone calls)they said that they would not help with the repairs because(1)i did not buy this truck new(2)it was out of the 70,000 mile warranty(3)because i did not have receipts of my oil changes(i am a mechanic of 25+ years,i do my own oil changes,buy my oil(castrol 5w30)by the case at wal-mart every 3000 miles. *nm | |||
| 01/20/2004 | 11285 | 1 | 10/14/2003 |
| I own a 2003 dodge ram 1500 quad cab 4x4. recently while driving at slow speeds, the engine died. i restarted and heard a load clanking sound from the right side of the engine. the noise sounded like a connecting rod knock. i contacted roadside assistance and they arranged to have the vehicle towed to the dealership. when we arrived at the dealer, the mechanic could not get it started. when he finally got it started, the engine locked up. the engine was torn down and it was discovered that the valve spring on the intake valve for the #6 cylinder had broken in two, the valve had dropped into the cylinder, flipped over, punctured a hole in the #6 piston and snapped in half. the dealer, fenton auto group in pampa, texas has done a great job of arranging for a loaner car, and getting the mechanic to work on it immediately. dodge is repairing under warranty a brand new short block, brand new passenger side head, valve spring and valve. they were able to get the parts immediately (the next day) and plan to have it repaired quickly. my complaint is that if i were building or rebuilding and engine that had a broken valve spring problem that i would replace every valve spring on the entire engine. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and a couple hundred dollars could save several thousand later. secondly, i think i am entitled to some sort of compensation for the loss of the use of my pickup in the way of an extended warranty at no charge, service contract etc. the payments don't stop just because the truck is in the shop. i have also had to have the front rotors turned due to warpage. the truck was a dealer demo purchased with 5,669 miles on it and currently has 11,285 miles. dodge is well aware of this problem, as the service manager at the dealer where it was purchased at dallas dodge knew exactly what it was and stated he had heard of the problem in schools. *la | |||
| 09/01/2003 | 4 | 5 | 05/13/2003 |
| 2003 dodge hemi 4x4 quadcab longbox slt 1st. when the pickup runs from day one it has a semi-loud engine noise that comes from the drivers side of the engine that dodge service technicians have tried to repair several times but can't. 2nd. the pickup has 3 times since new, shuttered when backing up, then shuttered going forward when finally clearing its self running fine. 3rd. when we pull grades with the pickup then need to go down hill or on a flat, the pickup will surge noticeable on the tach and by listening to the engine run. no runaways so far. the pickup has been in the dodge repair shop many times for repairs and i still do not have it back. as of today 10/24/03 i have been without my pickup this last time for 7 days and have yet to hear anything from the service department at dodge. i think this pick-up needs to go back to the factory. believe it or not i still like the darn thing. i need help and advice as to what needs to be done? thank you. jj. *la | |||