So I finally broke down and drove back to the dealer yesterday after the 3rd phone call telling me they couldn't duplicate the concerns...

The shop foreman came out, I took him by the hand, went to the truck, opened the back door, grabbed ahold of the loose panel and rattled it. He goes, "ohhhh, they weren't looking at that panel. We'll order a new one in for you right away". I'm like, uhhh, it's the only one that's loose so maybe they should have been! :/

Then I start the truck up, pop the hood, take him by the hand again to the front of the engine compartment and he's like, "that must be the engine tap you're talking about". Really? Ya think?! He says, I have no idea what's tapping but we'll find out and get it fixed.

Then we jump in it, go for a 5 minute test drive so he can hear the clunk in the front end. I pull in a gas station that has a substancial curb going in the lot and he goes, yea that sounds like it may be the sway arm links making that noise. Oh, you mean the noise you couldn't hear until I was in the truck with you?! Sigh

It's sooooo frustrating. I had to take another 2 1/2 hours out of my day to drive back down there (it's a 40 minute ride one way) to point out all this stuff, but at least now something's getting accomplished. Hopefully.

I'll post any updates I get once they find out what all this crap is and fix it. For a 2008 truck with under 10,000 miles, it sure seems like a lot of stuff is going wrong with it already. At least they put me in a newer Durango as a loaner while they're effing with mine.

 

Well i got my truck back. I guess there is a shortage of front shocks in canada, so i will have to wait for them. Im curious if they will put the tm blocks back in when they install the new shocks?

 

From the...reviving threads from the almost dead pile...


Finally got all the work completed on my 08. They got all the parts in so I took it back yesterday. They replaced the inner door panel that was rattling and replaced the sway bar bushings AND end links. The front end seems a little tighter now going over bumpy roads, through pot holes, etc. so we'll see after I've driven it a while. I haven't driven long enough yet with the tunes not blasting to tell if the clunking is gone. haha. Seriously though, it's kind of ridiculous that a brand new truck with under 10K miles has to have this kind of work done to it. It's never been close to seeing off road driving (even though a lot NJ roads are close to off roading) and the suspension is completely stock with no alterations or modifications. You would think eventually Dodge would figure out they have a design flaw in the front end of these things.

As far as the engine tap, they're telling me that what I'm hearing is the injectors firing. :/ What kind of moron do they think I am? This is the first Dak with the new 4.7 but none of the other 3 had this kind of tap in the engine. In fact, when it's cold, it basically sounds more like a knock than a tap, but whatever. So, after giving them a couple of 'is this an effing joke' faces, I was like, okay, I'll keep driving it and see what happens. If it blows up or whatever, at least the truck is under warranty, the complaint is documented, and the service manager is on paper stating that he hears the noise too. It just kinda' sucks when your friends go somewhere with you and are like, dude what's wrong with your truck? It sounds like it's got a rod knock. :/

The drivers seat was loose and they fixed that (said it was a loose bolt). That's a comforting feeling finding out that bolts either aren't tight or have a tendency to loosen up on a brand new vehicle.

They also replaced 2 of the 4 TRX fender flares since the rubber gaskets were coming out of the grooves and flopping all over the place.

Anyway, all the complaints except the engine tap were fixed under warranty and free of charge so we'll see what happens from here on out.

 

your lucky you got front shocks, I'm still waiting for mine to show up. dealer said they were supposed to be released end of Jan. but still nothing, around 150 pairs back-ordered in canada from what the parts guy said and he's waiting for a lot of back-ordered parts to come in. what a pain

 

Engine "tap" seems to be a very very very common issue. It has been described as everything from bad bearings that cause rod knock, valve lash adjusters, loose/busted exhaust manifolds. Join the club.

 

My 05 "engine tap" ended up being a broken exhaust manifold bolt. That one took 3 trips to the dealer to get fixed before they finally "found" it and got it right. I brought that up on this one (even though this sounds nothing like that one did) and they said they checked the manifolds over and that there are no cracks, broken bolts, etc. This sounds VERY internal to me, but yet they say no worries. So, if or when it becomes catastrophic, I'll settle for nothing less than a new bullet.

I remember something about the 08's having a problem before they were released. Something like Dodge kept putting off the release date because of some internal engine issue having to do with a tap or knock. My bet is that it's a lingering problem to do with whatever was wrong with them then. Either way, it's a strong engine. 305HP and pulls like a mule with my heavy foot.

 

I'm betting mine is an exhaust leak too.....but until I can afford headers, I will ignore it.

 

Three most famous dealer excuses: "...unable to duplicate condition that caused customer complaint..."; "...Tested vehicle and found to be within factory specifications..."; "..we never heard of that before.." aka "...no previous complaints about that problem...".

 

wow...4 1/2 year old thread...lmao!