BajaNomad

New Dodge Owners

TMW - 1-5-2011 at 11:13 AM

January 5, 2011
Lube Deficit Trips Trucks

By George Gill

Chrysler will recall 56,611 Dodge Ram 2011 model year pickup trucks because insufficient lubricant could lead to growling or grinding noises from, or seizure of, a rear axle bearing.

The remedy involves increasing the rear axle’s lube oil fill. “The specified volume of lube oil in the C235 rear axle is a nominal lube fill of 71 ounces; however, testing with 91 oz. of axle lube has shown to considerably improve lubrication and bearing heat management,” Chrysler stated in its Dec. 23 defect information report to the National Highway Safety Administration. “Increasing the lube fill to 91 oz. on all C235 axles not yet built and adding 20 oz. to those axles already built was implemented for vehicles with a build date of Dec. 3, 2010 and later.”

As of Dec. 21, 2010, there have been approximately 20 field reports alleging axle bearing noise or failure in the northern U.S., for the 1500 model of the Ram pickup, Chrysler said in the report. “The majority of axle failures in the field have occurred within 500 miles of driving.”

“A failure of the bearing could cause the vehicle to stall, increasing the risk of a crash,” the NHTSA stated in its Dec. 29 recall notification letter. No crashes or injuries related to the issue had been reported at the time of Chrysler’s safety defect report.

Chrysler will notify owners and perform repairs as necessary free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin during February.

No Chrysler Recalls !

MrBillM - 1-5-2011 at 01:16 PM

They're NOW "Customer Satisfaction Notifications".

Which make me feel a WHOLE Lot better.

Just as I was about to think about maybe taking the '10 in for the HVAC (K17) notice, I read in the paper where they're issuing one for steering problems on '08-'10 Models.

May as well wait and get them both at the same time. After all, what's the worst that could happen with the steering ?

Who Knows ? If I wait long enough, there may be more that I can have attended to in one visit.

805gregg - 1-23-2011 at 09:47 AM

Chrysler recalls 56,000, Toyota recalls 10,000,000.

David K - 1-23-2011 at 10:15 AM

The Toyota recall came from some dealer's loaner car having two floor mats (one on top of the other) which caused the accelerator to stick to the top carpet. That caused the death of a family in Santee... the dealer received a complaint from the previous user of that loaner... did nothing... That dealer is the cause of all this misery... unless you think all cars should be designed to have 2 floor mats fit below the gas pedal?

Toyota dealers removed all floor mats... then recalled everyone's vehicle to have a shorter gas pedal installed. :rolleyes:

That has been the only recall my 2010 truck has had... and I refused to allow it to be done to my truck... I have no desire to stuff two floor mats under my gas pedal.

Mas Mats

MrBillM - 1-23-2011 at 10:25 AM

Unfortunately, my latest Dodge came with CARPETING. Something I have NEVER ordered and never wanted on a Truck. On top of the Carpeting, they have some very nice Carpeted Floor Mats so, On top of that, I have Cheap Floormats that I can use, abuse and throw away.

But, there's still room under the Gas Pedal for more so I'm OK. I suppose I'd have been in trouble with a Toyota.

bajaguy - 1-23-2011 at 10:30 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
Unfortunately, my latest Dodge came with CARPETING. Something I have NEVER ordered and never wanted on a Truck. On top of the Carpeting, they have some very nice Carpeted Floor Mats so, On top of that, I have Cheap Floormats that I can use, abuse and throw away.

But, there's still room under the Gas Pedal for more so I'm OK. I suppose I'd have been in trouble with a Toyota.





This is what I have for my new Dodge truck:

http://huskyliners.com/Custom-Molded-Floor-Liners

David K - 1-23-2011 at 10:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
Unfortunately, my latest Dodge came with CARPETING. Something I have NEVER ordered and never wanted on a Truck. On top of the Carpeting, they have some very nice Carpeted Floor Mats so, On top of that, I have Cheap Floormats that I can use, abuse and throw away.

But, there's still room under the Gas Pedal for more so I'm OK. I suppose I'd have been in trouble with a Toyota.


Perhaps?

The loaner car was a Lexus sedan... but for Baja, I think most would want a truck or SUV type of Toyota or Lexus. My pedal has lots of room under it with a floor mat (which I added from my 2005 as the 2010 didn't come with them because of what happened).

rts551 - 1-23-2011 at 10:57 AM

glad to see Dodge came right out with a remedy instead of denial.

Getting Oiled

MrBillM - 1-23-2011 at 12:00 PM

As much as I like Dodges, I have to say that the 2011 "Recall" sounds like one of the more Bone-Headed defects I've seen.

They didn't realize they weren't putting enough oil in the differential until customers started having problems ?

Doesn't say a lot for their testing procedures.

Lista - 1-23-2011 at 09:52 PM

I have the husky liners... Love 'em! you can spill a whole beer and it stays right in there! (Kidding on the beer...who spills??)
I took my '10 in for the HVAC recall...it still makes a whistle when all the air controls are off. They said that has nothing to do with the recall...

mcfez - 1-24-2011 at 07:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
They're NOW "Customer Satisfaction Notifications".





Yes...I was reading that too. What trash do some folks come up with?

We used to have "bouncers" at the front door at our Night Clubs till the insurance company told us we couldn't use bouncers! So I changed the title to be called "Security"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Edited on 1-24-2011 by mcfez]

Taco de Baja - 1-24-2011 at 08:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajaguy
Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
Unfortunately, my latest Dodge came with CARPETING. Something I have NEVER ordered and never wanted on a Truck. On top of the Carpeting, they have some very nice Carpeted Floor Mats so, On top of that, I have Cheap Floormats that I can use, abuse and throw away.

But, there's still room under the Gas Pedal for more so I'm OK. I suppose I'd have been in trouble with a Toyota.





This is what I have for my new Dodge truck:

http://huskyliners.com/Custom-Molded-Floor-Liners


I've had Husky liners in my Tacoma since day 1, just over 15 years ago (Ordered them before I got the truck :) ) They are still holding up, and the carpet under them looks factory fresh. Awesome product.

TMW - 1-24-2011 at 12:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
As much as I like Dodges, I have to say that the 2011 "Recall" sounds like one of the more Bone-Headed defects I've seen.

They didn't realize they weren't putting enough oil in the differential until customers started having problems ?

Doesn't say a lot for their testing procedures.


It may not be just Dodge. I bought my GMC new in 2004 and the first time I checked the front and rear differentials they were both well below the inspection plug hole, in fact I didn't get oil on my finger. I filled them up as per the manual. I assumed they just put a given amount in at the factory.