Have we rooted out all the engine failures now

[Policy Limits]

How much cost for the lifetime warranty? Mopar people keep marketing it to me but I haven't looked into it cuz I just got a fresh 5 year powertrain one with purchase

[Bruce H.]

Highest mileage I've heard about. Yikes.

I'm just amazed somebody out there has had the pleasure of putting 38K on theirs!

[swexlin]

I'm just amazed somebody out there has had the pleasure of putting 38K on theirs!

Agreed. I'll put about 2000 miles on mine this year, give or take. I have 11,800 on it now.

[Special Ed]

This. If you're stressed about the motor to the point which you're making threads about it after its been discussed ad naseum on here, sell the car. And I don't mean for this to be facetious, I'm being dead serious. These are toys, for pleasure use. They have zero practicality or purpose outside of putting a smile on your face. For this money, if you're not dying to get home and drive it, tripping over parking blocks while walking away because you're staring at it, thinking about it when you should be thinking of other things, you have the wrong car. Buy something else where you can have peace of mind and enjoy it.[/QUOTE]


Agree 100%. There seems to be a small group of owners that are consumed with two items. First, will my car go up in value and second will my Gen V engine fail. Ownership will never be enjoyable for these people.

[Policy Limits]

Great posts. I've read on line in general that if you're not stopping to stare back after parking & walking away then you bought the wrong car. How true!! I've been looking back for 1/4 century at American, Japanese, itialian, English brands. Automotive passion transcends brands for me and once you're snake bit, it seems to be a long lasting venom.

[wrh3]

How much cost for the lifetime warranty? Mopar people keep marketing it to me but I haven't looked into it cuz I just got a fresh 5 year powertrain one with purchase

Lifetime not available for the HP models like Viper, Hellcat, etc. They will market it but once they do some digging will figure out it is not available from MOPAR.

[ViperTony]

This. If you're stressed about the motor to the point which you're making threads about it after its been discussed ad naseum on here, sell the car. And I don't mean for this to be facetious, I'm being dead serious. These are toys, for pleasure use. They have zero practicality or purpose outside of putting a smile on your face. For this money, if you're not dying to get home and drive it, tripping over parking blocks while walking away because you're staring at it, thinking about it when you should be thinking of other things, you have the wrong car. Buy something else where you can have peace of mind and enjoy it.

Amen.

[DZnutz]

This. If you're stressed about the motor to the point which you're making threads about it after its been discussed ad naseum on here, sell the car. And I don't mean for this to be facetious, I'm being dead serious. These are toys, for pleasure use. They have zero practicality or purpose outside of putting a smile on your face. For this money, if you're not dying to get home and drive it, tripping over parking blocks while walking away because you're staring at it, thinking about it when you should be thinking of other things, you have the wrong car. Buy something else where you can have peace of mind and enjoy it.

Agree 100%. There seems to be a small group of owners that are consumed with two items. First, will my car go up in value and second will my Gen V engine fail. Ownership will never be enjoyable for these people.[/QUOTE]

Truth!

[darbgnik]

With so many low mileage '13-14's out there, and apparently quite a few with R28 recalls that haven't even gone in for testing yet, it will be a very long time until some of these cars are in the clear. Lots of owners could be paying out of pocket after their warranties have expired. Best advice...pretend you bought the car to enjoy and drive it

If you're stressed about the motor to the point which you're making threads about it after its been discussed ad naseum on here, sell the car. And I don't mean for this to be facetious, I'm being dead serious. These are toys, for pleasure use. They have zero practicality or purpose outside of putting a smile on your face. For this money, if you're not dying to get home and drive it, tripping over parking blocks while walking away because you're staring at it, thinking about it when you should be thinking of other things, you have the wrong car. Buy something else where you can have peace of mind and enjoy it.

Better advice. Buy an extended warranty while you still can if you plan on keeping it.

There. Every piece of advice needed for owning one of these cars all in one thread!

Some people are worriers, it's just their nature, and there's nothing they can do to change that.......... except sell the car, or not buy one, if you're going to worry about it.

