This week my Durango flashed a red icon that looks like a battery on the dash. I decided to just turn around because I smelt something burning. I started to lose power to things; lights dimmed, wipers started acting crazy, radio went off, blind spot came on and wouldn’t come off, I finally lost power steering in my driveway and completely lost power. Wednesday I got something in the mail about an alternator recall so I had it towed to Dodge. The technician is now saying he thinks it’s more than just the alternator and thinks the PCM could have fried.... they are saying if the reason why the alternator went bad is because of the PCM I will have to pay the charges Could the PCM cause the alternator to fail?

 

 

Tabitha if they told you the alternator went bad because of the PCM they are bold faced lying to you. The alternators have a recall because they do precisely what you described. When they go bad, they very often fry the PCM and sometimes the TIPM (another electrical component under the hood, kind of a fuse box) and often times ruin the battery as well. YOU NEED TO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FCA SERVICE REP. They are lying to you. Here's the recall letter:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/201...7V435-3843.pdf

Read through this thread over on the Grand Cherokee forums (the Grand Cherokee is the same vehicle as the Durango underneath):

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f309/...ecall-4116609/

Also read through the thread on here entitled "T36 recall". You need to educate yourself. There have been numerous cases of failures like this. MANY times, people have fried their PCM or TIPM or battery and it's BECAUSE of the alternator. MANY people have had success in having FCA paying to replace electrical components associated with the alternator that go bad when the alternator goes bad. Read through those threads and you'll see. There have even been cases of FCA paying for rental vehicles for customers. FCA has set a precedent of covering not only the alternator, but associated components like the battery, TIPM and PCM under the umbrella of this T36 recall. The proof is in these threads. You shouldn't have to pay a dime for anything.

DO NOT PAY FOR A PCM. THE ALTERNATOR TOOK IT OUT. FCA themselves has said they will pay for associated components. Try contacting "Dodge Cares" here (although their inbox is full right now). Keep us posted.

 

I had the same problem. Alternator went out. Fried PCM. Take it to dealer and they will fix both for free. PCM did not cause the problem. The alternator did. If they won't fix. Take it to another dealer. My dealer had no issues replacing for free. It was all covered under recall.

 

I just had the alternator and PCM replaced for free. The dealer tried to tell me it was going to cost $1200 for the PCM ($600 for the part and $600 for programming and installaion) and that "these is no way an alternator going bad could fry the PCM because the current doesn't run that way." After reading this board I asked the service rep to call FCA and he said he couldn't, only I could. I called FCA and they told me the dealer had to call but he verified that it would be covered. Eventually he called and begrudgingly had it covered but when he'd originally called me at 2:30pm he said it could be done by the end of the day because it was a quick job, at 3:30 it suddenly became tomorrow, and even the next day after he told me that it was being pulled in at 11am, it still wouldn't be ready until 5pm.

This guy was a total con artist.

 

They almost always are. Glad you got it sorted out.

 

Service writers have a bad rap for a good reason, but most of the time they are simply doing what management tells them to do and quite often they have never had any hands on mechanic experience so they simply do not understand what they are trying to explain/say. I feel no pity for them as they signed up for the job.

Also, dealers make such little profit selling cars that service and parts is usually their main source of income. I'm not sure why some won't go the extra mile and call corporate before pissing off the customer, but again, they want to spend the least amount of time possible on each customer to save money.

 

Chryler has a recall for alternator catching fire. My 2013 300C varvatos edition has been recelled.

 

My 2013 Dodge Durango kept sporadically not starting. I would just turn it completely off, wait 30 seconds & it would start up on the next try. The dealership told me they couldn’t replicate the problem, so there was nothing they could do for me. About a year later, my alternator died & supposedly fried the PCM. It also drained a battery. I check my VIN on web site & called, but was told my VIN had no open recalls on it (last year it had one for water pump or brake booster water shield, which I got reimbursed for). Do you think I have any recourse in getting them to cover ANY of these repairs? My car only has about 50k miles on it & from what I’ve read PCM’s don’t usually go bad. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

I own the 2013 Durango in Japan. The engine stopped and the alternator was burned, so I replaced it with a new alternator and battery, but it was not charging. Please tell me how to solve it.