UPDATE FOR ALL... and it gets even better now...
Tranny guy calls, its all done ( over a week). They changed 3rd gear, all syncros, slave and master cylinder, clutch was still good with only 11,000 on it. AND IT STILL GRINDS!!! All for $2168.00. The guy is a friend of a coworker of mine and I've used him before so I trust him when he tells me there is no reason the tranny should still be grinding.
My wife (furious) calls Chrysler in Michigan, gets a customer rep. Tells the story of this car from day one. That we're loyal Dodge customers with 3 new dodges in 10 years. The problems with the original dealer and the blown strut at delivery and so on. And that our next dealer we bought our '06 rt Magnum at said the SRT was out of warranty because we only had 3 year/30000 miles and would cost $2066 to change the clutch ,slave and master cylinder BEFORE they could diagnose what was wrong with the tranny. ( This is why it went to the local tranny shop instead ) The Chrysler rep tells my wife that according to their records this tranny problem should have been covered for up to 7/70000.
She tells us further that she is going to forward this story to her manager and that in some cases like this they will actually dispatch a tech from the factory to see why the dealers cant figure it out,and who was the person at the dealer who told us this. And that with these symptoms I had the dealer is supposed to drop the tranny, not just a test drive for over $100 like I got.
I have to p/u the car tomorrow, and we have to call back the Chrysler rep.
I'll keep you all posted

 

what year is your car and what's your build date? they did change the warranty on these cars in 04 at some point from a 7/70 to a 3/36, so that's why the dealer might have said that. or they're just trying to steal money. read my pm.....

 

Ok got it back an hour ago. Parts changed are 3rd gear and syncro, syncro hub. reverse syncro and hub ,reverse idler gear, slave and master cylinder, new bearings. And it is going back next week to change the fork. They are not charging me any labor to tear it down again. just the cost of the fork. It still grinds slightly upshifting and worse grinding downshifting (only 3rd). Shifting however is much smoother now. The tranny guy wants to try one more time because he wants to figure this out as much as I do.
We're still in talks with the Chrysler headquarters people. Mostly now just with the lying dealer issue as even the SRT guy there will not admit there is a problem with the tranny . I called a 3rd dealer today ( Lee in Commack, thanks PSI ) and they confirmed this is under warrenty until June 2010.
I spent all day calling New Process Gear in Syracuse NY. 3 phone numbers listed. 1st is busy all day long. 2nd is their medical department and they have no idea how to connect to the main office. #rd number is answered by a computer and the only option is to dial an extension by a full name ( which I dont have ) or extension number. I spent 30 minutes dialing random extension numbers only to be sent back to the first recording.
I'll keep you all posted

 

UPDATE>>>
For anyone keeping up with this story. Seems that the Blue team service mgr who 3 weeks ago told me that they HAVE to change the clutch, slave and master cylinder to rule that out as the problem. Then they could go in and open the tranny. And after looking up my vin in the computer and telling me I'm not covered for tranny work and finding out from Chrysler HQ in michigan that I was covered.
He has been fired! According to the new head of the blue team. I might be getting back my $100 deductable from that dealer for the bone rattling test drive they took me and my SRT down pothole filled streets to tell me nothing.
The car is still in my yard. The 3rd gear fork has been on back order and should be in tomorrow. Car goes back to the tranny shop with no labor charge for this second tear down to put in the fork.
Still cant get a person on the phone at New Process Gear. Left numerous voice mails. Received zero return calls.
Great way to chase folks over to the riceburner side Chrysler and New Process.

 

What a mess you got there ....... hopefully they got the right parts this time..... let us know what happens.

 

UPDATE!!!... OK, So its been 53 days with no car since this all started. The tranny shop has had the car back for the second tear down for over two weeks. They did the 3rd gear fork, the rail that the fork slides on and a new clutch just because it was the last part not replaced yet. You guessed it , SAME PROBLEM!. It still grinds but only downshifting into 3rd. The upshift is about 95% problem free. I get a small clunk going up to 3rd only a couple of times on the drive home. The shop made good on his deal to only charge me for the parts. No labor and the clutch was for free too. They've asked other shops and the Brooklyn Dodge dealer they get their parts from. Some have speculated that the tranny housing might have actually twisted or warped slightly. Being that Chrysler's corporate office has confirmed that this is under warranty and the service manger has been fired from the dealer that said it wasn't under warrenty and it was policy to replace the clutch before going into any manual tranny ( $2066 please ) I will be going there next week. I was told by another dealer after hearing the story that they might just replace the whole tranny as it is cheaper for them than to find out what the problem actually is, so we may all never find out. I'll keep you all posted.

 

Great customer service.........[:'(]

Dusty

 

damn bro, your last part was my thoughts... just REPLACE the whole thing. do you at least have rental coverage? 53 days is insane no matter how you look at it.a new transmission could be installed in a day easily (once it arrives). in this case this dealer needs a foot in the @$$ sounds like they made a step in the right directionfinding a newservice manager

 

UPDATE (again)... Now the car is at the dealer that I bought my '06 Magnum at. Their telling me that most likley they will just replace the tranny instead or repair. I asked if I could please get back the over $2000 in new parts in the old tranny and they said they dont think thats possible. When I started to make a big deal about it buy mentioning that if your service guy didnt lie to me with the B.S. story of "being procedure to change a clutch" this would have all been done and over with already. They came back with "well you know you have a stage 2 mod on the car and that voids your warranty but we'll replace the tranny at no cost to you anyway". In other words, just shut up and take it up *** ***.
I'd still love to know what they know about these tranny's and what the're not telling us. Also why any listed phone numbers for New Process ( the tranny mfgr.) are no good. I guess I'll have to take this up again later with corporate after I get the car back. If these trannys are only good for 40-50,000 miles I'd like my extra pars back.

 

DEALER UPDATE... For anybody still following this. The car is now at the dealer for over two weeks. After getting the talk how I'm lucky they're covering this tranny because I modified the car thereby voiding my warranty. Today they call me to tell me that they "have to change the clutch, throwout bearing and clutch fork, because the pedal adjustment wasn't set right and the fork hit the pressure plate and they cant take a chance putting in a new tranny with an old ( 4 weeks old with less than 50 miles) clutch and possible damaged fork and throwout bearing. Of course this isn't covered. I told them I dont have the money ( which I dont ) and reminded them that I told them that before they did any work and that they can keep the car unless they can come up with a better deal and I'd have to call them back. I don't plan on calling.