Service Departrment issues

[gofastr]

I took my 08 Viper in for some problems. Dash duct rattle, power window problem, and TPMS light on. They fixed the window and the rattle. Ordered and replaced TPMS module. I called and was told the car was closed up and appeared to be ready to go. When I arrived I was told it was ready and then told it wasn't ready. Still a TPMS issue. The tech said let's go for a ride and see if the rattle was gone. AT that point I noticed the gas guage was on dead empty. When I dropped it off it had just over 1/4 tank of gas. A check of the speedometer indicated they had test drove the car 13 miles. How do you burn up 4 gallons of gas in 13 miles? I posed that question to the service manager and he said "I don't know what kind of mileage that car gets". I said I think they drove the crap out of the car. He said " I don't know that". He said they would replace the gas. They kept the car that Friday to work on the TPMS. That night I got a message from the service writer that they had a call in to Chrysler about the TPMS issue and I could leave the car or come get it. When I arrived to pick up the car it was dirty and still on dead empty. Service manager said he would send someone with a can, get some gas, and put it in the car. I had things to do so I left and got my own gas. After waiting a week and a half to find out what Chrysler wanted to do about the TPMS, I called yesterday morning to inquire. The service writer said he would call right back. I'm still waiting for the call. What would you suggest?

 

[St.Char]

I took my 08 Viper in for some problems. Dash duct rattle, power window problem, and TPMS light on. They fixed the window and the rattle. Ordered and replaced TPMS module. I called and was told the car was closed up and appeared to be ready to go. When I arrived I was told it was ready and then told it wasn't ready. Still a TPMS issue. The tech said let's go for a ride and see if the rattle was gone. AT that point I noticed the gas guage was on dead empty. When I dropped it off it had just over 1/4 tank of gas. A check of the speedometer indicated they had test drove the car 13 miles. How do you burn up 4 gallons of gas in 13 miles? I posed that question to the service manager and he said "I don't know what kind of mileage that car gets". I said I think they drove the crap out of the car. He said " I don't know that". He said they would replace the gas. They kept the car that Friday to work on the TPMS. That night I got a message from the service writer that they had a call in to Chrysler about the TPMS issue and I could leave the car or come get it. When I arrived to pick up the car it was dirty and still on dead empty. Service manager said he would send someone with a can, get some gas, and put it in the car. I had things to do so I left and got my own gas. After waiting a week and a half to find out what Chrysler wanted to do about the TPMS, I called yesterday morning to inquire. The service writer said he would call right back. I'm still waiting for the call. What would you suggest?

Get your car back immediately and call Chrysler yourself and find a different dealership.

 

[gofastr]

I have my car and I will NEVER go back to that dealership for anything.

 

[donk_316]

This happened a fedw years ago to me. Dropped off my GTR at a dealership to do some custom alarm work while i was out of the country. Long story short, I came home to a car with a blown clutch and 600 extra kms... I took them to court and they settled.

Moral of the story. Now I do my own work

 

[TAXIMAN1]

This EXACTLY the reason I wont take my car to the dealer. And I think (not to get off subject here) that the Gen5 cars are sitting.

Yes, of course if you have an out of warrany Gen1-3, its a no brainer. Do the work yourself, or find a local specialist (like tator, Levin,etc,)

But what about the folks that still have Gen 4-5's under warranty.... You cant even take the car into the shop, for fear of further damage or abuse. Its a huge issue, and always as been for the Viper. But a $130k+k MSRP car, and this is what you deal with.

 

[RichB]

How do you burn up 4 gallons of gas in 13 miles?

Letting it idle for a bunch of time?

 

[gofastr]

How do you burn up 4 gallons of gas in 13 miles?

Letting it idle for a bunch of time?

interesting theory. When I had the tech, service advisor and the service manager all together nobody mentioned about the car idling for a long when I was asking where the gas went? nobody knew anything.

 

[denniskgb]

do not take your car there anymore, point blank. find some else in the area like private high performance shop in your area. its horrible service and is definetely lack of any common sence or accountability.

 

[01sapphirebob]

How do you burn up 4 gallons of gas in 13 miles?

Letting it idle for a bunch of time?

Yea....in between burnouts. ONLY way to explain it.

 

[Allan]

That *****, and I feel sorry for the car.
Some people just have no respect for anything.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Buy a Gen 5 there, they will treat you better then.

 

[Paul Hawker]

The first quarter of a tank in the Viper seems to last forever, however the last 1/4 of the tank goes pretty quick. It might have been only a gallon or two that the service department went through (maybe even less)

 

[gofastr]

Buy a Gen 5 there, they will treat you better then.

Yeah, right. Please read post #3.

 

[gofastr]

The first quarter of a tank in the Viper seems to last forever, however the last 1/4 of the tank goes pretty quick. It might have been only a gallon or two that the service department went through (maybe even less)

are you sure you don't work for that dealership?

 

[Steve M]

Yeah, right. Please read post #3.

Pretty sure he was joking.

are you sure you don't work for that dealership?

There's some truth to that, and it's either the shape of the gas tank or a poorly calibrated fuel level sender/gauge combo...either way, that last 1/4 tank doesn't seem to last as long as it should.

