Scary Moment Yesterday.

[steve911]

A friend of mine was in from out of town and I was taking him for a ride in the vip. We had been on the road for about 30 mins and after showing him a small portion of what the cornering capabilities of the car were, I accelerated out of a turn and was in 2nd at about 4800 rpm's.

All Hell broke loose. There was a TON of smoke that came out of the hood vents that momentarily blocked my vision, a very short flash and some liquid onto the windshield. I pushed in the clutch, shut the motor down, and looked into the rear view mirror and noticed what looked like either an aerobatic plane with its smoke on, or a NASCAR racecar after the motor let go, lots of smoke.

I coasted to the side of the road, and looked through the hood vents to see if I could see any flames, but thankfully there was none but there still was some smoke coming out of the vents. I opened the hood and everything was covered in some type of oil. What a mess. It was even dripping off of the hood pad. I checked the dip stick and the engine oil was full. Seeing that I decided to see if the car ran. I started it and all of the gauges popped up to where
they were supposed to be, and the engine sounded fine so I decided to slowly drive home (about 5 miles).

As I went to turn around It became clear immediately what had happened. Something in the power steering broke and it was power steering fluid that was all over everything including the paint. (these cars sure steeer hard in manual mode.) I made it home and looked under the hood but couldn't see anythinge really obvoius other than the power steering resevoir was empty.
I called Chrysler Roadside and the car just left on a hardback as I am writing this to get repaired. I will keep everyone in the loop as to what failed.

One other thing, I highly recommend carrying a fire extinguisher in your car. I do in all of my cars, have for years. I thought about the momentary flash in my car and thought how helpless I would feel if I had to watch my car burn had that happened and I wasn't carrying an extinguisher. I spent a little extra and got a HALON one for the Viper instead of the dry chemical like I have in my other cars. Hell, now that I think about it, I still have a fire system in the garage from an old race car with 3 nozzles that maybe I might install (5lb w/panic button).

sorry to be so long winded.

 

[2002_Viper_GTS_ACR]

Sorry, but thats a common problem with the vipers Power Steering Cap. IT has happen to me too. It gets lose, comes off, and the liquid goes onto the exhaust manifold and all over everything else. I think you would have noticed the missing cap though, sounds like your not mentioning the cap being gone.

Anyway, I hope dodge fixed this in the srt10 vipers and comp coup. its a well known issue with these cars.

Jon

 

[99 R/T 10]

One other thing, I highly recommend carrying a fire extinguisher in your car. I do in all of my cars, have for years. I thought about the momentary flash in my car and thought how helpless I would feel if I had to watch my car burn had that happened and I wasn't carrying an extinguisher. I spent a little extra and got a HALON one for the Viper instead of the dry chemical like I have in my other cars. Hell, now that I think about it, I still have a fire system in the garage from an old race car with 3 nozzles that maybe I might install (5lb w/panic button).

sorry to be so long winded.

That's why we have insurance. Personally if there is a fire, I would want to wait to use the exinguisher after everybody is safely out of the car then maybe fight the fire. Just keep in mind that with any magnesium parts, they will burn HOT! Glad everyone was safe,

 

[jk]

I had something similar happen in my 2003 SRT/10. Besides loss of power steering, remember that the water pump runs off of the power steering hydraulics. Did you notice your engine temp increasing as you drove home? The power steering pump doesn't like to run on little or no fluid either - mine had to be replaced after my incident.

 

[Torquemonster]

Glad you are ok Steve, This is a shocking thing to happen - and something there is no real excuse for. Car manufacturers have been making cars with power steering for decades now, with cars lasting hundreds of thousands of miles and never suffering a failure like this.

The Viper - both Generation 2 and particularly the SRT10 - is a very well engineered car in many ways with a lot of outstanding features not seen on even some exotic cars of much higher value.

Sadly - it is often let down by annoying yet sometimes dangerous malfunctions like this, or headlights flickering, even turning off, weak diffs (on the SRT10) cam bolts, valve issues, and sundry assembly fit issues on some cars - while others are almost perfect.

It is time the American public began demanding US car manufacturers to meet or exceed Japanese and European quality control and specification standards - because the gap is still large.

It is not because the US manufacturers cannot make things as good - it is because the public demand such cheap prices they cannot afford to make them to top spec and still fall within the pricing the public demand.

An SRT10 spec equivalent car in other countries fetches prices double what you pay here or MORE, but the US consumer DEMANDS it well under $100k because it is "only a Dodge"....

I'd rather pay $101k and have it perfect.

Lexus make a V8 that has twice the moving parts of an OHV V10, spin it to 6500rpm and yet you can expect 500,000 miles out of it if you look after it, and the steering will still work all that time if maintained properly.

When the public demand this standard from local car makers - they'll start to listen - but as long as the long suffering local market continues to buy US made no matter what standard they dish out - there is little incentive to belly up to what everyone else is doing.... even Korean cars now enjoy great reliability, they've kept improving.

DC should raise the bar on quality at least two notches, and cost that in. People who tire of fixing the other US OEM cars will soon see the advantage of owning a car that doesn't need to spend time away from home on warranty issues.

 

[Janni]

It's NOT the cap. The cap on the 03-04 is a positive locking mechanism dissimilar to the plastic screw on type of Gen I/ Gen II.....

I thing the viscous fan and whatever else is tied into the power steering is a BAD idea.

 

[steve911]

It was not the cap, as I had to take it off to verify the that the resevoir was empty.

