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My Wife and I loved our Eco Diesel 1500 Limited Truck. In Loving our truck, we kept it serviced and if there were any recalls on it, we took it in and had the work completed. It's the right thing to do, and we knew that Fiat Chrysler was there for us.
So when the eco update came up, I scheduled the work to be done and it was completed in May 2019. After the update, I started noticing many problems with acceleration; sluggish, poor gas mileage and a lack of power. My wife and I almost got into an accident pulling out on to a street due to the extreme lag time. It was like you pushed on the gas pedal and nothing happened for 2-3 seconds. So it was time to take it back to the dealership.
I made an appointment and went in. I told them about my issues and so they ran the diagnostics and reported back to me that everything was okay. They also told me that they had heard of some people complaining about the update, but could offer no help.
I went on my way, installed new tires and was ready for our move from Wisconsin to Georgia. We packed all of our belongings and sent them off in the moving truck. We had our Eco Diesel truck full of our more valuable items, boat packed full, and the next morning August 6th, we were on the road to our new Home in Georgia.
We didnt make it 30 minutes down the road when the truck started to lose power and died out. I allowed our forward momentum to pull over. I attempt to restart the engine, no luck. Won't start. We start looking for numbers but since it 6:30 in the morning the dealership isn't open. Try to restart every 15 minutes. Call Chrysler, call tow truck, and then at 8:30 it starts. I cancelled the tow and headed to the dealership. They got someone to look at it and it came back as" no code"?
The Technician and I discuss options and decide to change fuel filters in case that was the issue.
Back on the road around 10:30 or 11:00 and only 930 miles to go.
Now we are down into Kentucky and run into a dangerous thunderstorm around 6:00 PM. The throttle starts to feel unresponsive and a yellow "service engine throttle" light comes on. I automatically think the gas pedal wiring or sensor has gotten wet from driving in the storm. I push down on the accelerator and the engine races. I push on my 4ways and slowly pull onto the shoulder. My wife tells me it smells like something is burning. So I shut the engine down. We pray the vehicle isn't going to burn full of personal belongings, important files, as well as our fishing boat we are towing.
The smell finally fades and we wait there for an hour and a half in the rain. When the rain slowed down a bit, I got out and checked the engine. I attempt to start the engine and it starts right up. Since it was just a yellow caution light, we decide to drive the 7 miles to the nearest town with a Chrysler dealership to have our truck serviced. By the time we got to the town, it was 9 PM so we looked for a place to stay.
The next morning after a sleepless night worrying about our belongings sitting in the back of the truck and boat, I headed off to the dealership. At 10:30 we find out that the turbo cooling unit is done and it will be covered by the new warranty since it is part of the update on the eco diesel; however the part won't be in until September.
That's unacceptable, so I phone Chrysler representative. She tells me they will cover accommodations and up to $35 a day for a rental. Now things start getting even more confusing, the service people tell me we cannot take a rental out of state. They call Chrysler representative back and they also tell me that we won't be able to take the rental vehicle out of State. I call back and they escalate the report since I need to be at our New home for the movers and service providers we have contacted for utility hook ups, etc. They say they will contact us in 24 to 48 hours.
If things couldn't get worse, the Service Manager takes me into his office and tells me the Service Tech said the engine hit 950 degrees and the fix may be a Band-Aid if it even works. He says that the best option would be to change out the engine and he could have that done in a few days. He phoned the Chrysler Service Rep, and he tells he that they will not pay for a new engine. Knowing we have no time to wait, he recommends we purchase another vehicle and due to our circumstances, they should be able to give us a good deal.
We are stuck. Truck is broken down, moving truck waiting for us in Georgia, and supposed to wait on parts that wont be in until sometime in September. The pressure is on us, and the sales team informed us that our truck is worth $10,000 (later they upped it to 10,500). We booked another night in the hotel. The next morning we were so upset and disgusted that we hopped in our truck and drove a mile down the road and purchased a Chevy. Got 11,000 from them on our broken down vehicle.
We felt totally hung out. Chrysler wouldn't help us. No idea why the Chrysler dealership was only offering us $10,500 when the repairs would be covered under warranty. It was explained to me that the used vehicle department has to pay for the repairs regardless.
The pressure and situation had our heads spinning and it appeared we had no choice but to purchase a vehicle. Chrysler Dealer had left a bad impression on us. Another night in a Motel with no end in site and no more time available for us to wait, we drove to the Ford dealership and were offered a used Chev with 14,000 miles and $11,000 on the trade. Sadly it was way better than any option what we had been offered through Chrysler dealership..
The Chrysler case representative finally called us back as we drove our new truck down the interstate at roughly 1:30 in the afternoon. Since we had traded in the truck, she said she would check to see if she could help us out and would call me back. I never did get a call back but received an email from the case manager regarding the closure of my case.
Sadly we own a truck we didn't want and lost a truck we loved. We were left little choice and received nothing for our troubles. The Chrysler dealership played us and the Rep at Chrysler was of no assistance. On the 15th of October, Sisk Auto sent me an email that my parts were in.
I'm still wondering what can be done for us and the money we lost on the hotel, meals, and the vehicle we loved. Anyone have any ideas?