01-09-2020, 11:10 AM
So I picked the Ram up on Thursday night prior to leaving Saturday morning to Delaware. The dealership tech took it home the night before, they put it back on the lift to check everything before I arrived, woohoo. It all felt great like a proper ZF8 should feel, truly.
I'm on Route 113(?) in DE and some couple in a crossover pulls alongside and motions me to roll my window down. I turn down my Mariah Carey Christmas album and they go "your truck is smoking!" Well, fuck. I had smelled a bit of transmission fluid off and on since picking it up, but figured it was some residual that splashed onto the exhaust and was burning off. I dunno. Anyway, I pull in to a gas station and get out with it running in Park. Dripdripdrip, trans fluid coming from somewhere by the bellhousing and hitting the exhaust.
By happenstance, I was literally one mile away from Millsboro CJDR, so I hopped in and gingerly drove it directly into their service bay. The service advisor was awesome, there was a tech free at that moment so he pulled it onto a lift and looked. There is a "transmission heater" with lines running to it. I guess these trucks have a fluid heater AND cooler for some reason. Anyway, one of the lines has some O-rings on it and the O-ring was either torn or missing or something. They had to order the part, so my new friend Courtney put me in a two-door Wrangler which allowed me to finish the drive (about 20 minutes) to my parents' place.
Millsboro CJDR had it all fixed up by the morning of Christmas Eve and it was, of course, a $0 charge to me. I did follow up with Farrish in Fairfax and they felt horrible (or claimed to) about how it went down. I'm not holding any grudges as these are machines fixed by humans and things don't always go perfectly on the first attempt. I am very surprised that nobody noticed it leaking fluid on that drive home overnight and the morning lift check, though.
Anyway, the truck now has a brand-new, fully-functional, not-leaking transmission and everything else it's surrounded by has 44,500 miles on it. I really do like it and given what I paid, put down, haven't driven miles-wise, have a lot of positive equity in it. I would really like to keep it and drive it through the end of the CPO warranty, which is 100k miles or year 2023. Given the new trans, it doesn't make sense to do anything else until then.
I'm on Route 113(?) in DE and some couple in a crossover pulls alongside and motions me to roll my window down. I turn down my Mariah Carey Christmas album and they go "your truck is smoking!" Well, fuck. I had smelled a bit of transmission fluid off and on since picking it up, but figured it was some residual that splashed onto the exhaust and was burning off. I dunno. Anyway, I pull in to a gas station and get out with it running in Park. Dripdripdrip, trans fluid coming from somewhere by the bellhousing and hitting the exhaust.
By happenstance, I was literally one mile away from Millsboro CJDR, so I hopped in and gingerly drove it directly into their service bay. The service advisor was awesome, there was a tech free at that moment so he pulled it onto a lift and looked. There is a "transmission heater" with lines running to it. I guess these trucks have a fluid heater AND cooler for some reason. Anyway, one of the lines has some O-rings on it and the O-ring was either torn or missing or something. They had to order the part, so my new friend Courtney put me in a two-door Wrangler which allowed me to finish the drive (about 20 minutes) to my parents' place.
Millsboro CJDR had it all fixed up by the morning of Christmas Eve and it was, of course, a $0 charge to me. I did follow up with Farrish in Fairfax and they felt horrible (or claimed to) about how it went down. I'm not holding any grudges as these are machines fixed by humans and things don't always go perfectly on the first attempt. I am very surprised that nobody noticed it leaking fluid on that drive home overnight and the morning lift check, though.
Anyway, the truck now has a brand-new, fully-functional, not-leaking transmission and everything else it's surrounded by has 44,500 miles on it. I really do like it and given what I paid, put down, haven't driven miles-wise, have a lot of positive equity in it. I would really like to keep it and drive it through the end of the CPO warranty, which is 100k miles or year 2023. Given the new trans, it doesn't make sense to do anything else until then.
Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan
Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan
Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M