[texasram]

I see both of your points, my reply was geared more-so to correct the context of the "failed engine" part. While my failure would have likely led to engine failure if driven on aggressively and unchecked, my car also did pass the oil contamination test, meaning I do not have any accelerated bearing wear what-so-ever (and thus no debris). Can you lump me in with the rest of the contamination cases, I don't know. I assumed contamination of the inner lifter blocking oiling, as its the most common rationale. In reality either spring could have failed (main or check valve), or varnish causing the ball in the check valve not to seat, or maybe something else I can't think of.



This. If you're stressed about the motor to the point which you're making threads about it after its been discussed ad naseum on here, sell the car. And I don't mean for this to be facetious, I'm being dead serious. These are toys, for pleasure use. They have zero practicality or purpose outside of putting a smile on your face. For this money, if you're not dying to get home and drive it, tripping over parking blocks while walking away because you're staring at it, thinking about it when you should be thinking of other things, you have the wrong car. Buy something else where you can have peace of mind and enjoy it.

No one is starting threads on the account of a high level of stress, just mabey at some point we will be able to start a thread like this and it becomes true that we are done with the plague.

[Angleiron]

There is a valid reason to worry to some degree. Most people will not put a lot of miles on this car, and there is a potential that once they are out of warranty that they could have a failure. Who wants to deal with having to pay for an engine rebuild on a low mile $100K+ car? This is not a historically problematic car meaning that the Gen II's, III's, and IV's had similar problems which meant that it was something that you were knowingly buying into.

Maybe popping extra coin for an engine rebuild is not an issue for some...but it should not be a requirement for ownership.

[mjorgensen]

Would like to provide a point of view on the "engine block" questions, and the R28. This is from conversations with Dick W. including some of my thoughts on oil.

There were a bunch (a bunch!) of the R28 cars done with little or no miles on the oil so those test will likely mean nothing regardless, so thanks for the 10yr warranty's. The ones sent in with less than 1200 miles on the oil are marginal tests. There were many filters sent in from cars that were 2-3+ years old that had the original filter and oil in the car either with enough miles or very few miles, these are hard to get a real assessment on also because the filters were partially filled with sediment (the oil additive package ingredients).

Oil is cheap insurance and watching level and age of it is just a fact of life with a Viper and any car really that sees minimal use and lengthy storage. Oil on the shelf has a 2 year life before the oils additives precipitate out and you have sludge in the bottom of the jug. It does the same in your car after a couple years whether you use it or not so changing the oil needs to be done a minimum of once every 2 years if you never drive it. I always tell customers to change it at 3000-5000 miles if you drive a lot or in the spring before you drive it after storage over the winter, (and unless you drive the car during the winter to fully warm the oil do NOT start it at all) it is just a cheap insurance. You can roll the dice that is your call, but this is the way I was with my Viper and never regretted the cost over the potential cost of not.

Thanks,

[mikesax]

This. If you're stressed about the motor to the point which you're making threads about it after its been discussed ad naseum on here, sell the car. And I don't mean for this to be facetious, I'm being dead serious. These are toys, for pleasure use. They have zero practicality or purpose outside of putting a smile on your face. For this money, if you're not dying to get home and drive it, tripping over parking blocks while walking away because you're staring at it, thinking about it when you should be thinking of other things, you have the wrong car. Buy something else where you can have peace of mind and enjoy it.

Agree 100%. There seems to be a small group of owners that are consumed with two items. First, will my car go up in value and second will my Gen V engine fail. Ownership will never be enjoyable for these people.[/QUOTE]

Well said!!

[swexlin]

Would like to provide a point of view on the "engine block" questions, and the R28. This is from conversations with Dick W. including some of my thoughts on oil.

There were a bunch (a bunch!) of the R28 cars done with little or no miles on the oil so those test will likely mean nothing regardless, so thanks for the 10yr warranty's. The ones sent in with less than 1200 miles on the oil are marginal tests. There were many filters sent in from cars that were 2-3+ years old that had the original filter and oil in the car either with enough miles or very few miles, these are hard to get a real assessment on also because the filters were partially filled with sediment (the oil additive package ingredients).



