fatweasel wrote:
A couple of observations:
1. the vehicle was working properlyprior to any changes
2. A change was made to a critical component
3. Within 15 minutes of the change, the vehicle experienced major malfunction
Seems pretty straightforward that somthing to do with the component change was the root cause of the malfunction. Then you are upset with DCX that they won't repair your vehicle under warranty and keep referring to it as a "heep."
Assume you developed a product and backed it up with a warranty. What would you do if someone modified the product and then returned it due to a malfunction. It seems that it is no longer the product that was sold...
I wish you the best getting your vehicle back in business.
When you alter the design of the vehicle, it seems that any resulting performance/reliability issues are your responsability, not DCX...
No, he's upset because the dealer consistently misdiagnosed what was wrong with the vehicle. And when faced with the prospect of having to explain to DC why they didn't have a clue as to how to fix the vehicle and ask DC to pay for their half-a$$ed attempts to fix it, the DEALER, not DC, threatened to void the warranty to get their money out of the customer instead of having to face the music from DC.
And if you've read thru the whole thread, it turns out the dealer never did void the warranty. Once they had their money out of the customer, they went on their merry way. The Cat fuel filter was simply an easy out for them.
And you apparently missed the part where another dealer and other certified diesel service centers have backed up the customer's side - that switching to a Cat fuel filter would not cause the pump to fail just by itself, that there is another root cause at work here.
Taking the original dealer's logic to the extreme, if instead it had been a failure of a part related to the oil system, and they noticed that the customer had an aftermarket oil filter installed, they would have then tried to deny warranty and make the customer pay because he didn't have an OEM oil filter on the vehicle. The one time I allowed the dealer to change the oil on my vehicle, instead of an OEM Mopar oil filter, they installed a Carquest filter that was originally made for the 3.7 gas engine. Should I have screamed bloody murder at them for purposely trying to void my warranty by installing other than an OEM oil filter?
Right now, we can't say it's a straighforward assumption that something to do with the changeout to the Cat fuel filter caused the problem. As has been said, only detailed analysis of the pump will reveal the cause. At that alone, the dealer was out of bounds - at least in the U.S., they would be required to prove that the filter change caused the pump to fail BEFORE voiding the warranty and asking the customer to pay out of pocket. As it stands now, the original dealer has no proof that the filter changeout caused the pump to fail, and legally no grounds for voiding the warranty. They got their money and washed their hands of it, leaving it up to the customer and other mechanics to figure out what actually caused the failure.