New vehicle owners should be aware to avoid 4X4 blues
Posted Feb 9, 2012 By Brian Turner
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EMC Lifestyle - This story comes from my early days working as a national customer service rep for Jeep. An almost identical tale came to my attention recently and since both situations hold more than one lesson, the old tale is worth repeating.
Brian Turner, Special to St. Lawrence EMC
This photo shows a broken front axle shaft on a 4X4 SUV. The shaft transfers power from the front differential to the front wheels.
A certain driver calls a nearby dealership with a problem on a relatively new four-wheel drive truck. The front of the vehicle is making some strange and severe clunk noises when trying to move it forward or back. The SUV is well within the manufacturer's basic warranty and it's towed to the local authorized dealer.
An inspection reveals that both front axle universal joints that connect to the front wheels have been torn out and the shafts have been bouncing around damaging some of the components at the wheel hubs. The dealership service department has no repair or service history on the vehicle since it was purchased at another store. They examine the truck and tell the owner the repairs are not covered by the warranty as it appears the truck has been misused.
The SUV owner calls their selling dealership and their service department states the repair should be covered under the terms of the warranty. The owner, understandably upset, calls the manufacturer's customer hotline to complain. The head of that department, who happened to be me, was on my first week on the job, so I went to my boss for advice. This old curmudgeon was the king of common sense and when he learned that the dealership where the truck was taken was only a few kilometers from our office, instructed me to get off my duff and take a drive over to see what was going on.
When I arrived, a friendly service manager greeted me and told me the truck was on a hoist ready for my inspection. He simply said to take a good look and figure out for myself exactly what happened. The truck was covered in mud half-way up the door panels and it was equipped with a rather powerful six cylinder engine, a manual transmission, and a solid front axle. Both front axle joints were intact, but the metal loops on the drive-shafts that held them in place were completely separated leaving jagged and stretched metal edges.
It was clear that the driver had gotten the vehicle hopelessly mired with all four wheels buried in the mud and as a last resort, the four-wheel drive system was turned on, the engine revved, and the clutch was engaged with disastrous results.
The truck owner was told that the manufacturer would not cover the damages as they were not a result of any defect in workmanship or materials.
The selling dealership made the error of informing a customer that the failure would be covered without first examining the vehicle to see what the cause was. Just because a vehicle is under the terms of a warranty, doesn't necessarily mean that whatever goes wrong will be covered.
I've had two-week old vehicles come into the shop for a running fault that was traced to rodents chewing through engine wiring harnesses. I've had vans with partial brake failures caused by porcupines gnawing on flexible brake hoses. And I've seen 4x4 vehicles with severe hub and drive-axle damage caused by drivers taking tight corners on dry hard pavement with the 4WD engaged. On a 4WD vehicle with a solid front axle, when the front wheels are turned into a corner with the 4X4 engaged, the speed of the wheel will try to overtake the speed of the axle. Since both are connected to each other by a solid link, the wheel will jerk and momentarily stop rolling to match the axle's speed. This is what causes the steering wheel to wobble back and forth during the turn. Do this long enough and at high enough speeds and you'll be in for an expensive repair.
In the vast majority of cases, new vehicle breakdowns and problems are covered by the automaker's warranty by customer friendly service departments that are eager to earn repeat business. But there are always exceptions and if you're faced with such a situation don't be shy about asking for a full explanation and to be shown exactly what happened.
If you have any questions, opinions, or stories on anything automotive please drop me a line, (By email to emc@perfprint.ca or directly to bjoeturner@hotmail.com listing 'Question for the Car Counselor' on the subject line or by post to Record News Communications, 5 Lorne St., P.O. Box 158, Smiths Falls, Ont. K7A 4T1).
Yours in service
Brian Turner
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