My RAM truck is fixed

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I did not want to bog down yet another topic to update people about my 2020 Limited edition RAM 1500 truck. Which, incidentally, drives like a luxury car.

Summary:
While on vacation over the 4th of July (about 300 miles from home), I heard a pop or clunk sound similar to the belts breaking in a tire. The next day I had a Christmas tree display of alarm lights and messages on the dash and lost many features:

  1. Electronic Stability Control off/unavailable
  2. Air Suspension System off/unavailable
  3. 4WD unavailable
  4. Steering directed Headlights unavailable
  5. Start/Stop unavailable (where engine stops when you are at a light and starts quickly when you go.
  6. Check Engine Light is on

I was able to get an appointment at a dealership nearby but I had to wait 5 days.
They determined: Steering Rack and Steering Control Module should be replaced. The total expected repairs would be $4000. They reset the codes and all systems came back online and the right front tires had excessive wear so they could not do an alignment without new tires. No new tires in the entire town!. But the steering wheel was about 15 degrees from being centered.

Since the Steering rack was back-ordered for 6 weeks, they suggested that I go home. “Perhaps the lights will come back, maybe not.” Within 10 miles all the warnings and loss of systems happened again. I immediately called my local RAM dealership (Port Angeles) but they could not schedule an appointment until Sept. 10 for diagnostic.

By the time I got home, the right front tire was showing the belts/cords/wires (whatever they are called). I did not feel I could drive it until it was fixed. By the 4th week of July, I called the Port Angeles dealership again and pleaded with them and pointed out that I am not able to use the truck. Meanwhile, I got the front tires replaced. Port Angeles RAM dealer says if I bring it in and park it in their lot, they would very likely be able to squeeze it in “in the next two weeks.” I dropped it off on July 25th.

No word for weeks. I called 3 weeks ago and talked with the manager. He sounded as hopeless with the situation as I was “We had two techs quite the day you dropped your truck off. I am terribly sorry.”

Well, they finally looked at my truck after 6 weeks and tell me first:

  1. The battery was dead…that was related to some of the codes. (Oh good grief. It sat in their lot for more than six weeks. Who knows what electronics is going off. It is periodically making adjustments of the level/balance suspension 24 hours a day…I hear it doing something).
  2. They did an alignment.
  3. They cleared the codes.
  4. Two different people took it for a test drive (They liked my truck…sounds like…perhaps too much!)
  5. They declared that it was fixed. All it needed was an alignment. Obviously, the clunk I heard/felt WAS the issue.

So it seems to be totally back to normal :man_shrugging:
They charged me $380 (which I find to be very reasonable for what they did).

He said they didn’t charge for the alignment. That is a two edged sword:

  1. They had to do the alignment as part of the “diagnostic charge,” and,
  2. They did the alignment less than a year ago and I believe they did something wrong or incomplete at the time. Never have I experienced an alignment issue in less than a year unless there was some heavy hit curbs or an accident or very rough roads.

So they owed me that alignment.
I’m happy. :grinning:

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The moral to this story is: THINK TWICE AND ACT ONCE, when considering a Chrysler product. The new parent company is about to kill it for good.

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Wait…What???

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Just laid off 1000 auto workers from Michigan yesterday. The stock is falling, and the writing is on the wall.
Several years ago I had one with the same story line as Jimmy. My buddy bought a brand new 2500 last year and couldn’t pick it up from the dealer for 3 months while waiting for safety fix.
That’s just my observation.

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What do they expect? A base model 1500 truck starting at $42k.

2025 flagship 1500 with all the bells and whistles comes in at $93k . I shudder to think what a flagship 3500 diesel will run.

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They are all out of control. Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, etc. My F250 approached $80k. I know I’m an old fart, but my first new car was $4500.
You’re right; the average Joe can’t afford a $1000 payment.

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$1000 ?!?!?

$1400 for 72mo @ $92k. That is my overpaid mortgage every month.

Ram 3500 flagship will land at $100k. Then there is 12% sales tax, then registration, then renewal…Wish I had disposable income like that. The new lathe took away happy fun time for the next 14 months.

ETA - @ChelanJim Glad you got your truck back. Sounds like the original dealer that did the first fix, caused your lack of a truck to drive for the last 2 months. I don’t know a dealer on the planet that would gratas anything. They saw the records, and the tech saw the screw up.

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Old Jimmy is too nice of a guy. They would have had to call the cops to the dealership if that happened to me.

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To the tune of “I’m not paying that. In fact you owe me 2 months of rental, and a new set of tires.”

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I’ve had essentially zero issues with the 2019 1500 I had for a 3 years, and am just about to 3 years with my 3500 with no issues as well.

I’ve always said that the biggest determiner of how reliable a car will be is usually the quality of the service department. That’s why I drive my trucks almost an hour to get to the dealership that I use. The only issue I’ve ever had that they didn’t resolve right the first time was a tire that leaked very very slowly that they couldn’t find the leak on.

