Check Engin Still on, Back to Dealer AGAIN

From : Annonymous

Q: update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. family emergency. fast forward 5 weeks while the truck is in another state with the check engine light on. back home and into dealer for visit number 3. this time its 1 3 and 8 missing. they decide its not their plugs or the injector or the cap rotor or wires that were replaced when the truck plugs went in... this time they decide its the intake gasket - even though this engine doesnt use any oil between oil changes and only uses a quart about every 3000 miles even when towing the 6500 lb 5th wheel. with the new intake gasket the check engine light doesnt come on for almost 2 days. back for visit number 4.......... this time they decide its the majority of the ignition system... which i refuse to let them replace. so i got the chrysler performance cap and rotor and a new set of the really good belden wires from napa... replace them in shifts over time... cap and rotor of course causes no change - check engine still on. wires also no change - check engine still on. so just for giggles i ordered the taylor spiro-pro wires and put them on a couple weeks ago. you guessed it - no change... so truck now in for visit number five... dealer says its just number 1 thats missing today and has now decided its not plugs or wires or injectors or compression or poltergeist... they now think its a mechanical problem and are pulling the valve cover to see if they can see anything... good grief! only good thing about all this is ive gotten to drive a lot of cars im really glad i didnt buy! chevy cavalier ford focus some other noisy tinny piece of crap that i cant even remember... how many box tops do you have to send in to be a 5 star dealer .

Replies:

From : Annonymous

sorry got so busy talking about dealers i forgot to answer your question... yeah the mileage went down. this truck got between 13 and 13.1 consistently. towing it got between 9.2 and 10 depending on speed and wind. all of a sudden and i do mean sudden it dropped from 13 to 10. towing dropped to between 6.5 and 8. so far nothing the dealer or i have done has had any impact on improving the mileage. when i tell the dealer about the sudden drop and have documentation of 3+ years of consistent mileage they just look at me and shrug... btw got 13 added bed cover got 13. changed rear end to synthetic lube got 13. switched engine to mobil 1 got 13... changed tires not because of mileage thats a different saga got 13... nothing i did changed the mileage... but a year ago it changed itself......... id love to find the secret that would get it back to 13... maybe a tornado or a k&n or some splitfires or a gas line magnet or all of em and ill be getting 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on wed 3 sep 2003 222050 -0500 mark wegmann mwegmann@tca.net wrote my truck was doing the same thing have you noticed that your gas mileage has been decreasing my truck 99 4x2 ram the check engine light came on and i noticed my gas mileage was decreasing at a pretty steady rate. i took it into a local mechanic he said it was the speed sensor in the rear end. they changed it and the light went off and hasnt been back on. might want to suggest that to them. .

From : tbone

when did this happen and do you always go to the same gas station. if this happened recently they may have switched to a winter blend and that garbage will cause a reduction in mileage. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving sorry got so busy talking about dealers i forgot to answer your question... yeah the mileage went down. this truck got between 13 and 13.1 consistently. towing it got between 9.2 and 10 depending on speed and wind. all of a sudden and i do mean sudden it dropped from 13 to 10. towing dropped to between 6.5 and 8. so far nothing the dealer or i have done has had any impact on improving the mileage. when i tell the dealer about the sudden drop and have documentation of 3+ years of consistent mileage they just look at me and shrug... btw got 13 added bed cover got 13. changed rear end to synthetic lube got 13. switched engine to mobil 1 got 13... changed tires not because of mileage thats a different saga got 13... nothing i did changed the mileage... but a year ago it changed itself......... id love to find the secret that would get it back to 13... maybe a tornado or a k&n or some splitfires or a gas line magnet or all of em and ill be getting 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on wed 3 sep 2003 222050 -0500 mark wegmann mwegmann@tca.net wrote my truck was doing the same thing have you noticed that your gas mileage has been decreasing my truck 99 4x2 ram the check engine light came on and i noticed my gas mileage was decreasing at a pretty steady rate. i took it into a local mechanic he said it was the speed sensor in the rear end. they changed it and the light went off and hasnt been back on. might want to suggest that to them. .

