Why I hate my 2008 Dodge Ram
 

Right in the middle of my divorce, circa December 2007, I decided I needed to lease me a 2008 Ram, quad cab, Hemi, Black, basically my dream truck.

Right off the bad, things went south... It now has 31,000 miles and goes back on or before Jan 3rd. Here is my story;

Warranty issues;

- Rear shocks
- Transfer Case
- Front struts
- Outer Tie rods, TWICE, and they are gone again
- Sway bar bushings
- Power steering pump or alternator (not taking it in, I can live with the buzzing for two more weeks)

Gas Mileage (I will do my best to put in 'Merican)

- I think my tank is 26.4 gallons, my first tank from full to light on, 194 Miles

- Worst tank, 168 Miles

- Works out to around 7 MPG

Along the way I noticed that the MDS comes on at all the wrong times, as in right off idle at a stop sign, or right around 30mph driving on normal streets.

Found a tech bulletin online talking about this, said to take OD off in the city, and drive in Tow Haul on the Highway, as both take off the MDS function. Mileage went from 7mpg to 12mpg.

However, like all computers, it found a way around this and my mileage in the last 2 months dropped down to 7-8 MPG again.

So, they will gouge me for some scratches, as they did not put the worry free on my lease as instructed. It will be the best money ever spent if that is the last time I see this truck.

The hardest part is I love Mopar, but my goodness, I have never driven a bigger POS in my life, and I have owned a '76 Rabbit, '77 Mustang, and countless other nightmares.

Not sure what my point is, but surely I am not the only one with issues like this??? The truck was in for warranty close to 15 times, alot of them they said "did not find anything".

To top it all off, the dealership was zero help. Chrysler Canada was zero help, they in code told me about arbitration for getting out of leases if there are issues. That was a waste of time, as they are funded by the car companies and really didnt want to help.

While I love my Mopar I am restoring, I cannot see myself ever buying a newer one again. The worst part is I loved my 2000 Cherokee Sport, and my 2004 Caravan, didnt think in a million years trading up to my dream truck would be a nightmare.

I am sorry you are having so many problems with your truck. I have been a Dodge tech for the last 15 years. 2008 Hemi pick ups are generally pretty good. Honestly I have never heard of tie rods wearing out, sway bar bushings, or any other problems you are showing. Yeah the occasional parts break but the parts you are describing should last at least 100000 miles and beyond. I question weather they are or were really bad. What symptoms are you having. One thing that you do see that is common that might be mistaken for the tie rods going out is the front hub bearings. Do you have a check engine light on? Is your truck stock? We have had very few problems with the MDS. Occasionally I have seen an multi displacement solenoid fail and cause a misfire that comes and goes. That could be what you are talking about on your MDS kicking in right off of idle.

It sucks that your dealership is not helping you out or at least addressing your problems the best that they can. Sometimes you just run into a poorly run service department.

If there is any questions I can answer I would be happy to on here or via email..

Its gone in two weeks, I do appreciate the help however. When they replace the tie rods, its good for a bit, except this last time so it could be what you are saying. Symptoms are a clunk and shake on uneven surfaces.

Sounds like you got a monday morning/friday afternoon truck. I'm really sorry to hear about all your issues with it. I had pretty much the same thing with my 2000 Dodge Dakota back in the day. I'm not a big fan of the newer trucks but will always be a huge fan of the older trucks that, in my eyes, were built right from the beginning.

dibs on the coin holder

i've had similar problems with my 2006 mega cab hemi, mine feels like MDS comes on when i'm driving in my neighborhood, have had issue with tie rod ends. that were bad when i baught the truck and the dealer ship refused to fix it although the truck is still under factory warranty. the rec steering damper is bad ( another part that was bad when i baught it ) on it witch should be covered under the warranty ( considering the warranty covers steering, engine, trans & drive train ) the trans is seeping slowly witch they also wont fix and my power steering pump is leaking, i took it into the dealer, they deny that the pump is leaking.... you can see the fluid on the pump. These are all things that should have been taken care of before the truck was put on the lot for sale.

another thing that really gets to about the dealer ship is that they want $330.00 to replace the steering damper its a $32.00 part that takes 2 bolts to remove, cant even fathom why that would cost $330.00 to replace.

and the way the dealer ship treated me, really makes me think bad about dodge, although i love my mopars and most of all my Polara, but why should i continue to do buisness with them if it seems that there treat myself and other loyal customers this way. Makes me lose faith in the company all togather.... :mad::(

Sorry everyone is having such crappy Dodge dealership experiances. I dont know how much the steering dampner is through the Dodge parts dept. I would think it would be close to 100 dollars as parts are not cheep there. Probably got charged 2hrs to diagnose and change it. The labor rate is probably now over 100 dollars an hour...That puts you right in the ball park of 330 dollars.
Warrenty issues are always problems. Our dealership seems to cover everything regardless of abuse or not. Others might be different. Sorry again.

Drive with the MDS off or in Tow Haul in the city, it drives like a totall differnt truck. I wish someone had told me about that the first 2 years I had it, what a massive difference. I will never buy a newer mopar, ever. Well, except a 2004-06 SRT 10 Ram, still want one of those :)

to turn off the MDS, i would push the button on the shifter correct ? and once itis off does a light or somthing pop up on the dash to show that its turned off ?

thanks for the heads up on that.

Man, that is a bummer. My 2008 has held up so far, then again, mine is a single cab 2 WD model. The only problem I had with it was the first oil change, apparently on the 4.7L engines they did a mid year production swap on the oil filter adapter threads and went from standard to metric.

and they didnt tell the consumers ?

Apparently I missed that memo. I tried crossing the mopar filter on it before I went to change it and couldn't find a cross reference for it. Since two filters were listed, I bought one of each and got back home and got the old one off; came in and crossed it against another set of numbers on the Mopar filter, stuck the metric one on and took the other back.

Damn Yankee's, they send all their crap up north and keep the good stuff for themselves!!! Hell you can't turn a corner up here without seeing a Ram pickup rusting away in the ditch!! :eek:

idk if you plan to get another newer ram muswagon but i just installed AEM cold air intake and throttle body spacer on my 06 and it really grew a set even with the MDS system on.

If you and your ex are still sorting out who gets what

You could give it to our ex wife as a gift..:D

im also fed up with the new ones there basically made to hold for 3-5 years and than part with them.

ive decieded its better to do research on used vehicles and save 10-15 grand off the sticker and buy used for now on.

sadly i agree with that, after my mega cab dies :( i'm gonna look into a mid 80's ram n just stick with it

*cough* coin holder *cough*

ok, so I am new on here, just to get that outta the way. I have a 2008 Ram 1500, 5.7 Hemi. engine light came on. had code read, P4060. replaced EGR valve. light went off. while taking a trip last weekend light came on again. ??????? any help would be appreciated

Welcome , but start your own thread and ask your questions.

The only problem I had with my 2012 was the remote start sensor would get moisture in it and then the remote start wouldn't work. I had the sensor replaced twice. My wife's 2010 RAM had no issues except the bed around the wheel wells started to rust out even though we had it undercoated from the dealership. At least we thought. I paid for the undercoating but when I crawled under the truck one day it looked like there was not a stitch of undercoating on it.