2021 Ecodiesel Big Issues beaware

[cotnballs2000]

I just got back my Gladiator after 6 weeks at the dealer. The tech broke a fuel injector tyring to repair my oil leak the first time. They had to order a fuel injector and a new oil cooler (took 5 weeks to get in) I was lucky and the dealer gave me a loaner for 5 of those 6 weeks.

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[Hostile4Jeeps]

I just got back my Gladiator after 6 weeks at the dealer. The tech broke a fuel injector tyring to repair my oil leak the first time. They had to order a fuel injector and a new oil cooler (took 5 weeks to get in) I was lucky and the dealer gave me a loaner for 5 of those 6 weeks.

I wouldn’t call that lucky… 5/6 weeks yuck.. maybe it you could say “it could of even been more unlucky”.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I just got back my Gladiator after 6 weeks at the dealer. The tech broke a fuel injector tyring to repair my oil leak the first time. They had to order a fuel injector and a new oil cooler (took 5 weeks to get in) I was lucky and the dealer gave me a loaner for 5 of those 6 weeks.

Wow, good dealer! They obviously wouldn't mind having you back as a repeat customer.
At the rate I'm having trouble getting parts for the restorations I do, you were lucky with that short a time frame for the parts, too. I know people hate it, they blame Jeep, they blame the dealer, they blame everyone and everything except the true reasons - and they ignore that everyone else in the world is facing the same things (and it's literally shutting businesses down - one shop here closed for lack of certain foods used in their menu items)

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That is two different supply chains of spare parts for repairs and parts for new build. It is easy to look and make the assumption that if they have parts for new manufacture, then you should have parts for a repair. More things are in motion for new manufacture and poaching parts off that line to supply repair orders gunks up the manufacturing new build process.

Yeah, with just-in-time ordering and supplying of parts, they can't possibly pull parts off the line.
I can point to things, reasons, you don't and won't see that happening -
In some cases, parts for repair/replacement have different finishes. It varies, it may not happen for ALL items, but I have stock on my shelves that is finished differently than what's used on the line. The finish is better, different (yellow zinc compared to clear zinc - longer shelf life for yellow) on fasteners, different paints used, packaging is very different (I've seen the big bins of some parts in factories compared to "consumer packaging" that may go to dealers). Some parts like wiper motors are literally made and supplied by suppliers as needed. They may stock some, there may be a few in the depots or on dealer shelves, but I've checked the dates on some new product and it was obviously made after the vehicles were made.
Many times body parts are parts that were a bit less than perfect on the line, they got pulled and shipped to dealers. I've had grills, fenders and door skins that were imperfect and they figured "the dealer can make it fit, we don't have time to mess with it".
There are a lot of reasons for the differences, likely as varied as the part or supplier or vehicle they are made for.
When people send me brand new parts to use on a restoration I have to ask them - do you want to keep the replacement part finish, or do you want it to look like original production? (the finishes are different)
Yeah, that's vehicles of the past and parts from past years, but there's still reasons, and today more reasons, they can't just pull parts and send them out. The automation involved in these is crazy. It might end up like a Chevy I saw - different trim level on the right side compared to the driver side. No one really noticed it until a body shop had to repair some damage on the right side and tried to match things up - oops! It looked like maybe Johnny Cash got the car one piece at a time...........

 

[MPMB]

Yeah, with just-in-time ordering and supplying of parts, they can't possibly pull parts off the line.
I can point to things, reasons, you don't and won't see that happening -
..........

Accounting is probably the biggest reason, since bean counters run everything these days. You have a guy pulling replacement parts out of production, each part needs to be accounted & billed accordingly. Removing a piece that's charged $X on NewBuild1001 is removed, and now charged to Dealer2000. Then you have to "source" the part to backfill the taken one and account for that. And all the while, it's a documentation nightmare to track this part (bolt assembly underpinning bracket for blinker fluid reservoir), and ultimately costs 4x (or more) as much as the part is worth in labor time.

I worked with an industrial engineer who spent time at Boeing. To "buy" a $4 screwdriver at Boeing ultimately costs $16... and this was in the 90s.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Accounting is probably the biggest reason, since bean counters run everything these days. You have a guy pulling replacement parts out of production, each part needs to be accounted & billed accordingly. Removing a piece that's charged $X on NewBuild1001 is removed, and now charged to Dealer2000. Then you have to "source" the part to backfill the taken one and account for that. And all the while, it's a documentation nightmare to track this part (bolt assembly underpinning bracket for blinker fluid reservoir), and ultimately costs 4x (or more) as much as the part is worth in labor time.

