capo
The sound you maybe hearing is the transfer gears, Dodge had this problem back on the 1990 thru 2007 minivans. But it would make that sound at higher speed range. The cause was how the gear teeth were pitched. So what dodge back then, was replace the transfer gears to were the sound would be at a lower speed range. So it maybe normal.

 

Just Came back from picking up new van 300 KM away.

New van has a way better alignment, even though they realigned the whole front end on my "old" 2011. The shifting seems smoother, unfortunatelly I did mostly highway, but I still had the chance to mess around with shifting a different RPM/Eco/Non-Eco.

My new 2011 has the Entertainment group 1 which includes a screen in console, screen for first row, 2 wireless headsets, 1 remote controle, backup camera, 28GB HDD for music, DVD player, etc. I dont really need all that but it's nice to put in pictures and have them shuffle + big screen to display the music information.

Anyway, tomorrow they are to prep it up and saturday I'm supposed to pick it up....

More to come !

 

Thanks for the info. So is this noise something I should be concerned with? Should the dealer look at it?

Or if it's driving fine with the noise it's completely fine?

 

If the noise hasn't change into a louder sound, I wouldn't worry.

 

Just an update everyone... brought the van back in Monday for the problems listed above in my post. Bascially I've been told that others are complaining about the transmission noise and shifting as well, but until they issue a TSB they aren't going to do anything...fine, it works for now and my complaint is filed. Now for the remote start, it is still only working periodically. The van will start and shut off about 1 second later further preventing you from restarting with the remote again. Ignition key works fine, defeats the purpose of the "remote" start thought that I paid for. My 7 month pregnant wife is livid too so now I'm dealing with that. Anyone else having trouble with the remote start??

 

How serious it the shudder feeling during reverse under a load. I just felt that a couple of times this week. I shrugged it off, but now I am concerned. Add that to the hard upshift and downshift into 3rd. The vibration and stumbling at idle. The cars off center steering wheel. Its tendancy to pull to the right all the time. The flat spotted tires and associated vibration. The dragging rear brakes. The damaged rear bumper that the dealer refuses to fix because.. and I quote " you can hardly see the damage" This van has been an absolute and total nightmare. I completely regret purchasing it. Am I the only one going through all this? Not to mention the purchasing dealership is the most unscrupulous bunch of con artists I have ever come across. They actually told me.. " go complain to Chrysler.. they have absolutely no control or bearing over us." and they are completely true. What reason would a dealership have to make the vehicle "right" by spending their own money? Its soo much easier for them to say.. I don't see it.. I don't feel that.. Its all in your head.. They know for a fact we will just deal with the problems instead of getting a lawyer and suing.

 

Great storey Eagle TSI! Thank you for sharing.

PS: I have the entertainement group as well. I love the camera feature.

Cheers!

 

Hey,

We have a great dealership here in Halifax, NS. I brought the van in for a flat tire repair and the technician nicked the alloy wheel during the process. He also left his greasy hand prints all over the wheel and inside the vehicle. The grease on the wheel made me look at it closely and then I saw the small scratch. I had just waxed all 4 alloy wheels a couple of days before the flat tire. The wheels were gleaming and there were no scratch. So I was annoyed and brought it up with them.

I spoke to the service department manager. He came out with a cloth, a cleaner and cleaned it all up. He apologized on behalf of his technician. Very professional about it all. Regarding the tiny scratch, they offered several options to me on the spot… I was very impressed.

PS: In any situation like that, I always ask to speak to the manager in charge; you are more likely to resolve things quickly (at least most of the time). If that doesn't work go to the next level and keep going up until you are satisfied.


Hopefully things will work out for you.

 

The problem is Fiat has told dealers to cut warranty cost thus the I don't care.

 

Our van has been in for a number of problems. Most are trivial things like wind noise, random no-start with autostart, noise in the back from something loose, etc... I too am gravely disappointed with the vehicle. So much so I debated trading in at a 5K loss just because I couldn't take it anymore. But, not having money to throw away we are going to stick with it as long as we can. The way I figure is we saved 10K over a foreign model, and knowing that I except this is not perfect...actually not even as good as a decent used car honestly. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...next time I won't be buying a Dodge. What's done is done for now though. Like the service rep said, if it's broke bring it in and we'll fix it. Well, so far the van has seen the shop for over 2 months out of the 8 months we've owned it. I can live with minor problems, it's the long term post warranty period that troubles me. I'll just have to figure that out when the time comes.