The Excitement of My New SRT-10 is Wearing Off

[VNMOUS]

My apologies is advance for rambling on, but I feel the need to vent some of the frustration I am having with my "dream car".

I have been dreaming about a new Viper for the last 10 years. My time has finally come and as each day goes by it seems as if my dream is turning into a nightmare. It is getting to the point that I wish I had not bought the vehicle.

At first I was told over the phone I was not affected by the valve issue. Then I get a letter in the mail and a phone call from ISG telling me that I am. No big deal, I am sure there are plenty of Viper techs capable of doing the valve service. Oh, wait a minute--everyone on the board says that most Viper techs have never even opened up the engine on a Gen I/II viper. My confidence level is building now. What is this in the mail? Just a friendly release form from ISG asking me to sign away all liability for further issues regarding this matter for a scant $300. Now it turns out that the closest Viper tech that has a good reputation is about 400 miles away and I am the only person that has contacted him and followed up with the matter. That makes me the guinea pig. Boy, now I am really brimming with confidence. What else can go wrong. Let's see, my car now has just over a thousand miles on it so I go to juice the accelerator a bit to see what she has and become even more disappointed. The car has misfired on 2 occaisions with moderately aggressive throttling. The feeling is really nauseating as you are testing out your $90K automobile and the power loss almost ejects you through the front windshield (I won't begin to bore you with the 1st to 2nd bog that I have that others have mentioned as well). It seems to me that there are some very large issues with a small number of these cars. A few of the latest posts are really disconcerting as well in regard to the poor dyno numbers and really choppy graphs. I hope DC gets on the ball and does something a little more substantial than what has been proposed. I could care less about a rental/wash/$300. All I want is for my car to run like it was advertised without worrying about being the test mule. I want to thank everyone here for their contributions to the board and to all of the VCA higher ups for their efforts. Without people like you the issues we have would probably be ignored.

More ranting and raving. Upon delivery there are a couple of scratches on the car that I am assured by the delivery guy will buff out. I took the car to a professional detailer and paid a good bit to have the scratches wet sanded and buffed/polished. Apparentley he took the liberty of buffing the entire car and now I have more swirl marks than you can imagine. There is no way in hell I will take it back for him to swirl it up more. Even worse, I have no recourse as I have no proof the swirls where not there to begin with. I spent 8 hours today with Meguires Scratch X and Zaino Z-5 getting the swirls out as best I could. The car looks great in the shade or in partly cloudy skies after all my hard work, but with direct sunlight or flourescent light the swirl marks are still pretty obvious. I guess that is the price you have to pay for having a black car. Hopefully a few more coats of the swirl mark remover will help.

Sorry, I just had to vent.

Austin

 

[Hans Christian]

Sorry to hear buddy - I can almost feel your pain - bugger.

Try to think positive and let's see if DC steps up to the plate!!!

 

[SERPENT INDIANA]

....Had my recall completed and have the car back on the road....no problems at all with any of the stuff it went thru.....came back without a scratch or smudge and was detailed by the dealership......runs great....

 

[GR8_ASP]

Serpent did you notice any difference in how it runs?

 

[VNMOUS]

That is great to hear Serpent. A few questions.

1. Did you have a pre and post dyno done?
2. Where did you have the service done (I assume Woodhouse)?
3. Did you have the a problem with your 1-2 shift (engine bogging)--if so, did it go away?

I have seen a few people with non-valve issue Vipers who have said that they don't have the engine bog with the 1-2 shift.

Thanks

 

[SERPENT INDIANA]

...The car only had 70 miles on it when it was repaired(Woodhouse), so from a comparison standpoint I really have none....it ran great (I thought) before the work....it runs great now...1-2 bog, have never noticed it....intend to get it dynoed after the end of the month...lots going on and little time to get to the dyno now, hopefully soon.....

 

[tattooed]

holy crap! that *****.

if i was in this situation, i would sell the car asap, because i know i would never be happy with it.

 

[CaboViper]

Sorry to hear about your situation. That *****! Black is a tough color to maintain. I also have the valve problem and am not sure where to take my car to. In our region we have been working on the problem for over 6 weeks with ISG and DC with no positive results. Instead of spending a considerable amount of money paying ISG to handle the problem they should do what's right and take care of the cars they screwed up. My opinion of DC had dropped considerably. Hang in there!

 

[wiseasp]

Take the car to Jason Heffner!!!! I just got mine back yesterday and HOLY (&#!. This is the way the car should have come from Dodge. I am still smiling from ear to ear. He made new headers (from scratch), 3" exhaust, new cam, ported and polished heads, new valves and some other goodies. The car now has 534 RWH and does it sound AWESOME. If he does your heads you will not have to worry about the valve problem because he puts in better valves than the factory.

ROB

 

[VNMOUS]

That's a good idea wiseasp. Could you send me a PM or an email with some of the details--cost? timetable to have the work done? and any other information you think might be usefull if I had this done.