When I first started doing research for trucks in 2018 what I realized is none of them are stone dead reliable, and you’ll find evangelists and detractors for every brand. Find the truck you like and then find the dealership and service department you want to deal with, and go there, and only there for service.

My ¢2

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They did or didnt do a alignment?

How did it ride while sitting in there parking lot? :rofl: :rofl:

After all that happened you were charged $380. Was part of it not under warranty?

This is how the world has changed, you went through all that, then paid $380 and your happy.
Plus you had to buy 2 front tires.

We are being brain washed into thinking you had a good experience! Its all being driven by our buying habits. We want tech and there giving it to us at any cost!

Almost everything is being made like this. I could tell you a story about our washer that is going to be looked at again for the 5th time for the same problem, but I wont. :rofl:

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So no issues for 3 years, does that seem like a long time to you? How many miles?
I dont think 3 years is very long, Most things on avg make it till the end of the warranty, its after that things start going down hill quickly.

I bought a 90 Buick had 220K on it (needed a fuel pump, customer did not want to spend the money to fix it with that many miles)I sold it with 315K on it and the kid I sold it to was still driving it a year later. No major engine or trans issues during that time. That’s not going to happen with any vehicle you buy today.

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No, it’s just that 3 years is as long as I’ve owned them so far (the 1500 was traded in on the 3500). I figured since my 3500 is the same year as OP’s 1500 it was semi-relevant.

It’s a good thing someone is buying new cars, or you guys that only buy used cars and talk about how they cost you $4 to keep running for 6 years won’t have anything to buy in the future.

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The scariest part is the first dealership wanted to replace a whole module for 4k when it only needed an alignment.

I don’t know what the alignment setup looks like on that truck, but on 4Runners there’s a market now for tabs that lock the alignment so it can’t get thrown out during heavy off roading. I wonder if something wasn’t tightened from the original alignment and it just popped loose.

With all the stupid ass sensors on everything now, it probably triggered something out of spec and shut everything down for “safety”.

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Very true! I just wish someone would start a car company that focuses on a good car that is practical and lasts for a decent amount of time and is somewhat easy and affordable to repair.
(I sound like some old fart) :rofl:

Problem is younger car designers idea of what practical is and mine is totally different.
There are so many things that have been changed on cars and trucks that were not improvements.

Do we really need a 6,8 or 10 speed automatic trans that may skip most of those shifts 90% of the time? I think not.

As time goes on, younger people think a car only lasting a short time is normal.

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Lol. For real. My F150 at work skipped half the damn gears. Don’t get me started on that crap transmission and all the problems I had with it.

I think my VW has an 8 speed, but 6 seems like plenty for real. I hated my 4 speed runner, I’m ok with my 5 speed but wish the gearing was a little different with all the weight once put on it.

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BINGO!!!
Edit: One other piece of information I remember: That first dealership said “It will need an alignment after the steering rack is replaced but there is no sense in doing the alignment before. There is something wrong with that steering rack and possibly the module. They need replaced first.”

Agreed. I have dealt with the parent organization (Toyota dealership) since 1986. It has had VW, Audi and Nissan attached since the early 90’s. I occasionally stray away and get servicing in other locations but often find that I paid more for the generic part at another shop and more for the actual repair time than I do with this company. I may be wrong, but when they added Jeep and RAM, I expected my previous experiences would hold true. Perhaps not!

I was having confidence with the first “Diagnostic” that said I needed $4000 worth of repair but I now, don’t trust them. They were going to replace the steering rack and module before they ever did the alignment. :woozy_face:

You are probably seeing the example of someone understanding the difficulty of finding competition in a somewhat small, isolated community. If you burn a bridge, the screws get pretty tight. And who is to say that the dealership located 75 minutes away do a better job? I might just have to find out.

I hope so. When I was paying, the service manager said “Don’t tell anyone but you basically got the alignment for free.” That is not exactly how I see it. I ‘basically’ got the alignment that I paid for less than a year ago when I paid nearly $800 for the servicing, their ‘diagnostic charge’ and the alignment. I am beginning to feel this “Diagnostic” is becoming the new up-charge service departments have learned they can strip more money so that if you decide to not have them move forward with their prescribed remedies, they still get rewarded for their efforts.

I just realized, they did that alignment without even consulting with me after the “Diagnostic.” That is probably why they really needed to not charge me because I could have refused the charge. And, as already mentioned, they may have realized they did not do such a competent job last time.

The steering wheel is straight now: maybe they just took the steering wheel off and put it back on in a different location!

I guess this comment is not really that I was happy with the Port Angeles dealership. I am happy that this truck has driven like a dream for more than 5 years with the only issue was the alignment necessary twice. Hopefully, that is resolved.

Everyone, I appreciate all of the comments. You guys are really special to me. Thanks.

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