[Gary P]

I am on my 4th Promaster. My current one is a 2018 3500 with 46K miles. It starting making a ticking noise like the others so I knew it was time for lifters. I took it in the Dodge dealership. Like all Dodge Dealerships, it took them two weeks to look at it and another two weeks to repair it. It had to have lifters, cams replaced. My other ProMasters had same issues. They also said it had a transmission problem, which I never knew I had. They replaced the flex plate and torque converter (same as previous Promasters I had). I definitely do have a transmission problem now though.

One of my ProMasters was involved in a wreck. It took Dodge 6 months to get that one back to me.

The dealers that are selling these vehicles are not able to adequately service them. I spoke to Dodge - They blame the dealers. I spoke to 3 dealers - They blame Dodge. The dealers state that Dodge requires them to only have certain, certified techs to work on them for warranty and that they can not get the parts in a timely manner from Dodge.

Simply Put - If you rely on these vehicles for revenue, YOU CAN NOT AFFORD THESE ProMasters:

The typical vehicle generates about 40K a month. So there is 40K in loss revenue while the vehicle is out. I got it back and a week later it is headed back to the dealership for another 4 weeks and another 40K loss in revenue.

Im in for a Class-Action if I can get enough people on board!

 

[208034/]

****, If I were depending on a van to make 40k a month, I would have bought a spare van or two. Forget the discomfort of repairs... In that use, its more of a tool than a recreational motorhome that can really leave you in discomfort somewhere in the high sierras in winter with no help in sight.

 

[Kip-on-truckin]

I can address some of these problems directly. Step 1 - stop taking it to the dealer. They are grossly incompetent, and double the price of anybody else. They already sold you a flexplate that you didn't need. A flexplate either works perfectly, or it fails totally. There is no inbetween that would make you replace it. Similar with a torque converter.

There is nothing, I repeat nothing, special or complicated or expensive or proprietary about the Promaster. The drivetrain, transmission, fuel system, cats, computer, hvac, braking, suspension, steering, etc are all almost EXACTLY the same as ANY Chrysler built from 2011 till today. As such, ANY decent mechanic can work on these things. There's nothing magical in there.

So let me ask some more specific questions. You say it was ticking, so they replaced the cams and lifter. Was there any other symptom besides the ticking? I ask this because one of my vans has been ticking for over 400,000 miles. It ticks. It ticks more when it's cold. It ticks less when it's warm. It's got 540,000 miles on it. Let it tick.

I will assume that your previous vans did more than tick. I'm guessing they developed a misfire which was diagnosed as low compression on one cylinder. This is a common problem, and it usually shows up around 140,000 miles I've noticed. There are a couple solutions, none of which are so expensive as to make you sell the van.

I'm assuming you are an expediter like me. I'd be curious to know more details. And maybe I can help. Where are you located? I'm in lovely tropical Akron Ohio.

 

[RnR]

Ha!
It's a balmy 34* here.
I'm downwind of lake Erie. So we get that humid tropical breeze.
I'm under 2k mi on my 2019 and it ticks when cold.

 

[keeponvaning]

That’s good to know - I’m headed to Toronto in the morning.

 

[RnR]

What's that? The heat wave?

 

[keeponvaning]

When it’s 27°f with over a foot of snow anything is a heat wave?