Frustration...

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Frustration...

Post by vanished » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:11 am

Just a 'quick' rant if anyone cares, but I feel like I wanted to explain my frustration about vehicles and service all being worthless anymore - as seems to be the general case anymore....

Background - Our '15 Cummins (some know we had both a Cummins and PW) had the water pump replaced under recall (82k). Made it a few hundred miles from dealer #1 and light came on. I had daughter add coolant so light went out (never overheated!)... By time she got to her destination it came on again and she made a new appointment at dealer #2...

Dealer #2 topped it off, checked it out and sent her on the way... A few hundred more miles light came on for third time. Topped it off and watched temp but didn't last too long... light again and we called for a tow truck, thinking where the heck has 3 gallons+ of coolant went???

Dealer #3 said bad EGR cooler... said it was her fault for driving it (never overheated!!!) and that it was out of warranty (80k emissions component)... no mention about how 3+ gallons of coolant will work in the long haul after getting digested by the engine (not counting endless sensors and exhaust - this is a bone stock truck)...

So frustration being high - we traded truck not wanting the headaches... Got a used '14 LTZ duramax 3500 to haul with... Made it one trip and it wouldn't start.. .Keeps losing prime. Apparently the tech that swapped fuel filters cracked the housing! (Ram tech) Now it's at a GM dealer because of allison transmission issues. Luckily GM powertrain is picking up that bill!

Keep in mind that this was all after a 6.oh no issue years back...

So... Do they make ANY good trucks anymore? Are they all cheap junk?

I'm not sure I can trust my dealer or any techs anymore - who wants to buy my Omaha Wagon?

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Re: Frustration...

Post by olyelr » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:36 am

They are all overpriced junk. And apparently the pumpkin colored Rams are the worst, being plagued with issue after issue.
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Re: Frustration...

Post by vanished » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:57 am

Um... no the Orange has been the best one - the issues noted above were all on a black truck, not my power wagon..

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Re: Frustration...

Post by Reloaderguy » Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:23 am

You should have deleted your cummins and kept it.

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Re: Frustration...

Post by vanished » Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:25 am

We talked extensively about that... Three mechanics advised against it after drinking that much coolant and pushing it thru the engine... they were afraid of long term damage, or so they said.

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Re: Frustration...

Post by PWJouster » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:00 am

lets talk about hemis....specifically in the 6+ liter versions... i know not much of 5.7s
how often do you hear a stock motor actually acting up?

well, i guess i hear it act up daily behaving like a sowing machine and tippity tappity in my earholes. (S&B and Mufflex magnaflow/res chop solved this)
but how many actually have serious issues. more diesels out there, but its a never ending story over in that camp with regulations.
with all the complaining we do on here, Ram is the best HD Gasser
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Re: Frustration...

Post by TommyG » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:26 am

I keep thinking a 2nd Gen with a P or VE pump is going to be my next one. I can spend a ton of money going through it and building it to suit me before I would hit the price tag on a new one that wouldn't be nearly as reliable.
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Re: Frustration...

Post by FordyceCreekTrail » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:43 am

This is why the PW is my FIRST American car ever. Never had major issues on a Japanese truck under warranty, except my 05 Xterra which blew a rear diff with a known design flaw that they denied.(but fixed on the assembly line asap) and had a nasty radiator failure that wiped out transmissions....( fixed mine so it would not) And while those dealers are just as obnoxious idiots they do seem to be a little easier on warranty at times. I do believe a Japanese truck will be in order magnitude more reliable to this day, and my PW is a huge financial risk. Who knows, maybe it will be my only US truck, but so far so good for the most part. The thing about buying reliable Japanese trucks, is they don't class lead anything, are behind with technology and off-road tech, and extremely boring. But if reliability is your thing its a better place to be. My Titan was solid though 250K with a lot of abuse and only minimal repairs. Never even changed anything like belts, or fuel pump, or ball joints, ect.
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Re: Frustration...

Post by OffroadTreks » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:58 am

Knock on wood, I don't want your problems. I haven't had any yet. But we had our first "incident" the other day, after a multi-day run and long drive home, I came to a stop light and the truck just stopped running. Light turns green, I press the gas, nothing... WTH? Then I realized the engine wasn't running. Put it in park and it started back up, but... man... That made me nervous.
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Re: Frustration...

Post by Bill2014 » Thu Aug 02, 2018 10:20 am

I feel your frustration! :angry:
Luckily, I haven't had any issues with my '12 CTD Mega or my '14 Power Wagon. The vast majority of owners don't have many major failures. It's really hard to engineer a 100% reliable vehicle and keep it at a reasonable price these days. All parts that go into vehicles have a risk of failure - the more parts that go in - the more complicated the vehicle will be and the risk that a failed part will cripple a vehicle increases. These complicated vehicles are harder to service (IHMO). The dealer technicians can't learn and perform their jobs from memory any more - they have to look almost everything up and step through a procedure.

