Ugh I hope they sort it out for you!

 

That is not good at all.

I wouldn't blame you for being upset.

Ask the dealer if it was the seal that failed, or if it had been installed incorrectly from the factory.

If it was a failure in the seal itself, it should not be a problem once it is replace. If it was installed incorrectly, I would contact chrysler and demand a new engine be installed. If the person building the engine couldn't put a seal in right, whats to say they installed everything else right?

I hope it works out and you get your patriot back. They are great vehicles for the most part.

 

That sucks, but either way, you should be covered by the Lifetime powertrain warranty. That's the first incident of that I've heard of - sounds like you won the factory defect lottery.

 

Generally speaking, one big problem the big 3 had/has over the years is quality of parts they've been getting from their vendors. To try to stem eroding margins, the big 3 have been squeezing their vendors for every nickel and dime making impossible for the vendors to make quality parts for them and make any profit. One of the reasons Toyotas and Hondas cost so much more than a domestic counterpart is these companies do not do this to their vendors which yields higher costs but also higher-quality parts.
My concern is now that the UAW essentially runs these companies, you can add a greater lack of motivation for the workers to do quality work on the line.

The good news is, if worse comes to worse, the lemon laws are still on the books.

 

My concern is now that the UAW essentially runs these companies, you can add a greater lack of motivation for the workers to do quality work on the line.

A very valid concern. An old friend of mine from Bethlehem Steel who tried a stint as a union steward grew very frustrated. He always says the union was the "protector" of the lazy, the incompetent and the thieves of the workforce in the plant.

 

Could it possiby be just a bad seal or not installed correctly? Jeez a new engine, the UAW at fault? I think this is one of the first I've heard of being leaking here. We certainly are a bloodthursty bunch out there. How about waiting and seeing if the seal replacment fixes the problem.

What's next a mechanic sacrafice at the altar?

 

We certainly are a bloodthursty bunch out there. How about waiting and seeing if the seal replacment fixes the problem.

X2. A lot of posts here recently show up as major slams against all things domestic auto IMO. I just heard about one of our work client's new Audi S4 motor blowing up just out of warranty. Guy had to cough up $6500 cash to fix his 'new' car. Its not just domestic cars that have build quality issues.

Good luck with the repairs, and I hope all is well once they fix it.

 

My brand new Pat is sitting at the dealer all week-end awaiting the arrival of the new rear main seal on Monday. I will find out Monday evening if this is a isolated defect w/ the seal itself or possibly a manufacturing error. I hope it is not the latter of the two.

I sincerely hope my Pat was not finished being assembled at 5:00 on a Friday. :BLAM:

 

A leaking rear main is a rare problem on a new engine. Luckily, it will be covered by the warranty. Last year, I had the factory-installed rear main replaced, on my '63 Studebaker, at 102,000 miles. It was very labour intensive.

 

Was that a 2-peice rope seal?

 

I agree with the others. This would be a very rare thing to happen and no doubt that the seal was either installed wrong or was damaged prior to being installed and just wasn't noticed. I would call them and just make sure that they check the crankshaft flange for any damage/scratches so as to avoid any repeat failures (which may require a replacement crank, but better now then later). It could be that the crankshaft seal surface was scratched and it may not leak all the time depending on where the scratched was positioned when the engine stopped rotating.

 

I'm sorry to hear that and hope they can get the problem fixed properly. I would carefully watch that engine for any signs of ANYTHING else being out of whack and raise hell if anything crops up. Hopefully it was just a weak seal.

 

I sure hope this is not a sign of bad things to come.............This morning I awoke to get the paper went through the garage, turned on the light, admired my new Pat.....then I saw a liquid glistening in the light, upon further inspection I discovered it was engine oil .....Fast forward 2 hours.....I dropped the car off at the dealer, I was hoping the dealer would call & say the drain plug was loose & some oil leaked out but it is fixed. The answer I got was in no way what I was expecting......the rear main seal is busted & leaking engine oil.

This is a brand new top of the line Pat, if it is gonna start having engine & drive train problems w/ less than a 1000 miles on it; what can I expect at 5,000....10,000....miles or more I sure hope I haven't gotten myself into some kind of a nightmare.

Well my dealer has finally gotten around to working on my Pat.....details are sketchy at this point but from what they have told me.....the problem w/ the rear main seal has caused problems down the line..... the drive shaft is shot, as well as some other "stuff"......but they will not know the extent of the damage until the engine is entirely broken down :BLAM: WHAT an overhaul on a new engine......WTF

This is day # 5 of my Pat being out of service.........I have only owned it for 17 days...........I will tell you, I loved those 12 days of bliss though

 

Ask for a new one.

