I have an early '01 with the 53
block, 86,000 miles and am the original owner. Brought it to my mechanic with a coolant loss, I was hoping it was something else. Mechanic confirmed about a 4 inch hairline crack in the right side of the
block mid way b/n the oil pan and head. Took it to the dealer based upon Dodge's stated warranty. There response "we can't really see a leak, but we're going to write it up as a crack in the block". Oh, "and your warranty expired in 2005 from Dodge but you have to contact Cummins for the Cummins warranty". Needless to say it didn't sit with me well as they seemed to just want to get me out the door.
Did some research and made a few calls. Basically, Daimler-Chrysler has technically abandoned their warranty for this model year. Did not recieve any information or assistance from Daimler-Chrysler, and never recieved any return call from the factory rep. I had to threaten action from the news and an attorney to even get a complaint number from them.
The warranty manual for 2002 is written the same as 2001, that is that the
"Cummins Diesel engine limited warranty begins at the end of the 3/36 Basic Limited Warranty Period, and covers the cost of repairing those parts of your truck engine that are defective in materials, workmanship, or factory preparation".
"Parts Covered for 5 Years or 100,000 Miles". 2003 they moved the section to 2.3 of the warranty manual and increased the length of coverage to 7 years/100,000 after the basic warranty. 2004 significantly changed the wording format by adding
up to 7 years or 100,000 miles, and added a clause for warranty tranfer to secondary owners, a deductible after 5 years, but still list everything as starting at the end of the basic limited warranty period. 2005 Daimler-Chrysler does not list any warranty for the Cummins engine in their warranty book. 2006,2007, 2008 Daimler-Chrysler changed the wording again to
up to 5 years or 100,000 on the odometer.
I contacted Cummins. They admitted that there is a casting flaw in the "53"
block made in Brazil that was placed in the truck for the model years 1999 to 2001. The area's that they are cracking are due to that area only being 5.5mm thick instead of the 11 mm thickness it is suppose to be. There is no rhyme or reason to the cracking of the
block but they did say that most of the cracks occurred during the basic warranty period. They added that it did not matter basically when they crack and that they could crack with 8,000, 80,000 or 800,000 miles. Cummins stated that Daimler-Chrysler had screwed up in the wording of their warranty manuals and failed to make any corrections for a period of time. Cummins stated that they are willing to stand behind their product and provided me with two options: 1) they'll will pay for a new
block, bearings, gaskets, rings and pistons (if needed) on work performed at a Cummins distributor and I'll be responsible for labor and any other parts; or 2) I can replace/repair the block/engine and they will reimburse 50% of the cost up to $1000.00. The way I see it is that I shouldn't have to pay for anything.
I have done research on the Magnuson-Moss Warranty act and Uniform Commercial Code. Daimler-Chrysler is under the impression that because of what may be construed as ambiguety in the language of the warranty manual that they are not responsible for it. On the contrary, the Magnuson-Moss Act specifically cites that ambiguous language is the responsibility of the manufacturer. I believe that this is a warranty issue that Daimler-Chrysler is responsible for and I am in the process of trying to get my truck fixed. Hopefully, the dealer and Daimler Chrysler will do the right thing and cover this issue.
All this information is available to everyone on the internet. I think Daimler-Chrysler just hopes that everyone will get tired and go away.
I do welcome anyone that has experienced this problem and tried to fight the big dog over it to contact me at
dotherightthing218@yahoo.com. I would ask that you include your Dailmer-Chrysler reference/complaint number and the year and model of your vehicle as well as when the problem occurred and the results of your process.
dreaded 53 block