Oil is cheap insurance and watching level and age of it is just a fact of life with a Viper and any car really that sees minimal use and lengthy storage. Oil on the shelf has a 2 year life before the oils additives precipitate out and you have sludge in the bottom of the jug. It does the same in your car after a couple years whether you use it or not so changing the oil needs to be done a minimum of once every 2 years if you never drive it. I always tell customers to change it at 3000-5000 miles if you drive a lot or in the spring before you drive it after storage over the winter, (and unless you drive the car during the winter to fully warm the oil do NOT start it at all) it is just a cheap insurance. You can roll the dice that is your call, but this is the way I was with my Viper and never regretted the cost over the potential cost of not.

Thanks,

Mark, I know my R28 was done with 400-some odd miles on the oil (it had been changed four months prior). At the time (this was Feb 2016) this was discussed on the boards, and the consensus was that the debris they were looking for should show up almost immediately....i.e., fresh oil, and after a few drives, and the oil was circulated and up to temp, if there was something there, it should show up. I guess that isn't the case after all. If we were supposed to have at least 1200 miles on the oil (which is 6-9 months of driving for me) than we should have been told that up front. Sorry, that makes me a little pissed.

My oil has been changed 5 times in the 2 1/2 years and 4500 miles I've owned the car (one of those was the R28). Last one was this past October, when I get my annual PA state inspection. It won't get done again until this October, and will have about 2000 miles on it, give or take when that happens. The car was out only a 3-4 times from December through March, but the oil did come up to temp when that did happen.

Bottom line, I enjoy the car, and am happy to have the warranty. However, if the engine goes, I still don't look forward to having to go through the hassle (and having Jeff my Viper tech hassled as well) having the engine replaced. So yes, put me in the "worry" camp!

[mjorgensen]

Mark, I know my R28 was done with 400-some odd miles on the oil (it had been changed four months prior). At the time (this was Feb 2016) this was discussed on the boards, and the consensus was that the debris they were looking for should show up almost immediately....i.e., fresh oil, and after a few drives, and the oil was circulated and up to temp, if there was something there, it should show up. I guess that isn't the case after all. If we were supposed to have at least 1200 miles on the oil (which is 6-9 months of driving for me) than we should have been told that up front. Sorry, that makes me a little pissed.

My oil has been changed 5 times in the 2 1/2 years and 4500 miles I've owned the car (one of those was the R28). Last one was this past October, when I get my annual PA state inspection. It won't get done again until this October, and will have about 2000 miles on it, give or take when that happens. The car was out only a 3-4 times from December through March, but the oil did come up to temp when that did happen.

Bottom line, I enjoy the car, and am happy to have the warranty. However, if the engine goes, I still don't look forward to having to go through the hassle (and having Jeff my Viper tech hassled as well) having the engine replaced. So yes, put me in the "worry" camp!

There was not real mileage limit indicated when the recall came out, I brought it up as did others and they did not change the requirements. These observations from the testers should have been considered IMHO because if there was debris the test was graded by the "amount" of material to differentiate from normal to problem, how can that not be mileage dependent? Don't worry, if you have a 10yr then make sure you actually drive it, if something happens you are covered.

[zee]

There was not real mileage limit indicated when the recall came out, I brought it up as did others and they did not change the requirements. These observations from the testers should have been considered IMHO because if there was debris the test was graded by the "amount" of material to differentiate from normal to problem, how can that not be mileage dependent? Don't worry, if you have a 10yr then make sure you actually drive it, if something happens you are covered.

You think they will ever issue extended warranty on r29 only cars? Do you agree that those may be at less risk if you monitor oil? I have my therories but still trying to wrap my head around why only r28 issues cars were given extended warranties - my only conclusion is they are at higher potential risk.

[mjorgensen]

You think they will ever issue extended warranty on r29 only cars? Do you agree that those may be at less risk if you monitor oil? I have my therories but still trying to wrap my head around why only r28 issues cars were given extended warranties - my only conclusion is they are at higher potential risk.

No clue on that, but my gut says no.

[swexlin]

There was not real mileage limit indicated when the recall came out, I brought it up as did others and they did not change the requirements. These observations from the testers should have been considered IMHO because if there was debris the test was graded by the "amount" of material to differentiate from normal to problem, how can that not be mileage dependent? Don't worry, if you have a 10yr then make sure you actually drive it, if something happens you are covered.

