Leaking Roof "New Drain Tubes?" from Chrysler
Greetings! Eager to help and hear from anyone with this problem- hopefully you can learn from my experience and vice versa. Email me if you wanna swap further info- very curious how others have fared with their Jeep dealers.
Bought a new 2008 Patriot with sunroof from dealer in Norristown, PA. Roof began leaking rain water into the dome lights and cabin in the first few months. Dome light was completely full of water after heavy rains, which dripped onto the radio and into the cabin. Radio shorted out twice, fried, did not work.
Have taken it back to dealer 3 times for the leaking roof, twice for burned out radio.
Just took it back for the third time- leaking again and second radio burned out from the leak- about to pick it up but want to share my experience with you.
Have read on here that when people take the leaky roof back to the dealer, the dealer claims, "You must park under a tree every night, that causes leaks; it's your fault."
Lo and behold, that's what they initially said to me! Only problem is, I live in Philadelphia, few trees, and have never parked it under a tree for the life of the Jeep.
Service manager than said, "Maybe you WASH IT TOO MUCH, and that overloads the drain tubes," i.e., so the leak is the customer's fault.
When I told him I wash my Patriot about twice a month at the most, without skipping a beat, he responded, "Well that's your problem right there, you DON'T WASH IT ENOUGH, so that must clog up the sunroof, hood, etc. with leaves and debris!"
ie, either way, the dealer will insist that the leaky roof is somehow, miraculously, always the customer's fault, not a faulty design.
Incidentally, my sunroof gaskets and the area around the rear hood are so clean, you could eat off of them. I regularly pop the hood and sunroof and check for any leakage or debris. There are no leaves or debris blocking the drain tubes, but the service mgr declined to do a spot check when I called him on it and suggested he examine my Jeep with a fine tooth comb right then for any "debris (like leaves) blocking the drain tubes."
As others have pointed out here, the drain tubes are a bad design and get pinched, sometimes at the factory, which prevents them from draining properly; the rain water then backs up into your dome light and cabin. Also, apparently in some cases a waterproofing goo was never painted on to the A-column where the drain tubes are, at the factory; also I've read that the drain tubes in some cases were not glued in place at the factory, so they get pinched which causes leaks.
Chrysler needs to take responsibility and concede a bad design- and fix it- instead of accusing the customer of stuffing their sunroof and hood full of debris and leaves (As if I really enjoy ice cold water pouring down on me inside my Jeep during heavy rain and winter snow storms, and liked having no radio!!)
Be prepared to wade through a waist-high stream of BS, do your research, and stand your ground.
As others have mentioned, there is a Chrysler service bulletin re: Patriot leaky roof- print that out and show it to the dealer; then they can't try to BS you that the is an exotic problem that they've never seen before.
This Service Bulletin has been updated, so be sure you print out the newer one, which replaces the original one that came out in late 2010.
I mention all this because these are the sort of excuses you will encounter from the dealer if you ask them to address this problem: it's all the customer's fault, we've never seen this problem before, etc.
They are probably being trained across the country to say these things, deny everything, and pass the buck.
Be aware that your state may have decent lemon laws. Here in the Commonwealth of PA, my understanding is that the dealer has 3 chances to fix the problem; if it recurs the lemon laws kick in. This is now repair attempt #3 for me for the roof, and #2 for the fried radio. Save all your receipts and document all.
Another issue to be aware of. My warranty was up, but the problem was a recurring one that arose when the car was brand new- the initial problem was never properly fixed. Be aware of this because the dealer will try to tell you they have zero responsibility if the warranty is up, but check your state laws carefully- if it is a recurring problem that began when the car was new, and they have failed to fix the same problem, they are held accountable- don't let them bully you and STUDY YOUR STATE LEMON LAWS before you bring it back to dealer.
My Jeep has been at the dealer 4 days; picking it up tomorrow so will post a followup then to tell you how it went. Dealer says they replaced drain tubes and new radio; we shall see.
Another thing to be aware of. Service mgr told me they have installed "new, improved drain tubes," so you might want to discuss this with your dealer if you are having this leak problem- if Chrysler is redesigning the Patriot drain tubes, they are conceding that the old design stinks, so you might want to ask your dealer about pulling out your defective ones and installing the alleged "new improved" version of them.
Would love to swap notes with anyone who has this same problem with their Patriot!
