2016 Ram 1500 Sport

[Jake]

Do you think your dealership experience is related at all to FCA being constantly at the bottom end of reliability ratings? Would you keep the truck after your warranty period ends?

Nah, dealerships are franchises and have nothing to do with reliability. The dealer I’m using now (Farrish) has been excellent. 

My CPO warranty runs through 100k miles or August 2023. I’ve put a whole 6k miles on the truck in a year and suspect I’ll be ready for something else when the warranty ends. I do really really like it though. 

Went over to the MMotorhome tonight and cleaned things up a lot. Gave the engine bay a clean since it was nasty from off roading. Took the wheels off and cleaned the barrels. Power washed the wheel wells and bed, then gave it the first hand wash it’s seen in a year or more. 

[Deceus]

Need to start a thread for mine. Finally ordered an oil filter relocation kit for it. Going to get it up on the quickjack and do the same to my wheels and check the brakes. Really trying to resist the urge to mess with it too much. I want to go with a short antenna, find some black lug nuts that aren't just going to rust right away and black out the little bit of chrome on it with some plastidip. Was looking at bull bars as well and started drifting off into body armor bumpers and other things I shouldn't even be looking at right now haha.

[Jake]

Need to start a thread for mine. Finally ordered an oil filter relocation kit for it. Going to get it up on the quickjack and do the same to my wheels and check the brakes. Really trying to resist the urge to mess with it too much. I want to go with a short antenna, find some black lug nuts that aren't just going to rust right away and black out the little bit of chrome on it with some plastidip. Was looking at bull bars as well and started drifting off into body armor bumpers and other things I shouldn't even be looking at right now haha.

I want to put a short antenna on mine too, mine is bent a little and twangs on every tree I pass.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Need to start a thread for mine. Finally ordered an oil filter relocation kit for it. Going to get it up on the quickjack and do the same to my wheels and check the brakes. Really trying to resist the urge to mess with it too much. I want to go with a short antenna, find some black lug nuts that aren't just going to rust right away and black out the little bit of chrome on it with some plastidip. Was looking at bull bars as well and started drifting off into body armor bumpers and other things I shouldn't even be looking at right now haha.

I want to put a short antenna on mine too, mine is bent a little and twangs on every tree I pass.

I did an amazon shorty for $20. Works great for the zero times I use local radio.

[Jake]

I want to put a short antenna on mine too, mine is bent a little and twangs on every tree I pass.

I did an amazon shorty for $20. Works great for the zero times I use local radio.

Perfect. I didn't even set the FM radio presets until maybe six weeks ago.

[Jake]

Mileage: 51,500? I think?

Well I've had the Ram for over a year now (it was a year on August 27th) so I suppose I should provide some updates and cost of ownership and all that fun stuff. Between COVID and the flood of press loans, I haven't driven the Ram that much although it's been used for a good bit of towing and a trip to see my boyfriend's family over the summer. Turns out asking to put 1,000 miles on a press loan isn't the easiest thing to get approved by just any brand and trucks that can tow come when they do.

Mileage
I put about 8,200 miles on the truck in the first year of ownership, running the odometer right up to 50k miles. I've added about 2k more since the end of August.

What I Like
It looks fantastic. The ride on four-corner air is great, whether you're towing or unloaded. Alpine sound system is very good. Seats are pretty comfy (though I think my red Ford's were better, only just). The Hemi V8 sounds wonderful. Transmission has the right number of gears and ratios are well-spaced.

What I Dislike
No Apple CarPlay (only 2018s got it) and it's a $1,500 mishmash of parts to get it and keep all OEM pieces in the dash. Not worth it to me. Headlights are halogen projectors and the low beams suck, badly. I have thought about either HID or LED upgrades and need to research more before I do anything. Perforated leather seats get stuff stuck in the little perforations and I have a hard time cleaning them. Backup camera occasionally fritzes out and requires a hard slam of the tailgate to fix. Seat "leather" seems like it won't wear well but I suspect it'll be okay if I keep it conditioned and cleaned - just seems thin and stiff, like Honda leather of days past. No driver assist tech, which is largely fine but I miss blind spot monitoring. Fancy air suspension requires a series of touchscreen button-presses to put in "Tire Jack mode" before attaching or removing the trailer, which I manage to forget about half the time.

What's Gone Wrong
I took it in for a thump when engaging Reverse on cold starts, which came from the transmission. The first dealership replaced the transmission valve body, which didn't fix it. First dealership said "we need a CEL or can't do anything" so I went to another dealership, which has been much better overall. The second dealership was like "hmm weird" and replaced the whole transmission. Which was fine except...

When they replaced the transmission, one of the lines to the transmission fluid heater had an O-ring that either tore or didn't seat right. I got flagged down on the way to my folks' place in Delaware as the truck was pissing transmission fluid onto the hot exhaust and smoking. Stopped at a Chrysler dealer a mile from where I was flagged down and they fixed it on Christmas Eve.

Some of the intake and exhaust manifold studs broke and required replacement. Common issue and there is a warranty extension for that work on (I think) any Hemi-powered vehicle older than a certain model year.

I got a CEL for "small evap leak" and "Check Gas Cap" message back in February. I checked the gas cap and the message came back. After replacing the gas cap and evap purge valve with new Mopar parts, the messages still came back. Finally took the truck back to the dealership as I was told CPO was "bumper to bumper" warranty. Well, they diagnosed the issue but CPO is not B2B. 

Somewhere around this time, my fuel gauge started going crazy every time I filled the truck up. Dropping to zero, back to full, ping-ponging a bit, then settling in where it should be. Same diagnosis as the evap leak, also not covered.

