I bought my 2004 Dodge SRT-4 in March of 2004. Less than 20 days later, with 1753 miles on it, it was in the shop. The shop at that time being Yucca Valley Chrysler Center in Yucca Valley California. The problem stated on my invoice is as follows..

(April 22, 2004) Mileage: 1753 "check and advise-- customer reports that the vehicle will rev up to 3k rpm without touching the gas. Customer reports that the boost levels are spiking up to 19psi. Throttle position sensor failing and short in wiring from throttle position sensor and power control module ran diagnostics and found fault for throttle position sensor replaced sensor and retest found fault in wiring from throttle position sensor and power control module. Traced wiring and repaired PCM wiring #21-29 CAV #1 on TPS circuit and retest"

After that I was out of the Marines and drove my car back home to Pennsylvania. Same problem started happening again. This time I took it to Jeff D'Ambrosio Dodge in Downingtown Pennsylvania.

(June 28, 2004) Mileage: 8765 "Cust states tach seems to reading high when shifting. Inspect and report. Roadtested vehicle with DRB and found all operations as per design intent. No corrective action taken"

(July 23, 2004) Mileage: 9740 "Customer states engine warning lamp comes on. Performed required diagnostics and found fault code P0123 stored 13 starts ago. Since 12 good trips. performed required scans and found throttle position sensor has been tapped into for a aftermarket add-on. Cleared code. Roadtested/operated as per design intent."

Now this pissed me off. I have never done anything to my car. It is bone stock as it was from the factory. I guess they saw that the wiring harness had been replaced and considered that an aftermarket add on... All I know is that I never touched under the car and why would I modify the TPS wiring harness anyways... Anyways that didn't fix anything, they just cleared the code off and let me have my car back.

(August 2, 2004) Mileage: 10015 "Customer states. R.P.M. are going up to 3000 and check engine was on. Inspected and verified customers concern. Inspected for fault codes and found code P0123 stored. Performed scans and foung fault in wiring ant throttle position sensor. Repaired wiring as needed. Cleared code. Retested A-OK."

This lasted a few months and at the new year I was back in the shop.

(January 12, 2005) Mileage 16688 "Check the throttle position sensor. car appears to be rving at time. could not duplicate the customers concern. No fault codes stored at this time."

Now I am gonna say this. It was in August that I finally got my car inspected and emissions done. My car, bone stock, failed about three times, then it "barely passed", then the problems started happening again and the check engine light didn't come on... Anyways back to my issues. After they said the couldn't duplicate it I had driven it for a week or two and then took out a technician in my car to show him what I mean. He sees that it is an issue.

(February 4, 2005) Mileage: 17462 " customer states that the car stumbles at idle. technician ordered new ignition cables and plugs. Customer will be contacted when new parts arrive."

(February 9, 2005) Mileage: 17564 "cust states install plugs and wires that were ordered per TS plugs and wires defective. Replaced plugs and wires and reprogrammed PCM"

I picked up my car that day and didn't get 100 ft before it was doing it again. So I turned around and set up another appointment.

(February 18, 2005) Mileage: 18281 "customer repoarts TPS wires touching and grounding out. Check and Advise. Harness melted onto throttly body. Replaced TPS sensor and engine wiring hanress to dash"

So things were all good for about a month and a half then it started AGAIN.So back into the shop I go.

(April 16, 2005) Mileage: 20556 "cust states check eng light on / tps wiring. TPS voltage. Replace TPS and wire harness"

Now this time, before it was fixed I had talked to the technician at the shop who was also the shop forman and he told me that he was going to be modifying my harness to make it longer in an attempt to fix the problem. I said "ok" and he fixed it. Notice however that the invoice quote above said nothing about the dealership modifying my harness. So I brought this to the attention of the service manager and he said that he closed the invoice and couldn't reopen it, nor did he have the time to make another invoice because he was busy. Then I got a little loud and told him that he NEEDED to do this since it was warranty work and I was not going to be blamed for modifying my car when it was the dealership that did it. He and I had a few words and he told me that I was not welcome at the dealership anymore. I left, calmed down and then talked to the GM of the store who told me I was right, and that the Service Manager was "being an *******" to me. Anyways, I left the dealership that day with the invoice above and had the technician hand write what he did on it and sign it with an attached business card. The GM assures me though, I will have a printed version of what they did tomorrow (April 20, 2005) The technicians quote says this...

"wiring harness modified to T.P.S. wiring to sharp" from something I can't make out. Starts with "FA" though.

Today I had a meeting with Bill Kuehrmann the District Manager of this area for DaimlerChrysler. He told me that the car was not a lemon and that they had fixed the issue. I told him that the issue had been "fixed" plenty of times in the past. Basically he told me that it was too bad and if I wanted to fight it under the lemon law to hire an attorney and take it to court. Well unfortunatly I am a 23 year old college student who can't afford an attorney to take it to court. If anyone here thinks that this is a legitimate lemon please contact Bill Kuehrmann (pronounced Keerman) at OWK@daimlerchrysler.com . If anyone else has any other solutions I am all ears. I am completely fed up at this point and just want out of this lemon. Thanks to anyone who read this whole thing.

-Keith Green

 

Get a lawyer, it wont cost you anything. There are lawyers that specialize in this and the way they get paid is by the auto manufacturer. I had a friend of mine who had a brand new Titan and they tried to fix some minor damage that happened to it on the lot and made it 100 times worse and never could make it look right. He got frustrated dealing with the dealer and hired a lawyer who he never paid one cent to. The lawyer handled it and now he has a fully loaded LE vs the SE he bought and never paid a dime for it. DC is just a bunch of asshats and they are trying to strong arm you thinking you are some dumb kid and they can get away with it. Btw, Nissan corporate was MUCH easier for them to deal with than the dealership, when corporate came into it they got scared and folded.

 

I agree with ATL neon about not having to pay for a lawyer. If a lawyer wants to charge you just keep looking. It's one of those cases where they say if you don't get paid we don't get payed. It also does depend on your state laws though. Since it's been over a year since you bought it you might not be able to do a single thing. Just do some searches on the net for lemon laws and get in touch with an attorney. If you can't get this resolved do this. Paint lemons all over your car. I'm serious. I've seen people do it before. Send the pictures in to all of the dealerships you have dealt with thanking them for the service you recieved in the fixing of your problem and that you understand that they can't fix everything. Also how you are a proud owner of a lemon and want to show it off to the world. Also send this into Chrysler. Put the pics on cardomain and every other site you can find. Also put the car up for sale with the price you paid for it with pictures and put it on the boards at you grocery stores, hardware stores, friends workplaces, everywhere. Also on the vehicle paint the dealerships names. Trust me you should definetly be getting a resolvement to this issue.