So Apparently im a totall f-ing moron for taking my truck to the dealer for service. It was overdue for the 60,000 miles service through dodge so i brought it in. got it back tonight and heres my issues.

Tranny is sliping quite oddly when on hill from dead stop it reved up like in neutral then slammed into gear, only did it when cold. Thought I was going nuts so drove the 20 miles home on the highway. Once off the highway the truck is now stalling at stops if I slow from any speed over 20 mph, under speeds of 20mph and then stopping the tach kinda bounces around and runs funny till i get going again.

Rear end is shuttering badly when turning right or left from a stop and cant make a turn in a parking lot without serious vibs and shuddering from the rear and rear end noise is bad.

Got home checked tranny fluid. There is only a tiny drip of fluid on the dipstick and even the stick itself smells wicked burnt, my hand smells burnt after touching it as does the paper towel used even 20 mins later. When i dropped it off the fluid level on the stick itself was over and inch maybe inch and a half from the bottom of the dipstick, now theres only a tiny drip there.
Rear end: checked bill from rear end, says 75w140 gear lube. Does not say anything about the 9.00 limited slip additive and does not say synthetic.

So safe to say the tech screwed my truck up or what? Was shifting, driving, turning, idling great when it was dropped off. Now its shuttering bad on turns, stalls when going to a stop, and odd slipping from the tranny. What do I do now??

 

As much as you hate to, you kinda have to take it back to the same dealer unless you wanna eat the cost to go elsewhere.

What does the 60k service call for? Did they do a trans service and forget to fill?

 

new plugs,
front diff service
rear diff service
tranny service, two filters and fluid
coolant service
oil change
and a few misc things.

They replaced the tranny pan as is was rusted, replaced both rear axle seals also.

 

The transmission fluid being low will cause all the problems you have mentioned. Specifically
the stalling and burnt smell issues.
Also, stalling can be caused by the small 0 ring seal on the flat filter not being installed correctly or not being replaced at all.
Does your rear have an LSD/anti-spin as Dodge calls it??
If it has, then the Tech has either not used any LSD additive or not enough.
I think your gonna be hard pressed to prove that your truck was running fine before this work, unless you took them out for a ride before the work was carried out.
Mind you.....show them the "low" fluid level on the auto trans and state that they must have caused that, as they serviced it. They can't refute a low level if there are no leaks.
You will have to be most assertive on that, to get anywhere.
Good luck and post up what they do.
Al.

 

Sorry to hear they did that to ur truck. I worry about the same thing happing to my wife's dodge. But fond a really good place called Adam's Driveshaft they build rock crawler's and your basic off road vehcel's. Hope everything work's out ok for you.

 

They probably didn't have your truck to operating temp when they checked your trans fluid.
Spec for rear diff fluid is Synthetic 75w-140 and is roughly $20/qt at store and prob like $30 at the dealer, so if they didn't charge atleast that i would be concerned. I dont think Mopar diff fluid has modifier in them so the shudder is the clutch plates slipping. You need the modifier to prevent this.
They should make things right for the price you paid and were quoted. You shouldnt need to pay a dime more!

 

wow, this is why I never trust a dodge dealer. IMO for your shifting issues, they probably didnt install the O-ring right if they changed the trans filters. They also could not have filled it back up all the way since they dropped the pan. In the 03 service manual, it says something like 11 pints (5.5) quarts of fluid should be replaced whend changing the filters. I just dropped the pan and changed filters in my truck a few weeks ago. The fluid level before i did it was in the middle of the safe, fully warmed up, truck running in neutral. after I changed the filters I put 5.5 quarts back in, and after running the truck 20 miles, there was barely any fluid on the dipstick. I ended up having to add more a few times until finally it got into the middle of the safe after I had put 2 additional quarts back into it. However, it still shifted fine being 2 quarts low. Not putting that o-ring in the right way can cause the fluid to drain out of the pump which would cause shifting issues.

for the rear end, Id say its safe to assume they didnt put in the 4 ounce bottle of LSD additive, or they didnt fill it back up all the way.

your stalling issues are probably also due to the transmission being screwed up. of course, they could have gapped the plugs poorly. I would definately take it back and demand they do something about it. If they dont, it might be cheaper to go back and re-do everything they did yourself to make sure it was done right.

 

Looks like your in my area, what dealer do you use?

 

I can vouch for low tranny fluid causing stalling. I did my tranny fluid and for a week afterwards i had bizzare stalling i could not explain. I called the dealer and they said check the trans fluid level. I did and it was just into the ADD section. I topped it off and it never stalled again.

As for your rear diff, the additive comes in pre measured bottles so their would not be any reason for him to use less then a full bottle. My guess is he simply did not add any. Could have been an oversight if he was unaware your diff was an LSD. Most shops nowadays don't pull diff covers, they suck the old fluid out then refill.

 

Have you been able to get them to resolve the issues, res?