What is the consensus about asking to have the pump and the serpentine belt replaced. I am concerned about fluid contamination on the belt(slipping) and ruining the seals on the pump driving it home last night???

thanks

 

[Skip White]

I had a rack and pinion go out on an 03 it was spewing fluid allover. The fan is hydro op. so it quit also.

Don't really like the idea of a hydro fan, anyone know the purpose of them using this type of fan.

Skip White

 

[Viperfreak2]

I still get a funny vibration through the pedals and seat when the 'cooling fan' system cuts in. Feels like somethings loose. Now I will be ready for the smoke screen!

Quality of the car has less to do with final assembly location, and more to do with parts quality from the suppliers and bean-counting managers. If the boss says 'we have to knock $1000 per vehicle out of this Viper in order to make a profit' guess what suffers? Cheaper speakers, cheaper power steering lines, cheaper headlight switch, on and on.

Lexus is good because they are the supplier for the whole hamburger, not just the buns, and what they do buy from suppliers is brand name stuff. Other companies outsource a lot of components to the cheapest source.

 

[Torquemonster]

Good points Viperfreak - I'm an ex bean counter myself but am the first to admit - bean counters with little marketing nouse and poor sound business judgment (and no they don't train that into them) - make LOUSY corporate managers.

They strain at gnats but will swallow a camel - that plus the fact that in the bigger companies there is too much job protection, butt covering, arrogance and caution to listen to what the engineers say is needed to make a car with legendary reliability.

Yet there is money in quality - ask Porsche. Imagine a Dodge with Lexus quality - that would sell. Most Americans I believe are basically patriotic, but they buy imports because the imports are better, not because they want a foreign car.

If DC imports Mercedes quality into Chrysler product - it will affect the import market here. Bring it on - a lot of OEM supliers ****, give them a reaming!! Also - some mandates given to the engineers totally **** - leading to dumb things that make everyones life difficult - especially the people who have to work on them.... did you know they do that on purpose??

when the first Torquemonster SRT10 TT car comes off the line - it will have a new front end - the design limitations in that engine bay are too limiting to be bothered working around so I'll start again. The people who will pay the money for something to be done exceptionally well do not care if something is factory. They want it to be exceptional.

DC - please kill that negative "the performance customer is an [******] if they are not content with it the way we make it" thinking and make cars that are:

1 - a pleasure to work on,

2 - easy to modify (think about it - innovation, winning many events = great marketing) e.g. most of the racing Hemis that made Chrysler a legend and led to many sales - were privately built. There are no factory Drag Vipers - all private, race teams - mostly private... biggest market of all - street - mostly private.... make it easy for them - the good ones will do well, the bad can't rely on factory warranty.

3 - something you can live with daily without needing a mechanic or dealership on speed dial

there is no down side except for the idiots who think they can modify their cars and still get full warranty. That is fraud and I uphold the manufacturers rights dealing with that - but in a fair way. If a guy adds turbos but the lights fail - it should be covered.... but not the drivetrain.... get real.

Make cars easy for everyone, be fair about issues, and make em top quality - it is a recipe for success.

 

[Kelly06]

WOW. Glad you are ok. As far as fire, I am now going to get an extinguiser. However, if it burns I would rather let it burn to the ground than have them try a fix it afterwards.
Would you say a few words on the Halon--where to get it, do you have to mount it etc?
Thnaks

 

[Art 138]

I have also felt the vibration on the pedals and through the seat. I suspected it might be the fan, because I do not feel it while the car is freshly started. Annoying phenomena though and does not inspire confidence makes- allowing one to feel that something is loose. Mamba Viper #138

 

[Viper X]

Hi Skip,
I don't know the purpose of the "hydro fan" but I have a question for the group. Is there an electric cooling fan available for the SRT-10? I really don't like a "hydro fan" either.

Dan

 

[steve911]

I received the dealer report on the car. The High pressure hose fitting failed and the hose separated spewing the entire contents of the system all over the car. Can't tell quite yet if an improper swage caused the fitting failure or the pressure relief valve failed.

No parts in chicago depot but there is one in detroit (or wherever the depot is in Michigan). While we wait for the parts the belly pan and any other cover that can be taken off will be removed so the techs can begin the task of cleaning things up.

 

[95Viper]

The power steering cap does and will come off and there are about 1,000 posts on this board regarding that. Roe Racing and Archer Racing carry the fix, Power Steering Vent Tube that stops it from turning off.

This problem, hose failing, is also common and I recall reading about it more than once here. I wonder if I should go through the effort to just replace mine with a higher quality one?

 

[95Viper]

Sorry, I meant to say that the power steering cap coming off is only Gen1/2 problems.

 

[Supra]

Toyota/Lexus buys components from vendors just like GM, Ford and Chrysler. The problem is in the way they treat the vendors and their main focus which is lower costs first and quality second. Here's a good article about this:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=5836910&src=rss/businessNews&section=news

I still get a funny vibration through the pedals and seat when the 'cooling fan' system cuts in. Feels like somethings loose. Now I will be ready for the smoke screen!

Quality of the car has less to do with final assembly location, and more to do with parts quality from the suppliers and bean-counting managers. If the boss says 'we have to knock $1000 per vehicle out of this Viper in order to make a profit' guess what suffers? Cheaper speakers, cheaper power steering lines, cheaper headlight switch, on and on.

Lexus is good because they are the supplier for the whole hamburger, not just the buns, and what they do buy from suppliers is brand name stuff. Other companies outsource a lot of components to the cheapest source.