Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
A full review of the finding is posted on a Chrysler related message board here:
http://www.moparchat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121646
Go directly to this page:
https://sites.google.com/site/blownuphemi/
Considering the very, very, minimal wear on the internals of this Hemi I have decided to fix it. Yes I mean fix the block. For those who have some welding skills there are special materials available now for repairing cast iron. All I need to do is repair the hole in the block, replace one rod and one piston. There IS NO applicable bearing, ring, or cylinder bore ware I can find. I will reuse everything.
I considered upgrading to forged rods but the price is pretty high. Aftermarket parts for these engines are ridiculous. I will probably take the rest of the stock rods and have them sonic checked but that is it.
Carol
I hate to be negative since the specs for the Durango are well within what you need to pull that travel trailer.
But all I can do is to reiterate what I have found by researching this rod failure issue.
It seems to happen in '03 and '04 hemi powered truck applications and not cars.
This DOES NOT MEAN your engine will fail. But knowing the facts gives you some options to consider. You might consider a car warranty that covers engine failures since your vehicle is well outside the manufactures warranty. Or, you might consider trading up to a Diesel 4 door (roomy) pickup that is the absolute best for trailer towing.
The up side is the Hemi Durango with the optional tow package is a great vehicle to pull a trailer. I pulled a 20" car hauler with an antique car on it and it pulled it effortlessly. The 545RFE transmission in Hemi Durango has proven itself to be an excellent transmission. It is probably one of the best since the days of the bulletproof 3 speed automatics that powered most of the Chrysler vehicles since the late 1950s till the late 80s when the 4 spd automatics started to show up.
hoping you could help me out. My 04' durango w/ 104k miles just had it's engine blow while my husband was driving it on the highway. I'm so upset to find out this is a problem that Chrysler is aware of, thank god i was not in the car w/ my 2 year old son at the time.
where can i find those previous cases on the nhtsa website and how did you contact chrysler to make this complaint. Did you just call a 800 #. Any help would be so much appreciated.
Thanks!
Do you mind if i ask...did you put another 04 dodge motor in? What was the mileage?
We are in the process of deciding what to do w/ our blown motor. Someone told us that the engine is failing because of the manifold. Has anyone else heard anything about this?
We are considering putting a jasper motor in, i'm too scared to put another dodge motor in for this very reason. I feel like it would just be a ticking time bomb.
The #1 reason for these failures is the connecting rods. The part number of the original rod has rolled in the Chrysler parts system, so a new rod (better) being used. This problem is primarly '04 Hemis, '05 Hemis are compatible but later ones are not direct bolt ins.
what do you mean by the part # has rolled in the chrysler parts system?
There is no way that "slodge" in any car or truck will destroy it completely with only 62,000 miles!
I just had a phone call from the Dodge dealer, stating that I had a rod bearing failure, at 78,500 miles.
After setting for a few days I went to start my Durango, and it had a funny sound coming from under the car. From what I gather it's the bearing on cylinder number eight. The cost to fix it over $4000 for a short block
I had it towed to my local mechanic and he said I had a "hole in the engine block...probably from a thown rod". I was just out of my extended 7yr/70,000mi warranty of course. I contacted Dodge customer service and was assigned a case and TURD case manager named Roland how advised me to have the vechicle towed to my Dodge dealer (at my own expense).
I did that. They made me sign a paper saying I would pay for 1hr of labor to "inspect the engine". Two days later my dealer calls saying that they inspected the "top part of the engine" and it was clean (no signs whatsoever of sludge or neglect) and that the district manager of service wanted them to take apart the bottom of the engine now ....for another 2hrs of labor....are you kidding me????? I was already out over $300. Meanwhile my turd case manager is telling me that since I'm out of warranty ..he doesn't have to do anything for me..but they may give me $1500 after this engine inspection procedure (which could cost as much as $800) Really???? Really??? A new (remaned) engine is $7900.....Really????
