My timing has been really bad the last couple of weeks. Yesterday I went to Northglenn Dodge to talk to the Service Director (Phil Stieber). He took me into the shop and showed my the clutch disk and flywheel. Of course there was hotspots on the flywheel and parts of the clutch disk was worn down to the rivets. That was no surprise to me, seeing how badly the clutch was slipping when I brought it in. He said they found no evidence of loose or missing bolts and no damage of any other kind, so they couldn't fix it under warranty. Since I have been driving sticks since I was 16 (started with a 3-speed on the column) and I am now 51, I know how to drive a manual (i.e. don't ride the clutch, don't slip the clutch to hold on a hill, don't use the transmission to brake (brake pads/shoes are cheaper and easier to replace than a clutch disk), etc.), so I know my driving habits didn't cause the excessive wear. At my insistence, the Serivice Director called the Dodge Factory rep for the Colorado area and explained the situation and what he had found. The rep told him DC would not honor the warranty for the clutch. The Service Director then called the Dodge field technician, and described the situation and also mentioned some of the clutch issues I have found on the VCA forums (i.e. missing or loose bolts, air or boiling hydralics, etc.) The field tech said that the hydralics could cause a problem like I have on my Viper, but there was no way to check the hydralics without removing the lines from the car, and by removing them, you probably would cover up any defects relating to heat, etc. He did a nation-wide check and said that there were no known or reported problems relating to the Viper's clutch, so again the repair would not be covered by DC! (BTW, although I was present when the Service Director made the calls, I could only hear his side of the conversation, since he wasn't on the speaker phone). The Service Manager than said he would call the Viper Group today and see if they had any knowledge of premature clutch failures on GEN III Vipers. Well he called me a few minutes ago and said the Viper Group hadn't heard of any problems with Viper clutchs either.
So I can only conclude that:
a) all of you guys are just making up the stories about clutch failures and DC covering the repairs.
or
b) that DC is playing dumb,
or
c) the Service Director is just putting on a show for me!
Anyways, for the lowly sum of $1800.00, I am getting the clutch disk, flywheel, and pressure plate replaced.
So it's probably too late for me to do an after market upgrade (since the Dealer has already torn down the Viper and ordered the parts).
BTW some of you had mentioned about bad Viper techs. Well I talked to the Viper tech who tore down my car and he said he hated working on Vipers, because all the owners wanted the work done for free (i.e. under warranty) and he doesn't make any money when doing warranty work. According to him (in Colorado anyway), DC pays him an hourly rate of about 1/3 of what he gets when doing non-warranty work. He said he is only paid for the established times (i.e. 3/10ths of an hour for oil/filter change, etc.) regardless of how long it takes him to do the work. That might explain why some of you are getting holes poked into the leather seats of your Vipers. I know I'm going to look my car over real close when I go in to pick it up (I took pictures of everything just before I brought it in) and if I find holes or dings, somebody is going to be held accountable.
Well thanks for you guys input and if you have any ideas on how to get DC to accept the job as warranty work, please let me know.