 

[gofastr]

Pretty sure he was joking.



There's some truth to that, and it's either the shape of the gas tank or a poorly calibrated fuel level sender/gauge combo...either way, that last 1/4 tank doesn't seem to last as long as it should.

So you're agreeing that there is only about a gallon of gas left in the tank when it reads 1/4 on the guage? And you know this for a fact how?

 

[Steve M]

So you're agreeing that there is only about a gallon of gas left in the tank when it reads 1/4 on the guage? And you know this for a fact how?

A gallon? No, but around 2-3. How do I know this? I don't know...I drive my car until it needs fuel, make note of the gas gauge, and see how many gallons it takes to fill it back up, and do some simple math?

 

[AZTVR]

So you're agreeing that there is only about a gallon of gas left in the tank when it reads 1/4 on the guage? And you know this for a fact how?

I'm thinking that the worst gas mileage that you could get on the street would be 4-6 mpg if you were doing 140mph for those 13 miles; so that would be 2-3 gallons.

 

[ViperSmith]

So you're agreeing that there is only about a gallon of gas left in the tank when it reads 1/4 on the guage? And you know this for a fact how?

The last quarter of a tank goes really, really fast. It isn't a 1/4 of a tank in the last 1/4 of the gauge. As soon as my car hits 1/4 I hit a gas station. I wouldn't be surprised if the last 1/4 was more around 1.5-2 gallons as quickly as it burns.

 

[Vipes]

I can't believe viper owners still take their car to the dealership after all the horror stories.

 

[DStJohn]

The stories make me want to install one of the GPS trackers they sell for tracking teenagers in cars. It would be cool to pull out a report that shows your Viper went 5 miles and peaked out at 100 mph! What can the service mamager say then?

 

[Steve M]

The stories make me want to install one of the GPS trackers they sell for tracking teenagers in cars. It would be cool to pull out a report that shows your Viper went 5 miles and peaked out at 100 mph! What can the service mamager say then?

Oh, I'm sure they'd start by saying that you were lying, quickly followed by something like you infringed on their privacy.

And to the author, don't take either of my posts as me siding with the dealership's service department...in my experience with a TPMS light, it took about 2-3 miles to clear the code from the system when I had an issue, so 13 miles seems a bit excessive for something like that, if it needed to be driven at all.

It ***** that you just can't seem to trust anyone these days.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Yeah, right. Please read post #3.

Sarcasim, learn to recognize......

 

[gofastr]

in my original post I stated there was a little OVER 1/4 tank of gas in the car. They drove the car 13 documented miles. If there were 4 gallons of gas they got 3.25 mpg. If 3 gallons they got 4.32 mpg. And even if there was only 2 gallons they got 6.5 mpg.
To conclude anything other than they drove it really, really hard would be ridiculous. PS: both the service writer and tech who took the car out for the test drive are 20 something years old.

 

[rdutko]

I just bought my new (to me) 2014 SRT 10 in October 2013. I took it to the dealer for oil and transmission change and filter. I also asked for the differential fluid and slip modifier to be changed. After 8 hours I called and they told me that the car was finished, so I went to pick it up. When I got there they were just putting it up on the lift. I patiently waited until it was finished. When it came time to pay any take the car. I noticed greasy hand prints on the hood. Paint was scratched on the door and no modifier was on the bill. The service writer asked me "What's that"? Needless to say...I won't be taking my Viper to Village Dodge in Painesville Ohio again.

 

[rdutko]

Oooops...2004

 

[Paul Hawker]

Remind me of when someone asked me "what's the best gas mileage you have gotten in your Viper" I responded 2.2 MPG at Buttonwillow : > )

 

[ViperCrazed]

Assuming you haven't done this a lot yourself, go out and check the rear fender liners for rubber. The kind of burnouts required to burn that much gas certainly gunked up those liners with melted tire.

 

[ulllose]

The first quarter of a tank in the Viper seems to last forever, however the last 1/4 of the tank goes pretty quick. It might have been only a gallon or two that the service department went through (maybe even less)

He is absolutely right about this.

 

[ulllose]

Hey gofast --- was the gas light on? If not, not much gas was burned my best educated guess. How long have you owned the car? If you are fairly new to the car you will soon realize that last quarter/hair over a quarter won't last long. The car had to be road tested to check for the Dash rattle and to cycle the tpms. So not sure if your complaining about the 13 miles or the amount of gas you assume they used (thinking they beat on the car). Either way find a new dealership if your not happy, but play around with gas gauge some (like see how many gallons it takes to go from the where they gave the car back at and where u left it.(make sure your level when filling up))lol).

Took my lincoln in for a terrible rattle.....with 3000 miles on it...they called me a day later and said come get it, I went in and said you fix the rattle? They said ummmm we couldn't hear it so we didn't find anything....I said your kidding right???.. I walked out to the truck and turned on the car......it had exactly 2 tenths more than I dropped it off with. I walked back in and asked how do you road test a car for a rattle without driving the f'in thing??? They looked stupid, manager came out, test drove and had the car fixed within an hour after finding a broken clip in the door rattling on the window. So in my case they didn't drive the damn thing and I wanted them too!lol