Thanks Mark. Appreciate the follow up.

[mjorgensen]

One other item, Dick is adamant that you only use the SRT designed oil filters! The higher volume oil flow in the Viper can (and has been stated in other threads) open the bypass in the filter during start up and more often at higher rpm then normal off the shelf filters are designed for which is not a good thing, just get the SRT filter, I'm not going to argue this fact with anyone that thinks different.

[bigmacsmallfries]

So, I have a 2017 GTS-R and three times now after slowing down with the clutch all the in, the engine died on me as I was slowing to a stop. Slowly the RPMs drop until it just dies and goes to zero. Starts back up no problem. I thought it was me at first but realize that this never happens with any other car I've owned and I had the clutch all the way in. Anyone else have this problem? I don't have any error messages show up, checked my oil and it's right at the maximum on the dip stick.

[ViperJon]

So, I have a 2017 GTS-R and three times now after slowing down with the clutch all the in, the engine died on me as I was slowing to a stop. Slowly the RPMs drop until it just dies and goes to zero. Starts back up no problem. I thought it was me at first but realize that this never happens with any other car I've owned and I had the clutch all the way in. Anyone else have this problem? I don't have any error messages show up, checked my oil and it's right at the maximum on the dip stick.

Yes. https://driveviper.com/forums/thread...es-in-stalling The car would just drop off idling and stall with clutch in and slowing down. Bad news.
And I had to ship the car away to a competent dealer who did a bunch of things like idle relearn, throttle relearn etc. Never found a definitive cause but after doing the relearn procedures it never happened again.

[99RT10]

So, I have a 2017 GTS-R and three times now after slowing down with the clutch all the in, the engine died on me as I was slowing to a stop. Slowly the RPMs drop until it just dies and goes to zero. Starts back up no problem. I thought it was me at first but realize that this never happens with any other car I've owned and I had the clutch all the way in. Anyone else have this problem? I don't have any error messages show up, checked my oil and it's right at the maximum on the dip stick.

PCM or firmware update needed? Thinking out loud................

[bigmacsmallfries]

Yes. https://driveviper.com/forums/thread...es-in-stalling The car would just drop off idling and stall with clutch in and slowing down. Bad news.
And I had to ship the car away to a competent dealer who did a bunch of things like idle relearn, throttle relearn etc. Never found a definitive cause but after doing the relearn procedures it never happened again.

Just read your thread, exactly what's happening to me. Happens about once every couple of hours of driving or so. Hmmm.... So I have to send it back to the dealer huh?

PCM or firmware update needed? Thinking out loud................

Looks like ViperJon's thread is exactly what's going on in my case. Hope that's the last of the problems. Lol!

[darbgnik]

There is a valid reason to worry to some degree. Most people will not put a lot of miles on this car, and there is a potential that once they are out of warranty that they could have a failure. Who wants to deal with having to pay for an engine rebuild on a low mile $100K+ car? This is not a historically problematic car meaning that the Gen II's, III's, and IV's had similar problems which meant that it was something that you were knowingly buying into.

Maybe popping extra coin for an engine rebuild is not an issue for some...but it should not be a requirement for ownership.

I don't think anyone said the reasoning isn't valid, but if you are the type of person to always have this on your mind, every time you look at or start your car, is it really worth that? These things are meant to add enjoyment to life, not be a conveyance. If I were worried about it, I'd get rid of mine. I'm not saying I'm any better for not caring, or I'm any better off for not worrying about the costs associated with a failure. But the fact that I honestly don't care means I'm probably having a better ownership experience......

[7TH_SIGN]

If you're stressed about the motor to the point which you're making threads about it after its been discussed ad naseum on here, sell the car. And I don't mean for this to be facetious, I'm being dead serious. These are toys, for pleasure use. They have zero practicality or purpose outside of putting a smile on your face. For this money, if you're not dying to get home and drive it, tripping over parking blocks while walking away because you're staring at it, thinking about it when you should be thinking of other things, you have the wrong car. Buy something else where you can have peace of mind and enjoy it.

Sticky this to the top of the GEN V section. I've given the same advice.