Oil sludge complaints make consumer relations sticky

[Klaus]

Oil sludge complaints make consumer relations sticky

Mark Rechtin - Autoweek
Friday, April 29, 2005

Los Angeles --- Bob Meissner is furious. With barely 20,000 miles on his wife's 2002 Chrysler Sebring convertible, Meissner was told that the car's engine was caked with oil sludge. In short, it couldn't be driven.

His Chrysler dealer told him it would cost $6,100 to replace the engine. And, no, oil sludge wasn't covered under the warranty.

Meissner said that when he appealed to Chrysler group headquarters, he was told he was driving in extreme conditions and should have changed the oil nine times since purchase, not the three times his owner's manual suggested. Case closed.

"We have to get it fixed. We have . . . years of $400-a-month payments on a car without an engine," said Meissner, a 49-year-old salesman from Westerville, Ohio.

"I guess I have to wait for a class-action suit to get any sort of resolution. I'm telling everyone I know how badly Chrysler treated me."

Sludge is turning into a customer-relations headache for some automakers. What had been a setback for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. a couple of years ago is creeping into the service drives of several other carmakers.

The Chrysler group, Volkswagen of America and Saab Cars USA Inc. are facing the sludge problem.

It's impossible to know how many sludge complaints have been made. Reporting is imprecise, and automakers in many cases aren't eager to provide details. Some sludge sufferers complain both to automakers and government officials, so there are duplicate complaints. And some general engine complaints likely are related to sludge problems.

A good guess, based on interviews with automakers and government agencies, is 5,000 to 10,000.

Sludge is gelled oil that fails to lubricate engine parts. It can lead to damage, often requiring a new engine. The number of engines with sludge will escalate as vehicles age, engineers and mechanics say.

It can cost as much as $12,000 to replace an engine, sometimes more than a car is worth. Automakers don't want to eat the cost unnecessarily, so they inspect claims carefully, which often makes them look like Scrooge to owners.

Some auto companies blame customers who fail to change their oil frequently enough. The automakers say they are protecting themselves from customers who abuse their vehicles, frequently lessees and rental fleet owners.

But consumer advocates complain that automakers are not taking their share of the blame. If it were simply a matter of poor maintenance, all engines would be failing, not specific engine families from certain manufacturers.

"Oil sludge is our No. 1 priority this year," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. "It's a big-ticket item with a high failure rate."

Toyota said it had received 3,400 complaints before it extended its vehicle warranty to eight years and unlimited miles on 3.3 million at-risk vehicles in 2002. It will not give an updated number.

A Chrysler group spokesman said the company has received fewer than 400 sludge complaints about its 2.7-liter V-6 engine, which was produced from 1998 to 2002.

But the Center for Auto Safety has logged more than 700 calls since January 2004 from people with Chrysler sludge complaints, and Ditlow is petitioning the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to order a recall of the Chrysler engines.

Several Web sites also show hundreds of complaints about the 2.7-liter V-6 engine.

Chrysler says many complaints are duplicates, don't have vehicle identification numbers that match the name of the person complaining or simply have "bad data."

"We can help or review cases of those who come to us directly, or if we are provided data to find the customer," says Chrysler group spokesman Sam Locricchio. "If we don't have records, we can't begin to help."

Dealers are reluctant to talk about sludge for fear of angering the manufacturer. Chrysler and Dodge have about 5,800 total franchises in the United States.

The traffic safety administration has received 185 complaints specifically regarding engine oil sludge. But sludge complaints also can be categorized under the broader category "engine stalls or stops," which have "many, many more" entries, said agency spokeswoman Liz Neblitt.

Rami Amaro, a lawyer in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, said she has talked to "literally thousands" of consumers with engine sludge problems. Amaro, whose 1998 Toyota Sienna croaked because of sludge, is trying to get a class-action lawsuit organized against Toyota --- despite the automaker's extension of its warranty.

