My wife and I have recently purchased a used Jeep Wrangler from a local dealer.
Cush Acura of Escondido
1502 Auto Park Way North
Escondido, California 92029
2000 Jeep Wrangler Sahara
VIN # 1J4FA59S4YP752581
Odometer 30,274
Total Cash Price $16,995.00
Extended Warranty Service Contract $1,399.00
We purchased this vehicle on 06 October, 2002. At the time of purchase, the vehicle was extremely quiet with the engine running, almost to the point of not being able to hear the motor at all.
We were delighted with our new purchase and went home happy. However, after driving it for about three short weeks, it developed a ticking engine noise. I was concerned by the noise and immediately changed the oil and filter, using premium grade supplies. This did not affect the ticking. I asked my wife to listen and tell me what she heard. She agreed that there was an abnormal motor noise. Since it is still under the ‘New Car Warranty’ and we had purchased the
extended warranty, we had no doubt that it would be taken care of.
On October 28, 2002, we brought it in for service to the local Jeep dealer, and expressed our concerns. The dealer was North County Jeep in Escondido. When we got there to check in at the service department, the people working agreed that there was a definite ticking sound coming from the engine.
They kept our vehicle overnight and called the next day to tell us that they compared the sound of our Jeep with other Jeeps there on the lot. They told us that all Jeeps sound that way and there was nothing wrong.
I hold an A.S.E. certification personally and am quite familiar with normal sounds made by motors. When I explained this to the technician, he then said that it was ‘piston slap’, and again
that it was common to Jeep engines. I am acquainted with the term ‘piston slap’ in relation to the normal wear and tear on an engine with some accumulated mileage. However, I have never
heard of ‘piston slap’ occurring at 30k miles. When I asked to listen to the ‘other like vehicles’ with the same engine noise, they could not produce one. With this in mind, we took our Jeep to another dealership for service.
While we were there checking it in, we took the opportunity to look at and listen to other Jeeps on their lot for sale. We listened to one with 31k miles and one with 34k miles, but they were quiet, with no ticking. We went to a giant used car sales event and searched out five other Jeeps for sale with comparable mileage, but we heard no ticking or ‘piston slap’.
The second dealership was Poway Jeep. As before, we were received with much concern and our Jeep sent to the service department to stay overnight and the next day. Again we were called to tell us that they only heard ‘normal’ piston noise.
We then took our Jeep back to the Acura dealer that sold it to us and said “Can you help us please? This Jeep doesn’t sound the same as it did three weeks ago when we bought it, can you get it fixed?” They sent it out to a third Jeep dealer for service. This time it went to Rancho Jeep in Kearney Mesa. As before, we got it back with no other explanation than ‘normal for that type engine’. We asked again to be shown a vehicle with similar sounds. Not even one could be produced.
We searched the Internet for any mention of excessive ‘engine noise’ or ‘piston slap’ in Jeep Wranglers. We did not find a single instance of this complaint from the many Web pages by
Jeep Wrangler owners.
We began to receive ‘thank you’ cards and letters from the dealerships telling us how totally committed to customer satisfaction they are. What a joke. We are completely unsatisfied. Our Jeep sounds so bad that the neighbors across the street asked us “What is wrong with it?”
We have a car with 140k miles on it and another one with 129k miles and another one that exceeds the mechanical limits of the odometer. Not one of these older vehicles sound as bad as
our 2000 Jeep. We have not even made the third payment on this vehicle. If it had sounded like this when we went for our first test drive, we definitely wouldn’t have bought it. I don’t think anyone else with any knowledge of automobiles would have bought it either.
In light of our recent experience with Jeep, we won’t be buying any more Chrysler products. The warranties aren’t worth any more than the paper they are written on.

This is a follow up of the previous correspondence addressed to DaimlerChrysler Motors Customer Center.
In our above mentioned letter we expressed concern over the fact that we haven’t been able to receive satisfactory service for our 2000 Jeep Wrangler through the normal channels at local
dealership service departments. Now I’d like to relate to you the details of a phone call I received today regarding the letter.
Yesterday when we returned home from a normal day with a full schedule including work from 6AM and night classes at a community college until 9PM, there was a voice mail message from Rachael at DaimlerChrysler asking us to call back to discuss our concerns. Obviously at 10PM Pacific time there won’t be anyone in an office located in Michigan, so we did not return the call immediately.
This morning bright and early I received a call, again from Rachael. This is what was said:
“The dealership has to be able to duplicate the problem in order to determine if there is a problem. So I guess you need, ...what is it a fourth opinion? Just because you hear a noise it doesn’t mean something is wrong with the vehicle.”
I started to say, “They did hear the noise...” She cut me off in mid sentence saying “If they can’t duplicate the problem, then there’s no way they can fix the vehicle. I’ve made several attempts to contact you to try and resolve this."
The only attempt I know of that was made was the one phone message yesterday, without even 24 hours in between for us to return the call. I said, “There is definitely something wrong with the vehicle, and everyone can hear it. So I guess like I said before, the warranties aren’t worth anything.” She got very loud and angry saying “That is incorrect.” and being very rude. I asked her, “Why are you giving me an attitude? I am the customer and I’d like to be able to finish my sentence without being cut off.” She continued in a louder obnoxious tone, “You’ve been told already, what has to happen for the
dealership to be able to fix your vehicle ma’am now have a nice day.” Then she hung up on me.
If this is someone who is trained in customer relations representing her company to the consumer, I think DaimlerChrysler has a large problem. Maybe they think if they are rude enough we will give up and go away after spending over a thousand dollars extra for an extended warranty. However, I will not rest until this matter is resolved. I, the consumer, have the media on my side, and the whole world of information technology at my disposal. Don’t think I won’t
use it.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
My wife and I have recently purchased a used Jeep Wrangler from a local dealer.
