My impressions of the Neon;

Horsepower provided by the American Miniature Pony Breeder's Association.

Drivetrain components provided by Rubber Bands Inc. Okay, I haven't driven an automatic in 20 years but this thing seems to have the same connection between the engine room and the bridge that the Titanic had, any signals sent will be answered in due time...as soon as the tea is brewed.

Suspension components provided by the White Puffy Marshmallow Company.

Door locks provided by the Politically Correct **** Company. I went to open the passenger's door for my sweetie and found that the only way you can get into the car is to open the driver's door first and then unlock all the doors with the button on the driver's door. I'm guessing there are no gentlemen in the Chrysler design department.

On to the clock;

For the first six months I owned my car the only problem I noticed was the clock gaining about a minute per day. When the weather here started to change a number of other problems became apparent and I listed the clock among them when I brought the car in for it's first service.

First the Crossfire Technician tried to fix the clock display on the radio, when that failed he ordered a new radio. He mentioned that to me and I informed him that the clock was in the tachometer, he rushed to the parts department to cancel the radio order. A while later he informed me that he had reprogrammed the clock through the radio. The clock still gained a minute a day and I listed that on the required repairs on my next three visits to the dealer. On the fourth visit I was informed that they had ordered a new instrument cluster in the hope that that clock would keep time.

After four visits to three other Chrysler dealers in which the clock was listed as one of the problems I wished they could fix I e-mailed Chrysler requesting details on how to return the car as a lemon and called the service man at the original dealer and asked him for the same.

A few days later the service man called me and said that he had the new instrument cluster and asked me to bring the car in for the replacement. When I brought up the subject of returning the car as a lemon he advised me to get a lawyer.

I dropped the car off Monday evening and got the write-me-a-ticket-red Neon as a loaner.

Tuesday I was told that the transplant was still in progress.

Wednesday I was told that the transplant had been completed and the new instrument cluster was being programmed by land line but there were problems with the land line.

Thursday I was told that the new cluster registered 1000 less miles on the odometer than it should and that they were going to take the new cluster out and put the old one back in in hopes that it would reset something and then re-install the new cluster.

Friday I was told that the new cluster had been wrongly programmed and that it was being sent back to be reprogrammed and wouldn't be back til next Wednesday. I went to the dealer (about 15 miles away) to retrieve my checkbook from the car and saw an instrument cluster (I don't know which one) part way out of the dashboard.

Chrysler's business plan must be to sell one new car to every car buyer in the US since they will never have any return business.

 

wow, nice story.

 

Blimey. Surely you can't be serious about returning it based on the clock not keeping time? You could hardly call that a lemon. I've never looked at my clock so I have no idea if it is ok or not.

 

Sounds like a Pain in the *** in Painesville!

 

Please read my post again. It mentions that I have had the car to four dealers. It also mentions that there are other problems. They include the car suddenly darting to the right, the doors popping open and the windows hanging up on the drip rail. Since they haven't been able to fix these problems in many attempts I can only assume that the car is unfixable.

 

I don't know about that darting but the drip rail is a simple adjustment .Of course if the doors pop open I might want to buy it for my EX.

 

I picked up the car Wed. night (after 7 working days in the shop). The interior had been wiped clean with armor all or something like it, the floors vacuumed, the loose change deposited in the shifter boot and it was freshly washed.

Pulling out of the dealer's lot I felt something hit my leg. When I got home I found a screw rolling around on the floor.

I checked the window and it just cleared the drip rail with the temperature at 20ºF. Since it formerly cleared the drip rail by 1/8" at 60ºF and overlapped the drip rail by 1/8" at 10ºF I suspect that a cold snap will bring that problem back. It also has a new wind noise where it doesn't touch the seal at the rear just above the top of the door. The window now rattles when you close the door as does the door panel.

The door now pops open 1/8" instead of 1/4" but the road noise makes it clear that it's still not sealing. It still creaks and moves around on bumps and uneven surfaces.