From : cbhvac

if this sequence of events doesnt qualify for the lemon law ... what would first it doesnt. second it depends on the state and even then this does not qualify. tbones right its the dealers issue not the vehicles. thats just a crappy dealer and if you ask me trip 2 was the time to contact dealer owner...he may actually not be aware of his service departments problems and ask for a refund or fix. see...that 12 miles later issue should have been found by the dealership...its called quality control.. and find a new dealer. its that simple. update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. family emergency. fast forward 5 weeks while the truck is in another state with the check engine light on. back home and into dealer for visit number 3. this time its 1 3 and 8 missing. they decide its not their plugs or the injector or the cap rotor or wires that were replaced when the truck plugs went in... this time they decide its the intake gasket - even though this engine doesnt use any oil between oil changes and only uses a quart about every 3000 miles even when towing the 6500 lb 5th wheel. with the new intake gasket the check engine light doesnt come on for almost 2 days. back for visit number 4.......... this time they decide its the majority of the ignition system... which i refuse to let them replace. so i got the chrysler performance cap and rotor and a new set of the really good belden wires from napa... replace them in shifts over time... cap and rotor of course causes no change - check engine still on. wires also no change - check engine still on. so just for giggles i ordered the taylor spiro-pro wires and put them on a couple weeks ago. you guessed it - no change... so truck now in for visit number five... dealer says its just number 1 thats missing today and has now decided its not plugs or wires or injectors or compression or poltergeist... they now think its a mechanical problem and are pulling the valve cover to see if they can see anything... good grief! only good thing about all this is ive gotten to drive a lot of cars im really glad i didnt buy! chevy cavalier ford focus some other noisy tinny piece of crap that i cant even remember... how many box tops do you have to send in to be a 5 star dealer .

From : Annonymous

nope... the mileage change continued through stations in mn illinois indiana iowa michigan... and stayed that way through spring and summer as well as winter. but got the truck back and it made it all the way home 20 miles without having the check engine light come on..... and fwiw after visit 1 i did demand a refund and attempted to speak to the owner - it turns out that people who own car dealers dont actually go into the car dealers. talked to general manager who of course listened to service manager sort of who stated that before we could diagnose any other problem we had to replace the non-factory plugs with the right ones. my assertion that they were the right truck plugs fell on deaf ears. at that point i realized the best way to get satisfaction was to keep taking this thing back and not let them off the hook getting rental cars which they pay for and making them keep working on the thing. oh and a phone call to chrysler customer care as you can imagine didnt have any impact whatsoever... you could almost hear the shrug over the phone... on fri 5 sep 2003 024446 -0400 tbone fatchance@noway.now wrote when did this happen and do you always go to the same gas station. if this happened recently they may have switched to a winter blend and that garbage will cause a reduction in mileage. .

From : nitpik

yup it doesnt. and for those who may want to know why it doesnt ... in my state after some research you need to take it in to have warranty issues resolved within the first year. there are other qualifiers .. but do a web search for lemon law your state if this sequence of events doesnt qualify for the lemon law ... what would first it doesnt. second it depends on the state and even then this does not qualify. tbones right its the dealers issue not the vehicles. thats just a crappy dealer and if you ask me trip 2 was the time to contact dealer owner...he may actually not be aware of his service departments problems and ask for a refund or fix. see...that 12 miles later issue should have been found by the dealership...its called quality control.. and find a new dealer. its that simple. update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. family emergency. fast forward 5 weeks while the truck is in another state with the check engine light on. back home and into dealer for visit number 3. this time its 1 3 and 8 missing. they decide its not their plugs or the injector or the cap rotor or wires that were replaced when the truck plugs went in... this time they decide its the intake gasket - even though this engine doesnt use any oil between oil changes and only uses a quart about every 3000 miles even when towing the 6500 lb 5th wheel. with the new intake gasket the check engine light doesnt come on for almost 2 days. back for visit number 4.......... this time they decide its the majority of the ignition system... which i refuse to let them replace. so i got the chrysler performance cap and rotor and a new set of the really good belden wires from napa... replace them in shifts over time... cap and rotor of course causes no change - check engine still on. wires also no change - check engine still on. so just for giggles i ordered the taylor spiro-pro wires and put them on a couple weeks ago. you guessed it - no change... so truck now in for visit number five... dealer says its just number 1 thats missing today and has now decided its not plugs or wires or injectors or compression or poltergeist... they now think its a mechanical problem and are pulling the valve cover to see if they can see anything... good grief! only good thing about all this is ive gotten to drive a lot of cars im really glad i didnt buy! chevy cavalier ford focus some other noisy tinny piece of crap that i cant even remember... how many box tops do you have to send in to be a 5 star dealer .

