Head Gasket Question??

[VIPER1996]

I know the 94 and 95's had some problems with head gaskets, but did the 96's have any problems on the RT/10? I found some anti-freeze on the garage floor yesterday when I backed the car out of the garage. I didn't have any time to investigate it but I hoping it's something simple!! It looks like the anti-freeze was on the pass side! Any ideas what it would be if it's not head gaskets. The car has 7000 miles on it, most of them in the last year. Thanks Brett

 

[RavenFan_94]

YES 96's as well. My garage floor tells the same story. This is the second time on my car. First one was an Arrow rebuild at 22k. Car now has 32k.

 

[VIPER1996]

I thought they were suppose to have the problem taken care of by the end of the 95 model year?

 

[Johann]

My '97 blew both at 11K miles.

 

[RavenFan_94]

I haven't heard that, but I do know that they rebuilt it with the same faulty gasket type used in the first one. This was in 2000.

 

[VIPER1996]

They have a new gasket kit now, I put the new type gasket in my 94. I'm gonna try and get Dodge to cover it, I run a GM dealership and our company owns 2 Dodge dealerships so I'm having the service manager of the Dodge store make some calls tommorrow. He thought they might give me some assistance because of the low miles????

 

[Jack B]

There were two separate issues, both causing coolant leaks. The first was a fit/clearance issue with the cylinder liners. If you look back at posts it appears that DC took a public stand that the liners were the problem. At the same time there were a number of knowledgeable people saying it wasn't the liners, but instead, a poor head gasket design.

It's ironic, as soon as a new improved gasket was available, all talk of shifted liners seemed to disappear. On my Gen 1, there was no leaking, however, the visible parts of the gasket were rusting away.

It is a shame that it took DC was long to help such dedicated friends. Even worse is the stance that this should be taken care of by the owner (when out of warranty). This was a manufacturing defect, every Gen 1 will eventually have this problem. Finally, the gaskets are now available. however, cost as much as a complete set of heads on some cars.

 

[VIPER1996]

Well, I just got home and checked! both sides are leaking. The driver side seems to be blowing a little oil and the pass side is leaking antifreeze and oil. The gasket is wet on the bottom on the middle cylinders. I don't have any internal leakage at this point. I guess I'll wait and see if I get any assistance from Chrysler and then have it fixed before I drive it anymore.

I'm about ready to give up on owning a viper, I'm 2 for 2 with these junk gaskets. Just the gasket kit is $650 and now I'm down for the rest of the year. If I don't get any assistance from Dodge I'm gonna sell it and walk away for good.

 

[RavenFan_94]

Feel your pain