This post has been updated to explain what happened.
Greetings to all,
2019 Promaster - 2.5 years old - 10K miles - Original Owner - Also have 100,000 Ext Warr
This has been the toughest challenge I have ever faced by an automotive company.
Was towed to the dealership because tranny would not go into gear. Though at the dealership it would again go into gear.
Upon inspection, the dealer said the transmission "had lots of water in it" and a warranty claim was originally denied by Chrysler saying that the water could only have come in externally. They are saying that this is my fault for the water incursion which could not be further from the truth unless driving in the rain is a problem. This van has been babied.
THEIR best initial explanation was that water came in through the transmission breather tube which is on top of the transmission, saying I was driving through, or in, floods. So far, research says that the transmission breather tube is at least 3 feet off the ground which, at 3 feet, would mean that water likely entered some doors if it was deep enough to enter the breather tube. This clearly did not happen and there was no residual evidence that the van had been in any deep water. Still the warranty had been denied.
Let's point out at this time that there is not a formal appeal process at Dodge/Stellantis. Or at least the dealer said there was not one, nor would the dealer give the phone number for warranty, nor the name or phone number for the Technical Advisor (the Dodge technical rep assigned to the dealer). Warranty primarily conducts business with dealer through a nameless, faceless web portal where the dealers submit a request and then it is either accepted or denied. Once denied your are pretty much screwed, so don't let the dealer submit until everyone is sure it will be accepted.
Knowing this I set out to find people to help. Through some exhaustive research, found the names, email addresses and in some cases the phone numbers of key players in the Chrysler/Dodge/Stellantis family in order to make a personal appeal for reconsideration. A reconsideration did happen. Let me explain.
One of the emails or phone calls prompted an executive to look into this issue further. I was assigned a very senior person in customer care whose job it is to deflect calls made to the executives. First, she listened to my story about which I was emphatic. She then rallied the troops ... warranty, the Technical Advisor, and the dealer. Within 48 hours and after some additional testing ordered by the Technical Advisor the problem was found. By the way, the Technical Advisor has the authority to override the decision of warranty, which in the end he did due to the results of the additional testing.
Part of the additional testing was getting a garden hose and running water over the van to see if rainwater could have been the cause. IT WAS. There were two issues, one issue compounding the other.
The center seam in the engine cowl (the plastic part which catches rainwater below the windshield) was separated or "had failed" and was directing water towards the transmission breather tube. So, all the water coming down the windshield on the passenger side of the van was not going down the drain, which is on the driver side of the van, but rather through the gap in the middle seam on the way to the main cowl drain.
The compounding problem was the main cowl drain on the driver side. This drain was clogged about half way down the "tube". There is not a screen which covers the drain opening so something went down the tube but did not exit the bottom. Other particles which then entered the drain opening were also blocked from exiting. Eventually this blocked the drain. With the drain blocked, any water now coming down the windshield on the driver side was accumulating in the engine cowl and then also exiting the gap in the middle seam. Except for testing the cowl drain with water there was no indication that the drain was blocked because nothing was blocking the drain opening. This is a design problem.
It might be wise for all of us to regularly check to see if our main cowl drains are passing water through to the ground.
Hope this helps others. Look for a thread that I will be starting about this and other issues which happen from engine cowl failures on our Promasters.
Greetings to all,
2019 Promaster - 2.5 years old - 10K miles - Original Owner - Also have 100,000 Ext Warr
This has been the toughest challenge I have ever faced by an automotive company.
Was towed to the dealership because tranny would not go into gear. Though at the dealership it would again go into gear.
Upon inspection, the dealer said the transmission "had lots of water in it" and a warranty claim was originally denied by Chrysler saying that the water could only have come in externally. They are saying that this is my fault for the water incursion which could not be further from the truth unless driving in the rain is a problem. This van has been babied.
THEIR best initial explanation was that water came in through the transmission breather tube which is on top of the transmission, saying I was driving through, or in, floods. So far, research says that the transmission breather tube is at least 3 feet off the ground which, at 3 feet, would mean that water likely entered some doors if it was deep enough to enter the breather tube. This clearly did not happen and there was no residual evidence that the van had been in any deep water. Still the warranty had been denied.
Let's point out at this time that there is not a formal appeal process at Dodge/Stellantis. Or at least the dealer said there was not one, nor would the dealer give the phone number for warranty, nor the name or phone number for the Technical Advisor (the Dodge technical rep assigned to the dealer). Warranty primarily conducts business with dealer through a nameless, faceless web portal where the dealers submit a request and then it is either accepted or denied. Once denied your are pretty much screwed, so don't let the dealer submit until everyone is sure it will be accepted.
Knowing this I set out to find people to help. Through some exhaustive research, found the names, email addresses and in some cases the phone numbers of key players in the Chrysler/Dodge/Stellantis family in order to make a personal appeal for reconsideration. A reconsideration did happen. Let me explain.
One of the emails or phone calls prompted an executive to look into this issue further. I was assigned a very senior person in customer care whose job it is to deflect calls made to the executives. First, she listened to my story about which I was emphatic. She then rallied the troops ... warranty, the Technical Advisor, and the dealer. Within 48 hours and after some additional testing ordered by the Technical Advisor the problem was found. By the way, the Technical Advisor has the authority to override the decision of warranty, which in the end he did due to the results of the additional testing.
Part of the additional testing was getting a garden hose and running water over the van to see if rainwater could have been the cause. IT WAS. There were two issues, one issue compounding the other.
The center seam in the engine cowl (the plastic part which catches rainwater below the windshield) was separated or "had failed" and was directing water towards the transmission breather tube. So, all the water coming down the windshield on the passenger side of the van was not going down the drain, which is on the driver side of the van, but rather through the gap in the middle seam on the way to the main cowl drain.
The compounding problem was the main cowl drain on the driver side. This drain was clogged about half way down the "tube". There is not a screen which covers the drain opening so something went down the tube but did not exit the bottom. Other particles which then entered the drain opening were also blocked from exiting. Eventually this blocked the drain. With the drain blocked, any water now coming down the windshield on the driver side was accumulating in the engine cowl and then also exiting the gap in the middle seam. Except for testing the cowl drain with water there was no indication that the drain was blocked because nothing was blocking the drain opening. This is a design problem.
It might be wise for all of us to regularly check to see if our main cowl drains are passing water through to the ground.
Hope this helps others. Look for a thread that I will be starting about this and other issues which happen from engine cowl failures on our Promasters.