Now I also wonder about the "quality" of the techs at the dealerships... they always put 80 psi in my rear tires just because it's a 2500. Apparently, they don't look at the placard on the door or the max pressure listed on the tires. If they don't get that simplest task right, how could they possibly perform any maintenance for you in a reliable manner? :rofl:
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Re: Frustration...

Post by KevinABQ » Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:09 pm

They all have issues. Maybe you didn’t but “There’s no easy way to say this: Our long-term Nissan Titan XD Diesel was one of the most disappointing new vehicles we have evaluated in recent memory, a distinction highlighted by our truck’s serious mechanical issues and grounded in its general inability to endear when it was healthy.”
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/20 ... est-review

FordyceCreekTrail wrote:
Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:43 am
This is why the PW is my FIRST American car ever. Never had major issues on a Japanese truck under warranty, except my 05 Xterra which blew a rear diff with a known design flaw that they denied.(but fixed on the assembly line asap) and had a nasty radiator failure that wiped out transmissions....( fixed mine so it would not) And while those dealers are just as obnoxious idiots they do seem to be a little easier on warranty at times. I do believe a Japanese truck will be in order magnitude more reliable to this day, and my PW is a huge financial risk. Who knows, maybe it will be my only US truck, but so far so good for the most part. The thing about buying reliable Japanese trucks, is they don't class lead anything, are behind with technology and off-road tech, and extremely boring. But if reliability is your thing its a better place to be. My Titan was solid though 250K with a lot of abuse and only minimal repairs. Never even changed anything like belts, or fuel pump, or ball joints, ect.
2018 White Rambox, Diamondback HD bed cover, White Knuckle sliders, Carli and Purple Cranium diff guards, masterpull 11mm superline, 37 Toyo MT.

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Re: Frustration...

Post by PWJouster » Thu Aug 02, 2018 4:32 pm

BoldAdventure wrote:
Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:58 am
Knock on wood, I don't want your problems. I haven't had any yet. But we had our first "incident" the other day, after a multi-day run and long drive home, I came to a stop light and the truck just stopped running. Light turns green, I press the gas, nothing... WTH? Then I realized the engine wasn't running. Put it in park and it started back up, but... man... That made me nervous.
ive noticed now with the intake and exhaust that sometimes at a stop... as soon as i stop and come to a complete halt, the rpm drops super low, like just a few hundred rpm and feels like its about to stumble and stall...

hate how low the rpms hang out at different cruising speeds and idle situations
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Nanny kill switch and Locker Bypasses
Thuren Tuned King 3.0 & 2.5 Pintop Stage 3/2
17 Method NV-Toyo RT 37
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S&B Intake-Mufflex-Magnaflow/resonator delete
SPOD Bantam
On-Board air ARB CKMTA12
Baja design and Rigid Industries
Purple Cranium Spider dif guards
Pedal Commander

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Re: Frustration...

Post by FordyceCreekTrail » Fri Aug 03, 2018 9:33 am

I would not touch an XD. Notice those problems are all with that stupid Diesel? Nissan flopped on the new model role out regardless of the useless XD model, and got me to move down the road. Like Toyota, they will just bury there heads in the sand saying we don't want trucks.
2018 Flame Red, Moon Roof, Dual Alternators, Ram Boxes sadly Ram ran out of, Luxo Package with 8.4 UConnect, Enter and Go with remote start, Auto Wipers and Lights. Added missing skids and White Knuckle sliders. 35" BFG KM3s. Procal and Warn wireless remote for winch.

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Re: Frustration...

Post by TwinStick » Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:01 pm

Yup, they are all junk. Proof positive that we are de-evolving as a species as a whole. So many products that we have been making for 100+ years & still can't seem to get it right. All that being said................

We just returned from a week away, with camper & canoe. Truck ran fine. Rear diff stayed at about 185-7*F at 65 mph. Averaged 8.4 mpg, canoe on top & pulling camper with a/c on the whole way. Only issue: realized that #3 setting on my blower no longer works....it kicks back down to the low setting for blower output. Any ideas on what that could be ???

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Re: Frustration...

Post by stooper » Sat Aug 18, 2018 10:43 am

TwinStick wrote:
Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:01 pm
Any ideas on what that could be ???
blower motor resistor

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Re: Frustration...

Post by Retired BLM Rig » Mon Aug 20, 2018 12:19 am

stooper wrote:
Sat Aug 18, 2018 10:43 am
TwinStick wrote:
Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:01 pm
Any ideas on what that could be ???
blower motor resistor
This^^^

Look up under the glove box.
Blower Motor Resistor.jpg
One wire connector (#1) and two screws (#6) is all it takes to change it.

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Re: Frustration...

Post by TwinStick » Mon Aug 20, 2018 11:23 am

THANKS GUYS !!! Looks easy peasy. I will get the part & replace it when it really starts bothering me. lol :lol:

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Re: Frustration...

Post by olyelr » Mon Aug 20, 2018 3:28 pm

Yep i had ro change one of those in our dodge minivan. Probly the same part. Easy fix.
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