From : okcjailer4

that sounds like the same problem i had with my dodge do you know what i did to fix it i turned it in to a ford and now it runs good i spent over a 1000 bucks on that thing befor i hot smart my truck was a dodge dakota 4x4 318 ho. what a mess. the straw that broke the camals back was when i used 4 wheel drive one time to pull by boat out and streatched the drive chain i went and got it fixed the next time they told me it was on me i told them that was bs so i started checking and found the numbers on the trans case indicated that it was a trans case for a 6 cyl eng what quality control they have keg. .

From : me

i had this problem everytime i towed my 5th.. mine turned out to be the front o2 sensor was shot and only failed under load... gone 2 years after the 5th or 6th dealer looked at it. all it takes is 1 guy thats seen the problem in order to figure it out.. m. that sounds like the same problem i had with my dodge do you know what i did to fix it i turned it in to a ford and now it runs good i spent over a 1000 bucks on that thing befor i hot smart my truck was a dodge dakota 4x4 318 ho. what a mess. the straw that broke the camals back was when i used 4 wheel drive one time to pull by boat out and streatched the drive chain i went and got it fixed the next time they told me it was on me i told them that was bs so i started checking and found the numbers on the trans case indicated that it was a trans case for a 6 cyl eng what quality control they have keg. .

From : Annonymous

well they may have gotten it... its been 2 weeks the check engine light isnt on and weve towed the 5th wheel a few hundred miles. and driven about 400 miles on the highway without the trailer. interestingly enough i dont know whether it was the engine problem or the problem where the transmission was randomly and intermittently locking and unlocking the torque converter very quickly but the mileage on the highway was a whopping 14.1. which is about 3.5 better than its been for the last year. with the trailer towing between 65 and 70 with the cruise on and overdrive off we got between 8 and 8.25 which is somewhere between 1.75 and 2.5 mpg better than it was doing before... so im not ready to replace it with a ford yet and the extended warranty has several months and about 7000 miles left on it til it hits the big 100k and like i said before - now theyve pissed me off. ill take this thing in if it takes 100 visits. ive got the time and ive got the annoyance and these guys were gonna fix this thing. on wed 17 sep 2003 004312 gmt me msimkin@shaw.ca wrote i had this problem everytime i towed my 5th.. mine turned out to be the front o2 sensor was shot and only failed under load... gone 2 years after the 5th or 6th dealer looked at it. all it takes is 1 guy thats seen the problem in order to figure it out.. m. that sounds like the same problem i had with my dodge do you know what i did to fix it i turned it in to a ford and now it runs good i spent over a 1000 bucks on that thing befor i hot smart my truck was a dodge dakota 4x4 318 ho. what a mess. the straw that broke the camals back was when i used 4 wheel drive one time to pull by boat out and streatched the drive chain i went and got it fixed the next time they told me it was on me i told them that was bs so i started checking and found the numbers on the trans case indicated that it was a trans case for a 6 cyl eng what quality control they have keg. .

From : Annonymous

probably the forward or as mopar calls it the rear clutch pack is welded together it wont back up because its in a bind internally the guy whos selling it is either woefully mis-informed or a damned liar hello group im buying a 90 ram charger black with red interior. the tranny has 1st 2nd and 3rd gears but reverse doesnt work ...when shifted into reverse you hear whinning and and noise .you can feel that the truck wants to back up but nothin...shift back into drive and your fine.the truck is a steal and its going to the shop ...........but what wrong with it the gentle man who owns the truck says the guy he took it to said it the valve assembly that controls the reverse gear....... whats my damage and is this minor or major work.......... thanks group michael .

