My radiator fan module recall has been completed, but not without some damage to my car!



When my husband picked up the car, he found that the plastic silver engine cover was scratched. A new cover is being ordered. Unfortunately they will not allow us to install it -- the dealership must do it. The dealership wanted to paint the cover, which my husband told them was absolutely not acceptable.

Also radiator fluid covered the inside of the hood of the car! Off to the coin car wash to clean the inside of the engine as well as wash my baby so it can be tucked safely back into storage for a few more weeks.

I certainly hope the new fan module was installed correctly. Has anyone else had these types of issues when their recall was done? (Guess I should have held off a few weeks when the told me I was the first car to be done . . .)

How does this cover come off the car? Are there any new clips, etc. required to install the new one?

It amazes me that dealerships cannot seem to work on these cars without damaging them, no matter how minor the work to be done.

 

This is one of the reasons I never go near a dealer. But I guess for a recall you have no choice.

I can't imagine why the dealer won't let you fit the cover - it just pushes on to some rubber bushes. You do have to make sure that the air intake and pipes seat, but there really is nothing to it.


Simon.

 

Coin car washes are just bad. I would never do that to my car.

Sorry to hear about the dealership.

 

I just got mine done today and I'll have to go see what they did. I notice that the car seems to run noticeably cooler. I'm beginning to wonder if my fan was working at all?

Pat

 

Had my new Fan Module installed today, No problems, car was completely examined by the service tech and noted on the work order before work was started, and by me after it was completed. No problems, car looks like new, module looks new, they did a great job. This was my first visit to a Chrysler dealer, and the service dept. was very Professional. It gave me the confidence that I was losing reading about all the problems on this forum. JFK

 

Agreed about the coin car washes.

Not much of a choice in the middle of winter in Michigan. Better than the alternative of leaving the mess until Spring. One of the reasons the car is stored for the winter -- no good option to keep it clean. Can't wait until spring when I am able to wash it myself again.

 

Like gekkoski, my cover was also scratched. While filling out the Chrylser survey of the service call, I decided to look under the hood. Like gekkoski, my engine cover was scratched as well. The scratch goes down to the black plastic, look real tacky now. They are supposed to be a 5 Star dealer. Now I get to run back and listen to their song & dance.

 

Insist on a new cover!

The service manager tried to get my husband to agree to painting it. My response was, "No Way".

We are currently trying very hard to get them to let us install it. Hate to let them touch it to replace the cover as you never know what new damage may happen.

While I drive my car about 100 miles a day so the it has the unavoidable chips on the hood, I never take it to any parking lots and am extremely careful about where I park at work to keep it nice. I even go to the extreme not setting anything on the passenger seat. Briefcase and lunch in the trunk, purse on the floor, and only driver/passenger in the seats.

Why would I want to have paint work done as a result of the dealer's lack of care.

 

Had my fan done yesterday then read this post late last night so I HAD to go out and look for scratches on my cover. I open the hood, Woo Hooo no scratches! Start just looking around making sure everything was tucked back into its place and then I found "IT". The bracket that stabilizes the radiator hose to the oil filter housing was broken and pieces were laying in there! Needless to say I went back today and they have to order a replacement part. They were "gracious" enough to zip tie it into place so it wouldn't sag...
I feel like they lied to me or something just stuffing the broken part back in and not telling me.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the damage...

My Xfire is the 1st fan replacement to be done by this dealer tomorrow morning... I'll be sure to talk with the service advisor and technician about it before the work is started...

Dave...

 

When the fan on my base was replaced 1 year and a half ago i advised DC that they had defective fan modules over at Mercedes for the same fan and they ignored the info and it seems that now they are realizing it and replacing fans.

When they replaced the fan on my base coupe it was on backorder and they made me drive the car with the defective fan telling me it was working fine and that it was just noisy until the new one came in. One day later sitting in traffic on a hot day the fan seized and the car overheated. I quickly pulled it to the side of the road and had it flatbed to the dealer.

After they replaced it, they left a sensor disconnected, my coolant bottle cap was just placed on the bottle but not screwed in and the engine compartment was smoking when i drove it home. I thought the car was overheating again only to find out that it was coolant burning off from being spilled over the manifold. I called and filed a complaint with both the dealer and DC.

Now with my limited's cooling fan replacement they did it in 15 minutes and were very careful this time, however, this was done before the recall was issued because it started doing the same squeaky symptom that the base did before it seized, so they replaced it as a preventive measure. When the dealers fix something you should always look it over very carefully at the dealer before you drive away.

Little by little i've been servicing my car's needs on my own unless its a warranty repair or a recall in which case i have to take it to the dealer. The dealer has damaged two of my rims replacing tires, replacing the cupholder they damaged the center console putting screwdriver gouges on the side of the console trim and chipped off the surface texture on the silver trim when replacing the ashtray. They scratched my bumper when replacing my headlamps, etc in other words these dealers are really careless with this expensive car. They treat it like a neon.

 

Too bad it's not expensive anymore and has slowly blended in the ricer community!

 

Had my recall done last week also had the headlights replaced because of the fog and had my caliper fixed. They did work on a squeaky bushing they fixed that but messed up a bolt for the caliper and the caliper started digging into my rotor. Why do these people that work on cars remind of a bunch of monkeys screwing a golf ball?

 

Fan motor was replaced... all OK... no damage that I see...

They had the car 1+ hours and labor charge was only ~ $12.50 for .20 hours... guess the technician took a pay hit on this warrenty job... 1st one they did...

Dave...

 

good thing the beaners haven't got to it, or we really be in trouble!!!

chung

 

What is up with that comment...not cool at all, have something against a hispanic owning a Xfire.

 

its a sarcastic reply to the thread in the quote...

there is nothing wrong with a hispanic, asian, black, white, or little green people owning a Xfire.

chung <-- ricer community...

 

That's pretty funny.

~chuck <-- no community...

 

not cool ? beaner not cool ? hell that's the newest hotness. you seen mind of mencia ? that guys is a comedy genius. now i live in a community that is 99% hispanic so i am very much in the mix and when we all get together the beaner comments start flying. haha