Well after many years of driving Toyotas and Nissans, two months ago I decided to go with a Dodge. Now I regret it! Driving down to a friends wedding I broke down. My truck lost power and then overheated. I had it towed to the dealer and rented a car. The dealer called the next day and said that i had two cracked heads and they were just going to put in a used motor because it was cheaper. The good news is my warranty covered it, thank God cause I only had 94 more miles left on the warranty and 400 left to get to the wedding. Now the dealer called today and said my clutch is about done and thats not covered. They want $650 bucks to replace it. My question is; how in the hell did my heads crack? They say overheating but the truck lost power first and got hot second. I know I had plenty of coolant and oil too, with no previous signs of a problem.One minute I'm in cruise at 65mph and the next im on the side of the road. Its an 01 1500, 318, 4X4,manual with 83000 miles. Any thoughts or advise would be appreciated!!

 

Stock heads are prone to cracking. Nothing you did

 

welcome to df. i think your dealer is trying to recoup most of the repair cost by screwing you on the clutch.

now - if you took it in and there was nothing else wrong, and they had to replace the clutch, then they'd pull the transmission and replace the clutch, pressure plate, bearing, and possibly turn the flywheel and it'd cost a bundle, maybe $600. on the other hand, if they're pulling the motor and while its out - they replace the clutch, then it takes the same amount of time to put in a new clutch as it does to transfer over your old clutch, and the only additional cost should be the parts, which you can look up on rockauto, but i'd guess $100-200.

so i'd ask the dealer why is he charging you so much ? and why shouldn't the cost of the new clutch be parts only ? and when he makes up some bull$hit answer, then ask - well how about i buy the new parts at some other dealer and bring them to you and you put on the new parts instead of the old ones at no additional cost. and when he makes up another bull$hit answer - i'd tell him to just put the original worn out clutch in and you'll take it to someone else, other than them, and pay the $600 it will cost to change it later.

 

Damn D !!! I thought I was radical.

You're right. Why pay full price for the job now if you can just pay full price later? Same difference ... good thinking.

 

There's no reason that engine should've croaked with such low miles on it if it was properly maintained. I have the same truck but a 99 and have taken it across country several times without a single incident. Sounds like you bought somebody's trash. Oh, and don't let dealers EVER work on a vehicle.

 

There is a reason it is called a stealership. If the clutch is really going out, buy the parts yourself, get an upgraded clutch and find a local shop to do it for you.

 

+1 for pretty much all the above. Don't believe him on the clutch, he's trying to recoup. Not sure what experience you had with your foreign cars/trucks, but yeah, never take it to a dealership other than MAYBE for diagnosis. Their markup on parts/labor is way too high, and the ones that are honest and good are few and far between.

Tell him to leave the clutch alone. If you didn't notice anything wrong with it, why "fix" it? Take it into another shop at another time to see if they find something wrong with the clutch too. If so, get it fixed then, by a trusted shop. Stay away from the $tealership for repairs.

 

Well they agreed at letting me bring them a clutch and installing it for free. they just said they wont guaranty it. It will work out okay since the engine is already out so Im not paying labor. So far no problems yet about the waranty for the engine but Im waiting. I told them I want some proof of milage from the new/used motor since they said it has less than the one they're replacing and want to see the heads and the clutch when I get there today.

 

your damn right. Do your research.

 

Good for you. Don't get discouraged concerning Dodges. It could have happened with one of the "C" words or "F" words just as easily.