Thurs. morning I happened to look down while getting out of the car and found this set of fresh gouges in the door frame;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...t/DSCN1244.jpg

Friday I called the owner of the chain of dealerships I got the car from and told him I wanted to return it. He told me he was unaware of any problems (I had repeatedly asked the service person to tell the owner I wanted to return the car). He said I should contact the Better Business Bureau about buyback programs. I'm fairly certain he was just putting me off as Chrysler doesn't participate in the BBB buyback program.

Friday evening my girlfriend and I went to Columbus. About 1/4 mile down the road she asked where all the squeaks came from. At 70 mph the combination of wind and road noise made it impossible to carry on a normal conversation. There were just enough snowy spots on the roads to determine that the car still darts to the right whenever the right front passes over a slippery spot. The supposedly fixed seat bottom heater gave no evidence that it was working and there is still no heat in the footwell unless you shut all the dash vents. But the clock appears to keep time.

I really loved this car the first seven months I owned it but I feel it's falling apart around me and taking it in for warranty work just seems to add new problems.

 

John,

Good luck getting the situation resolved, I hope it works out. The scratches alone would send me through the roof. That is totally unacceptable. Regardless of what some forum members think and say any problem, hmmm let me type that a second time, any problem that can not be resolved on three or more trips to the dealer should be cause for the lemon law.

Unfortunately now John you've got a few more dealer inflicted problems I'm sure you are frustrated as all hell. Again good luck in resolving them.

PS Keep all your documentation and photos

 

Man, that sounds like a disaster; sounds like a good lemon law case to me; what's Ohio like when it comes to that?

The only good thing out of all that stuff is that you got to drive a Neon for awhile; just kiddin though.

BTW, I think you emptied that bag full of luck before the experience bag became full.

 

I could tell you stories of a FORD exploder my business partner had that makes that look like a walk in the park. And Ford did not take his car back after replacing an engine,tranny, numerous interior problems and electrical. He traded it in for a mercedes and had about the same luck with it but he actually got a new mercedes after about 10 trips to the dealer.

 

You need to contact DC immediately, Pulling to the right is Dangerous!!! That alone sounds like a malfunction with the TC or ABS or both. The scratches are pathetic. You may have a good case for a lemon.

 

you need to go back to GoodEnough's posts about the lemon law. https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ight=lemon+law
Maybe it will help you make sure you are keeping good enough records of what's happening. That really sucks when you really love something and it does this. It's a heartbreaker!
Wish you lots more luck till you get it resolved!

 

I just gotta say that under severe braking conditions, the XF can get a little squirrelly. Often it is caused by the condition of the road. On more than one occasion when having to brake from "a high rate of speed" where the road was rutty or uneven, the steering wheel would almost get ripped out of my hands. I think those big wide tires are seriously affected by adverse road conditions. This is something I have come to anticipate now, tho. I notice this occuring on my truck too, which has fairly wide tires.

However, if the original poster's veh is consistently pulling to the right, then there may be an issue here that DC needs to look at. I just wanted to point out that in some cases road conditions can make the veh appear to behave unexpectedly.

 

dude you should just get insurance on that loaner and get crazy with it in the snow. take some jumps and stuff. that might make you feel better.

 

Thanks MI Roadster for the steer to the lemon law thread.

I love the car but the local dealers can't fix the things that go wrong and do more damage in the process. As someone pointed out in another thread, Chrysler's service system is badly broken. It won't be fixed until someone at the top at DC decides that they should honor their warranty commitment. Since they are using computerized service forms you would think that the same VIN number showing up three times (the lemon law threshhold in many states) would set off an alarm bell at headquarters.

This was a real surprise and dissapointment to me as my last car was a 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX which went 12 years and 140,000 miles with nothing more than brake pads, exhaust pipes, plugs and plug wires replaced. It was built on a Chrysler assembly line.

In the meantime I've got to start looking for a beater to drive when I finally get them to take this car back.