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Just picked up my car from the dealership this morning, had to have a new water pump installed at just 61,000 miles.
Noticed a chirping noise from my belt under the hood last week. Heard it some more this week so I pulled it into the garage and popped the hood and let it idle for a while. Heard the chirping noise then a couple times a loud shrieking/howling sound that lasted 5-10 seconds then went silent. Not good! Shut it off, checked the belt, then pulled on all my pulleys. All were solid until I got to the water pump pulley. I could literally wobble the pulley from side to side about 1/4" to 1/2"! Really not good! :SHOCKED:
I figured the bearings were going out and causing the shaft to wobble around causing that shrieking sound and then with the pulley wobbling causing the belt to chirp due to misalignment of the pulleys.
Took the day off and drove it up to the dealership and told them the deal. They looked at it later that day and then had it finished this morning. They said it was the water pump, bearing failure. Replaced it with a new water pump and all new coolant and that was that!
Came to pick it up, said I owed $395. :SHOCKED: Sorry I don't think so! Pulled up the Chrysler website and under powertrain warranty it said "...internal engine components, oil pump, WATER PUMP...". The lady says oh okay, let me check what the service tech put in the system for the invoice. Turns out he fat-fingered the code and used the wrong code. She put the correct code in the system and the bill went to $0. That's better! :smileup:
So, if there is any takeaway from my story, please ensure you check your belt and pulleys every oil change. Make sure the pulleys are all straight with no play, no wobbling, etc. If I had let that go much longer I might have been stranded on the side of the road.
Just glad to get my car back today and that it was covered under warranty!
Noticed a chirping noise from my belt under the hood last week. Heard it some more this week so I pulled it into the garage and popped the hood and let it idle for a while. Heard the chirping noise then a couple times a loud shrieking/howling sound that lasted 5-10 seconds then went silent. Not good! Shut it off, checked the belt, then pulled on all my pulleys. All were solid until I got to the water pump pulley. I could literally wobble the pulley from side to side about 1/4" to 1/2"! Really not good! :SHOCKED:
I figured the bearings were going out and causing the shaft to wobble around causing that shrieking sound and then with the pulley wobbling causing the belt to chirp due to misalignment of the pulleys.
Took the day off and drove it up to the dealership and told them the deal. They looked at it later that day and then had it finished this morning. They said it was the water pump, bearing failure. Replaced it with a new water pump and all new coolant and that was that!
Came to pick it up, said I owed $395. :SHOCKED: Sorry I don't think so! Pulled up the Chrysler website and under powertrain warranty it said "...internal engine components, oil pump, WATER PUMP...". The lady says oh okay, let me check what the service tech put in the system for the invoice. Turns out he fat-fingered the code and used the wrong code. She put the correct code in the system and the bill went to $0. That's better! :smileup:
So, if there is any takeaway from my story, please ensure you check your belt and pulleys every oil change. Make sure the pulleys are all straight with no play, no wobbling, etc. If I had let that go much longer I might have been stranded on the side of the road.
Just glad to get my car back today and that it was covered under warranty!