Old Rant: Caravan Service

Mike Lowe

Atlantic Dodge

Dear Mr. Lowe;

            I am unhappy with your service department.  Saturday, December 6^th, my wife and I brought our 2005 Dodge Caravan (which we bought from you) in for an oil change.  When the oil change was complete, we were told by the woman in the service department that we had a “bad leak” from our water pump and were given a $195 estimate to replace the water pump.

            I don’t usually have mechanical work done by Atlantic.  It is too expensive and I know a really good mechanic who regularly saves me money.  Sometimes he can’t.  For instance, the computer in the van went haywire and wouldn’t allow us to lock the doors.  Even though Chrysler knew about the problem, he was unable to fix it, so I had to pay you $85 to reprogram the computer and remove the software bug.  That was a safety issue and should not have cost anything to repair, but so be it.

            Anyway, when I told the woman I wanted my mechanic to look at the leak, she said I would have to sign a waiver in case the van was damaged in transit.  I told her to fill the radiator, and I drove it to my mechanic.  This forced my wife and me to drive home, get another vehicle and lose about an hour’s worth of time to drop it off and another hour to pick it up Tuesday.  This is my wife’s work vehicle.  It is inconvenient for her to use a smaller vehicle, but she was forced to do so.

            Monday, my mechanic called and said he would put in a new water pump if I wanted but he could find nothing wrong with the one in the van.  It had been pressurized, driven, and tested every way in which he knew how.  He couldn’t make it leak.  I called your service manager and told him this.  He asked for me to bring the van in and he’d check it.  Today, he did so.  While it was up in the air, he pointed out two streaks of discoloration on the pump and said, “This is coolant.  You have an intermittent leak.  You might be okay driving it; you might not.”  He also offered me a 15% discount on the estimate I was given to replace the pump.  I thanked him and drove it back to my mechanic.  He told me what I suspected; most water pumps have those discolorations.

            I have been driving for over forty years.  I have had three or four water pumps fail, one catastrophically in a Caravan that had 180,000 miles on it.  I have even replaced a couple water pumps myself.  The usual presentation is a gush of water from the pump and a rise in engine operating temperature.

            I think your mechanic is either inexperienced or pulling a scam on customers, with the collusion of the manager.  Unless my water pump fails over the next three months, about 8000 miles, or a total of 100,000 miles, I will probably register a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and possibly the St. Augustine Record.  If you can think of any reason I shouldn’t do either, please let me know.

            By the way, I doubt we will be bringing the vehicle in for any more oil changes, or buying any more vehicles from you without an adequate explanation.

Follow-up:  Continued intermittent loss of coolant had to be investigated several times.  Turned out to be an intermittent leak of radiator, not the water pump.