From : Annonymous

and the saga continues!!!!!!!!!!!!! check engine light came on again 3 days into vacation. stayed on for a few days then went off again. second week it came on again and went off before we got home sunday... so yesterday it started idling rough again. and this morning the check engine light came on again and into the dealer i went for visit number 7........ after an hour or so of screwing around scratching heads looking at scan tool they sprayed water all over the engine... and decided the new mopar performance distributor cap was bad......... of course while the truck was there it didnt miss so they had no idea what was really wrong... all they knew was that if they dumped enough water on the distributor number 8 would miss a couple times. so i finally became a trifle annoyed. and expressed my displeasure with the lack of results and number of visits etc to the team leader who was supposed to be fixing the truck... and the response - get ready - youll have to talk to the service manager before you bring the truck in again because im not going to deal with you because youre rude! seven *&^%$#@ visits for the same problem and im rude!!!!!! and actually i was pretty nice all things considered... didnt even ask how many boxtops they had to send in to get their 5-star rating! of course i figure they charged me originally when it should have been warranty and then charged me the $50 warranty deductible so happy or not theyve got the money and theyre gonna get the truck back or refund the money... so i contacted summit and theyre shipping me another distributor cap which ill put on and when the check engine light comes on after that the truck will be going back in... oh the kicker - after telling me they couldnt get it to miss now and all the rest as i started the truck in the aisle it started missing... so the tech came back over with his scan tool and sat there and watched cylinders 4 5 and 8 miss intermittently... until they stopped missing... they he and the team leader stood there and scratched their heads and said it must have been moisture trapped in the distributor cap... even better the technician actually said that it was likely because these cylinders are next to each other... and when i suggested that was unlikely since the firing order is 18436572 that 5 is nowhere near 8 or 4 he just looked at me and said oh yeah... and then stated that trying to do anything else would just be guessing... which caused me to look at the team leader and ask yeah you know the question - so what have you been doing so far which im thinking is why they think im rude... does anybody actually look at stuff at the better business bureau or is filing a complaint there just a waste of time .

From : Annonymous

well shit!!!!!!! i spoke too soon...... yup as of yesterday afternoon the check engine light is back on...... again...... so monday it goes back in for the sixth visit...... like i said ive got the time and these bloodsuckers got to toake the money once... now theyre gonna fix this thing if it takes 20 visits... at their expense. and 20 rental cars at their expense. unless dodge is a whole lot different than ford the dealer is gonna have a hell of a time convincing the factory warranty monitors that all these problems werent misdiagnosed! and an even harder time getting the factory to pay for the continued screwups... then again this is a 5-star dealer!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! check engine came back on thursday. stayed on til saturday afternoon. then it went off again. got into the dealer this morning. they checked and said there were no codes stored in the system... good grief..... so visit number six was a non-starter!!!!!! my guess is the thingll screw up when were on vacation in the middle of nowhere... .

From : clare snyder on ca

on wed 22 oct 2003 173321 -0500 ramman@dodgecity.cc wrote dperez@junonospam.com writes does anybody actually look at stuff at the better business bureau or is filing a complaint there just a waste of time many dont but i always do. i will not allow any of my vehicles to go to any repair center that is not a bbb member in good standing. even in a city the size of houston that has caused me slight inconvenience at having to sometimes drive out of my way but i have never had an unplesant experience at any bbb-member business. and the bbb being member supported has to have something real serious before you find out about it. particularly if a company has more than one location. any problems reported from location one dont show up on location two. imho checking with the bbb or even the local chamber of commerce is a waste of time.. .

