The Fun Begins

[GrannyGruber]

I have a 2014 Ram Eco diesel with 98500 miles November 14 I was pulling my 14’ enclosed trailer to deer camp down the interstate and lost power, I pulled off to the shoulder noticing some clattering noise and looked like a smoke haze behind me and the engine died. After getting my bearing of what happened I tried to restart the truck, it fired and stalled . Thinking what do I have to loose I tried it again and it started and seemed to purr like normal, no service lights on the dash ? I Limped it off the interstate and back roaded it home noticing less power but we got home! Still no service lights ? I disconnected the trailer and decided to run it down the road and then ding ding ” service electronic throtle control “appears on the dash. Back home we go , I check the opd code it shows low turbo boost ?
November 25 I get the egr cooler recall and my truck goes in the shop , Nov. 26 I get a call telling me the intake manifold was melted and it was caused by the cracked egr cooler . Great service from Vicksburg Chrysler Ram Jeep parts are ordered I figure 2 weeks should be a good guess for the repair with Thanksgiving weekend ? I call to check in on December 3 just to check if parts order has come in and was told they were on a back order and had no idea of the eta. I inquire about a loaner vehicle and am told I don’t qualify due to my truck having been a buy back vehicle ( Lemon lawed from California) I was offered a vehicle when I took it in for the emissions reprogramming ?
December 4 I decide to contact FCA customer care, they take my information , tell me all parts look to be on a national hold . Again I ask about a loaner vehicle, state my case that all 2014 ecodiesels are out of factory extended warranty , the only warranty at this point is the Law suit designated warranty and I don’t see any different warranty provisions for new or buyback or used bought trucks ? They assign me a case number and a case manager Dave. I get the call from Dave December 6, again state my case he said a-loaner has been denied ! still no idea when all the parts will be available. Dave‘s going to talk with the board about a loaner and will get back to me Dec. 9th or 10th.
I wait for FCA Dave’s call and finally I call him , I do find out we’re waiting on some bushing , still no idea on a part eta . Again I ask about what he found out from the board about a loaner vehicle, I got the I forgot and am very busy excuse but he will call me back. Still no loaner vehicle , he was told he couldn’t allow a loaner .
Sorry for the venting but what the hell do you do other than go out and buy a beater and keep paying your truck payment and insurance . where do you go from here my trucks been down for almost a month with no end in sight.

 

[Tremper126]

Sorry your first post is a bad experience one. More and more these intakes are melting like candle wax in a desert in Mexico. Luckily mine self destructed and was repaired by the previous owner before the epidemic started. I would call every day and continue to raise hell with them. If you back down from your fight they won’t give two looks at your case and will keep you on the back burner.

 

[GrannyGruber]

Sorry your first post is a bad experience one. More and more these intakes are melting like candle wax in a desert in Mexico. Luckily mine self destructed and was repaired by the previous owner before the epidemic started. I would call every day and continue to raise hell with them. If you back down from your fight they won’t give two looks at your case and will keep you on the back burner.

I love the truck up until Nov. 14 what I don’t like is paying a mortgage on a vehicle and the manufactures get fat even after they are guilty of producing a inferior product. While they can be held liable for the repairs they also should have to provide you a loaner for transportation, that is what we all bought our trucks for! If they had a little more skin in the game they would do more R&D and end up with a better product and a happy customer. My 2 previous trucks were Chevy Silverado’s I sold both of them with over 200,000 miles . I buy a 56k diesel truck and it can’t make 100,000 miles without a catastrophic break down under a lawsuit induced warranty that they cant provide parts to repair. This may be the last FCA vehicle in my driveway. Sorry for the anger

 

[Midnight32]

“My 2 previous trucks were Chevy Silverado’s I sold both of them with over 200,000 miles.”
I feel your pain. My two previous trucks were Chevy’s as well. I actually traded in a working, reliable one for my 2016 ram. Which is currently in the shop, with the tech dismantling the engine taking pics of everything per order of FCA.
Dealership won’t begin to replace parts till that’s done. I was told “we don’t do loaner vehicles”, and to call FCA...
Hi, my name in midnight32, and I’m a disgruntled eco diesel owner.

