One of the first customers to purchasse one of our TVT250 kits received their kit about two weeks ago. They originally went with the CAI and injectors and were sending the ECU in over the weekend. They installed the CAI and absolutely loved it. Only mods to the car at this point were a Magnaflow Exhaust and Ebay power chip (richens the AFR).

With just the CAI he noticed it running a little lean up top. The CAI plus the ebay chip were maxing out the stock injectors (these things are tiny). So he brought it to a Chrysler dealer to have the new injectors installed. $350.00 later the car is running like garbage. It sputters, idles erratically, and bogs if you give it gas. I get on the phone with the Chrysler tech to make sure everything is installed properly and they insist that it is. Ok, they're mechanics they must know how to install injectors.

I assumed that with the Ebay chip the stock ECU wasn't able to adapt to allow the car to run properly. Customer overnights the ECU, we flash it a little lean to work with the Ebay chip, and send it back. Customer installs in car and now it barely stays running. He smells fuel and there is smoke out the back. I suggest removing the Ebay chip to allow only the ECU to control the fuel. He purchases it $450.00. Nothing changes.

Now this is over about a 5-7 day period at this point. Tonight was the final straw. We got into every little detail of the engine and exactly how the injectors were installed and this is what we found:

1 injector connector not plugged in and two injectors not seated properly. There was raw fuel on the top of the manifold from 2 of the injectors leaking out. The customer connects the electrical connector and secures the injectors and BAM everything is perfect.

He takes it for a spin, puts the Ebay chip back on also, and couldn't be happier.

Chrysler cost him a week without a vehicle and $450.00 in new non-needed parts.

So please, if you have any work that needs to be done to your car go to a Mercedes Dealer. This customer was in CA and we got him through it, but what a nightmare.

Anthony
TVT Design

 

I think it's a little unfair to lump all dealers into this category. Every place has bad people that don't know what they're doing or just don't care.

 

Ok, MOST Chrysler dealers suck!! From the 4 out of 4 dealers that I have tried, I would consider that to be MOST.

 

You know the old saying "A few rotten apples can ruin the whole barrel". Well from my personal experience with Dodge/Chrysler dealerships I think there are only a few good dealerships out there and they are far and few in between. I am not basing this on what I have read here but what I have experienced not only with my Crossfire but with my Ram and Intrepid too.

 

No they all do

 

Well if the entire drivetrain is Mercedes, I'll be sure to bring my car to the Mercedes dealership in the furture to avoid any possible problems like this. Thanks for posting this up.

 

Well if nothing else it's : Mercedes dealership where all mech's are mercedes certified or Chrysler dealership where one mech is mercedes certified. And if he's out sick I wouldn't put it past them to have someone who's never seen one of our engines "give it a go"

 

Not so. Chrysler had a special training program for the Crossfire. If you are lucky enough to find a dealer that actually sent a compitent mechanic through this training course... you will be happy with the service.

I know, I'm good friends with my local Crossfire tech.

 

Yes, we all suck. We just saved a new forum member the cost of a complete steering collum, by losing time to get his ign cyl housing out of his car, cause it went so long being broke, we had to drill, then hammer the thing out. He could have taken it somewhere else and endured the expense of the collum because they haven't done one yet, and wouldn't know what to do. We suck.

 

This is why Chrysler is shutting down so many dealerships and planning to open up regional service centers.

The problem is real and Chrysler is trying to fix it!

 

Two weeks ago today, I took my '05 Limited Roadster into the local Chrysler dealership to replace brake pades with ceramic ones. I'm still waiting...even after 5 days calling every day. Supposedly, they aren't in yet! I picked up the car after one week. I'm beginning to think they're afraid to touch the car.

Septap

 

Actually, I think there is a backorder on a highly regarded brand of ceramic pad right now. Maybe that has something to do with it.

 

I thought the same thing but after a visit to a local Mercedes dealer they informed me they wouldn't even touch the car.
They also only work with a Mercedes warranty and no other warranty company whatsoever.
Fortunately I have not needed any service since I got the car a year ago but will check with other dealers in the area to see if I get the same response.
I change my own oil and filters and so far no service has been required.

 

Had the oil changed at the Chrysler Dealer and they put the wrong oil in. After I got home (30 miles away) I noticed on the invoice (for $131.00) that 5-20w was installed instead of 0-40w.

What a deal.

 

I trust my dealer, lets face it the "customer" added a bunch of crap to his car,like ebay chips that require,according to the poster, new bigger fuel injectors.what a waste of money and bad judgement to boot.i think you stated the cai and ecu chip were maxing out the fuel injectors?but then state he spent the money on non-needed parts?a little confusing to say the least. i think everyone should notice the problems that folks are having with the custom cai's,error lights and poor running,excessivly bad fuel milage.I think the expert engineers at mercedes thought out pretty well the fuel mixture and stock cai airflow for our engines.it seems a lot to sacrafice the reliability and fuel economy of the factory set-up for the miniscuel gains we have seen from these cai mods.

 

Yes thank you so much for fixing my car and fixing it fast! The parts arrived and installed in less than a week! I've always had great service at Brevard Chrysler Dodge Jeep. I hadn't been in that dealership in over four years when I owned my last Chrysler product and the service manager still remembered me and treated me well when I brought my Crossfire in!

 

I think you missed the point that the only thing wrong with the car was when the dealer didn't install 3 of the injectors properly. Before they touched it it was perfect and after the customer fixed it it was perfect. When tuning a car properly you can increase gas mileage and reliability.

 

TVT,
How hard is it to swap these injectors? Does it take long or is it pretty simple?

 

Maybe next time something on my car breaks due to its wonderful German engineering *cough* *cough*, I'll take it to a Mercedes dealer who will charge me a ridiculous price, or I will take it to my Chrysler dealer (that yes puts food on my family's table, thank you) that will do warranty work for free.

There are a lot of boneheads at Chrysler dealerships, but so there are in GM, Ford, and yes even Mercedes dealers.

http://www.nehrlich.com/blog/2005/05...es-sucks-more/

or definitely watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnR1FlUJoQo

 

I've received 20% lower costs on a consistent basis from the Mercedes dealer oppossed to the Chrysler dealer.

The injectors are extremely easy to do. You remove four screws and the fuel inlet hose, pop out the old rail, replace injectors, and replace the new ones. If you've never done it before, expect 2 hours. we've got it down to about 30 mins.

And I'm not saying every Chrysler mechanic and dealership are horrible people and places. It's just a shame that Chrysler neglected this car so much that most of them can't even work on it.