HELP!! heater issue, denied claim. dealer says it's because i went through mud
11-27-2012, 03:54 PM
#1
JK Freak
Thread Starter
HELP!! heater issue, denied claim. dealer says it's because i went through mud
Update, it's now a year later, the heat is out of whack again.
Taking it in Tuesday to have Adam's jeep look at it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy6hm...ature=youtu.be
Original post below.
Ok, I'll try to keep it brief. Took jeep in because driver side cool, passenger side hot. I took it to the dealers off road shop, cool guys.
They saw temp is cooler, and the symtoms matched known TSBs for older JKs. But they didn't have the equipment to do the flush, so it needed to go up the street to the main dealership. Older TSB says sand from engine casting gets into heater core.
Took it in there this morning and today I called in the afternoon to see what's up. THEY DENIED IT. Said I'd need a new radiator and thermostat.
Says that TSB relates to the 3.8 engine. Not the 3.6. They then said there's evidence it's been submerged. I've been through some water crossings, not ever submerged. This is my 3rd Jeep.
So I go in and meet with service manager, and go out to the tech. They said that mud got into the radiator overflow and then got sucked back into the radiator core. The service manager said they'd go to bat for me with the crysler rep, but it's 50/50 that they'd cover it.
Then I'm waiting in the lounge, trying to get my wife on the phone, and the service manager comes in and says he thinks he can get the rep to cover the radiator if I pay the labor.
4 hours = $440!!!
Called my dad and my jeep buddy and they both said theres no way in hell I went through anything that would then get in there sucked back up.
WTF?!?!
Options?
Edit: 1 more thing, when I took the jeep in weeks ago, it was for heat and noise from engine. The idler pulley had went up. They covered that under warranty just fine. And I had a rental car for the whole week waiting on the part.
Edit #2: Also, the jeep was in for service months before for something to do with the AC, it sounded like a jet engine from under the glove box.
Edit #3 : last Thursday I got my jeep back (12/6). Heat still didn't work after they replaced the radiator (which I didn't want to do without 2nd opinon and was threatened with warranty flag if I took the jeep). Friday morning I took the Jeep to Adam's Jeep up in Aberdeen, a good 30 miles north of my house & tolls. Cool people there. They said it's the blend door and I need a new housing inside the jeep. They also looked at the jeep and said that I HAD NOT submerged it, they checked the inside of the vehicle and looked under the hood. Other than it being dirty it was no big deal.
Currently I'm awaiting on call back from them after they go through the corporate crap to get this straightened out.
Lesson's learned, should have never taken it to a non-jeep only place, and shouldn't have went offroading while my jeep was waiting to get fixed. (they replaced idler pully 11/16, but had to schedule an appt up the street to look at heat. I went to a place that tate offroad shop told me about in the first place, which is where all the mud came from)
Edit #4, Friday afternoon, after I took it to Adam's jeep (Not going to TATE dealership ever again, even to buy an oil filter), and then went to work, on the way home I was turning all the control dials and hitting the recirculate button, when it was on vent/floor with recirculate on, it SUDDENLY CAME back to life like a MO FO!!! Then Saturday morning, it was intermittant again, it will work after moving the dials around. This further re-enforces what Adam's said about it being the blend door. The heater core gets heat, it's just the venting.
Edit #5,
Adam's Jeep Service Advisor (SA) just called, he talked with the crysler rep (CR), who he said "I saw mud on the roof", and the SA said he was like, what do you expect, it's a jeep, to never take it offroad. He then said he told this CR that the heater core had heat, the mud had nothing to do with it.
He said my vin isn't flagged, nothing is flagged for my warranty.
He's ordering the heater sub assembly and I have authorization for a rental!!!
Almost to the end of this ordeal!
Taking it in Tuesday to have Adam's jeep look at it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy6hm...ature=youtu.be
Original post below.
Ok, I'll try to keep it brief. Took jeep in because driver side cool, passenger side hot. I took it to the dealers off road shop, cool guys.
They saw temp is cooler, and the symtoms matched known TSBs for older JKs. But they didn't have the equipment to do the flush, so it needed to go up the street to the main dealership. Older TSB says sand from engine casting gets into heater core.
Took it in there this morning and today I called in the afternoon to see what's up. THEY DENIED IT. Said I'd need a new radiator and thermostat.
Says that TSB relates to the 3.8 engine. Not the 3.6. They then said there's evidence it's been submerged. I've been through some water crossings, not ever submerged. This is my 3rd Jeep.
So I go in and meet with service manager, and go out to the tech. They said that mud got into the radiator overflow and then got sucked back into the radiator core. The service manager said they'd go to bat for me with the crysler rep, but it's 50/50 that they'd cover it.
Then I'm waiting in the lounge, trying to get my wife on the phone, and the service manager comes in and says he thinks he can get the rep to cover the radiator if I pay the labor.
4 hours = $440!!!
Called my dad and my jeep buddy and they both said theres no way in hell I went through anything that would then get in there sucked back up.
WTF?!?!
Options?
Edit: 1 more thing, when I took the jeep in weeks ago, it was for heat and noise from engine. The idler pulley had went up. They covered that under warranty just fine. And I had a rental car for the whole week waiting on the part.
Edit #2: Also, the jeep was in for service months before for something to do with the AC, it sounded like a jet engine from under the glove box.
Edit #3 : last Thursday I got my jeep back (12/6). Heat still didn't work after they replaced the radiator (which I didn't want to do without 2nd opinon and was threatened with warranty flag if I took the jeep). Friday morning I took the Jeep to Adam's Jeep up in Aberdeen, a good 30 miles north of my house & tolls. Cool people there. They said it's the blend door and I need a new housing inside the jeep. They also looked at the jeep and said that I HAD NOT submerged it, they checked the inside of the vehicle and looked under the hood. Other than it being dirty it was no big deal.