Thanks

 

[SERPENT INDIANA]

WISEASP.....I was at Heffners last week and heard your SRT run.....HOLY CRAP BATMAN .....IT WAS AWSOME THE SOUND IT MADE....saw the dyno slips....you can be proud of that car for sure....

 

[SylvanSRT]

does the new exhaust still criss cross behind the seats?

 

[Hans Christian]

Wiseasp,
Wow - congrats - more details please.

 

[VNMOUS]

Well, the journey continues. Two more hours with the random orbit polisher and I have gotten almost all of the swirl marks out with the help of Zaino's Z-5. I now am a firm believer in this stuff and would recommend it to anyone with a dark car that is a perfectionist about their paint.

I think I have come back to reality in dealing with my car. I guess I should just feel fortunate that I own one of the most amazing vehicles on the planet--even if it does have a few flaws. Everything is fixable if you are willing to invest the time and money. It's only money right, and I can always make more as my wife tells me. Now I have an excuse to send my car somewhere like Heffners to have it properly tuned.

 

[FASTRNU]

VNMOUS:

Certain issues are repairable and may be acceptable on a brand new car, but some are not. My 2001 ZO6 was part of the widespread oil consumption issue many 2000-2001 Corvettes had. It was apparently a piston ring problem with excessive flutter, so not all of the oil was scraped back into the lubrication system. GM's solution was to wait for owners to complain, and then do a ring job on brand new cars. Not acceptable to me. My brand new ZO6 was burning 1 quart of oil every 400 miles. At least PVO is being up front about it.

I did my homework and after documenting several cases of buyback GM did for this reason, I had a meeting with my local dealer and the Zone Rep. Told them I'd go to arbitration if necessary to get them to repurchase. Three days later I was told they'd by the ZO6 back.

Lots of Corvette owners were fine with letting GM do a ring job on their brand new car. I wasn't. I think that is like the equivalent of open heart on a person. Too long and involved to do on a brand new car.

It will be interesting to see how these first model year issues with the SRT 10 play out. If you haven't already, research Georgia's Lemon Law and the info you should have gotten with your owner's manual. A total of 30 days out of service and/or 3 or 4 (I can't remember-been a while) unsuccessful tries at repair qualifies most cars for lemon law status in Georgia.

My ZO6 experience is why I waited for a 2004.
Dave

 

[VNMOUS]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunatley I believe that for a car to be "lemoned" the issue has to deal with the driveabilty/safety of the vehicle. Since this is merely a HP issue I don't think it would fall into the realm of the lemmon law. The only thing DC would be at risk for is the possibility of a class action law suit--which would not even be worth the time as they only benefit the lawyers involved.

 

[FASTRNU]

VNMOUS:
You are not entirely correct.

If the defect involves a system that directly affects the driveability/safety issue of the vehicle (trans/brakes or the like), then the dealer gets one attempt to repair it. If they are not successful then the car will qualify for Lemon Status.

Other problems that do not affect the safety/driveability of the car is what my oil consumption issue involved. I was never stranded and my personal safety was not at risk, but this type of problem applies to the other qualifier for Lemon status, in that it represents a threat to the long term usalility or value of the car. All the GM Corvette buybacks ordered by the Arbitration council of the Better Business Bureau were based on this qualifier.

Arbitration is the last step in informal resolution before an actual court case would start.

Things that would probably never qualify would be something like: a trim piece that doesn't stay on or similar.

I'm not trying to sound like a wiseasp here, but I've done my homework and I know the law in Georgia because I've been involved in a buyback case. If you've never been involved in a buyback, then you should do some casual research and learn your options. You could only benefit.

Not to say that these SRT 10 issues would qualify, but the big thing is if the car is out of service for a cumulative of 30 days or more, that severly affects the long term usability of the car to you, and that is one reason it might qualify. Unresolved issues could also affect the value of the car, especially if a buyer is aware of them.

I like to know my options. I became knowledgable of the long term effects of oil blowby on the engine and emissions systems of cars with the problem my ZO6 had as well as the Georgia Lemon laws. No one was going to do it for me.

 

[VNMOUS]

FASTRNU

Thanks for the information. Like I said before, it is people like you that make this forum what it is. I really appreciate the information you have provided and will be looking into this more. I have complained to the BBB about a large corporation before (Nextel). I was really surprised at the amazingly fast results they achieved on my behalf. I am still prepared to give DC the benefit of the doubt and play the waiting game for a while to see how things turn out.

 

[Skip White]

Austin, the swirls are no problem, don't use a glaze on the car, that's temporary, and won't quite look right. Take it to a top notch paint and body shop and they will finish the compounding with final step compounding. The detail shop's use a corser grade of compound on car's to cut thru old, oxidized, scratched paint. They never finish up with the right product. These swirl marks are no problem. As a matter of fact, you're car will look better than new. You will have lost some of the clear coat, but on a car you should have plenty on it, of course that depends on how much Dodge uses on these cars. Just make sure you go to the premium shops. Most middle class shops don't use the ultra-ultra fine compound. It is about a four hour job, of hard work.