Dammit!

Do all Jeep dealers suck?

Posted February 13 2008 03:07 PM by Jp Editor
Filed under: Editorials, Jeep Enthusiast Culture, Trail Head

I'm pissed! I mean are all the Jeep dealers sucking in the service department or is it just the ones I'm going to? I recently made an appointment and took our '07 project Wrangler into the dealer for some warranty work on a Tuesday morning (this is a different dealer than the one that botched the bodywork). Our JK has some leaky roof seals and the rear locker is broken. Not only will it not engage but it jerks and clanks and bangs like someone is hitting the housing with a sledge hammer. So I tell the service writer at my local dealer (Valencia, CA Power Chrysler Jeep) there are some roof leaks and the locker is banging and not working and I'd like to get the engine oil changed as well.

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Wednesday he calls to tell me they ordered the seals and that they are looking for something wrong with the electrical connections of the locker. Electrical connections?! The locker is freakin' eating itself in the rear end, I'm pretty sure it's not a blown fuse! By Friday they get the idea something is actually wrong with the locker. So they finally pull the diff to find out the locker is indeed broken. Wow! Brilliant! But now they need to order parts that won't be in till Wednesday of the following week. So I ask 'em if they can slap it back together so I can use the Jeep over the weekend while they wait for parts (the diff works fine when unlocked). So they literally slap it back together and I go to pick up my Jeep early Saturday morning. The leaky roof seals haven't been changed and they never changed the engine oil, and the service writer can't get my Jeep to start. They somehow killed my battery overnight. So they jumpstart the Jeep, and bring it over to me. I don't even know what to say. Little did I know, I was leaving the dealer with more problems than I actually started with. The next day I left for a 120-mile trip. When I arrived to my destination there was gear oil all over the rear axle housing and underneath of the back of the Jeep. I mean it's really dripping. On my way back home I called the dealer to let the service writer know about the problem. Once I got home I crawled under the Jeep to see where the gear oil was coming from. The rear axle of course! The tech forgot to bolt in one of the axle sensor plugs and the rearend basically hosed out the gear oil through a 3/4-inch hole! Gawd I hate letting other people work on my Jeep. And now I have to bring it back to these jokers.

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1. How low is the oil level? Stick your finger in the drain plug and see. Between freeways speeds with low oil level and the possibility of chunks going around in there I'd be swapping everything but the axle shafts out. New bearings, seals, gears, and locker. Push 'em and make an argument. Jeez, I know from staff meetings you know how to argue!

Jp Tech Editor - Posted February 13 2008 09:22 PM

2. I would write the head of the service department a letter, letting him know that you work for JP,(make sure you use JP stationary) and that you are writting a series about your experiences with the Jeep dealer. Then to rub salt in to their eye, cc a copy to Jeep headquarters. The only thing dealers understand is money. Bad press scares any dealer, because it can effect their money. Now telling the boss, I found get's things done a hell of a lot quicker. I mean you guy work for JP! Throw that weight around!!!!!

xjadam - Posted February 13 2008 11:28 PM

3. Yes I have had similar dealings with incompetent service departments with my tj in the dallas ft. worth area, or at least the ones I went to. I am so glad my warranty is up now on it so I can just go ahead and fix it myself.

mc89140 - Posted February 14 2008 09:24 AM

4. Man do I feel your pain. I'm gonna make sure this works and then tell you my experiences.

Mater06_. - Posted February 14 2008 06:42 PM

5. Ok, I bought an '06 wrangler X brand new in Sept. '06 in Hillsboro Tx. On the 1st day I smelled burning diff oil. The dealer said it was just breaking in, and that I had lots of warrenty left and not to worry about it. Two weeks later I noticed the paint falling off the diff cover of my then dana 35. After pointing that out they took a week to replace the carrier, bearings, etc. Then it clicked and popped when I would take off. The dealer said it was my brake drums. 5,000 miles later the pinion seal started leaking. The dealer said I had dirt and debris in the seal. 3,000 miles later it started leaking behind the nut and crush washer. Then 5,000 miles later the spyder gears exploded. It was towed to a different dealer, but they had to get approval from Corp. to work on it because Hillsboro worked on it first. 25 days later, (no rental), they pieced together a '35 and told me it was fixed. I vibrated at 70 mph. Plus, when I took it to another dealership and they plugged in my VIN, an * popped up

Mater06_. - Posted February 14 2008 06:53 PM

6. next to my name saying I was an unsatisfied customer. I sued Chrysler and was awarded $8,000 under Magnus and Moss, a quicker and more effective route than leamon law. I used that money to fix all the problems I had...I couldn't list them all because I'm in Afghanistan and don't have alot of time on the computer. I saved all work orders, they had my Jeep over 70 days from Sept-Jul. I hate Chrysler, but love my jeep. I will tell you alot about the shady stuff Chrsler did to me later. Just fix it yourself...all 3 dealerships I used lied and made excuses....and that was when the only aftermarket I had was floor mats.