From : abolt

be sure to speak to the next 2or 3 levels of supervisors at the dealership. and interrupt their day several times each day. you will then have their best guys working on the trouble so that you will not be bothering the big boss. get your wife to call and request names of supervisors and reports to whom type stuff. ladies can get that info easy. we had to be very persistant when someone at the dealership scratched a door. my wife letterally inspected her new durango every day. they scratched the car. we knew it. they repaired it. good luck ron on wed 22 oct 2003 173321 -0500 ramman@dodgecity.cc wrote dperez@junonospam.com writes does anybody actually look at stuff at the better business bureau or is filing a complaint there just a waste of time many dont but i always do. i will not allow any of my vehicles to go to any repair center that is not a bbb member in good standing. even in a city the size of houston that has caused me slight inconvenience at having to sometimes drive out of my way but i have never had an unplesant experience at any bbb-member business. and the bbb being member supported has to have something real serious before you find out about it. particularly if a company has more than one location. any problems reported from location one dont show up on location two. imho checking with the bbb or even the local chamber of commerce is a waste of time.. .

From : ed

dont feel to badly...my neighbor and his month old f-250 ford with a diesel engine left last week on a trip to mt. rushmore from los angeles pulling his 5th wheel trailer. outside of baker ca the injector pump went out towed to henderson nevada...sat for 2 days before it was repaired. talking to his son last night the fan clutch died somewhere in colorado on friday which caused the computer to shut down the engine once it reached a certain temp. towed in again and had to sit until yesterday before the dealer would even look at it. hes turning around and heading home after the repair....and i wouldnt want to be working at the dealer he bought it from when he gets home. dperez@junonospam.com says... update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. .

From : nitpik

if this sequence of events doesnt qualify for the lemon law ... what would update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. family emergency. fast forward 5 weeks while the truck is in another state with the check engine light on. back home and into dealer for visit number 3. this time its 1 3 and 8 missing. they decide its not their plugs or the injector or the cap rotor or wires that were replaced when the truck plugs went in... this time they decide its the intake

From : tbone

how many box tops do you have to send in to be a 5 star dealer unfortunately the 5 star crap is nothing more than marketing hype. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .

From : tbonetbone

it is too old for the lemon law to take effect and it sounds like the true lemon is the dealer. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving if this sequence of events doesnt qualify for the lemon law ... what would update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. family emergency. fast forward 5 weeks while the truck is in another state with the check engine light on. back home and into dealer for visit number 3. this time its 1 3 and 8 missing. they decide its not their plugs or the injector or the cap rotor or wires that were replaced when the truck plugs went in... this time they decide its the intake gasket - even though this engine doesnt use any oil between oil changes and only uses a quart about every 3000 miles even when towing the 6500 lb 5th wheel. with the new intake gasket the check engine light doesnt come on for almost 2 days. back for visit number 4.......... this time they decide its the majority of the ignition system... which i refuse to let them replace. so i got the chrysler performance cap and rotor and a new set of the really good belden wires from napa... replace them in shifts over time... cap and rotor of course causes no change - check engine still on. wires also no change - check engine still on. so just for giggles i ordered the taylor spiro-pro wires and put them on a couple weeks ago. you guessed it - no change... so truck now in for visit number five... dealer says its just number 1 thats missing today and has now decided its not plugs or wires or injectors or compression or poltergeist... they now think its a mechanical problem and are pulling the valve cover to see if they can see anything... good grief! only good thing about all this is ive gotten to drive a lot of cars im really glad i didnt buy! chevy cavalier ford focus some other noisy tinny piece of crap that i cant even remember... how many box tops do you have to send in to be a 5 star dealer .