 

[MARK T]

CALL THE LAWYERS THAT HANDLED THE LAW SUITE. I HAD TO GET THEM TO TAKE CARE OF IT. PICKING UP RENTAL FROM ENTERPRISE TODAY. MY 2016 IS IN THE SHOP FOR COMPLETE TEAR DOWN AFTER FLASH. I WAS TOLD NO LONER OR RENTAL FROM FCA.

 

[MARK T]

FROM POST ON THIS FORUM THAT AFTER 30 DAYS AND TRUCK NOT REPAIRED BUY BACK CAN BE STARTED.

 

[GrannyGruber]

So today a friend of mine figures he doesn’t want to risk his EGR cooler going out melting his intake manifold and calls the local dealer to get his truck in for the EGR cooler recall. As he talks to the service dept. He is directed to the service manager and is told they can’t perform the recall due to the parts not being available at least until the middle of January! He calls me and tells me man your screwed , there are no parts available untill the middle of Jan. Now I’m thinking “ am I being played by FCA they tell me they don’t know when parts are available but it should be soon I don’t thing it will take too long “ This is almost like the media and politics, does anyone know if their are provisions to have them reimburse for payments made on your vehicle while it is out of service due to a emissions recall ? I know I can file for buy back after 30 days in the shop , I’m just not sure how many times they will buy back their problems .
I’m more upset today after looking at $2000 junk vehicles so I have transportation . Thanks FCA When I get out of this Ram Ification it will not be a FCA vehicle if I have a choice!I

 

[Ram19]

This is just my opinion for what it's worth.

I really feel for everyone who is caught up in the ERG recall fiasco!

My gut feeling is that it's going to take a class action lawsuit to get any sort of true monetary resolve for the owners caught up in this mess. I know that doesn't help immediately but unfortunately that's probably what it's going to take to get FCA to give full compensation to their customers. It's going to be a long frustrating slog before this is all resolved.

If you'll google or YouTube BMW ERG fires, it might show you some insights for how BMW handled the issues they had with diesel powered cars catching on fire due to EGR issues. This isn't the first time this has happened, other manufacturers have had these issues as well.

 

[Transatlantic975]

December 4 I decide to contact FCA customer care, they take my information , tell me all parts look to be on a national hold. Again I ask about a loaner vehicle, state my case that all 2014 ecodiesels are out of factory extended warranty , the only warranty at this point is the Law suit designated warranty and I don’t see any different warranty provisions for new or buyback or used bought trucks ?

How did you contact customer care? I purchased my 2016 pre-certified from a dealership on October 19 and on November 15 it was towed back because the coolant was overheating/EGR failure. They told me it wouldn't be fixed until January and have not been very helpful in following up.

 

[GrannyGruber]

The phone number I found for FCA Customer Care is 1-844-521-8188, they will take your information and give you a case number and a case worker that will make contact within 2 business days. As of today my truck has been in the shop for 3 weeks with no eta on a EGR cooler bushing ( what is that?) . After asking if this would complete the VB 1 recall I was informed that there are no parts available yet for the VB 1 recall ! So their admitting they have a unsafe product and they are going to install another EGR cooler that could cause a engine fire? Hmm seems like they would look to a buyback with all that liability out there, how many of these coolers have failed so far? I found today that Bullet Proof has a cooler section replacement , why can’t FCA find one? They seem to be producing a 2020 EcoDiesel why not a fix for the first de-generation, seems like R&D would have fixed a liability before creating another one .

 

[GrannyGruber]

How did you contact customer care? I purchased my 2016 pre-certified from a dealership on October 19 and on November 15 it was towed back because the coolant was overheating/EGR failure. They told me it wouldn't be fixed until January and have not been very helpful in following up.

Sorry to hear about your miss fortune, thats really poor service to say the least! At least I had 2 1/2 years of trouble free service . I can’t imagine being in your shoes being pumped up having a new truck then wham welcome to the World of Broken Rams. Did they at least provide you with a loaner vehicle?

