Rust on a 4 month old 06, YAY!

[the_titan]

Yeah, I spotted rust forcing the paint to bubble up yesterday while I was running new wiring down the A-Pillar. It appears that screws were overtightened in the sunroof and forced through the roof, pushing the paint up, and letting in moisture. You could never see it before, though, for some reason. Now that the moisture penetrated the paint and it is rusting from underneath it is obvious as hell. And now the guy at the Jeep Body Shop is telling me it MAY be covered under warranty. I was like, are you f-in kidding me MAY be covered? Why would rust on a 4 month old car not be covered when it is obviously not the slightest bit a result of the owner's neglect?!

When Chrysler tries to screw me over on this one, it will be the end of my Mopar days. After 6 brand new Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge/Jeeps, see ya!

 

[MoladoGuy]

Holy crap!!

So what is the next action to prevent it from spreading or destroying other locations? Is it covered under warranty?

 

[hyde]

Oh man, this *****! You see, no matter how much you take of your vehicle, they come up with this bullsh*t. Such a simple matter, it is obvious that it is their fault, and they give you the MAY treatment..

Let us know what happens, but most likely it will be all good, and if one dealer doesn't fix it, the other will.

 

[the_titan]

No, this is not that kind of warranty work. Dealers only get to make their own judgement calls on the small obvious stuff. Since it is in the sheet metal and under the paint...not to mention a GIANT chunk of body, they have to go through Chrysler for it. Now I am hearing Chrysler ALREADY rejected it over the phone. How about that?! It just went in this morning! I guess they are going to end up sending out the regional rep to look at it. Come on, even my mediocre pictures taken in under a minute on Easter at 7 PM make it completely obvious what is going on here. Two perfectly symmetrical protrusions that have let moisture in from somewhere, and now the rust is forcing the paint up and making it spider web. I think they let the moisture get in from beneath and the subsequent rust is what caused the surface breach in the paint. I would have seen this before, otherwise, because I have waxed there before and I always pay the most attention around the sunroof trim to keep wax off the rubber.

Now, as far as the repairs necessary. I am sticking to my guns and demanding the whole thing be replaced, not just some body filler to gap the holes and some grinding of the rust. I don't want a repainted panel - they are never the same as one painted properly anew. And once corrosion starts, it is almost impossible to get rid of. Not to mention I bought a brand new car and dammit, that panel should be brand new. Chrysler is not happy with me and I don't give two cat turds because this is their screw up. Plus I would rather them replace the whole thing so that I am not without my car long. If they replace it, they can receive it into the body shop, paint it, cure it, and then I would only have to drop the car off for the day to have them swapped out. None of the downtime from disassembly, stripping and prep, painting, reassembly. Better believe I am getting a Liberty rental out of it, too!

 

[Boilermaker]

Welcome to my world. I just dropped of my '05 for the SECOND rust related repair. My damage wasn't the same as yours, but i got the same story you did from the dealership. In both cases, they took digital pictures and sent them off to DCX. About two weeks later, the dealership called and said the work was approved. Then I lost the use of my vehicle for a week the first time, at least a week this time. Unfortunately my rust is in the engine compartment on the frame around the cargo area, so they couldn't use replacement parts.

I didn't ask for a rental because i have a second car and just me that needs it...but if you can get one out of them, go for it. We are about 14 weeks into this year, and my KJ has been in the shop for about 5 of them already. Seriously thinking of dumping this vehicle now, despite all the mods i've put on it; and if i do so i won't be getting another jeep. Which is sad, because i really do like my KJ.

Good luck with the work; hope it gets repaired the right way quickly. There's no reason that should happen to a 4 month old vehicle.

 

[hyde]

Always ask for a rental, if it is free. Then beat the hell out of it!
As for the rust, I think I should do a close inspection of my KJ but the rust isn't 6/60k warranty, right? Or is it?

 

[Cableguy]

That *****, I've got no obvious signs of rust on my '02 yet, thank god.

If they don't cover it, drive it through the front of the dealership and light it on fire.

 

[JeepJeepster]

I would just leave the keys laying on the road infront of the dealership and tell them they can have it.. I wouldnt put up with that crap..

 

[hyde]

and to think about it being 4 months old.. it is just crazy.

 

[timmer]

The more I read here the more I'm happy I got the 02 where it seems they got things right the first time.

 

[the_titan]

I think it will be covered, but I am sure I will have to fight to get it fixed the way it should be. I want that whole body panel replaced and I just know they are going to come back saying that they are going to grind it down, fill it in, and repaint it. Either way, it is only four months old! Granted, it was really built more like a year ago, but to only own a new vehicle for four months and spot rust forcing the paint up in one of the last areas you should ever see rust. Honestly, salt, road debris, seams, they are reasons to be expecting rusting along the rocker panels...after a couple years...but in the middle of a large painted area, on the roof?

