I know the simple answer is to do an aftermarket tune. The problem is that I am an attorney and read the fine print of all contracts. In the fine print of your purchase agreement which you sign, is a provision which you agreed to that says if you alter the vehicle's emission system, the warranty is "voidable". Voidable means FCA does not need to honor the warranty if you do anything to alter the emission system. This would include adding a tuner to make the truck run different than when it left the factory with the factory installed emission system.
I talked to FCA legal affairs department and they did confirm that it's FCA position that the tuner makes the warranty voidable.
So there's the dilemma, you have a $50,000 truck that you need to tune to make it run correctly, but once you do, you probably voided your warranty. In my case, if the engine failure was crankshaft related and I had tuned the motor, the tuner would not likely have prevented the crankshaft failure, but I can pretty much assure FCA would have not paid for the motor replacement and I would have had to sue them. In my case, I avoided a lot of headaches by not tuning the motor as far as FCA not raising any issues and paying for the motor replacement under the existing warranty. The tradeoff, a truck that runs terrible and is choked up by soot.
Thanks for your input. I'll keep everyone posted. I'm going to file for arbitration and see if I can get FCA to do a buyback. If that doesn't;t resolve the issue, I may have too file a lawsuit. Even with a new motor, I have no faith in the 3.0 eco diesel. My original motor was great for the first 45,000 miles, but then everything went south and it was one issue after another.