From : moparman

i feel your pain my mopar brother. -- moparman----remove clothes to reply... scud coordinates latitude 32.61208 degrees north longitude 96.92995 degrees west depth 17.35 inches update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. family emergency. fast forward 5 weeks while the truck is in another state with the check engine light on. back home and into dealer for visit number 3. this time its 1 3 and 8 missing. they decide its not their plugs or the injector or the cap rotor or wires that were replaced when the truck plugs went in... this time they decide its the intake gasket - even though this engine doesnt use any oil between oil changes and only uses a quart about every 3000 miles even when towing the 6500 lb 5th wheel. with the new intake gasket the check engine light doesnt come on for almost 2 days. back for visit number 4.......... this time they decide its the majority of the ignition system... which i refuse to let them replace. so i got the chrysler performance cap and rotor and a new set of the really good belden wires from napa... replace them in shifts over time... cap and rotor of course causes no change - check engine still on. wires also no change - check engine still on. so just for giggles i ordered the taylor spiro-pro wires and put them on a couple weeks ago. you guessed it - no change... so truck now in for visit number five... dealer says its just number 1 thats missing today and has now decided its not plugs or wires or injectors or compression or poltergeist... they now think its a mechanical problem and are pulling the valve cover to see if they can see anything... good grief! only good thing about all this is ive gotten to drive a lot of cars im really glad i didnt buy! chevy cavalier ford focus some other noisy tinny piece of crap that i cant even remember... how many box tops do you have to send in to be a 5 star dealer .

From : mark wegmann

my truck was doing the same thing have you noticed that your gas mileage has been decreasing my truck 99 4x2 ram the check engine light came on and i noticed my gas mileage was decreasing at a pretty steady rate. i took it into a local mechanic he said it was the speed sensor in the rear end. they changed it and the light went off and hasnt been back on. might want to suggest that to them. mark update on the 98 ram 4x2 360 with the check engine light on and the chrysler extended service contract....... when last we left our vehicle it was earlier this summer and after 4 yes four visits to the dealer theyd decided it was the distributor cap rotor and plug wires...... originally went in because the check engine light was on. dealer found cylinders 1 and 8 were missing and decided the problem was the champion truck plugs recommended for this engine that had aobut 5000 miles on them. of course they werent. after removing a whole lot more money from my pocket than it was worth i left the dealer with new plugs and the check engine light was back on within 12 miles. back for visit number 2... decided it was an injector but they didnt have time to fix it that day. family emergency. fast forward 5 weeks while the truck is in another state with the check engine light on. back home and into dealer for visit number 3. this time its 1 3 and 8 missing. they decide its not their plugs or the injector or the cap rotor or wires that were replaced when the truck plugs went in... this time they decide its the intake gasket - even though this engine doesnt use any oil between oil changes and only uses a quart about every 3000 miles even when towing the 6500 lb 5th wheel. with the new intake gasket the check engine light doesnt come on for almost 2 days. back for visit number 4.......... this time they decide its the majority of the ignition system... which i refuse to let them replace. so i got the chrysler performance cap and rotor and a new set of the really good belden wires from napa... replace them in shifts over time... cap and rotor of course causes no change - check engine still on. wires also no change - check engine still on. so just for giggles i ordered the taylor spiro-pro wires and put them on a couple weeks ago. you guessed it - no change... so truck now in for visit number five... dealer says its just number 1 thats missing today and has now decided its not plugs or wires or injectors or compression or poltergeist... they now think its a mechanical problem and are pulling the valve cover to see if they can see anything... good grief! only good thing about all this is ive gotten to drive a lot of cars im really glad i didnt buy! chevy cavalier ford focus some other noisy tinny piece of crap that i cant even remember... how many box tops do you have to send in to be a 5 star dealer .

From : Annonymous

whats scary about this is this dealer is the least bad ive been to. look back about 4.5 years and youll find the story of the selling dealer - where they first butchered the front brakes and adjusted the rears so tightly that it warped the drums then assured me and my wife that new rotors and drums were on order and would be in in a week. when they came in the technician decided the rears were ok and the fronts didnt need to be replaced just needed the caliper greased! service managers statement well i cant overrule my technician. if he says thats all thats needed i have to go with that. its a long story involving lots of screaming phone calls to chrysler a visit to a different dealer that confirmed everything i said about the original work etc... upshot of the situation is never expect decent work from a dealer where the service manager is immediate family of the owner... anyhow in this case the dealer has now decided the head is bad - yes im not kidding after 5 visits and a desperate attempt to find something they could charge for they decided the head is bad and will be replacing it... on wed 3 sep 2003 222050 -0500 mark wegmann mwegmann@tca.net wrote my truck was doing the same thing have you noticed that your gas mileage has been decreasing my truck 99 4x2 ram the check engine light came on and i noticed my gas mileage was decreasing at a pretty steady rate. i took it into a local mechanic he said it was the speed sensor in the rear end. they changed it and the light went off and hasnt been back on. might want to suggest that to them. mark .

