Urgent Help Please. Car Problem - Main Dealer Doesn't Know Whats Wrong....

James_Nolan

Hi All,

I have copied this post off another motoring forum I am a member of. I hope this is ok and was wondering if anyone on here can help me with a problem.

My parents have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2.7 CRD (The one with the Merc 5 cylinder engine).

It’s had a problem lately of it being down on power and throwing out loads of thick black smoke and surging in-between 30 and 40mph.

A few months ago injector 4 & 5 was leaking, so we had these resealed at a 4x4 specialist and the car was running fine until now.

We took it over to the Jeep/Merc dealer in Wolverhampton, they had it in for a few days and indentified a sticky EGR valve as the problem and fitted a new one at a cost of £320 odd.

However, on the way back home it was clear this had not fixed the problem, as it was just as bad as ever. On phoning the dealer they told us that it was fine when they had taken it out on a few test drives, but to take the car back and they would have another look at it.

So it’s currently been back at the dealer for two days now. My parents have called them each day to see if there is any news. They say the injectors are fine, and they can’t seem to find the problem. It really sounds like they don't have a clue.

I should point out that the engine management light isn't on, and there isn't any fault codes stored by the ECU. It’s just running like a bag of spanners!

So I’m wondering where we go from here? My parents are minus a car they need, have paid £320 odd for the replacement of a sticky EGR valve, and they won’t refund us for that, as they have said they have actually replaced a faulty part as it was sticking, even though this faulty part hasn't actually fixed the original problem, they still have our car, and don't sound like they have a clue what’s wrong with it.

My parents thought about taking it to a few local garages, or getting a Haynes, but surely if a main dealer can't find the problem with all their diagnostic equipment, then a backstreet garage won’t really be able to help either. Truth be told, the main dealer has probably parked the car up in the corner, and not bothered touching it since.

it’s very frustrating, and we don’t really know where to go from here!

---

To update, my parents left the Jeep at a main dealer for more investigation. They phoned us to say it was the Injectors at fault. My parents bought 4 reconditioned injectors from Jeepspares4u and dropped them off at the dealer for them (the dealer said they didn't do recon injectors and a new set would be £1k+!). Injector 5 has already been sorted, so only 4 were needed.

Jeep have now rang us again to say they have fitted the injectors and it hasn't cured the problem, and it is likely to be a problem with the Cylinder head and the engine is looking pretty knackered!

The garage have had the car for a good 4 weeks now. We have had a new EGR valve on the car for £320, 4 new injectors fitted at a cost of £800 odd and the car is still in the same state as it was when we took it in originally.

So the total bill so far is just over £1,100 and the dealer still has no idea whats wrong! Does anyone know where we stand now? My parents can't afford to shell out any more money on the car, the dealer has not fixed the problem, despite telling us each time it is a different problem to what it actually is, and then charging us a fortune to fix what does not need fixing!

Does anyone know where we stand, or what we can do about this? The dealer is in the MotorCode motor association. We rang Motorcode and they very rudely told us to try another main dealer! Citizens Advice have told us to call the RAC out (we are members) and get them to do an inspection on it, but that would involve going to Jeep dealer and paying them their money so we can get the car back, which is a bit pointless to us at the moment as it doesn't work!

We are out of idea's and stuck!

Thanks
James

Premier_2

James_Nolan wrote: »

Hi All,

I have copied this post off another motoring forum I am a member of. I hope this is ok and was wondering if anyone on here can help me with a problem.

My parents have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2.7 CRD (The one with the Merc 5 cylinder engine).

It’s had a problem lately of it being down on power and throwing out loads of thick black smoke and surging in-between 30 and 40mph.

A few months ago injector 4 & 5 was leaking, so we had these resealed at a 4x4 specialist and the car was running fine until now.

We took it over to the Jeep/Merc dealer in Wolverhampton, they had it in for a few days and indentified a sticky EGR valve as the problem and fitted a new one at a cost of £320 odd.

However, on the way back home it was clear this had not fixed the problem, as it was just as bad as ever. On phoning the dealer they told us that it was fine when they had taken it out on a few test drives, but to take the car back and they would have another look at it.

So it’s currently been back at the dealer for two days now. My parents have called them each day to see if there is any news. They say the injectors are fine, and they can’t seem to find the problem. It really sounds like they don't have a clue.

I should point out that the engine management light isn't on, and there isn't any fault codes stored by the ECU. It’s just running like a bag of spanners!