Cush Acura of Escondido 1502 Auto Park Way North Escondido, California 92029
2000 Jeep Wrangler Sahara VIN # 1J4FA59S4YP752581 Odometer 30,274 Total Cash Price $16,995.00 Extended Warranty Service Contract $1,399.00
We purchased this vehicle on 06 October, 2002. At the time of purchase, the vehicle was extremely quiet with the engine running, almost to the point of not being able to hear the motor at all.
We were delighted with our new purchase and went home happy. However, after driving it for about three short weeks, it developed a ticking engine noise. I was concerned by the noise and immediately changed the oil and filter, using premium grade supplies. This did not affect the ticking. I asked my wife to listen and tell me what she heard. She agreed that there was an abnormal motor noise. Since it is still under the ‘New Car Warranty’ and we had purchased the extended warranty, we had no doubt that it would be taken care of.
On October 28, 2002, we brought it in for service to the local Jeep dealer, and expressed our concerns. The dealer was North County Jeep in Escondido. When we got there to check in at the service department, the people working agreed that there was a definite ticking sound coming from the engine.
They kept our vehicle overnight and called the next day to tell us that they compared the sound of our Jeep with other Jeeps there on the lot. They told us that all Jeeps sound that way and there was nothing wrong.
I hold an A.S.E. certification personally and am quite familiar with normal sounds made by motors. When I explained this to the technician, he then said that it was ‘piston slap’, and again that it was common to Jeep engines. I am acquainted with the term ‘piston slap’ in relation to the normal wear and tear on an engine with some accumulated mileage. However, I have never heard of ‘piston slap’ occurring at 30k miles. When I asked to listen to the ‘other like vehicles’ with the same engine noise, they could not produce one. With this in mind, we took our Jeep to another dealership for service.
While we were there checking it in, we took the opportunity to look at and listen to other Jeeps on their lot for sale. We listened to one with 31k miles and one with 34k miles, but they were quiet, with no ticking. We went to a giant used car sales event and searched out five other Jeeps for sale with comparable mileage, but we heard no ticking or ‘piston slap’. The second dealership was Poway Jeep. As before, we were received with much concern and our Jeep sent to the service department to stay overnight and the next day. Again we were called to tell us that they only heard ‘normal’ piston noise.
We then took our Jeep back to the Acura dealer that sold it to us and said “Can you help us please? This Jeep doesn’t sound the same as it did three weeks ago when we bought it, can you get it fixed?” They sent it out to a third Jeep dealer for service. This time it went to Rancho Jeep in Kearney Mesa. As before, we got it back with no other explanation than ‘normal for that type engine’. We asked again to be shown a vehicle with similar sounds. Not even one could be produced.
We searched the Internet for any mention of excessive ‘engine noise’ or ‘piston slap’ in Jeep Wranglers. We did not find a single instance of this complaint from the many Web pages by Jeep Wrangler owners.
We began to receive ‘thank you’ cards and letters from the dealerships telling us how totally committed to customer satisfaction they are. What a joke. We are completely unsatisfied. Our Jeep sounds so bad that the neighbors across the street asked us “What is wrong with it?”
We have a car with 140k miles on it and another one with 129k miles and another one that exceeds the mechanical limits of the odometer. Not one of these older vehicles sound as bad as our 2000 Jeep. We have not even made the third payment on this vehicle. If it had sounded like this when we went for our first test drive, we definitely wouldn’t have bought it. I don’t think anyone else with any knowledge of automobiles would have bought it either.
In light of our recent experience with Jeep, we won’t be buying any more Chrysler products. The warranties aren’t worth any more than the paper they are written on.  This is a follow up of the previous correspondence addressed to DaimlerChrysler Motors Customer Center.
In our above mentioned letter we expressed concern over the fact that we haven’t been able to receive satisfactory service for our 2000 Jeep Wrangler through the normal channels at local dealership service departments. Now I’d like to relate to you the details of a phone call I received today regarding the letter.
Yesterday when we returned home from a normal day with a full schedule including work from 6AM and night classes at a community college until 9PM, there was a voice mail message from Rachael at DaimlerChrysler asking us to call back to discuss our concerns. Obviously at 10PM Pacific time there won’t be anyone in an office located in Michigan, so we did not return the call immediately.
This morning bright and early I received a call, again from Rachael. This is what was said:
“The dealership has to be able to duplicate the problem in order to determine if there is a problem. So I guess you need, ...what is it a fourth opinion? Just because you hear a noise it doesn’t mean something is wrong with the vehicle.”
I started to say, “They did hear the noise...” She cut me off in mid sentence saying “If they can’t duplicate the problem, then there’s no way they can fix the vehicle. I’ve made several attempts to contact you to try and resolve this."
The only attempt I know of that was made was the one phone message yesterday, without even 24 hours in between for us to return the call. I said, “There is definitely something wrong with the vehicle, and everyone can hear it. So I guess like I said before, the warranties aren’t worth anything.” She got very loud and angry saying “That is incorrect.” and being very rude. I asked her, “Why are you giving me an attitude? I am the customer and I’d like to be able to finish my sentence without being cut off.” She continued in a louder obnoxious tone, “You’ve been told already, what has to happen for the dealership to be able to fix your vehicle ma’am now have a nice day.” Then she hung up on me.
If this is someone who is trained in customer relations representing her company to the consumer, I think DaimlerChrysler has a large problem. Maybe they think if they are rude enough we will give up and go away after spending over a thousand dollars extra for an extended warranty. However, I will not rest until this matter is resolved. I, the consumer, have the media on my side, and the whole world of information technology at my disposal. Don’t think I won’t use it.
- iredaledw, Escondido, CA, US