 

The drive shaft is shot???? Other stuff???? What the hell does that have to do with a rear main seal leak? Are you sure these guys are giving you a straight answer. Extent of what damage?

I thought there was just an oil leak one morning when you woke up. This stuff just don't just "pop up" over night. Are you sure that just maybe there is more to this than said???

The drive shaft being shot has me wondering. I hope it all works out for the better.

 

Still P*$$ED OFF





As I stated above........Cross Motors in Louisville, KY is telling me the problem is systemic down the line through my entire engine.....they can't tell me when my Pat will be repaired......I told them I want a new engine, service manager said there are several steps in the process before we go that far.........?????....what they did do for me was get me a rental car from Enterprise for $30 a day, now I am driving a Hyundai Sonata :zzz: The rental car company was told by Cross Motors that this will be an extended rental......:doh:

I have been doing research on the Lemon Laws here in KY......but I have alot to learn

 

The engine should not have to be broken down to put in a rear engine seal. Drop the oil pan, loosen the crankshaft bolts, put in a new seal, re torque the bolts, put on a new pan gasket. I would make sure this dealer explains to you everything they did and why. This does not sound right.

 

Haven't seen any others on the board with rear main seal problems. It could have been misaligned on installation, been improperly stored, .. any number of things.

According to Consumer Reports, the Patriot is the most reliable vehicle Chrysler makes.

Not to digress too far, but I've read a lot about the automobile industry over the years, just as a hobby ..

One fellow's article took a shot at explaining why there's a 'perceived' quality difference between American and foreign cars, especially with the materials used, such as on the interior dash, the seat fabrics, etc. He said that the reason people think that the foreign cars have better quality materials is because <drum rolling> they do! He said to be competitive in price, since the UAW had negotiated better wages and benefits than their foreign counterparts both abroad and here (not to mention the infamous jobs bank), Detroit bean counters had to cut corners on materials. Otherwise, their cars would cost 1000s more...

Does this also help explain reliability differences? Who knows.

 

I think the dealer is pulling manure here to get some money from Jeep. That all sounds suspicious to me.

 

If it's been leaking from the start, the oil would be blown down the underside of the vehicle. I don't know how the electric clutch for the rear drive unit operates, but if oil wicked into it, it would probably need to be replaced. They may have just said rear drive shaft to simplify the explanation.

 

i smell the possibility of having a Lemon due to the fact that the dealer probably won't be able to fix everything in 1 shot. document everything and do you research on the Lemon Law qualification laws etc.

however, with that said, i would hold onto your 2009 for as long as possible. the 2010 Patriot doesn't have the lifetime powertrain warranty anymore, so you are better off keeping the 2009 even if it needs to be brought back to the shop half a dozen times to fix the original problem. the part of the vehicle that is having issues is covered by the lifetime powertrain warranty anyways, so you should be good. tough it out and stick with your 2009 :smiley_thumbs_up:

 

If the oil was leaking into the transmission, I can see how it could have caused problems there, and sounds like it was bad enough to hose the crank as well. Unless the oil level got really low, I doubt the head is damaged- the camshaft and valvetrain should be fine, but you may also be getting some new pistons too (depending on what happened). You may not get a completely new engine, but you'll be getting a good chunk of one.

It's under warranty, and yes, it stinks and I feel your pain, but sometimes these things do happen. I know a guy who used to be a factory rep for Subaru. Apparently they made a batch of flat 6 engines with some kind of internal defect- I don't remember what it was, but essentially the engines would be toast in less than 5,000 miles (this was for the Legacy Outback top trim level; a $30,000+ vehicle). They had replacement engines sitting in a warehouse ready to go- they knew how many were made but not exactly which vehicles had them, so somebody's engine would blow and they'd be ready to ship out the new powerplant. Stinks, but it can happen to anybody.

 

I wish I would have known how bad the engine was when I bought it.......I would have had some serious fun playin around w/ an engine I knew was gonna be just about replaced........I should have picked it up from the Dealer over last week-end & wrung it out, instead of just leaving it there to sit !!!!

 

Had a new '03 Saturn L300 once and at 11,000 miles it started leaking anti-freeze. Saturn said that the head gasket was apparently misaligned on assembly and that they'd have to do a full job to fix it. Good to go afterward. Then the steering rack went out at 21,000 miles. Replaced under warranty. The auto climate control module went nuts a few times and they replaced it at about 30,000 miles (it still did it after that, though very infrequently). Then, at 35,000 miles, only 1,000 before the warranty expired, the radiator started leaking and they had to replace that. Whew, that car was very unreliable. Later lost a battery and it leaked acid and ruined a cable that was extremely expensive to replace. My mom has the car now, which she loves, but the climate control still acts up on occasion.

I guess some problems do happen, but in some models more so than others.