I worked with an industrial engineer who spent time at Boeing. To "buy" a $4 screwdriver at Boeing ultimately costs $16... and this was in the 90s.

You hit the in-between reasons also - someone has to get the part, package or tag it, modify inventory, mail it, account for the change now in replacement parts. I think your screwdriver bit can apply to a lot of areas. It's like when I get a refund from our local medical center and the refund is 20 cents. Are you freakin' kidding me? It cost them probably 10 times that at least to get to to me and who cares about 20 cents? Oh, their accounting department and the government.

 

[MPMB]

You hit the in-between reasons also - someone has to get the part, package or tag it, modify inventory, mail it, account for the change now in replacement parts. I think your screwdriver bit can apply to a lot of areas. It's like when I get a refund from our local medical center and the refund is 20 cents. Are you freakin' kidding me? It cost them probably 10 times that at least to get to to me and who cares about 20 cents? Oh, their accounting department and the government.

Things like that are just "UGH." Postage cost 3x what the bill/refund is.

 

[nas4a]

That is two different supply chains of spare parts for repairs and parts for new build. It is easy to look and make the assumption that if they have parts for new manufacture, then you should have parts for a repair. More things are in motion for new manufacture and poaching parts off that line to supply repair orders gunks up the manufacturing new build process.

I totally get that it's not as easy as it sounds and that they are two separate supply chains. My overarching point is that my situation is an exception to the process - I have a NEW (not even able to be purchased yet) Jeep that should have never passed their quality inspection. There is physically a part somewhere within the ownership and inventory of Jeep that, with the right authority, somebody could physically get and have sent to fix mine.

There is no process for that to happen - and I have had no luck getting anyone from Jeep to give a flying f about this issue or me so far. It's very disheartening. It really doesn't give me a warm fuzzy about my experience or how much Stellaris cares about their customers.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It's still a sold vehicle as the dealership owns it. Shipping, unloading, and dealer prep could be involved. It may well have passed things just fine "at the factory".
Even the dealership has to wait for parts to fix vehicles on their lot if they find issues while prepping them or getting them out to display. It's absolutely amazing what can happen between "there and here" on any item. It should not happen, and it's not "common" but it did pass, it was loaded, it was transported, it was unloaded, it's no longer in the factory's control once it's out the gate and onto a truck or train. It's under warranty, but.......
And it doesn't matter how you feel or how angry you are - you wait like anyone else, even like the dealerships must, to get parts. No, it's sold so no, there's no grabbing a part and putting on it from factory inventory. It's out the gate, it's sold, the dealership bought it. You did not buy it direct from the factory and go to Ohio to pick it up.
No amount of "yeah, but" changes how things must work.
And frankly, it's a truck - it's not a critical medicine or health care item for which there are no options.
Americans are spoiled in some ways - go to other countries where no automobiles are made - they must import every single car every single truck and every single part for same must come from somewhere else. Think we have problems?

 

[Hootbro]

My overarching point is that my situation is an exception to the process

I understand your frustration. Irony is I work for Boeing as an engineer and get the $4 screwdriver analogy that @MPMB mentioned.

Even at my job, we have a process to follow when there is an exception to another process.

What you need, is to find the one person that can take ownership of your issue and hand walk it through. Those are few and far between.

 

[MPMB]

I totally get that it's not as easy as it sounds and that they are two separate supply chains. My overarching point is that my situation is an exception to the process - I have a NEW (not even able to be purchased yet) Jeep that should have never passed their quality inspection. There is physically a part somewhere within the ownership and inventory of Jeep that, with the right authority, somebody could physically get and have sent to fix mine.

There is no process for that to happen - and I have had no luck getting anyone from Jeep to give a flying f about this issue or me so far. It's very disheartening. It really doesn't give me a warm fuzzy about my experience or how much Stellaris cares about their customers.

They *do* have a process, it's just one you don't like.

Pulling a part from new build inventory just kicks the problem down the line. Some other schmuck won't get a fuel pump. Fine for you, but not for the next owner.

Rob(steal) Peter to pay Paul is no way to run an operation. Unless Paul is at the top of the pyramid.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I understand your frustration. Irony is I work for Boeing as an engineer and get the $4 screwdriver analogy that @MPMB mentioned.

Even at my job, we have a process to follow when there is an exception to another process.

What you need, is to find the one person that can take ownership of your issue and hand walk it through. Those are few and far between.

