They took the heads off today?

[whip383]

There was some lifter noise and then i had the white smoking come out the tail pipe. they took off the heads and sent them to a machine shop for possibley new vales, maybe resurface them? anybody go through this? just 2 weeks ago they put a new tranny in, now this?? do u think i should ask for a free extended warranty? car is an '01 gts with 17k miles on it. still under factory warranty, and once again, like when they replaced the tranny where it took almost 2 weeks, no rental.

thanks,
chan

 

[SNKEBIT]

Chan, did you buy the car new or used?

 

[whip383]

used, from a VCA member, about a month ago.

chan

 

[joe117]

Who did you buy it from?

 

[utahviper]

If this is under the factory warranty I didn't think they could tear into the engine. I thought they automatically sent it back to arrow. This is what my viper techs tell me locally.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Might as well get those heads ported and polished while they're off.

 

[Qualitywires.com]

They are NOT suppose to take the heads off. It's suppose to go back to Arrow. I would get them to send it off! I think DC does not allow the heads to be taken off.

 

[Viper Specialty]

I second that. Besides, who eactly are they having DO them?!? Not many places will touch a Viper engine, let alone headwork... second, even fewer know what they are doing.

 

[SapphireGTS]

They are NOT suppose to take the heads off. It's suppose to go back to Arrow. I would get them to send it off! I think DC does not allow the heads to be taken off.

DOH!. Its nice to see that DC such well trained "Viper Techs" and "5 star service departments".

I remember reading about this "Dodge Viper" In middle school, before they came out, part of the catch was that is was a simple car made with old world rechnology so that it could be worked on by the average mechanic.

 

[whip383]

Joe, I purchased it from Bryan, he was a VCA memeber from Northern CA that had moved to phoenix.

Todd (utahviper), that's what it appears, im getting on the phone right now.

Chuck, i was thinking the same thing if they had them off.

Ab, what are the advantages of sending them back to ARROW compared to a local head shop, which I know does great head work?

Sapphire, i believe they are in good hands, but will double check to see exactly what they will be doing.

thanks all,

chan

 

[Jeff Torrey]

Sending it to Arrow... If its out of warrantee its your car, dollar. Parts are the biggest hang up. But there are "racing shops" in the Viper Community that have information and parts suppliers.

 

[whip383]

its still under warranty.

chan

 

[Jeff Torrey]

I had heard that DC was starting to just treat the problem and not rebuild the complete engine. This being the first example of the new policy.

 

[Y2K5SRT]

You will want to document that your dealership is the one that initiated the removal of the heads. I agree with those above, in that DC has not allowed the dealerships to take the motor apart while under original factory warranty. If that still holds true (Jeff casts some doubt on that policy), the dealership may have just voided your warranty. My suggestion is to check on that, as well as ask the dealership to check with their Zone rep on an Arrow rebuild. The entire engine would be shipped back to Arrow, not just the heads.

And one other thought: Did this same dealership work on the tranny? If so, did they do a repair or replace it? I believe that DC usually elects to do a replacement on defective transmissions that are under warranty. Now that you have mentioned the local repair of your engine, I can't help but wonder if they went the same route with the transmission.

From Jeff's post above and the SRT-10 issues (see below), it sounds like what they are doing may now be correct. I would still recommend you document it just in case.

Chris

PS. As far as the "no engine work" policy with dealerships, I would not be the slightest bit surprised if this has since changed. Note that the SRT-10's that had a factory valve defect were sent to the dealerships to have the engine pulled apart and valves replaced. Not one of them was sent to Arrow for that problem...

 

[Brian E]

chan, you need to be asking 2 questions,
1) what testing did the dealership do to determine that the heads needed to come off the motor?
2)is the mechanic sure that the lifter noise you are hearing isnt the fuel injectors?

the problem you experienced with the smoke coming from the tailpipe has been well documented as oil being sucked into the throttle bodies after some rather spirited driving. i have seen this from many of the unmodified cars running in the viper days series. i hope your Viper tech at the very least did a pressure test on the cooling system. i also agree with steve that a sample of your oil should have been tested for contaminents before anybody should have proceeded with pulling the heads.

i have also heard of many first time viper owners complain about lifter noise. heck i voiced the same concern on my first viper. ( 96 GTS ) i told my viper tech it sounded like i was driving my old solid lifter corvette. the lifters were fine, it was just normal noise from the fuel injectors.
in any event, ask your viper tech questions and keep yourself informed.
good luck.
p.s. buy the extended warranty.

 

[whip383]

Wow, great info. First of all, I will be purchasing an extended warranty. Yes this is the same dealer that had REPLACED the tranny. I will ask what test's they did to determine the why they took the heads off. I spoke with the service rep today, he said if it's not "simple" fix, which i need to find out what that means, he said DC will just replace the heads. Also, remember on my last oil change i had a screw attached to the drain plug, which i guess isnt a major deal, they are taking out all screws from the pan and lociting them. all ur info is awesome, im documenting everything. ill ask about the fuel injectors.

thanks,

chan

 

[jgfurr]

DC is indeed allowing dealerships to remove heads when the vehicle is still under warranty. I had the dreaded head/coolant leakage that most Gen 1s experience. Roanoke did the work, and they were instructed to remove the heads and check the cylinder liner tolerances before shipping the engine back to Arrow. My tolerances were fine, so the head gaskets were replaced along with the lifters and a few other items. No shipping to Arrow, no complete rebuild. I've still got 2 years left on my warranty, so I would have gone for the Arrow rebuild if DC would have allowed it.

 

[whip383]

i think they will probably just fix the heads.

thanks,
chan

 

[whip383]

they said the heads werent seeted (seated) correctly, so they fixed those, however that is done?? now they are waiting on detroit to send them new lifters. so i dont know if what they are fixing will or has currently caused any current or long term damage.

chan