1996 Dodge B2500 review from North America

The 1996 Dodge Ram conversion van was manufactured without a tensioner on the timing chain. It was discovered in 1997 and a technical service bulletin was put out, but customers who already owned the vans had no idea until they brought it in for service and their mechanic pulled up the TSB. At 30,000 the timing chain was replaced, and the tensioner was supposed to be put on, but it was not, resulting in us paying for something that was not completely done. Now, 30,000 miles later, the same thing happened only to find out that the tensioner was never put on at 30,000. We paid $1,500 to have the van repaired. After contacting Daimler Chrysler in writing and via phone we were told it was not their problem, but the dealers. The dealers in our area are no longer in business -- not even the one we bought the van from! We explained to Daimler Chrysler that it is not the dealers name that is being tarnished, it is their name. After a long conversation, they still did not care and told us there was nothing they would do for us.

After paying out of pocket $1500 for the above, we now have a tremendous creaking noise coming from the front end. Our mechanic is baffled, he changed everything he thought it could be. Nobody can figure out where the creak is coming from and how to fix it. Although the van is 8 years old, we only have 65,000 miles on it. I thought we'd have this van for the long haul, I guess not. The creak is so loud it sounds like the whole front end is going to fall apart. We will never buy another Daimler Chrysler product again. They do not stand behind their products and they don't care about their customers.