bad head gasket

[Marv S]

There are sweeping changes going on at Moses since they hired a new service manager. The tech working on your car today may be gone tomorrow. I've seen 6 go recently. I'd be cautious letting them take the motor apart there. Find a dealer that will do it right and send it in for a rebuild like others have gotten. Call Eddie Martin at Bill Luke: 602-242-4600

 

[SNK BIT in WA]

I had my motor re-built because the head gaskets were "weeping", my understanding is dodge does not want mechanics going into the motor on any warranty work. It should be pulled and re-built by arrow. It only cost me the $200 deductible.
You might want to start checking around with some other dealers or maybe someone here will post about this.

 

[JonB]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by luvdaviper95:
Question for the gurus:

The car has 42,000 miles on it and I have the Chrysler added care-plus warranty. They are telling me the car has a bad head gasket...and even though they are telling me the job is covered under warranty the added care warranty, wasnt this a known problem with the 1995?......Please help.....I know the car is out of factory warranty and that the job is covered, should I just be satisfied with that or do I need to do something different.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't understand what you are saying, much less Moses.

Tell Moses that Pharo says: the extended warranty covers the known head-gasket warrantee repair, and a check of 23 other items, repaired at the VEWC (Arrow) in Detroit. If Moses does not agree, RUN to Bill Luke Dodge. Its not just gaskets....the liner seal/seat also must be replaced. If you have to train the dealer, forget that dealer. Just go to Luke now !!!

JonB~~~~:&lt;~ {Walking Like An Egyptian!)

 

[Marv S]

I hear this little thread got the dealer's attention and it got resolved quick.

 

[FRANK]

Well if I were in your shoes I would have had the dealer replace the head gaskets with the new ones (thicker layer) from mother Mopar. I also doubt that the liners have shifted to the point where they couldn't be pressed down into the block. I guarantee that they would have cured the problems. I also guarantee that the dealer would have been thrilled to avoid pulling the motor (totally unnecessary) and shipping it to Detroit. You can take my advice or take a benchbuilders advice...I was also informed that a simple retorque and the addition of stop leak pellets by Arrow cured many a weeping engine. Just a wrenchers sound opinion here...

 

[Tom Sessions]

I have a engine at Arrow right know and they are working towards a 2week turn around time in there shop. Much better than in the past.Well worth it to have it done this way being it comes back much better than when it was new.And from a techs point of view they are really good folks to work with always ready to answer a question and help out if they can.

 

[VardaMan]

Make sure that the dealer that is going to pull & reinstall your motor has a Viper Tech who has done it MANY times before! ONLY let an experienced Viper Tech touch your car!
My local bonehead "Five Star" dealer broke my windshield (which they blamed me for), broke my heater airbox and then after these repairs, delivered the car with a fuel leak, oil leak & an AC sys. that didn't work. It took ~ 9 months for my total job to get completed. There was almost no help provided from the DC kids on the 800 line. You must go way out of your way to avoid this from happening to you! Drive, push or haul your car to a dealer that has a lot of experience pulling motors. Ask them to provide you with a list of previous Viper customers that you can talk to, to confirm their workmanship. If they won't cooperate with you on this request, move onto another experienced dealer.
Just my opinion. Hope that it helps, VardaMan

 

[Jack B]

Frank had a very good comment - add the pellets. At one time the majority of cars coming off the assembly line had a bottle of Bars-leak in the cooling system. A single large can of Bars-leak is a very inexpensive preventive precaution. The consistency is no longer a fluid with pellets. The new formula is a fine particle matter that is dispersed in the fluid. Make sure you shake it well before adding.

An interesting note - I tried to pour it into the cooling system thru a funnel with a mesh filter. It would not flow thru the funnel at all, the screen was instantly plugged by the particle matter. I used an identical funnel to change the oil and the oil had no problem in flowing thru the funnel.

 

[FUSCUCLA1]

Can anyone expand more on these pellets? Where can I get them, can they be poured directly in with the coolant? Before I flushed my system there was some sort of sticky looking goop that collected underneath the cap...is this the same stuff. After flushing there is a leak/drip, so Im thinking the previous owner may have used something to stop the drip, and I washed it out when I flushed the system. Most importantly, if I need a rebuild will it be covered by an extended warranty that was purchased after a lapse of the original manufacturers warranty. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jack B]

Allen:

Any auto parts store - Bars-Leak, recommnedations is one large can per car.

Jack B

 

[JimDavis MT 97GTS 650R]

(IMHO) I have used "the little rabbit pellets" in older cars and the occasional farm tractor with mixed success. On one hand, the stuff did stop the leak. The exception was that it eventually clogged up the radiator, heater cores and controls on occasion. Granted, the cooling systems were old and probably marginally mucked up in the first place. Hopefully, most Viper cooling systems are not this deteriorated, but, this kind of repair reminds me of Fix-a-Flat. Cost effective & covenant in the short term, but inevitably expensive in the long run. Most these products are only a band-aid fix. Would you want to run the risk of gumming up a already overworked cooling system or heater control by using this stuff in your Viper? On the other hand, the car will inevitably land in the shop for the head gasket anyway. They can fix the other stuff that gets mucked up then as well!! Frankly, if manufacturers used the stuff in the cars coming off the assembly line, it would indicate to me there was a inexcusable problem to start with. Just my 2 bits...