The end result is I sold the car to a junk yard and lost 10grand in equity I had on the car. It was a well maintained $40,000 vechicle..the engine should not SELF DESTRUCT!! Dodge-Chrysler does NOT stand behind their products. I filed a complaint on the NHTSA web site...as YOU ALL SHOULD ( https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/) There are 591 complaints....REALLY DODGE???? My tax money bailed out your company??? I took what little scrap money I got and went and bought a 2011 Kia Soul (made 94% in Korea) and will NEVER buy American again!! Please everyone....file your complaints on NHTSA site, it takes less than 10min, maybe we can get a class action suit going..I could NOT afford to loose the equity I had in that car. Does anyone know any other sites to complain?
All we can do is register a complaint with NHTSA.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
I went to the dodge dealership in our area... was basically told "oh Well"... are you looking for another truck... I won't repeat what I told them... if the damn Durango would have started, I would have been driving up somewhere it might have got stuck that would have been very uncomfortable for a certain sales person!!!!
We have a family friend that had the same problem with thier 04 Durango... he's still fighting with Dodge over it and it's been over 2 years....
Got a chance to see the old engine last night and was SHOCKED by the size of the hole in the block. I'm convinced Chyrsler won't do a damn thing until someone dies or gets seriously hurt.
please please go to NHTSA and file a complaint!
mine also happened in early April and we are just going to get it back tonight. ended up going with a jasper motor, not looking forward to finding out what the bill is tonight.
And I fixed it. This sounds completely unlikely and improbable but I changed the transmission fluid and both filters and it was completely trouble free until the engine blew last year.
There is a technical bulletin on this issue. It has something do with the sensors in the tranny sensing 0 pressure when it should be high because the vehicle is under power. The ECU (brain) shuts the vehicle down to prevent transmission damage; if I understood the bulletin correctly.
IF you have a Hemi Durango you have the 545FE. The track record of this transmission has been outstanding. This does not mean you have a problem, but likely you may have a clogged filter or the fluid can simply be low and cause this issue.
Did I mention in my earlier post that the dealer didnt charge us a dime for anything (ordering a new oil pan, testing to find what the problem was etc...they had told us we would be charged a fee. So that right there tells me they know they are getting off lucky....or we would have been charged an arm and a leg for thier services...
I watch these sites and keep seeng the complaints, month after month. New people affected by this defective car that Dodge refuses to stand behind.
What is it going to take to get orgnized people? What is it going to take to get news organizations and class action lawyers to shame them in public??
"DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE DURANGO HAS BEEN THE PAST 2 YEARS" On top of the scrap metal heap and now they are trying to do it again with thier slick adds and muscle car looks. If you all are serious, get it together and respond.
Get national news involved. How can there be so many cunsumer complaints and NOBODY checking into this???????????????????
I then proceeded to the new car department at the dealership acting like I was interested in buyig a new Dodge Durango. I asked the salesman if the 2011 Hemi's problems were fixed. He assured me that the problems in the older models had been worked out on the 2011 models. Now, if Chrysler is aware of the PROBLEMS with the older models, then why are they letting us all continue to drive in them and put our lives at risk?? I wanted a letter stating that my car was safe to drive, which my service advisore promised me but I never got. The dealership actually makes you feel like you are in the wrong for wanting your car fixed. I have a case number with the main plant in Auborn Hills, MI. I have written to them again explaining my last fiasco with the dealership. Hopefully they will do something about this problem. Ironicly while all this is going on with my Durango,....my boyfriends Dodge 2003 truck siezed up; water got into the oil. He had to buy a new truck. Something is not right with Dodge. They need to take responsibility.
Automotive technicians range from outstanding to horrible and they all work at dealerships. Many dealerships are interested in quick fixes because they want to move a volume of vehicles through their service bays to keep profits up. Hard problems they will BLAME on the vehicle owners. Also many dealerships only hire cheap labor in their shop so hard problems don't get fixed.
I recommend taking your Durango to another Dodge dealer. If it is under warranty they have to honor it and do the service.
http://www.classactioncentral.com/contact-cai/
get involved!!! Do not let Dodge get away with this!!
I found it very interesting that if you read up on any modern Hemi build ups in a car magazine the first thing you have to do is toss the stock rods and pistons and do replace much of the valve train to keep the engine from coming apart.
I have been building MoPar engines for years. And that level of modification was necessary only in competitive drag racing engines where you were running really high compression, high RPM or supercharged. The stock internals of these "new" Hemis are cheap JUNK.