posted 01-27-2011 08:09 AM                  

The next day I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on a main street going no more than 2 - 5 MPH. Suddenly I heard a loud snapping sound and the car came to a halt on its own. I got out and noticed that my right front tire had buckled. I was able to back the car out of traffic and to the nearest curb. The next day I had the car towed to a Chrysler dealer I normally deal with.

I could see that the balljoint had snapped. In the meantime, I decided to do a recall check on the car and I was STUNNED to find out that the balljoints had NEVER been changed. This is even more surprising since my car now has over 50,000 miles. They could have gone out at any time!!
My car came from a Chrysler dealer in Idaho and was a demo. Since the dealer had performed all that I requested originally (including replacing the balljoints), I didn't have any complaints when it arrived and never suspected that the balljoints had not been done.

On Wednesday the dealer informed me that the cost would be $800 to fix the single balljoint. I went to the dealer and showed them that the car was still under recall warranty. They disputed this and "wanted to do some more checking".
By Friday the car still hadn't been worked on and the dealer then told me that the parts would have to be ordered and I gotta wait until they come in.

By Tuesday the following week they told me that they were still waiting for the parts. I then went over to the parts department and began asking about something else. I then mentioned that I was waiting for the balljoints for my car and they told me THEY COULDN'T REMEMBER ANY ORDER FOR A PROWLER. I couldn't believe this!! Naturally the service person that I had been dealing with was off and the new guy didn't know what I was talking about and WANTED TO START THE PROCESS ALL OVER AGAIN and wait for word from Chrysler.
Highly upset, I then went back over to the parts department to tell them what was going on. The parts guy then told me to "wait a minute". He soon came back with two heavily dust covered boxes containing RECALL Prowler balljoints. He then told me that Chrysler had sent the dealership the balljoints AUTOMATICALLY after they were issued back in 2002 for the recall. He said that any dealer that had originally sold a Prowler when it was new had gotten the replacement balljoints. This dealer had only sold two Prowlers brand new and those cars had never returned for the balljoint replacement. In fact, I had the only Prowler they had ever serviced for balljoints.

The next evening (Wednesday) the car was finally finished and both sides were replaced. But I will never go to that dealer ever again. Especially since my car was outside during this whole ordeal.

posted 01-27-2011 09:22 AM                  

and
I agree... I would certainly seek out another location
to do ALL my future business with.

Shame on that location.
Care to share its name for the others here?

...
and a third thought...
are you sure the ones replaced were not, in fact,
replacements themselves that failed?? Should we
all be concerned that the 'fix' is no better than
the original?

posted 01-27-2011 04:32 PM                  

Thanks for the info. Both of mine checked out ok.

tom

posted 01-27-2011 09:21 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by phil2237:
Problem is , several of the Ball Joints that have been replaced have also failed on several Prowlers. Is the replacement one any better ? Who Knows !

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posted 01-29-2011 11:58 AM                  

If you didn't buy the car new, and don't know if the work was done for sure, she will be able to answer that question.

posted 01-30-2011 05:06 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by Marty Usher:
After I had the recall done and about another 35,000 miles on the Prowler the right front balljoint snapped in a parking lot after a basketball game. I suspect that looping the car 450 degrees (one full revolution and anither quarter turn) on I-65 in rush hour traffic and kissing the center concrete medium might have been a factor. Thing is, I drove the car after the spin for a couple of weeks including a 400 mile roundtrip to Ohio and back before the incident in the parking lot. Never had a problem with the driver's side.

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posted 02-01-2011 08:20 PM                  

Tina owns a Prowler herself,,,and being the service manager at Chapman Dodge, is a plus for the Prowler owners to use them. She is good people!