The evap leak was a cracked vent tube from the fuel tank, which is of course part of the tank as it's all molded plastic. The fuel gauge issue was the fuel level sender which is integrated with the fuel pump. Cute! Total repair estimate was about $3,200 and CPO would not cover it. I hit Mopar up and said "hey, I was sold CPO as a full warranty even when I asked about buying MaxCare" - turns out the finance guy at the shady Chrysler dealer where I bought the truck was wrong. Mopar covered my repairs under goodwill and all is well now. 

That CPO "Warranty"
Turns out CPO only covers drivetrain stuff, not bumper to bumper. So I'm covered for drivetrain until 100k miles or 2023. Anything else is on me to fix. I'm down to fix things but it was frustrating to learn that I didn't get what I thought I paid for. I had tried researching on Mopar's various websites, but they are collectively clear as mud. MaxCare is the B2B warranty and costs extra. I could pay to add that, even now, but it's not really worth it given the low mileage I add.

Cost of Ownership
Each repair visit has had a $100 deductible tied to it. They've provided me with a loaner car (from their fleet of Jeep Renegades... ugh) every time. 

Beyond those deductibles, I've done one oil change and am due for another here soon. Taylor is going to change my diffs/transfer case fluid as it's due for that. I put a set of brake pads/rotors on both axles a few months ago.

Unless random stuff goes wrong again (knock on wood) I'm in good shape for a while. The truck came to me on new Bridgestone tires so consumables are all in good shape right now. 

Keep or Sell or What?
Not sure what I'd replace this with. I had initially thought I could sell it and rely on a combination of press trucks and rentals to tow my trailer, thus freeing up space and money for a fun toy to daily-drive. But, the availability of both is never guaranteed and there are some days where I just need the truck right now, instead of farting around with rentals or whatnot. 

If I were to sell it, I don't know what I'd buy for the same or less money that I'd like any more than what I have. So, it stays for now. Even easier decision to make given it's got low miles for the age and is in nice shape with no impending huge repairs/bills coming up. Insurance is cheap and even though MPG sucks, I don't drive it enough to care.

It's all... fine? It's fine.

Here's some photos of our adventures the past year or so. Good times.

Fitting the entire front clip of a 2006 Infiniti G35 in the bed:


Purge valve replacement in front of my apartment:


Got it dirty "off roading" (in the mildest sense) with some friends on forest roads:


Sometimes it's a very tight fit but I can parallel-park it like a boss:


Taking the paddle-board from our Indiana Airbnb this summer over to Lake Michigan:


Brakes! They're big.


Zach took this one at VIR. Fun shot on the front straight.


Final tow of the season down to Summit Point:

[Senor_Taylor]

I'm not here to give you shit, but this truck has had a LOT go wrong with it and most folks that are not as good as convincing companies to do stuff for you would be out a decent chunk of change.

[.RJ]

I'm surprised they didnt want to cover evap/fuel stuff, that should be emissions controls and arent they obligated to fix those for 10/100k by the fed?

[Jake]

I'm surprised they didnt want to cover evap/fuel stuff, that should be emissions controls and arent they obligated to fix those for 10/100k by the fed?

I tried that angle, emissions warranty is 2 years / 24k miles with "special components" set at 8/80k.

[Jake]

I'm not here to give you shit, but this truck has had a LOT go wrong with it and most folks that are not as good as convincing companies to do stuff for you would be out a decent chunk of change.

Yep, you're right.

The only thing that took "convincing" was evap leak/fuel gauge. Yes, that would have been a $3,200 problem to deal with but I could have taken it to an indie shop and likely paid less, had Mopar said no to a goodwill payout. The other repairs were covered by me walking in, saying "help" and driving a Jeep Renegade for a few days. 

Compared to my 2011 F-150, which I purchased at similar mileage (40-some thousand) - this truck has had a lot of issues. All I did on the '11 F-150 to get it to 75k(?) miles was one set of brakes and some oil changes.

[ScottyB]

i'm with Taylor here - at 50k miles that's some major componentry to start failing. i'd understand if you were driving the Dempster Highway everyday or something that just worked the truck over but commuting in DC is nothing.

that said, you do make a good argument. what, for the same money, is really better? short of major powertrain or trans issues (which you're covered for) i'm not sure what's a better deal. and you already did the F150 thing with equally problematic results.

[Jake]

i'm with Taylor here - at 50k miles that's some major componentry to start failing.  i'd understand if you were driving the Dempster Highway everyday or something that just worked the truck over but commuting in DC is nothing.  

that said, you do make a good argument.  what, for the same money, is really better?  short of major powertrain or trans issues (which you're covered for) i'm not sure what's a better deal.  and you already did the F150 thing with equally problematic results.

Yeah, it sounds like the transmission issue was perhaps an over-reaction from the dealership(s) - it shifted fine otherwise so I'm considering it more "preemptively replaced" than anything. And I truly wouldn't say I even commuted with the truck that much... more road trips than anything, some towing and some not. A lot of my "commutes" since last August have been walking distance or I just took Metro. So it gets warmed up, nice long easy highway miles, shut back down.

The only way I'd really be jazzed to replace it would be if the replacement vehicle were more entertaining/fun to drive unloaded. I keep looking at Cayennes - people who tow enclosed trailers of my size RAVE about how well they tow - but the other side of me says "if I get a Porch, it better be a 911" because... of course. 

I've got an official assload of positive equity in the Ram right now and even if COVID car prices soften a bit next year, I'm still sitting pretty. But for ~8k miles/year (maybe less in '21 if I get more press loans) I feel silly having a loan on anything, let alone a Cayenne or something else newish and fancyish. I'd really rather just have something paid off. Still have about $21k to go on this truck so that's not an immediate possibility. And if I were to sell, I don't know what I'd buy for what... $15k? cash that wasn't completely beat to hell or otherwise just crap to sit in or drive.