On Feb 24th, my just turned 80-year-old father-in-law bought a 2011 Dodge Ram 1/2 ton with every option available. He traded in a 2008 Dodge Ram with only 42,000 miles on it and wrote a check for the balance.

On Friday, March 3, he called me on my way home from work. The truck was completely dead. You couldn't even get the key out of the ignition. I put a jumper pack on it and it would not start. He called the dealer and since it was almost 4 pm, they told him that there was nothing they could do about it until Monday....then they would send a tow truck to take it to the shop.

On Monday, March 7, the shop said that the battery was completely discharged and they wanted to just charge the existing one. He told them to replace the battery since it was only 8 days old. Supposedly they did and he took the truck home.

On Tuesday, March 8, it was dead again. He called and they brought another battery to put in it and then drove it back to the dealership to find out what the problem was.

Today, March 9, he went to pick it up again and they told him that they could not find a problem and there was no electrical draw on the truck.

To be honest about it, he is really concerned about whether or not the truck is going to be a "problem child". The dealer refused to take the truck back and told him that he would take a loss on it if he was to get another one.

Illinois has a "Lemon Law" that says if the vehicle has to be returned for a problem 4 times or more, it goes to an arbitration board.

I did a little research and found a link to a Dodge customer satisfaction thing for 2010 dated July 8, 2010 that says that if you are not happy with it, you can return it. http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2010/07...am-trucks.html

And now I heard from him that when he went to purchase the truck, it was on the showroom floor dead and the dealer told him that it was because prospective customers were probably playing with the accessories.

That makes a total of 3 times in less than 2 weeks that this truck has been dead.

This truck was paid for cash-out-the-door....no BSing around. He likes to fish by himself but is really scared that it will let him down when he is out in the middle of the boonies. Also, it was a good thing that he had a second vehicle since he had no way around this weekend while the dealer sat on their thumbs.

How about it? Is there anyone out there that can help him out?

 

don't have a clue as to what i wrong. i would just drive it, hoping it happens again. make sure he has a cell phone that he knows how to use. keep a warm set of cloths and a few bottles of h2o in truck. they did check the alt right.
if it happens again, lemon it. sorry he has to put up with this.

 

That sucks, did anyone do a test on the first battery after they replaced it?

 

I would think they would have fixed this by now, but I do know that on some 09's, if you disconnected the battery before pulling an accessory fuse, you essentially locked the radio into a permanent draw situation. I don't have the full details, but the fix for the 09s with the problem was to replace the radio.

 

at this rate you will be at arbitration real soon it sounds like, just tell him to not go out and fish for a bit. next time it goes in tell them that this is number 3 and one more and you will be going to arbitration.

 

Some dealers install an aftermarket theft alarm wired directly to the battery. That was the case with my first truck and it cratered after 60 miles.

Dealer replaced it with another truck. It took them 60 days to get the problem resolved on the original truck.

 

Service after the sale, thats what i hate about stealerships, the service just sucks...!
This sounds like a headache right from the get go.... sounds like a problem child for sure.
Let them have the truck for the 4th time and go for arbitration, get out of the truck entirely.
Make sure they give you a written workorder for each of the occurances, or you`re out of luck.

I wish you good luck...!

 

Be thankfull you have the lemon law in Canada we have nothing when we have a problem,if we did I would of got a new truck when my engine went at 7200 kms. and a bunch of problems with the replaced engine.

 

Have them bench test the alternator. A fully dead battery is usually an indicator of a faulty charging system. Alternators are not an uncommon manufacturer defect

 

Yeah I gotta agree with rigred on this. Sounds like a faulty charging system to me. They said there's no draw and they replaced the battery supposedly 3 times. I don't know what else it could be. I'd be furious.