From : the sweeneys

i am joining this concern a bit late as maybe others are-so i will ask a few questions to get up to speed. on any of your 7 visits was the vehicle displaying the check engine symbol are there any active codes during your visits concerning cylinder misfire or are there only one trip failures. are there any other codes stored besides cylinder misfire did the concern appear before your installation of the performance distributor cap do you have any other performance enhancing items installed. what was the situation when the check engine lamp illuminated. speed load acceleration ambient temperature brand of and octane rating of fuel. has a search of the star database and applicable tsbs been conducted. does your vehicle seem to have a bit of unexplained oil consumption has anyone check the plenum gasket have your secondary ignition wires been checked under load conditions--could be breaking down under load--see question earlier. what is the year code stamped on them are you using platinum plugs or something other than oem recommendations ----- on your side it is very frustrating to have a machine not performing up to snuff. on their side based on your comments they want your concern corrected as much as you do if not more so. they did not design it build it nor modify it. it is not profitable nor fun for them to continue to work a problem that will in all likelihood never be corrected to your satisfaction by them. why not give a different repair facility an opportunity to assist you-better for you and them. it is possible that a fresh set of techs might just nail the concern. i have access to several excellent technicians that are familiar with dodge trucks and would enjoy presenting your concern to them in a little brain storm session--the answers to the questions above will provide them with a good starting point. if any other corrective actions such as pcm/tcm flashes have been conducted that would be helpful as well. the last 9 of your vin and mileage will provide all repairs on your vehicle that have been participated in by chrysler--lots of information there. i am sure that the repair facility asked these questions as they are crucial to properly diagnosising your vehicle concern. and the saga continues!!!!!!!!!!!!! check engine light came on again 3 days into vacation. stayed on for a few days then went off again. second week it came on again and went off before we got home sunday... so yesterday it started idling rough again. and this morning the check engine light came on again and into the dealer i went for visit number 7........ after an hour or so of screwing around scratching heads looking at scan tool they sprayed water all over the engine... and decided the new mopar performance distributor cap was bad......... of course while the truck was there it didnt miss so they had no idea what was really wrong... all they knew was that if they dumped enough water on the distributor number 8 would miss a couple times. so i finally became a trifle annoyed. and expressed my displeasure with the lack of results and number of visits etc to the team leader who was supposed to be fixing the truck... and the response - get ready - youll have to talk to the service manager before you bring the truck in again because im not going to deal with you because youre rude! seven *&^%$#@ visits for the same problem and im rude!!!!!! and actually i was pretty nice all things considered... didnt even ask how many boxtops they had to send in to get their 5-star rating! of course i figure they charged me originally when it should have been warranty and then charged me the $50 warranty deductible so happy or not theyve got the money and theyre gonna get the truck back or refund the money... so i contacted summit and theyre shipping me another distributor cap which ill put on and when the check engine light comes on after that the truck will be going back in... oh the kicker - after telling me they couldnt get it to miss now and all the rest as i started the truck in the aisle it started missing... so the tech came back over with his scan tool and sat there and watched cylinders 4 5 and 8 miss intermittently... until they stopped missing... they he and the team leader stood there and scratched their heads and said it must have been moisture trapped in the distributor cap... even better the technician actually said that it was likely because these cylinders are next to each other... and when i suggested that was unlikely since the firing order is 18436572 that 5 is nowhere near 8 or 4 he just looked at me and said oh yeah... and then stated that trying to do anything else would just be guessing... which caused me to look at the team leader and ask yeah you know the question - so what have you been doing so far which im thinking is

From : Annonymous

dperez@junonospam.com writes does anybody actually look at stuff at the better business bureau or is filing a complaint there just a waste of time many dont but i always do. i will not allow any of my vehicles to go to any repair center that is not a bbb member in good standing. even in a city the size of houston that has caused me slight inconvenience at having to sometimes drive out of my way but i have never had an unplesant experience at any bbb-member business. .

