SeanPwnery
Member
- Nov 30, 2022
- 91
- 33
- Truck Year
- 2016
Hi everyone... remember me? I was the guy that bought my 16 Ram last year - 10 weeks and 600 miles later, I had a paperweight. The warranty people wouldn't cover it, and the stealership tried to extort me out of $15 grand saying I needed an entire fuel system replaced. Sounding more familiar? If not, here's the original thread .
Anyway ... my truck sat dormant for 11 months, and in that time, it was stuck at the stealership for several of them. After banging back and forth with a service writer, we came to the agreement that I just need to get the damn thing running and to do what the tech thought would be reasonably the minimum without compromising anything downstream. It came down to a new lift pump, fuel filter/heater housing, the TIPM, and the High-pressure fuel pump (which despite it being a recalled item, they charged me for it anyway... wtf?). The day I picked it up was back in February - mostly because I was already up to $5,800 on the repair after they said I needed a new battery too which was north of $500 dollars ... again... extortion.
The morning of pickup, I asked the service writer "Did you hear them actually start it?" To which she replied "Oh yeah, they fired it up, then keyed off and brought me the paperwork." Cool ... I went there, walked to my truck with her AND the technician that worked on it in tow, twisted the key .. and the new battery was showing 9v. Wow... really?
Tech runs and gets a jump box ... I twist the key again... and guess what? It did the EXACT same F**king thing it did the day I had it towed there back in December of 2022! I looked at her and said "I thought you said you heard him fire this up? Care to explain this?" The tech immediately said "I never started it, I was instructed to put those 4 items on, a battery and to have it pushed back into the storage area." Before she skittered off, I said "I've had enough of this, I want this out of here right now, you're not getting another cent from me." Paid the extortion - then paid 200 for a tow - then went to work 2 hours late and it sat until 11/4/2023.
My neighbor is a heavy-equipment diesel mechanic and has been at it for over 40 years. He works on trucks as well, so I asked him to take a look at it and left him my keys months ago. He got real sick and was laid up in ICU for 3 months, and we had a pretty nasty hot summer here in Texas so I didn't make a fuss. Long story short, he couldn't touch it until 3 days ago. I've been fighting bronchitis for almost 7 weeks (still have it as I type this), and I hauled my carcass out of bed and went over to his house at 11am thinking I might have missed the bus. He just woke up too. 15 minutes later I describe to him what happened the day it broke down, and the day I took it away from the stealership. He immediately brought out his power probe and checked a couple things - hooked up his battery charger and said "Come back in about half an hour, let me get this charging, and I'll get some breakfast in me."
30 minutes later I walk outside, and he has the tank dropped and he's laying underneath the truck. He says "Hey... come check this out." He takes his power probe, touches 1 wire and the pump lights off. He has me twist the key, and it immediately fired up ... it was SO long since I heard it run, that I forgot what it sounded like! Turns out, the problem with my truck the ENTIRE time it was down, was literally 7 dollars worth of 16 gauge wire running from the TIPM to the fuel pump (blue with a red stripe in case anyone in the future ever runs into something similar).
Can you believe that s**t? 1 ... effing .... wire. 13 months of payments, insurance, and downtime ... for 1 wire. Today is 11/7 ... I've gotten about 110 miles on it since the repair ... which means I have 490 miles to go before it breaks down again and leaves me without a truck for another 13 months.. I'm kidding... hopefully! I doubt I have any legal recourse, but man am I pissed off. That nearly 6 grand would have went to a bunch of upgrades I had planned for instead.
Oh... Autonation Dodge Chrysler Jeep out in Katy, Texas if you're wondering. They also screwed my 87-year old dad out of an A/C compressor to the tune of $2,800 dollars about a year ago too.
Anyway ... my truck sat dormant for 11 months, and in that time, it was stuck at the stealership for several of them. After banging back and forth with a service writer, we came to the agreement that I just need to get the damn thing running and to do what the tech thought would be reasonably the minimum without compromising anything downstream. It came down to a new lift pump, fuel filter/heater housing, the TIPM, and the High-pressure fuel pump (which despite it being a recalled item, they charged me for it anyway... wtf?). The day I picked it up was back in February - mostly because I was already up to $5,800 on the repair after they said I needed a new battery too which was north of $500 dollars ... again... extortion.
The morning of pickup, I asked the service writer "Did you hear them actually start it?" To which she replied "Oh yeah, they fired it up, then keyed off and brought me the paperwork." Cool ... I went there, walked to my truck with her AND the technician that worked on it in tow, twisted the key .. and the new battery was showing 9v. Wow... really?
Tech runs and gets a jump box ... I twist the key again... and guess what? It did the EXACT same F**king thing it did the day I had it towed there back in December of 2022! I looked at her and said "I thought you said you heard him fire this up? Care to explain this?" The tech immediately said "I never started it, I was instructed to put those 4 items on, a battery and to have it pushed back into the storage area." Before she skittered off, I said "I've had enough of this, I want this out of here right now, you're not getting another cent from me." Paid the extortion - then paid 200 for a tow - then went to work 2 hours late and it sat until 11/4/2023.
My neighbor is a heavy-equipment diesel mechanic and has been at it for over 40 years. He works on trucks as well, so I asked him to take a look at it and left him my keys months ago. He got real sick and was laid up in ICU for 3 months, and we had a pretty nasty hot summer here in Texas so I didn't make a fuss. Long story short, he couldn't touch it until 3 days ago. I've been fighting bronchitis for almost 7 weeks (still have it as I type this), and I hauled my carcass out of bed and went over to his house at 11am thinking I might have missed the bus. He just woke up too. 15 minutes later I describe to him what happened the day it broke down, and the day I took it away from the stealership. He immediately brought out his power probe and checked a couple things - hooked up his battery charger and said "Come back in about half an hour, let me get this charging, and I'll get some breakfast in me."
30 minutes later I walk outside, and he has the tank dropped and he's laying underneath the truck. He says "Hey... come check this out." He takes his power probe, touches 1 wire and the pump lights off. He has me twist the key, and it immediately fired up ... it was SO long since I heard it run, that I forgot what it sounded like! Turns out, the problem with my truck the ENTIRE time it was down, was literally 7 dollars worth of 16 gauge wire running from the TIPM to the fuel pump (blue with a red stripe in case anyone in the future ever runs into something similar).
Can you believe that s**t? 1 ... effing .... wire. 13 months of payments, insurance, and downtime ... for 1 wire. Today is 11/7 ... I've gotten about 110 miles on it since the repair ... which means I have 490 miles to go before it breaks down again and leaves me without a truck for another 13 months.. I'm kidding... hopefully! I doubt I have any legal recourse, but man am I pissed off. That nearly 6 grand would have went to a bunch of upgrades I had planned for instead.
Oh... Autonation Dodge Chrysler Jeep out in Katy, Texas if you're wondering. They also screwed my 87-year old dad out of an A/C compressor to the tune of $2,800 dollars about a year ago too.
