Taking Viper to dealership tomorrow for work...

[Kiaser]

My 94 RT/10 still has the DC extended warranty until 2007

The main problem I am taking the car to the dealer for is my light switch overheated and melted, but I've got a list of other little annoyances I wanted to see if they'd take a look at. Should most of these be covered under warranty? Also, what do you think would cause some of these issues?

1) Throttle not responsive at all during random times. It only happens when I'm cruising along usually at a constant speed (it could be 30mph or 90mph, doesn't matter) and then I'll ease off the throttle a bit to slow. If I try increase throttle after that it has no throttle response at all, whether I ease into it or even slam down for WOT. Lack of response will last anywhere from 1-5 seconds, then immediately respond to whatever I've got the pedal down to. Would this be a throttle body sync fix? I never have idle hang when I come to a stop.

2) Shifting during heavy acceleration is extremely hard, if not sometimes impossible. It happens up through each gear. I've had more and more missed shifts to neutral lately and it's starting to ****. I've got a short throw installed. I also get a really loud whining noise from the tranny when I'm downshift to 1st to slow the car even when I'm going fairly slow for 1st gear.

3) Passenger door popping/sticking when fully opened. Sounds really bad when you try to close it when it was fully opened, a real loud pop. I've read it's a common issue, anyone had luck on warranty work with that?

4) Various smells after hard acceleration. If I've been really gunning it and I let up on the gas, sometimes there's a heavy smell of coolant/oil/etc almost burning. Anyone else get this?

5) I've seen both the service engine light and emergency brake light come on at WOT (not both at the same time, it varies), then immediately dissappear. Should I get the brake fluid checked? What would cause both lights to come on?

6) Other little things I'm not sure if they'd cover: Trunk has to be slammed very hard to shut, clips under center console near shifter gone, fog light switch stuck on, glove box latch not working correctly, driver side knee bolster missing clips on the outside to hold screws properly.

Any advice?

 

[Kurt 97 GTS]

Kaiser,

I'm pretty familiar with that car. PM me and we can talk about where to service, etc......Kurt

 

[Kiaser]

I just got an update from the dealership and these were the estimates. Many things were no covered under my Added Care extended warranty which I thought should be. Here is a link to what Added Care covers:

Here is a link that shows what my Added Care warranty should cover:
http://www.chryslerwarrantys.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plansAddedCare

Problem #1) Map sensor - $covered by warranty

The only thing they listed covered under warranty was the MAP sensor (which I believe is what they think the problem with the throttle response, although they could not reproduce the problem). GTS Dean mentioned this as a possible cause for the problem, so hopefully this will fix it.

Problem #2) Clutch slave cylinder and/or clutch assembly - $968 Parts ($360 if the clutch assembly is fine) / $712 Labor

They believe the problem with getting the shifter into a gear during heavy acceleration is the clutch slave cylinder and/or the clutch assembly. $1000-$1800 is quite a bit out of my future boost fund, and it'd be a real bummer for it to turn out to be a transmission mount instead of the clutch parts and have to spend more money. The warranty shows the manual clutch parts are never covered, do any of you know if transmission mounts would be?

Problem #3) Door hinge - $302 Parts / $139 Labor

I doubt warranty would cover this, I can't find anything in the warranty about parts such as this, but isn't it a common issue that just requires some lubing and/or repositioning?

Problem #4) No problems found

They couldn't find traces of coolant leakage or burning. I'll be doing a compression & leak down test as well as sending the oil to be analyzed immediately after getting the car back.

Problem #5) No problem found (unable to reproduce?)

I'll be taking the car to my mechanic when I get it back from the dealership, it's probably just the fluid.

Problem #6) Center console bezel - $164 Parts / $27 Labor
Repair knee bolster - $18 Labor
Adjust trunk hinge - $45 Labor
Fog lamp switch - $63 Parts / $45 Labor

I see why most of these wouldn't be covered under warranty (and I'll end up doing myself), except for the fog lamp manual switch being stuck in the on position. Manual switches are clearly shown on the warranty to be covered.

Original problem) Headlamp switch and pigtail - $180 Parts / $178 Labor

As far as diagnosis for the problem I brought the car to the dealership in the first place was my headlight switch went out, in fact it melted. I've read up on other posts that a poor ground can cause this and it has been a problem on other GEN I's. Now, both the light switch and the module it snaps into were damage from overheating/short. Shouldn't this be covered? The headlight switch is easy enough to replace (and a cheap $20 part from autozone), however, the module it snaps into was melted and I couldn't find a replacement part or diagram for wiring it up. I found that both Manually Operated Electrical Switches and All Wiring Harnesses are covered under this warranty. Seems like this should include the headlight switch problem.

Another issue, my fog light outer cover (GEN I) is cracked and allows moisture to be trapped in there. They want $240 Parts / $45 Labor to repair this. If parts can be found much cheaper I can do this myself.

 

[Kiaser]

Does anybody have recommendations for an aftermarket clutch and transmission mounts?

 

[WOT!]

Good luck with all that. If it helps, the glove box is an easy fix. I fixed mine with a dremel tool. Grind the striker down a bit. If you need more info contact me via PM. I'll gladly explain it in detail.

 

[Kurt 97 GTS]

Kaiser,

Contact Keith for anything that is not covered under warranty. Great guy and nice to work with!

 

[LETHAL GTS]

Does anybody have recommendations for an aftermarket clutch and transmission mounts?

How does your clutch pedal feel when you push your foot down? I had a '94 and had to replace the master and slave cylinders. But it was clear to me that was the problem. This could very well be your problem as well. They will have to slide the tranny back in order to replace the slave cylinder.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Keep in mind this is an Added Care Plus Service Contract and it covers about 2000 items. The Maxcare Contract , which is now available to used Viper buyers when purchased from a DC Dealer is a bumper/bumper limited contract and it covers over 5,000 items. At the time your got your contract, that was the best offering on a used Viper, and it will cover many of your concerns, but not all. Keep in mind that , wear and tear items, are not covered under any of the contracts.

Good luck and hope this helps a bit?

 

[Kiaser]

Jurt - Oh no doubt I'll be taking it to Keith, he's a great guy and I'd have the car at his shop right now if I didn't have a warranty on it. Any non-warranted repairs are going straight to him.

Lethal - the pedal feels fine, no difference from when I first got the car when shifting was easier. I am short, though, and sometimes have to stretch out a bit to fully depress. Ever heard of a clutch throw shortener for the Viper?

Bill - do you know of any sites I could pull up that shows the entire parts list coverage the Added Care Plus contract provides? For the life of me I keep searching and all I find are partial lists.

I'll be calling the dealership back tomorrow to see why they won't cover some of the items which are obviously covered under my warranty weren't listed as covered in the estimate.