ONLY the converter? No pump?


Was there any debris in the fluid at all?

We would not have done that job....only putting a torque converter on a 14 year old truck.


Minimum... converter, pump, drop the pan, filter and flush the cooler, if at all.


IMO they should have said no to the job. They deserve to get reamed, so ream away. That tech and that service advisor are both idiots. I bet the service manager didn't know...but he'll know now!

 

Ham Bone, thanks for the words of wisdom. I generally am not an irrational person and have remained respectful but passionate. I'll hopefully get a positive outcome tomorrow.

They told me this evening that the Mopar converter may have a core charge and insinuated that I would return back my Precision unit as the core. No friggin' way!

I have even considered that if the outcome tomorrow is getting stonewalled, I might ask them to just remove the truck from the lift, drag it out in the lot, throw the trans, driveshafts, etc, in the back, and I'll have it towed to an independent shop by AAA.

 

When the problem originally happened, I dropped the pan, pulled the VB, disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled (I had been in there years previous to install a Transgo kit and then again 2 years ago to upgrade some parts to resolve 2-3 shifting probs (common issue). In the process I replaced the filter and fluid so even though all of that seemed to fix the shifting issues, it whined badly. That's why I took it to them at which point we road tested it and confirmed my suspicions. So when they dropped the trans to do the converter work, the fluid had literally 200 miles on it. They replaced the fluid regardless but didn't drop the pan, etc.

The truck only has 42k miles on it so don't know if that factored into it.

 

Ok. Well, here is my take on it.


First of all, they made a bad call, even with the info you just gave me. You know..maintained, clean fluid, etc.


When a torque converter fails, clutch material and metal can get swept through the ports. Most common it clogs the pump first and maybe the cooler. They should have known better, even if the fluid looked fine. It is RARE that we have ever replaced a TC without a pump. Maybe if it was my own, but NO otherwise.


If they DID sufficiently warn you about no labor warranty on aftermarket parts, then you might bear a very small bit of the blame. However, when it comes to internal trans parts, they should have not done the job (just the TC) at all, PERIOD.


They did not do the responsible and professional thing by telling you NO, which they should have. I think they need to at least eat the labor this time around. As far as the new TC, I doubt they will put another Precision one in because if it fails, they will be on the hook again.


In order to be able to warranty the Mopar TC if necessary, they will have to document doing it according to Mopar guidelines, which I think include the pump and some other things as well.


Another hitch here though....you know for sure the trans had debris scattered into it. You might just be in for a compete teardown. And IMO, they should eat that too.