Hello All, first let me say thanks to the many posters on this forum. I have learned a lot about my EcoDiesel but have only lurked until now.
I bought my EcoDiesel in January of this year. It is a 2015 Laramie with 115K miles. I have been a Ford guy forever and this is my first Ram vehicle. We really love this truck. It seemed to run well overall and though we had some initial issues and things that needed to be fixed i put some money into it and ended up with a beautiful ride. After a couple of months i did the GDE tune and liked my truck even more. The purpose of the purchase was to combine my other truck and car into a single vehicle. I planned to use it as a commuter (~30Kmi / yr), weekend offroader and occasional hauler.
In May i took it in for an oil change and the dealer flashed the ECU with the new AEM code. Following that they fixed a leaking waterneck and gasket, among other things. Except for the ECU flash they charged me for everything. The next day the truck half died driving on the freeway. I say half because it would go but was basically gutless. There was no way it could get over 70mph on the freeway and i pretty much limped home. I took it to a local dealer the next day.
The first problem turned out to be a totally gunked intake manifold due to a leaking EGR. After talking to them about the Settlement warranty they agreed to replace the entire EGR system plus the intake manifold. The advisor said that total was around $6K worth of work. Then they told me that i had some wiring connector issues and a couple of pieces of the harness needed to be replaced, along with a "bent" glow plug. Fine do all that too, i have a $3K check coming
While waiting for the wiring dongles to arrive they tried to remove the glow plug, which they claim was damaged, and were unable to get it off. Evidently it was spinning in the threads. They told me they would have to pull the head, which required pulling the cab, and that i would have to pay for the labor ($1900) and pay the machine shop to remove it. I said ok but noted that heads are a covered item under the Settlement warranty. Today i received a call from the dealer saying the machine shop could not get any of the three glow plugs out and that the threads in all three holes stripped off when they tried to remove them. i was told that the only solution was a new head, which would cost me $1100 (w/ $200 gasket!) and that i would have to pay since the one glow plug appeared to be damaged.
My position on this is that glow plugs are a maintenance item which are designed to be removed, therefore the head is defective and should be covered under the warranty. I believe the "damaged" glow plug was the result of a previous mechanic not being able to remove it. Does anyone see any issue with this? Has anyone had a problem with heads and glow plugs and can you share your result?
I did call FCA Customer Care and spoke with a woman who told me that they simply follow the dealers diagnosis and there is nothing they can do?! This is basically the same response i got when i called to ask for reimbursement for the coolant water neck, which is a specifically covered item under the warranty. Evidently that department is FCA Customer (Don't)Care.
Does anyone know if there is an EcoDiesel settlement warranty hotline that i can call? other suggestions? We are going to go have a sit down with the service manager later today. That should be fun.
BTW i notice there is a buyback clause in the settlement, which basically says after you have had your truck in four times and they can’t fix it after 30days cumulative loss of service times you can invoke a buyback. I suspect there are too many "if-thens" for this to be an option but i will bring it up.
Appreciate any advice,
Dan
Dead 2015 Ram 1500 Laramie EcoDiesel
I bought my EcoDiesel in January of this year. It is a 2015 Laramie with 115K miles. I have been a Ford guy forever and this is my first Ram vehicle. We really love this truck. It seemed to run well overall and though we had some initial issues and things that needed to be fixed i put some money into it and ended up with a beautiful ride. After a couple of months i did the GDE tune and liked my truck even more. The purpose of the purchase was to combine my other truck and car into a single vehicle. I planned to use it as a commuter (~30Kmi / yr), weekend offroader and occasional hauler.
In May i took it in for an oil change and the dealer flashed the ECU with the new AEM code. Following that they fixed a leaking waterneck and gasket, among other things. Except for the ECU flash they charged me for everything. The next day the truck half died driving on the freeway. I say half because it would go but was basically gutless. There was no way it could get over 70mph on the freeway and i pretty much limped home. I took it to a local dealer the next day.
The first problem turned out to be a totally gunked intake manifold due to a leaking EGR. After talking to them about the Settlement warranty they agreed to replace the entire EGR system plus the intake manifold. The advisor said that total was around $6K worth of work. Then they told me that i had some wiring connector issues and a couple of pieces of the harness needed to be replaced, along with a "bent" glow plug. Fine do all that too, i have a $3K check coming
While waiting for the wiring dongles to arrive they tried to remove the glow plug, which they claim was damaged, and were unable to get it off. Evidently it was spinning in the threads. They told me they would have to pull the head, which required pulling the cab, and that i would have to pay for the labor ($1900) and pay the machine shop to remove it. I said ok but noted that heads are a covered item under the Settlement warranty. Today i received a call from the dealer saying the machine shop could not get any of the three glow plugs out and that the threads in all three holes stripped off when they tried to remove them. i was told that the only solution was a new head, which would cost me $1100 (w/ $200 gasket!) and that i would have to pay since the one glow plug appeared to be damaged.
My position on this is that glow plugs are a maintenance item which are designed to be removed, therefore the head is defective and should be covered under the warranty. I believe the "damaged" glow plug was the result of a previous mechanic not being able to remove it. Does anyone see any issue with this? Has anyone had a problem with heads and glow plugs and can you share your result?
I did call FCA Customer Care and spoke with a woman who told me that they simply follow the dealers diagnosis and there is nothing they can do?! This is basically the same response i got when i called to ask for reimbursement for the coolant water neck, which is a specifically covered item under the warranty. Evidently that department is FCA Customer (Don't)Care.
Does anyone know if there is an EcoDiesel settlement warranty hotline that i can call? other suggestions? We are going to go have a sit down with the service manager later today. That should be fun.
BTW i notice there is a buyback clause in the settlement, which basically says after you have had your truck in four times and they can’t fix it after 30days cumulative loss of service times you can invoke a buyback. I suspect there are too many "if-thens" for this to be an option but i will bring it up.
Appreciate any advice,
Dan
Dead 2015 Ram 1500 Laramie EcoDiesel