Try working for government - they have a list of "approved vendors/providers" for almost everything, and price agreements with same. I found a superior VPN product for a fraction of the price of Cisco and other "approved vendors" - and still had to jump hoops to save several thousands dollars a year on a better product, better support, and better security.
Luckily my boss trusted my research and testing and advice more than central IT and worked hard to bypass their list and get the product in. The paperwork and meetings he went through were dizzying.
And I recall working at Compressor Controls Corp - back then it was ISO2000 certification - want to move something on a board 1/64 of an inch, submit change requests and go through studies, etc.
When it was found that TI couldn't provide the numbers we needed for certain chips they tried other company's chips of the same number or function - and found they didn't hold up to the speeds needed. So they had to again go through crazy paperwork and specific the exact manufacturer of those chips - TI and there was another - might have been Motorola at the time. No other chip could react fast enough even though they were supposedly identical.
Inventory had to be controlled to the single item, everything had to be accounted for.
When you were talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, even upwards of a million, for our engineering and control systems, you never came up short. One mistake and you could surge a million dollar turbo compressor.
There were audits and inspections of records by customers and by the ISO folks (and the CIA as well since we sold to eastern Europe and former Soviet countries)

Granted this is "only" Jeep, no big deal if something goes wrong, they won't loose hundreds of thousands of dollars, they won't have to stop a line due to some part mismatch because they pulled a part out of inventory - oh, wait - maybe they would.............
My wonderings include - so they pull a part to fix a SOLD vehicle, when it's time to match that part to the truck coming down the line that is ready for that part - what then?
This is just in time manufacturing. They do miss single parts. They don't have extras sitting in crates to the point at the end of that model run, no big deal, we have 10,000 of them left.

It's frustrating to the individual customer waiting for a part but then that one isn't any more important than the next guy waiting for a truck and having issues.
There are people not getting certain features at all or waiting weeks due to other issues going on these days. This is a person waiting for a truck they never owned - how is that more important than the person who has his truck for 6 months and is waiting for the exact same part and is in line first?
Waiting for a fuel pump or any other part for a truck you haven't yet driven or titled? But expect others waiting for the same parp for a truck they already own and that broke down and got in line first for that part? Want to jump ahead of others waiting for the same parts - who have waited longer?
Makes no sense. It's like shoving in line at the grocery store, they open another register and you pop over there ahead of the people who have already been waiting 10 minutes. That's how this could look.
Stand in line and wait - there's others out there who have already been waiting for this exact same part necessary to fix a truck they already own and can't drive - and they've already let their trade go and have no other vehicle now.

 

[nas4a]

I understand your frustration. Irony is I work for Boeing as an engineer and get the $4 screwdriver analogy that @MPMB mentioned.

Even at my job, we have a process to follow when there is an exception to another process.

What you need, is to find the one person that can take ownership of your issue and hand walk it through. Those are few and far between.

Exactly what I’m trying to do - and it has thus far been amazingly hard. Get one sentence reply’s from Chapman when I ask for a status update. For them, it’s clearly just “wait it out.” I’m impatient - yes. But I also am paying good money for a Jeep that broke before I even got it.

Jeep Customer Care has been worthless this far. Aside from opening a case and someone calling to tell me they are NOT my case manager but my case manager would call me soon, I’ve gotten zero from them.

I’m hoping my latest exchange with their social media person who replied to a Facebook post might get me somewhere.

I’m in finance for a Pharma company, and I know the threat of a “viral” post often gets attention in social media and companies jump to head those issues off. I’m not unreasonable here. I have zero dollars in this and if it gets bad I’ll just walk away and order another one from somewhere else - it just amazes me that literally zero people seem to even be willing to help - or even return a phone call for that matter.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I know the threat of a “viral” post often gets attention in social media and companies jump to head those issues off.

There's nothing here to threaten. You don't even own a truck. This isn't going to go anywhere, no matter your anger. If it's that important, anyone out there would ask since you have zero dollars involved and have signed no papers - what's the big deal - go buy from another source or order another.
There's people out there who have 40-50 grand (and sometimes more) wrapped up in these, are making loan payments, paying insurance and have no truck to drive but all the expenses of owning one.
There's a truck you want and you can't have it yet - I don't think you're going to get far compared to a fellow here with a blown transmission that Jeep is screwing around with and he's being told "f' off, not our problem" - and you don't even own a truck and are upset?
HE and others have a right to be upset. Sorry, but I see no there there.
What's to head off - you have no laws on your side, you have no financial loss.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

I understand your frustration. Irony is I work for Boeing as an engineer and get the $4 screwdriver analogy that @MPMB mentioned.

Even at my job, we have a process to follow when there is an exception to another process.

What you need, is to find the one person that can take ownership of your issue and hand walk it through. Those are few and far between.

Renton? Everett?

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