So I’m wondering where we go from here? My parents are minus a car they need, have paid £320 odd for the replacement of a sticky EGR valve, and they won’t refund us for that, as they have said they have actually replaced a faulty part as it was sticking, even though this faulty part hasn't actually fixed the original problem, they still have our car, and don't sound like they have a clue what’s wrong with it.

My parents thought about taking it to a few local garages, or getting a Haynes, but surely if a main dealer can't find the problem with all their diagnostic equipment, then a backstreet garage won’t really be able to help either. Truth be told, the main dealer has probably parked the car up in the corner, and not bothered touching it since.

it’s very frustrating, and we don’t really know where to go from here!

---

To update, my parents left the Jeep at a main dealer for more investigation. They phoned us to say it was the Injectors at fault. My parents bought 4 reconditioned injectors from Jeepspares4u and dropped them off at the dealer for them (the dealer said they didn't do recon injectors and a new set would be £1k+!). Injector 5 has already been sorted, so only 4 were needed.

Jeep have now rang us again to say they have fitted the injectors and it hasn't cured the problem, and it is likely to be a problem with the Cylinder head and the engine is looking pretty knackered!

The garage have had the car for a good 4 weeks now. We have had a new EGR valve on the car for £320, 4 new injectors fitted at a cost of £800 odd and the car is still in the same state as it was when we took it in originally.

So the total bill so far is just over £1,100 and the dealer still has no idea whats wrong! Does anyone know where we stand now? My parents can't afford to shell out any more money on the car, the dealer has not fixed the problem, despite telling us each time it is a different problem to what it actually is, and then charging us a fortune to fix what does not need fixing!

Does anyone know where we stand, or what we can do about this? The dealer is in the MotorCode motor association. We rang Motorcode and they very rudely told us to try another main dealer! Citizens Advice have told us to call the RAC out (we are members) and get them to do an inspection on it, but that would involve going to Jeep dealer and paying them their money so we can get the car back, which is a bit pointless to us at the moment as it doesn't work!

We are out of idea's and stuck!

Thanks
James

Incorrect assumption.

But if your parents can't afford to pay the current dealers bill, I suspect they can't afford to pay anyone else to attempt to repair it either.

It sounds like you have no choice. The dealer will probably sell the car, take the money you owe (plus probable storage costs that accumulate) and give your parents the remainder.

An ill wind and all that...

James_Nolan

Premier wrote: »

Incorrect assumption.

Maybe, but i'm afraid thats the experience I've had with multiple dealers of all different marques. Honda had one of my Type R's for 2 weeks because they couldn't find a fault with the alarm system. Diagnostics said nothing so they ended up replacing the lot! In my experience, a good indy is better, but thats besides the point.

My parents are just off the phone to Consumer advice to have advised her to get the garage to put the old parts back in again as they are in breach of contract because they are charging for work that hasn't made a difference to the car and they would have to give us our money back. Just hope they haven't thrown the old parts away!

Premier_2

James_Nolan wrote: »

Maybe, but i'm afraid thats the experience I've had with multiple dealers of all different marques. Honda had one of my Type R's for 2 weeks because they couldn't find a fault with the alarm system. Diagnostics said nothing so they ended up replacing the lot! In my experience, a good indy is better, but thats besides the point.

My parents are just off the phone to Consumer advice to have advised her to get the garage to put the old parts back in again as they are in breach of contract because they are charging for work that hasn't made a difference to the car and they would have to give us our money back. Just hope they haven't thrown the old parts away!

That's exactly the point!

Sounds like your parents will be without the Jeep for a long time to come if they follow the advice you say Consumer Direct gave.

And you'd better keep those fingers crossed if you think a dealer will have retained the old parts (unless you specifically asked for them to be retained at point of order) ... but I think you say the EGR valve was replaced and paid for weeks ago :cool:

Most unlike Consumer Direct to give such poor advice ... or perhaps not if my experience with those phone jockeys is anything to go by
(especially when the injectors were purchased from a third party and the garage were simply asked to fit them)

Obukit

Main dealers are - as you have found - rubbish unless the computer tells them what part to replace.

From what you have said it could be a faulty cam or crank sensor - if the readings are off the ECU doesn't always log a code, it just screws up the IP timing. They are cheap to replace but as you said, this is the sort of thing the garage should be doing.

Notmyrealname

Split turbo to intercooler pipe or split intercooler assuming it has one? In town it would drive fairly normally but get out of town you'd notice a drop in power, tons of black smoke and lumpy running when trying to maintain a constant speed.