[Klaus]

Oil sludge complaints make consumer relations sticky

Mark Rechtin - Autoweek
Friday, April 29, 2005

Los Angeles --- Bob Meissner is furious. With barely 20,000 miles on his wife's 2002 Chrysler Sebring convertible, Meissner was told that the car's engine was caked with oil sludge. In short, it couldn't be driven.

His Chrysler dealer told him it would cost $6,100 to replace the engine. And, no, oil sludge wasn't covered under the warranty.

Meissner said that when he appealed to Chrysler group headquarters, he was told he was driving in extreme conditions and should have changed the oil nine times since purchase, not the three times his owner's manual suggested. Case closed.

"We have to get it fixed. We have . . . years of $400-a-month payments on a car without an engine," said Meissner, a 49-year-old salesman from Westerville, Ohio.

"I guess I have to wait for a class-action suit to get any sort of resolution. I'm telling everyone I know how badly Chrysler treated me."

Sludge is turning into a customer-relations headache for some automakers. What had been a setback for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. a couple of years ago is creeping into the service drives of several other carmakers.

The Chrysler group, Volkswagen of America and Saab Cars USA Inc. are facing the sludge problem.

It's impossible to know how many sludge complaints have been made. Reporting is imprecise, and automakers in many cases aren't eager to provide details. Some sludge sufferers complain both to automakers and government officials, so there are duplicate complaints. And some general engine complaints likely are related to sludge problems.

A good guess, based on interviews with automakers and government agencies, is 5,000 to 10,000.

Sludge is gelled oil that fails to lubricate engine parts. It can lead to damage, often requiring a new engine. The number of engines with sludge will escalate as vehicles age, engineers and mechanics say.

It can cost as much as $12,000 to replace an engine, sometimes more than a car is worth. Automakers don't want to eat the cost unnecessarily, so they inspect claims carefully, which often makes them look like Scrooge to owners.

Some auto companies blame customers who fail to change their oil frequently enough. The automakers say they are protecting themselves from customers who abuse their vehicles, frequently lessees and rental fleet owners.

But consumer advocates complain that automakers are not taking their share of the blame. If it were simply a matter of poor maintenance, all engines would be failing, not specific engine families from certain manufacturers.

"Oil sludge is our No. 1 priority this year," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. "It's a big-ticket item with a high failure rate."

Toyota said it had received 3,400 complaints before it extended its vehicle warranty to eight years and unlimited miles on 3.3 million at-risk vehicles in 2002. It will not give an updated number.

A Chrysler group spokesman said the company has received fewer than 400 sludge complaints about its 2.7-liter V-6 engine, which was produced from 1998 to 2002.

But the Center for Auto Safety has logged more than 700 calls since January 2004 from people with Chrysler sludge complaints, and Ditlow is petitioning the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to order a recall of the Chrysler engines.

Several Web sites also show hundreds of complaints about the 2.7-liter V-6 engine.

Chrysler says many complaints are duplicates, don't have vehicle identification numbers that match the name of the person complaining or simply have "bad data."

"We can help or review cases of those who come to us directly, or if we are provided data to find the customer," says Chrysler group spokesman Sam Locricchio. "If we don't have records, we can't begin to help."

Dealers are reluctant to talk about sludge for fear of angering the manufacturer. Chrysler and Dodge have about 5,800 total franchises in the United States.

The traffic safety administration has received 185 complaints specifically regarding engine oil sludge. But sludge complaints also can be categorized under the broader category "engine stalls or stops," which have "many, many more" entries, said agency spokeswoman Liz Neblitt.

Rami Amaro, a lawyer in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, said she has talked to "literally thousands" of consumers with engine sludge problems. Amaro, whose 1998 Toyota Sienna croaked because of sludge, is trying to get a class-action lawsuit organized against Toyota --- despite the automaker's extension of its warranty.

[partsguy]

Ditlow.....may be one of the biggest over blown
stuff shirt, leaf fornicator,use dads GM money to
go to collage to turn around slap the ass that hatched him.bastard.
What would happen if there was no Big three?
He would be selling bubble gum on the streets
of Mexico City.change the damn oil every 3k.