From : Annonymous

yeah this has been going on long enough that the original string is long gone... lemme recap........... fall of 2002 the 1998 ram 5.9 4x2 3.92 lsd hits 75k. since it gets used to tow a 5th wheel it gets severe duty maintenance... and it has the factory added care extended service plan. so i gave it a new cap rotor wires and truck plugs. the recommended champion truck plugs. end of year the check engine light comes on so i go into a local shop and they put a scan tool on. shows several cylinders missing. off to the dealer for visit number 1... where they insisted on replacing the 2-month old less-than-5000 mile champion truck plugs. these were by the way recommended by the local dodge dealer parts department... but this dealer was sure that they had to put the regular champions in before they could determine whether or not there was an additional problem..... and of couse they had to reprogram the pcm which was going to be covered by the warranty... needless to say i left $320 poorer but hopeful that the problem was fixed.... check engine light was back on before i even made it home... next day back to dealer where they desperately tried to find something else they could blame it on that wouldnt be warranty. and when they couldnt they suddenly were too busy to fix it that day... unfortunately we were at the start of a family emergency that required the truck to go to indiana for a month so it went off with the check engine light on..... which stayed on for the next 3 weeks. finally went off halfway back to minnesota a month later... but of course it came on again shortly thereafter. so back to dealer for visit number 3........ where they decided it was the intake manifold... this despite the fact that vacuum was not low and that the truck has never used any oil. but since there was supposedly a problem with intake gasket on some of these wtf let em put one on. check engine light came on again within a week. back again for visit number 4. where they decided the entire ignition system was bad - rotor cap wires all bad... truly amazing... and even the service manager who i mistakenly presumed would have some common sense refused to realize just how ridiculous this was... so i put on a mopar performance cap and rotor and a set of taylor spiro-pro wires. and of course the check engine light came on again...... back to dealer for visit number 5... now one thing to remember - had these guys not performed unnecessary and fraudulent repairs on visit number 1 and refused to refund the money when it was proven to have no positive impact on the problem and then had the balls to charge me the $50 warranty deductible on visit number 2 id have been long gone to another dealer. but now theyve got the money they gonna get the truck... anyhow this time they agreed that amazingly enough it wasnt the cap or rotor or wires.... this time it was a bad valve seat on a head... yeah... so they put a replacement head on... and of course the check engine light was back on within a couple weeks....... so now weve been screwing with this since january with multiple visits and multiple guesses... so back in for visit number six........ where they werent able to find a code... apparently they disconnected the batter for something prior to scanning and whether its supposed to clear the info or not they couldnt find anything............ so off i went on vacation. where the check engine light came on within 3 days and went off and on a couple times over the next 2 weeks..... back home and yesterday as i was heading in the general direction of the dealer it came on again... so as they had instructed me i went straight in for visit number seven. where they scanned and stood and scratched and eventually guessed their way into deciding it was the mopar performance distributor cap... at which point i becamse rude and suggested that their diagnostic skills might not be optimal and their repair process was rather inefficient and lacking in ethics... i may have been a bit louder than that and just a trifle more vulgar... in any case the service team leader was offended and decided that he no longer wants to deal with me or the truck... so right now the lights on and summit is sending me another cap and once thats on and the light comes on again ill be having a chat with the service manager.... cause like i said they took the money they gonna fix the truck whether im rude or not or i figure we go tell our little problem to a small claims court judge - who i find it hard to believe is gonna be real sympathetic to a dealer after this many visits for the same problem... on wed 22 oct 2003 041614 gmt the sweeneys jopado@televar.com wrote i am joining this concern a bit late as maybe others are-so i will ask a few questions to get up to speed. on any of your 7 visits was the vehicle displaying the check engine s