— A Chrysler "Pentastar tick" lawsuit alleges certain vehicles were excluded from a Chrysler extended warranty for the V6 engines. The lawsuit alleges the 3.6-liter Pentastar engines were designed in a way that causes excessive wear on the left cylinder heads which causes the left cylinder heads to fail.
The class action lawsuit includes all consumers who purchased or leased 2012-2018 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles equipped with 3.6-liter V6 Pentastar engines which were excluded from Chrysler’s extended warranty of 10 years or 150,000 miles for repairs on the left cylinder heads.
Under the ticking engine extended warranty, Chrysler customers could replace the left cylinder heads with new parts with new design modifications.
One plaintiff purchased a used 2014 Ram ProMaster 1500 van in November 2016 when the vehicle had 40,258 miles on the odometer. But in 2019 the van allegedly started making a ticking noise from the Pentastar engine, then the vehicle allegedly developed oil and coolant leaks.
A Chrysler dealership discovered an oil leak from the oil filter housing unit which needed to be replaced. However, the plaintiff had an independent repair shop perform the oil filter housing unit replacement.
A few months later the same repair shop noted a clicking noise, so the plaintiff took the van to a different repair shop where technicians allegedly said it was the "Pentastar tick."
The repair shop told the plaintiff to take the ProMaster to the Chrysler dealership because the repairs would be covered under an extended warranty issued because of ticking engines.
The dealership allegedly admitted it was the "Pentastar tick" and technicians noted, “engine code P0306 (cylinder misfire #6) in PCM. [M]onitored the misfire and found #6 misfire coming up consistently but not enough to set an active code yet.”
The dealership allegedly performed a leak test on cylinder #6 and found the exhaust valve was leaking and recommended replacing the entire left cylinder head, gasket, cams, lifters and rockers for a cost of $3,930.
The van allegedly wasn't covered by the "Pentastar tick" extended warranty because the Ram vehicle identification number (VIN) was not listed on the warranty chart.
The Ram owner called Chrysler and filed a complaint, but several customer service representatives told him the van wasn't on the extended warranty list.
According to the class action lawsuit, the serial numbers of the affected components in the plaintiff’s van are the same as the vehicles Chrysler covered in its "Pentastar tick" extended warranty.
The ProMaster van was allegedly manufactured in October 2013 in Coahuila, Mexico, and faulty cylinder heads that cause the "Pentastar tick" were problems allegedly known to Chrysler for its Coahuila, Mexico plants.
The automaker allegedly knew or should have known about the engine problems before any of the vehicles were sold, and Chrysler allegedly received customer complaints about ticking engines and illuminated warning lights as early as 2012.
Owners of vehicles equipped with 3.6-liter Pentastar engines claim they were denied warranty coverage due to "external factors," owner "misuse" or because the warranty periods expired.
The Chrysler 3.6-liter Pentastar tick lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Missoula Division: Melson, et al., v. FCA US LLC.
The plaintiffs are represented by Bechtold Law Firm, PLLC, and Heenan & Cook, PLLC.
