Hello all -

I'm relatively new to Dodge ownership. I've owned a small 88 D-50 ram pickup years ago and it was a great truck, along with a 84 F250 and 86 bronco II. I purchased a new 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 sport (360 automatic) and have been very happy with it. The truck has 33,000 miles on it and is in excellent shape. The other day I noticed that the check engine light was on, so I called the dealer and a local repair shop. The dealer wanted $85 to diagnose the problem, and the repair shop wanted $60.00. But the dealer explained that if I had work done on the truck the $85 would be applied to the repair cost so I loaded up and drove the 1 hour down to the dealer service shop.

Later that day they called me and said I had a bad ignition wire, and also my injectors were "heavily carboned" and needed cleaning, and the throttle body needed cleaning. They wanted $400 to do the work, plus $85 for the diagnostic! I was very upset. To replace the wires they wanted $200! Holy crap... and so much for applying the diagnostic fee to the cost of the repair.

Anyway, I know that fuel injection systems need servicing, and I live on dirt roads here in Colorado, but at 33,000 miles? The dealership told me that the injectors should be cleaned every year, at a cost of $170! Ok, this all doesn't sound too expensive in the overall picture of things but I was still shocked. Do I really need to have the injectors cleaned? How can they tell without removing them from the engine? And to save $200 I can put on new ignition wires myself!

Am I over-reacting here?

Thanks!
ColoradoJon

 

No, I think you are doing well, I know if they would have pulled that on me, there would have been ALOT of not so nice words mixed in here as well...and I try really hard to not use those words...I have a 99 ram and i did cap/rotor/plugs/wires/oil change and did it in an evening, while goofin around as well.....you couldnt EVER get me to pay someone 200 to do that job....noooooooooo way....as far as the injectors......man...i would be very leery of that shop....sometimes if you call a shop and tell them what happened....they will check it out...anytime they can earn business from another...they will with smiles....**we used to**...anyway...good luck....

 

I also own a 2001 Ram 1500 and I think that I remember something about a recall being out on the ignition wire. I can't remember when exactly but I think it came out a couple of years ago.

 

There was a recall on ignition wires? Can you point to a reference on this? Seems to me that if there was a recall that they would have done the work for free..no matter though as I've already installed new wires. But I certainly would like to call them back on it!

And I'm not too fond of dealers to begin with, they do have a tendancy to overcharge. But hey, I was thinking that this check engine warning light would be best diagnosed by the dealer, especially when I was told that the cost of the diagnostic would be waived if I had work done. Anyway, I think I will have the injectors cleaned for good measure, but not by Perkins Dodge in Colorado Springs! I have a feeling they were out to earn a little extra cash. What gets me is most people would have paid their fee without question. Sheesh.

ColoradoJon

 

Lil late know for you but for the others out there. There are quite a few of the chainstore auto part places that offer a free diagnostic. Had a POS 2000 S-10 4X4 when the check engine light came on at 36,300 miles(300+warranty). I wonder how many classes at the GM tech school he had to take to be able to do that complicated task. They wanted $75 to take a lil palm pilot hook it up get the code and then walk to the counter and look it up in the diag manual to tell me that the ERG canister filter was clogged. And then they want over $100 to replace it. I went to NAPA paid a few bucks and put it on myself. The newer vehicles are more complex but almost easier to work on.

 

my husband hangs around on one of the jeep boards and that question is always coming up about the check engine light. I remember him sayin something about the computer hookup on newer vehicles is like an ODB II or something like that and that the jeep guys were sayin that places like pepboys and stuff do a check for free. Maybe not but possibly a good place to see. I know a friend of his at work purchased a computer reader thing and did his jeep awhile back when his check engine light came on and it read exactly as the dealers computer did. just a thought. hth....

 

I may be a little off here since I'm a BMW technician, not a Dodge tech., but to the best of my knowledge, you can't tell if injectors are carboned up unless you pull them out. The likelyhood of the dealer removing them just to check seems a bit outrageous to me. As for the actual cleaning of the injectors, you should be alright if you run a good quality fuel injector cleaner through there about every 5,000 to 10,000 miles. As for the throttle body, you can buy spray cleaners at places like Autozone and NAPA that will do a good job, and have the instructions right there on the can. It honestly sounds like that dealer was trying to sell you stuff you didn't really need.

 

I'm with ratchet. Those injectors are probably OK.

 

ColoradoJon... I did some digging and I was wrong on what the recall was for. The recall was for the Power Distribution cable, not the ignition wires.. I knew it was some kind of wire.. sorry for miss leading you...

 

I'm pretty sure Autozone does diagnostic checks for free. As for Dodge dealers ripping people off, get used to it. That's all they do. I had my '03 for two weeks when someone decided they wanted to steal one of my rims. So I went to the Dodge dealer to get one new rim/tire and told them I wanted locks put on them. When I got the bill, the locks were $44 and they had charged me $43 to put them on. I told them I wasn't going to pay it. I said just take the locks off and I will put them on when I get home. Long story short, they left the locks on and I didn't have to pay the outrageous labor charge to put them on.