A no-maintenance transmission. Good stuff there. Is that designed so if the tranny fails, the owner gets blamed if he can't produce dealer service records?
Thanks for looking at the pics. I looked at the gasket just in case, but as you saw, the leak seems to be concentrated around that fitting. I'll be calling up the local dealer (Crown Dodge:
http://dodgefayetteville.com/) when they open at 0730. Actually, I might just be out there waiting for them. Is there a specific name for that fitting? Is it supposed to be wrapped in gooey, half-melted electrical tape?
Yeah, not to walk in here whining like a punk, but if you knew the back story of my problems with Chrysler since NOV 06, you'd understand how this just drives me nuts. I went through ENCS to purchase a 2006 5.7L Magnum when I came back from Korea in Oct 06. I picked it up in Buffalo because that was near my parents places where I took leave on returning to the US. Then I was stationed down at Benning. Over the course of 5-6 failures that left us dead on the road, 5-6 visits to the dealer for service (and extended rental time), and roughly 9 months of haggling, I finally had it with that POS and called lemon law on it. During the time leading up to that, the entire wiring harness was replaced. So were 3 of the 4 computer modules (if these numbers/names are bungled, that's on me--it's been a year and there was always a different excuse). The vehicle would still, without warning, trip all the error codes, turn on all the indicator lights, slow to 15mph or less, and eventually stall. It happened 200 yards from the driveway once, it happened across town once. I was afraid to take it out of town, and my wife was stranded on the side of the road with the three kids several times.
Talk about an eye-opener. Carl Gregory, who is very polite and nice (I met him in person several times because the case was so badly bungled) is still a tough-sell businessman, and his sales people (specifically Alan) are a bunch of dishonest pricks. His dealership refused to take any part in it at first. ISG, the mediation/reparations people that resolve this stuff for Chrysler, have no power whatsoever to force the dealer to do anything. Chrysler wouldn't or couldn't do anything. One man in the entire process had the power to make it all right, and he wouldn't go for it. Thanks Carl.
Chrysler had engineers come in from Detroit (or so they told me) to look at it. Offers were made, then reneged upon. They were going to buy it back at one point. Then that couldn't be done because no one would cooperate. Next came the trade-in, which made Carl Gregory some money, so the manager stopped acting like a jackass and put some effort into finding a vehicle for me. I needed AWD. No such animal in Georgia. Seriously, the saga just went on and on. I ended up taking a loss of about $2000 in the end, and driving away the 2007 Magnum. On the one hand, I got a new car. On the other, I left the process SERIOUSLY pissed off, and I was out $2000 that I would not have spent, new car or no.
I'm leaving a lot out, but suffice it to say, they drug their feet so long, I didn't get it finished until literally 3-4 days before I left for Ranger school. I was in a panic, because I didnt' want to stick my wife with dealing with that mess while I dropped off the face of the earth for 4 months. Seriously, THE. MOST. GODAWFUL. CUSTOMER. EXPERIENCE. EVER. And you're talking to a guy who went through the process of leaving the Air Force for the Army. Who battled the INS/USCIS for 7 years to get his wife's immigration and citizenship complete. Who fought the IRS from overseas when they erroneously filed tax returns on his behalf and billed him for over $40k in non-existent back taxes. It's a testament to how much I like the car that I didn't just cash in, turn in my man-card, buy a damned Honda Odyssey, and accept that I'm beaten.
PS. I think they finally found the problem on that 2006 the last time through the garage. There might have been a wire crimped behind the e-brake lever housing that was shorting and making everything go haywire. I told them from the first visit that it sounded like a ground fault. But what do I know? I only studied electrical engineering at school...
Topic: Buddy's problem with Magnum (Read 5910 times)