 

[MoladoGuy]

but in the middle of a large painted area, on the roof?

Boy, that acid rain really is scary!!

Good luck with the games that the dealership/DCX will try to play on you. From the looks of it you are prepared for battle and have a lot going to win what you want. How about the Charger? Any spots on that?

 

[the_titan]

Nope, nothing yet. I had a small bit of rust color pop up in a stone chip I took in front of Andrew's Air Force Base back at Christmas while I was driving to Atlantic City, but I just touched it up. The Charger has been very reliable so far, minus a sunroof rattle they issued a TSB for. I assume you were joking about the acid rain part, but if you weren't we don't have a problem with that here and it has never done damage to any of my vehicles before.

 

[kjpilot]

Jeep rocks, MOPAR *****. Personally, I think that MOPAR is finally, after over 20 years of owership, ruining the Jeep name. How many Neons do you see on the road with the paint peeling off? Most of them that have more than 70K miles either have blown head gaskets or new head gaskets. A bird crapped on my 2001 Grand Cherokee, & within a day it had eaten through the paint to the metal, my son had pulled down a rear door gasket on the same car, exposing metal which was NEVER painted, & was beginning to rust. I could go on & on & on.

That said, my 2003 Liberty has been very reliable so far, but that can not be said about the 4 other MOPAR cars I've owned.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

The peeling paint issue was caused by a supplier. I believe it was PPG. Ford and GM had the same problems. The issue was water contamination. The head gasket "issue" is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy in the past. That was fixed back in the late '90s.

 

[kjpilot]

Sorry, but MOPAR has a long history of selling junk & not standing behind it. My experience with my KJ was beginning to make me think that DCX was changing this, but looking at Titan's trouble, clearly that is not the case.

So the Neon paint was bad, did MOPAR do anything about it? When my head gasket blew, conveniently at 2000 miles past warrantee, I was told tough nuts! Even though every other neon owner was having the exact same problem. DCXs quality & customer service issues are not way in the past, regardless of when the specific issues I mentioned were problems. I really hope that the future owners of MOPAR shake things up in quality assurance and customer service. Hopefully, they also return the Jeep brand back to its roots, instead of producing the American version of the Subaru Forester.

 

[Bimmer_2002]

Any news??

 

[the_titan]

Any news??

Do now. It was, in fact, sunroof screws penetrating the roof. I had dropped the headliner halfway to get a peek up there but couldn't because there is a shield built around that area of the sunroof. They just hammered the spot down, filled the pin prick hole left, grinded, etc. Looks good as new and they actually put a very think coat of paint and clear coat on there. I was surprised. And DCx did furnish a rental once I raised hell. First they said the warranty provisions of the 3/36k did not cover a rental for this kind of damage, then they said the same for my 7/100k Service Contract. I just made a fuss about how this is a factory issue due to negligence and how no vehicle should be rusting out, period, after only 4 months since delivery (16 months since build date). Be on the watch, though. There is no way I am an isolated incident with 160,000 of these being built each year, plus the other vehicles built in Toledo. Wait, it was Toledo, right? Too many OHIO cities in my head right now.

 

[kjpilot]

Congratulations! I think it's ridiculous you had to fight for it. Like you said no vehicle should be rusty after 4 months, period.

 

[RamSport47]

Jeep rocks, MOPAR *****. Personally, I think that MOPAR is finally, after over 20 years of owership, ruining the Jeep name. How many Neons do you see on the road with the paint peeling off? Most of them that have more than 70K miles either have blown head gaskets or new head gaskets. A bird crapped on my 2001 Grand Cherokee, & within a day it had eaten through the paint to the metal, my son had pulled down a rear door gasket on the same car, exposing metal which was NEVER painted, & was beginning to rust. I could go on & on & on.

That said, my 2003 Liberty has been very reliable so far, but that can not be said about the 4 other MOPAR cars I've owned.

Chrysler is NOT ruining Jeep...if Jeep is being ruined, which I don't think it is, it's DaimlerChrysler (read Mercedes Benz) that is doing it. As far as reliability of Chrysler products (Jeep included),I'm on my 10th new Chrysler product, and have never had any concerns with reliability, and the Liberty is no different, (except for the drivers window not closing right). The Liberty will actually be the first vehicle I will have to take in for warranty repairs in the last 5, and that includes TWO Neons!...Your comments about Neons is typically uninformed, The first gen Neon had the paint and head gasket problems ('95 thru '99) and the second gen (2000 thru 2006) were actually a very reliable and comfortable car.