Mater06_. - Posted February 14 2008 07:01 PM

7. I had a very similar experience a couple weeks ago. I took my '06 TJ to the dealer for warranty work (I pulled a CEL). It turned out I had a bad O2 sensor. When the service manager called to tell me this, he mentioned that they noticed I had just recently turned 20,000 miles and that they checked my diff oil and that it looked like it had never been changed and wanted $100/axle to change it. I told him that I had just changed it myself a month or so ago, so no thanks. I picked the Jeep up that night. My Jeep isn't a daily driver, so it sat in the parking lot at my apartment complex for several days. The next weekend I went out to grease the front end, and when I crawled under my TJ I noticed a nice puddle of gear oil. Looking at the pumpkin, it was obvious that it had been leaking from the fill cap. I grabbed my socket set and quickly determined that they had checked the fluid as the manager had said, but when they put the fill caps back on they only finger tightened them and forgot to torque them down.

Jason4x4 - Posted February 14 2008 07:06 PM

8. Before I left for Afghanistan, I had Meador Chrysler in Ft Worth check the oil in my NSG 370 because I didn't have a big allen wrench. They tried to sell me a Quart for $18. I went out to the service bay, dove under my jeep, stuck my finger in the hole and it couldn't have been any fuller. They lied to my face! The manager had just told me they couldn't touch the oil. He then said that they needed something to bill the company, "no free labor". I got in my jeep and left.....pissed again!

Mater06_. - Posted February 14 2008 07:13 PM

9. Yip they will rip you off every time...

96 zj - Posted February 14 2008 11:25 PM

10. Bummer, but I don't think it's an across-the-board Chrysler thing. While I've never been able to afford a new Jeep, I have bought two new Dodge vehicles ('04 Durango and '07 Cummins Megacab).

The Durango windshield cracked out of nowhere and the dealer replaced it no hassle because it was an install defect. My Cummins had some paint chips, so they put it in the shop and gave me a rental. Then 2 months after I bought it I took out the dealer-installed bedliner (not my dealer, mind you) and found bed damage. Again, they put it in the shop and gave me a rental.

There's no corporate "screw the customer" policy with Jeep/Dodge/Chrysler. I think you guys are just unlucky in finding the shittay dealerships.

I tell the dealership general manager, sales manager, and service manager that I plan on buying another vehicle from them some day, and while the sales dept. makes the first sale, the service department makes their second sale - if you know what I mean.

Jp Tech Editor - Posted February 15 2008 06:16 AM

11. Gone are the days when dealers actually repaired or god forbid rebuild anything,today its a matter of having somebody replace what the computer tell them to, and hope it fixes the problem well enough to make you go away .You have paid enough for your new whatever, they know your not going scerw with your warranty. For $100/hr what more could you want

dads.cj - Posted February 15 2008 09:58 AM

12. So far, all 3 Chrysler dealerships lied, keep my jeep way too long, and ultimatly, didn't fix the problems!

Mater06_. - Posted February 15 2008 06:47 PM

13. Here's the list of stuff the dealerships tried to fix, but couldn't. The rear axle(4times), the rear main seal in the 4.0, the gally plug above the rear main seal, the cold engine knock, the fan clutch, the evap system...the check engine light has come on 3 times in 22,000 miles. The bolt that was coming out of the roll bar at the windshield frame and making a horrible squeak. The sales person that sold me this jeep also bought one off the lot at Mike Craig in Hillsboro Tx. When he had his dealership do a complete service on his Wrangler, they changed the oil and filter. They checked off on the list 40 points....but his washer fluid was empty, trans was low, and the fittings under the jeep hadn't been touched. What's sad is that he worked there, and they did him the same as me.

Mater06_. - Posted February 15 2008 06:56 PM

14. Warning, because this also happened to me at Berry Chrysler in Corsicana Tx. They had my jeep apart working on the rearend. The parts finally showed up, and it was looking like my jeep would be ready for the weekend run to Corpus that I had planned. That was until a "fleet truck" from Houston came in with bad injectors. They put my jeep on hold to fix the fleet truck, because they are more important. I missed the jeep run!

Mater06_. - Posted February 15 2008 07:00 PM

15. Like I said before, I love the Jeep thing, but the dealer service sucks! It puts a bad taste in your mouth when you're making payments, paying your insurance, and the service dept. sits on your Jeep for 21 days to diagnose a cold engine knock. They sent my oil to a lab, and in the end all they did was install a Mopar oil filter. It still has the cold engine knock that even my girlfriend can identify as "not right" I just live with it.

Mater06_. - Posted February 15 2008 07:22 PM

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