Just got off the phone with my dad a few minutes ago, and he's had a bit of trouble with his truck. Battery died, water pump quit, and a coil pack went bad. He lives in south Florida, so he needed to get it fixed quick (they didn't get anything worse than a windy T-storm BTW). It's a plain '04 or '05 Dodge 1500 with a 6/auto. Took it to the stealer where he bought it and they refused to fix it and voided his warranty, which he's paid for the extended that hasn't even kicked in yet, because he's been changing his own oil. I think it's a load of shit and the dealer is just trying to blow him off. I've never dealt with a warranty with a stealer before, but I'm sure that someone here has. Thanks

 

It varies depending on the fine print of the warranty but it was always my understanding that to void a warranty the dealership has to prove that whatever "modification" or "change" done by the owner of the vehicles is the cause of the mechanical failure.

So i think a dealership would have a hard time proving than an oil change caused a battery to die and a water pump to go out etc etc.

 

does he have reciepts for the oil he purchased? that would help a WHOLE lot with that situation...

also, have them prove that the reason for those problems was the oil.

i had a similar situation with the exhaust on my sunfire. the transmission was slamming into gear constantly. took it to the dealer and they said it wasnt covered because the exhaust was causing the transmission to act like that or some bs along those lines. told them to prove to me how the exhaust caused the problem. they couldnt, so the transmission was serviced under warranty. couple family members had this same sort of issue, not saying it will work in this case, but it has for me.

 

File a complaint with Dodge. Also I would take it to another dealer and make sure your dad keeps his receipts from his oil changes to avoid any future dealer bs.

 

i work for infinity and they are pretty anal about warranty work...

 

i would be too...2.5 hours for what normally pays 5 or 6 hours lol

 

Sorry to hear about your dad. I've had same bad expirences with GM.

I wanted them to read a code for me and they said they couldn't because it made a wierd sucking noise and that something was broke. I had to go to the service manager and said I'm here to read a code and I ahve the 40 bucks. Will you read the code. The server tech said again that he should not cause something was definatly broke on my sunfire.

I finally had to show the tech I had a small turbo (snicker T3/T4 Stage 3) bolted on and I had a slight miss and a code.

Long story short they tend to do stupid things when it comes to do much of anything is it appears it might involve work and it's related to warranties. I know GM service centers run from warranty work.

P.S.
it was a bent valvue I replaced before noon...LoL

 

My advice: lawyer up. As has been said in thread before, the dealer has to prove that modifications were the cause of damage to the engine before they can void a warranty. What they're doing is illegal - a nasty letter or phone call from a law firm ought to scare them straight. If not, they better be prepared to bend over in court.

 

Ok if all that failed, Notify Dodge. Find another Dodge dealership.

Although find out the EXACT reasons why the dealership your dad took it to turned him away saying he voided his warrenty. Most of the time batterys arent covered under warrenty except if the vehicle is less than a year old. As for the waterpump and coil pack. They could argue that the fact is he has NOT been in for his schedualed maintaince and therefore voided his warrenty through customer neglect. There is more to a service than just a oil change. For instance Volvo's at 30K miles you get a rotate and balance, spark plugs, air filter, cabin air filter, and a oil change. Also you get a brake flush and checking of coolant level and battery. If this service is not done it WILL void the warrenty completely. For volvos they are schedualed at every 5K roughly. If you do not come in within a certain window your warrenty is done. This holds true for Ford, Nissan, and Honda. So I cant imagine it being to different for Mopar. Sorry for the bad news but hey its the automotive industry, they gotta feed their families too. Trust me I work as a flat rate whore and nothing sucks then when you get stuck with a weeks worth of warrenty crap and get paid 22hours for a 40hour week.

 

we change oil in all of our work trucks along with everthing else that goes wrong, and if there is something we can't figure out then we take it to the ford dealership and have never had a problem getting anything fixed under warranty. BTW....we have never gone in for scheduled maintenance so they are feeding you a bunch of B.S.!!