Currently I'm awaiting on call back from them after they go through the corporate crap to get this straightened out.
Lesson's learned, should have never taken it to a non-jeep only place, and shouldn't have went offroading while my jeep was waiting to get fixed. (they replaced idler pully 11/16, but had to schedule an appt up the street to look at heat. I went to a place that tate offroad shop told me about in the first place, which is where all the mud came from)
Edit #4, Friday afternoon, after I took it to Adam's jeep (Not going to TATE dealership ever again, even to buy an oil filter), and then went to work, on the way home I was turning all the control dials and hitting the recirculate button, when it was on vent/floor with recirculate on, it SUDDENLY CAME back to life like a MO FO!!! Then Saturday morning, it was intermittant again, it will work after moving the dials around. This further re-enforces what Adam's said about it being the blend door. The heater core gets heat, it's just the venting.
Edit #5,
Adam's Jeep Service Advisor (SA) just called, he talked with the crysler rep (CR), who he said "I saw mud on the roof", and the SA said he was like, what do you expect, it's a jeep, to never take it offroad. He then said he told this CR that the heater core had heat, the mud had nothing to do with it.
He said my vin isn't flagged, nothing is flagged for my warranty.
He's ordering the heater sub assembly and I have authorization for a rental!!!
Almost to the end of this ordeal!
Last edited by Edge Hawk; 11-28-2013 at 09:22 AM.
11-27-2012, 04:45 PM
#4
JK Junkie
Take your JK ANYWHERE except where you have it now. That's the biggest bunch of BS I've ever heard. Ain't gonna happen. Any mud in your coolant overflow bottle? That's where it would have to be to REMOTELY be sucked into the engine on cool down, after shutting the vehicle down. Not gonna happen. You pay the $440.00 and the dealer does a warranty claim for all of it, getting paid twice, with you none the wiser. How slimy.
11-27-2012, 04:50 PM
#5
JK Freak
Thread Starter
Take your JK ANYWHERE except where you have it now. That's the biggest bunch of BS I've ever heard. Ain't gonna happen. Any mud in your coolant overflow bottle? That's where it would have to be to REMOTELY be sucked into the engine on cool down, after shutting the vehicle down. Not gonna happen. You pay the $440.00 and the dealer does a warranty claim for all of it, getting paid twice, with you none the wiser. How slimy.
11-27-2012, 04:51 PM
#6
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Join Date: Apr 2012
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Take your JK ANYWHERE except where you have it now. That's the biggest bunch of BS I've ever heard. Ain't gonna happen. Any mud in your coolant overflow bottle? That's where it would have to be to REMOTELY be sucked into the engine on cool down, after shutting the vehicle down. Not gonna happen. You pay the $440.00 and the dealer does a warranty claim for all of it, getting paid twice, with you none the wiser. How slimy.
I guess my question is: Isn't there just one heater core? why would the driver side be cooler? could it be a "door" or "flap" under the dash not operating properly to direct the air to the driver side?
See this post - perhaps I was close. https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/stoc...r-side-150440/
Last edited by Mschneid; 11-27-2012 at 05:01 PM.
11-27-2012, 04:54 PM
#7
JK Junkie
An old time trick was disconnect both heater hose lines from the firewall, run water from a hose into one neck then the other repeatedly, anything that's not corroded into place will come out. Be very careful when removing the hoses, the heater core is quite fragile. A chemical-type radiator scale remover that you add to your water and run for a day or two will clean one inside very well.
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11-27-2012, 05:00 PM
#8
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i feel for ya.....i could go on for hours about this issue. i had the exact same issue with my 08' and fought the dealership from the time my Jeep was 3 months old until the bumper to bumper warranty ran out at which time after 4 attempts and 3 years the problem was finally fixed.....they said my heater core was plugged solid ( from engine casting material ) so they flushed it.....Problem still there after a couple of weeks
brought in again and they said heater core damaged??? ....replaced heater core.....problem marginally fixed and only lasted a few weeks
brought in again and they said it was the entire blower housing was faulty....again problem marginally fixed and lasted about a month
brought in again and this time they replaced the radiator, flushed the block, replaced heater core again and BAM!!!!! My heat will melt the skin right off your face now.
Best advice is be persistant and don't accept half ass fixes.....every time they told me the heat was acceptable on the left vents i brought them out to various Jeeps on the lot ( new and used ) and made them feel the heat.
After hours and hours of research the problem with cold heat on one side and hot on the other is a result from the blend doors not funtioning properly. I think each time a service tech removed the blower assembly it was just never put back right. I explained this to the last tech that worked on it and he obviously reinstalled everything correctly because i have killer heat and the temp dial and seector dial feel different than before.
Good luck!
brought in again and they said heater core damaged??? ....replaced heater core.....problem marginally fixed and only lasted a few weeks
brought in again and they said it was the entire blower housing was faulty....again problem marginally fixed and lasted about a month
brought in again and this time they replaced the radiator, flushed the block, replaced heater core again and BAM!!!!! My heat will melt the skin right off your face now.
Best advice is be persistant and don't accept half ass fixes.....every time they told me the heat was acceptable on the left vents i brought them out to various Jeeps on the lot ( new and used ) and made them feel the heat.
After hours and hours of research the problem with cold heat on one side and hot on the other is a result from the blend doors not funtioning properly. I think each time a service tech removed the blower assembly it was just never put back right. I explained this to the last tech that worked on it and he obviously reinstalled everything correctly because i have killer heat and the temp dial and seector dial feel different than before.
Good luck!
