Saw a big puddle of coolant on my garage today. Brought it to the dealer and was told that it was not from the radiator which was replaced with a new one a few weeks ago.
It was the water pump this time. They told me I can drive it while they order a new water pump and to bring it back on Monday for the installation. Its a 2013 dodge durango RT with 22K miles on it.
I just want to document it here so you guys can share your thoughts and for the dodge customer care people to see.
This is the first time that I bought a new 40k truck that the radiator and water pump had to be replaced just after a year of purchase and 22K miles on it.
I hope this will be it and nothing more because I like this truck a lot.

Thanks for reading.

Allan

 

Bummer man, your not the first to have both the radiator and pump go at such low mileage. My 13 has been trouble free except 1 no start issue. Im at 14k miles

 

My water pump went at 60K, started ticking loudly but never leaked or actually failed.

 

We lost the waterpump on a trip up to IN at Thanksgiving (17 hour drive). And we also heard the ticking sound before it went. Sprayed coolant all over the inside of the engine bay. Fortunately dealership up there could get us squeezed in and got it replaced before we were stranded in the tundra up north. We were at 20k. No issues with radiator yet.

Of course, just to pour salt on that wound, a week ago the water pump on my GTI (38k) started leaking and had to be replaced as well... Fortunately still under powertrain warranty, but... *sigh*

 

I would not be surprised if there were actually nothing wrong with the radiator in the fist place, they probably did not correctly identify the issue the first time around and put a radiator in it when it really needed a water pump.

 

You might be right on this one. Problem is they gave me the durango back, but they would not allow me to drive it last time.

 

Just to add another data point - my WP was replaced @ 31k a few weeks ago on mine (2013 Citadel/Hemi/RWD). Started making an audible grinding noise (bearing failure) and I caught a whiff of coolant on a couple of occasions.

 

That is a much better description of the sound. It was also louder than the valve train ticking that haunts this vehicle.

 

The fact that they told you it was OK to drive it with a leaking water pump is even more disturbing! The damage that could have been done due to continued driving without coolant could have been very extensive to the engine!

 

that's exactly what I was thinking! Are they nuts! Mine blew in my 2011 at 50K. Got it fixed under the extended warranty and traded in two days after I got it back!