RAM Warranty Visit

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After 6,700 miles of trouble-free driving, I experienced two mechanical issues with my Ram pickup. My truck has the 5.7L HEMI (EZL) with eTorque.

During a recent inspection, I observed oil leaking from the oil filter adapter/heater unit. After cleaning the area and allowing for the engine to idle, I observed oil dripping from the area circled in red. I also noticed an excessive amount of grease seepage from the right front wheel bearing.

My local dealer agreed with me on both issues. The right front hub/wheel bearing was ordered and replaced under warranty, but the oil filter adapter/heater is on national backorder with no ETA. Luckily the oil leakage is minor, but I was told they would arrange for a loaner if the leak gets worse.

I am happy with my local dealer, but am less than impressed by FCA and their never-ending parts availability issues.
 

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Often this occurs because the original design is faulty. The part must be redesigned, injection molding tooling made (Many $$$$$$) and the resdesign validated. You lose even more face if the repair fails. A patch job is seldom successful on hundred of thousands of vehicles.

Rod
 
I'm sure with the amounting of new trucks being sold, it's common for parts backlogs. My Buddy leased a new F150 and had to wait a few months for the running boards to come in.

Hopefully the leak isn't too bad and you get it fixed within the next month or so.
 
After that many miles I would have made them replace both bearings because you are supposed to replace them in pairs they should know that. As for the oil leak glad they could fix it when parts become available.
 
Chrysler, Ford, and GM are really struggling to make reliable trucks anymore. I would not be happy at all having a major defect and oil leak after only a few thousand miles on a truck that costs over 50K.

My recommendation is to not drive the truck no matter what the dealer told you. If it is a cracked line it's only going to get worse. If it fails completely I'm sure you are aware that the engine will self destruct before you can shut it off. Any mechanic worth their salt is going to tell you the same thing.

And a hub bearing going out so soon? What the heck?!!

Do yourself a favor and keep bringing it back. Blaming a part being on back order is unacceptable. An honest dealer will remove the part from a new vehicle to fix yours.

I would recommend reporting this to CA Consumer Affairs and exercise your right to a new replacement vehicle under the Lemon Law. This is not right at all.
 
As complex as new vehicles are it‘s common that it may have a few bugs that need sorted. Some have used this as a reason to buy a newer, low mileage vehicle. Nice to hear the dealer is on top of it.
 
Chrysler, Ford, and GM are really struggling to make reliable trucks anymore. I would not be happy at all having a major defect and oil leak after only a few thousand miles on a truck that costs over 50K.

My recommendation is to not drive the truck no matter what the dealer told you. If it is a cracked line it's only going to get worse. If it fails completely I'm sure you are aware that the engine will self destruct before you can shut it off. Any mechanic worth their salt is going to tell you the same thing.

And a hub bearing going out so soon? What the heck?!!

Do yourself a favor and keep bringing it back. Blaming a part being on back order is unacceptable. An honest dealer will remove the part from a new vehicle to fix yours.

I would recommend reporting this to CA Consumer Affairs and exercise your right to a new replacement vehicle under the Lemon Law. This is not right at all.

It's not a cracked line, the lines carry coolant. It's probably from the gasket that seals the cooler to the block:
1605550778133.png


The Critic is an incredibly observant mechanic and this is his personal vehicle. Average Joe would never have noticed the slight weep coming from the back of the wheel bearing and likely not the oil leak either unless it was actually dripping on the ground.
 
After that many miles I would have made them replace both bearings because you are supposed to replace them in pairs they should know that. As for the oil leak glad they could fix it when parts become available.
First time I've ever heard that. On my old Explorer when I had a hub fail, the dealer changed only the one that failed. The other one lasted the life of the vehicle, well north of 200,000 miles.
 
That's pretty incredible that a Ram dealer agreed to replace that wheel bearing because of that. I'm glad for you that they're will to address your concern, but I'd probably wan't to wait it out rather than have one of their techs ham-fisting.. I mean fitting a new bearing/hub assembly on her given you've got tons of warranty left. Does look like a snap though given she's 2wd w/ all that access.
 
First time I've ever heard that. On my old Explorer when I had a hub fail, the dealer changed only the one that failed. The other one lasted the life of the vehicle, well north of 200,000 miles.
Interesting I’ve always been taught to replace them in pairs. They use to tell us think of it like a set of brake pads you don’t just replace one when their is a pair of them or like an axle. Or like a brake caliper always replace in pairs is what I was trained at school and on the work training.
 
Interesting I’ve always been taught to replace them in pairs. They use to tell us think of it like a set of brake pads you don’t just replace one when their is a pair of them or like an axle. Or like a brake caliper always replace in pairs is what I was trained at school and on the work training.

Interesting, I've had a single calliper replaced as well, it seized.

I'd think on the OP's truck, with such low mileage, there's no risk to only replacing the one hub.

When I had the rear axle seals done on my Expedition, both sides were of course done because the passenger side was leaking and if you are already in there, why wouldn't you do both? On the other hand, if one of the front hubs had gone out (they didn't) I expect only the one that failed would have been done because you don't tear into the diff to do those, being IFS.

I wouldn't think of hubs like brakes, because brakes are designed to wear. Hubs can last the life of the vehicle if properly designed and kept free of contamination, which is exactly what transpired on my Expedition and the other front hub on the Explorer.
 
Interesting, I've had a single calliper replaced as well, it seized.

I'd think on the OP's truck, with such low mileage, there's no risk to only replacing the one hub.

When I had the rear axle seals done on my Expedition, both sides were of course done because the passenger side was leaking and if you are already in there, why wouldn't you do both? On the other hand, if one of the front hubs had gone out (they didn't) I expect only the one that failed would have been done because you don't tear into the diff to do those, being IFS.

I wouldn't think of hubs like brakes, because brakes are designed to wear. Hubs can last the life of the vehicle if properly designed and kept free of contamination, which is exactly what transpired on my Expedition and the other front hub on the Explorer.
I guess it’s all a matter of opinion. I just like to do what I was taught to do. When I worked at the dealership if it was warranty both get replaced if it was out of warranty and customer was paying we would give them a discount for buying both or full price for one. We had one lady who bought one then a week later came back because the other side had failed and my boss wouldn’t give her the discount because they weren’t done at the same time. I do agree they can last the life of the vehicles my 1989 Mazda B2200 has the original hubs and inner and outer bearings in it I take them out about once a year to clean and add more grease to them. I know they are original because I know the original owner and have all the service records. It’s only got 108,000 on it.
 
I guess it’s all a matter of opinion. I just like to do what I was taught to do. When I worked at the dealership if it was warranty both get replaced if it was out of warranty and customer was paying we would give them a discount for buying both or full price for one. We had one lady who bought one then a week later came back because the other side had failed and my boss wouldn’t give her the discount because they weren’t done at the same time. I do agree they can last the life of the vehicles my 1989 Mazda B2200 has the original hubs and inner and outer bearings in it I take them out about once a year to clean and add more grease to them. I know they are original because I know the original owner and have all the service records. It’s only got 108,000 on it.

Yeah, likely depends on training. I only took Auto Mechanics in high school (grade 11 and 12), the rest of my wrenching experience is just hobby stuff, which I've been big into for the last, must be close to 30 years now, as that started when I was a kid.

I do know that OEM's have different policies on part replacement and repairs, I expect some would not accept replacing both hubs if only one was bad for example. I know FCA has become quite a stickler for warranty claims and requires you actually send them the defective part for inspection to get away from dealerships firing the parts cannon at vehicles and charging the OEM unnecessarily for poor troubleshooting.
 
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