Blown head gasket!!

[Hemiman]

Well just when I was getting rid of her for my wifes bimmer. I was cruising along the interstate at 65 mph. And then bammm. White smoke from the exhaust !!! Well its been a week and the dealer says both head gaskets are blown! What should I do? I know the motor is cashed now. Like I want this car now. Think Chrysler will give me a replacement car? I have been faithful. 2000 Prowler - 2001 V10 Dually - 2002 Jeep liberty - 2002 Ram quad - 2003 Hemi ram quad - 2004 Dakota - 2005 300C. Please tell me what to do.

[indyCoder]

Ouch! Were you doing anything interesting? If you believe what you read here, there’s a black box in the car and DC will find out. I’ve run my car rather hard (sustained 125 MPH runs) and I’ve never had a problem. Could be your car was just one in a million.

I would guess that they will drop a totally new motor in there. If not, I would not accept that.

Please keep us up-to-date.

[cmego]

Holy cow! With all the delivery delays, there might be a long wait for a new crate motor. Anyone know how well DC responds to this sort of thing?

[Northern Rider]

I blew out a motor on a 300M.

Chrysler had it replaced in 5 working days.

[jjs]

Originally Posted by Northern Rider

I blew out a motor on a 300M.

Chrysler had it replaced in 5 working days.

Uh, not to be belligerent, but what does that have to do with a blown hemi (and not the good kind of blown)? These are brand new engines with no 2, 3, or more years of being inventory items. Hardly a logical comparison.

[Hemiman]

Well the dealership called today and said that after tearing into the motor. Th DC district rep toldthem that the gas was probably bad. I am not buying it. I only have 320 miles on the car for crying out loud! I filled my 2004 Dakota with the exact same gas! And no issues. I am so mad right now I could explode. They also told me that since it ended up being the fuel, I will have to pay for them tearing into the motor. I will return there loaner tonight and get my lawyer on them. This is customer loyalty at its best. And they wonder why the Japanese are now part of the big three. Like my Dad always said "Don't SH!T in your mess kit" Well DC you have, I will be getting rid of all three DC products I currently own and will switch to Lexus. They might miss a guy like me that has bought 7 new DC products in 4 years. What do you think? They might also consider training protocol that trains techs not to tear into the motor untill the gas issue is checked first.

[Northern Rider]

Originally Posted by jjs

Uh, not to be belligerent, but what does that have to do with a blown hemi (and not the good kind of blown)? These are brand new engines with no 2, 3, or more years of being inventory items. Hardly a logical comparison.

No belligerence taken jjs.

The 5.7 Hemi is hardly a new engine. Besides, my point was my experience with Chrysler (Canada) regarding a major motor failure. they took ownership of the problem and fixed it as fast as they could.

Hemiman, don't take second hand info from the dealer. Speak to the owner or general manager. Then have the district rep meet with you, if necessary. You just may be dealing with a problem at the dealership level.

[mspeasl]

Originally Posted by Hemiman

Well the dealership called today and said that after tearing into the motor. Th DC district rep told them that the gas was probably bad....................... They also told me that since it ended up being the fuel, I will have to pay for them tearing into the motor.

PROBABLY BAD???? The first statement goes from being "probably bad" to the next statement being "since it ended up being the fuel" It sounds like they are talking out both sides of their mouth. Did they have they the fuel tested between the 1st and 2nd statement?? Or did they just say that to pass the buck (betting on the last)?? Take it from an old Drag Racer bad gas will not cause a blown head gasket. There are a lot of things that can and will cause a blown head gaskets but bad gas is not one of them.

Don't pay the SOB's its their problem and they need to take ownership of it!!!

[arnoldw]

Originally Posted by Hemiman

Well the dealership called today and said that after tearing into the motor. Th DC district rep toldthem that the gas was probably bad. I am not buying it. I only have 320 miles on the car for crying out loud! I filled my 2004 Dakota with the exact same gas! And no issues. I am so mad right now I could explode. They also told me that since it ended up being the fuel, I will have to pay for them tearing into the motor. I will return there loaner tonight and get my lawyer on them. This is customer loyalty at its best. And they wonder why the Japanese are now part of the big three. Like my Dad always said "Don't SH!T in your mess kit" Well DC you have, I will be getting rid of all three DC products I currently own and will switch to Lexus. They might miss a guy like me that has bought 7 new DC products in 4 years. What do you think? They might also consider training protocol that trains techs not to tear into the motor untill the gas issue is checked first.

I'd be mad too....I'd probably blow my own head gasket How can that rep say that the gas was PROBABLY bad??? Was the fuel sent to a lab for testing? I doubt it. Were the gaskets ok? I've seen older cars misdiagnosed with blown gasket(s) only to find a bad transmission modulator valve which would suck trannie fluid into the engine and blow white smoke. I wonder if this car has a similar setup?

[Hemiman]

Well here are the events in order. 1st Dealer had the car towed to the facility. 2nd Dealer tried to start and white smoke was pouring out the exhaust. 3rd Dealer call and said they were tearing into the motor to find if the head gaskets were blown as they thought. 4th Dealer called and said the car has bad fuel in it and thats the cause. No they didn't have it tested. They said they took a sample and let it sit over night and it separated. I am no chemist but if you can visually see separation in the fuel then the car probably wouldn't have run after the initial problem began. It ran another 50 miles. As I have said I have owned the following cars from DC. 2000 prowler - 2001 V10 Ram - 2002 Quad cab - 2003 Hemi quad cab - 2004 Dakota - 2002 jeep liberty - 2005 300c. I can't believe they are treating me like this. Oh by the way the dealership is Dempsey Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep in Dwight Illinois. When I went for my loaner the sales person wouldn't even talk to me. Good thing I still have the survey from DC. They won't fair well on it. But as they say "sticks and stones"