 

[GrannyGruber]

CALL THE LAWYERS THAT HANDLED THE LAW SUITE. I HAD TO GET THEM TO TAKE CARE OF IT. PICKING UP RENTAL FROM ENTERPRISE TODAY. MY 2016 IS IN THE SHOP FOR COMPLETE TEAR DOWN AFTER FLASH. I WAS TOLD NO LONER OR RENTAL FROM FCA.

What phone number did you contact them thru? I have read a few threads that people were reimbursed for the loan payments on their trucks also , I opted to purchase a beater vehicle rather than be without transportation any longer . I figured that would just open another can of worms!

 

[MARK T]

1-800-541-7358
Tell the lady that answers the phone you need to speak with someone about the eco diesel law suite. After contact with law firm it took 2 days and dealer called and I had a rental truck from Enterprise. After contact with lawyers my case was pulled from my case manager and put with area manager and now FCA is picking up all bills on my truck from what my dealer told me today. LOOKS LIKE I MAY BE GETTING A NEW MOTOR. Dealer cant find out why after flash it started dumping fuel and locked up on fuel overload.

 

[GrannyGruber]

That sound like they took care of you pretty good, well as good as you can feel having a fairly new truck that you can’t keep out of Dodge Hospital! Thanks I will contact them and see what they can do for me. I wonder if the new motor will have the old EGR system on it too? Sorry I’m not to positive about FCA at this time, hopefully they take care of you in a timely manner.

 

[Tomphot]

1-800-541-7358
Tell the lady that answers the phone you need to speak with someone about the eco diesel law suite. .

Which firm is this?

 

[Will_CathVT]

I think I lucked out, my EGR cooler went in October and I got it in right away. The dealer honored the warranty and got me a loaner. The truck was back to me the next day. Still running fine for now.

 

[Pawtuckaway]

That sound like they took care of you pretty good, well as good as you can feel having a fairly new truck that you can’t keep out of Dodge Hospital! Thanks I will contact them and see what they can do for me. I wonder if the new motor will have the old EGR system on it too? Sorry I’m not to positive about FCA at this time, hopefully they take care of you in a timely manner.

It is amazing that my 2014 had similar issues 2 weeks before you. The Truck has 145,000 miles with no previous issues. I ordered it new and it was one of the first to come off the line. The dealer not my original dealer took the truck in as I commute 60 miles to work and it happened on the way to work. They gave a loaner RAM with 2,000 miles on it. It took 3 weeks to get the parts and due the recall. Three weeks after this my engine light comes on and tells me the regen needs to be done and the filter is 80% full. (Mileage was down to 17mpg) It is back in the shop for a week I have a loaner Jeep with 60 miles on it. They told me they finished the recall?? I thought wtf? and now the engine is backfiring. I'm concerned the truck will never be right. Anybody else have this happen?

 

[gofishingup]

I had the same intake melt problem with my truck in September. It was repaired under warranty and they are suppose to pay me $35 per day for the car I had to rent through Budget, but I still have not seen that check. I'm still waiting on my $3200 check for the flash update that was done at the same time. I have an open case but not a lot of movement. The bad thing with the melted intake, the diesel mechanic that did the work said I could expect to have the same thing occur again at about the same milage. So the issue occurred at 54,000 miles so at 108,000 I can expect the same thing to happen again. Has anyone been told this information besides me?

 

[carlhenry]

u have 2 disable the egr on these eco diesels the egr is death to these eco diesels

 

[Will_CathVT]

I had the same intake melt problem with my truck in September. It was repaired under warranty and they are suppose to pay me $35 per day for the car I had to rent through Budget, but I still have not seen that check. I'm still waiting on my $3200 check for the flash update that was done at the same time. I have an open case but not a lot of movement. The bad thing with the melted intake, the diesel mechanic that did the work said I could expect to have the same thing occur again at about the same milage. So the issue occurred at 54,000 miles so at 108,000 I can expect the same thing to happen again. Has anyone been told this information besides me?

Don't know why you have to rent the vehicle? When my Eco went in for the EGR replacement, the dealer didn't have a loaner available and they rented a car for me from a local car rental. No one told me the EGR would fail again at the same mileage. Mine did fail in the early 50,000 mile range.