I bought my wife a new truck (2013 Ram 1500 Penstar 1500 4x4), and she was complaining about a a bad smell when it was at idle. I just figured it was a"new pickup smell" that would eventually wear off. Fast forward 2 months and 5000 miles and it is still there. I take it by the dealership thinking they could figure it out pretty quick, but they want to keep it overnight. I get a call from them today and they say it is out of commission for at least 2 weeks while every one of the rubber hoses in the truck are being replaced...every one!!! They said it has to do with a chemical reaction between the hoses and anti-freeze and that it is a known issue by Chrysler. Has anyone else heard of this?
Mine stinks. I keep trying to figure it out. I actually think it is the radiator hoses too. It smells like Chinese rubber like when you get something at harbor freight tools that is made of rubber. I thought I was crazy but I guess not. I think it may be more the radiator hoses mainly. Interesting.
I've not heard of it but I have been a dealership tech for 25 years and I know my hoses smell like ass. At idle it gets picked up from the air inlet and stinks in the cab. I opened the hood and keep smelling around. The radiator hoses stink. I actually tried cleaning them hoping it will stop the smell, it still there. My truck is a month old and it started a few weeks ago. I've had a 09' 11' and now a 13' I can't believe how they can screw crap up. It's a freaking radiator hose!
RBRK, like you, I thought I was smelling it around the hose at the top of the radiator...I opened the reservoir, and it smelled like normal, when the tech popped the cap on the radiator, we both about puked. He thought that maybe something had crawled inside the radiator and died at the factory. This was at the end of the day and he was going to contact Chrysler first thing this morning...that's when I got the call. They said it was going to take a week to ten days just to get the parts...back ordered maybe????
my v6 pentastar smelled too...but it is mostly gone at 4000 miles. it was horrible up until about 2500. hoping it will all be gone in another 1000. we'll see.
You get a brand new truck made of Chinese recycled metal, it starts rusting the day you get it, now Chinese Rubber hoses, it just never stops, whats next. Looking forward to the day the manufacturing of everything comes back to America to be quality produced. That being said, I have no issue with my 2012, opened the Rad and only smell is that of the coolant. This can't be an isolated issue, these hoses are ordered by the thousands. Keep us posted on how this turns out.
It's true. I'm a shop foreman with a Chrysler dealership and this is a known problem. I currently have an SRT8 charger that has the exact smell. It is a reaction between the plastic and the antifreeze. Replacing the hoses does fix it
Actually it's not BS when I was a GM tech they actually had a TSB out for the malibus and impalas to replace upper and lower radiator hoses due to oder
Amazing timing with this post since yesterday I first started to notice what smelled like a lingering "fart" odor in the cab. Was beginning to think I was having stealth "gas" issues :158:. Now I need to go out there and smell the hoses...that just sounds wrong...:gy:
I noticed a slight strange smell outside the truck a couple of times after driving (not really inside the cab), but I figured it was new truck things burning off.
Also, one of my friends said they thought they smelled cardboard burning when I pulled in although he could just be crazy.
I never could figure out what it smelled like from the outside, all I know is that the antifreeze smelled like something had died in the radiator. It was ok in the reservoir because it hadn't touched the hoses yet.
Opened radiator cap this morning, smells like perfectly normal antifreeze, no stink, and the hoses smelled "rubbery" but again, no stink. Good thing my nearest neighbor is 1500 feet away unable to see through our tree line, as he may have called the sheriff to report my strange "smelling the hoses" behavior...:SHOCKED:
So the smell I detected the other day must have been the beans from the BBQ I had at lunch...
Going to be at least another week...should I be worried about other problems such as the water pump, radiator (flushing it only), etc.? Anybody know the number of days your truck has to be in the shop to lemon-law it? Dealership has been great in providing a loaner car, but this could drag out for a total of 3+ weeks...just doesn't seem right for a truck that I haven't even bought tags for yet!
I would definitely push the issue for lifetime warranty if I were in your shoes, can't hurt to try and I'm sure if comes down to lemon buy back vs lifetime warranty I'd wager you'll pretty much get whatever you ask for...hope it doesn't come down to this for ya though (buy back, that is).
why did they not just let you keep driving the truck till the parts came in? I mean I am good with that if that happens to me. Not perfect but acceptable.
Good point plumcrazy...it's just a smell right? or was there some sort of malice from an over-worked union worker? Could have let him drive it until the hoses came in...Or did we miss something?
One of the other members said that they had a smell just a day or two ago
then he or his wife noticed the Temp gauge was climbing fast & pulled over & shut it off
a Tech was sent out to investigate & did something, the member was told that he could drive it. It happened again & they discovered a loose hose clamp.
I am keeping watch on the posts to see what happens
well turbohawk I guess he and everyone needs to sell their Rams immediately because you never know what they could have or not have done. And hey better not accept the repaired one either, the techs at the dealer maybe mad they had to fix that and sabotaged something else.
Whoa plum...lets not get too hasty. Until we know what the problem was for certain, then we can't say, nor should we. And frankly it's not our decision what he does with his truck. Now if we were in his shoes, without our truck because of stinky hoses...well, we wouldn't be too happy, would we? I'd sure be thinking of some other brand to try instead, but again, we don't know WHY they didn't think it was ok for him to drive with the hoses that weren't leaking(?) or was the smell sooo bad that it was physically impossible without a gasmask to drive?
Inquiring minds missing enough data to compute proper solution.
well I know that but I am not the one who was inputting my own problems in there, I was stating from what he said, stinky smell. not a leak, which you threw in there.
My truck too has a bit of a smell to it, I am going to take it in on my next day off i can and have them fix it but , I will not be leaving my truck at a dealership over it.
A leak would be the only reason I can think of they didn't let him drive off with it...so we've only been surmising...no updates. Perhaps just V6's having this?
No leaks, it is my wife's truck and she wouldn't drive it anymore (said it was making her sick, I did notice the temps were almost redline on a trip climbing out of Phoenix to Flagstaff when unloaded). I am not kidding that the tech almost puked when he popped the radiator. The only time you could smell it was when you are sitting at a light or low speed. Besides, is anybody in here a chemist? Can you tell me for sure that the reaction isn't producing some weird combo of chemicals that is going to make me or someone in my family really sick?
About the other brand; I had an 07 2500 5.9l that spent 19 separate trips in the shop in 50,000 miles. I actually traded it in while it was on the rack getting a new tranny. Needless to say, I swore off Dodge and was never coming back. I heard about the new rig that could get 25mpg and my wife wanted a truck and I thought maybe my last Dodge was a fluke...5000 miles in and I am most definitely regretting my decision! I have a 2010 F150 (since new) with 112k on the odometer that doesn't know what the inside of a Ford Shop looks like.