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My srt8 is a lemon

21K views 74 replies 48 participants last post by  dvsrt8 
#1 ·
Having owned a couple Duster's with 340's in them in my teen years I have always been a MOPAR fan. They ruled!! Later turned into a Ford fan , having had 3 Saleens and 2 Lightnings. They were quick but the urge to have another MOPAR was still there. So I traded in the Lightning and sold the Saleen and bought a 09 Challenger SRT-8. It has the 6 Speed stick. I was estatic when I got it, had it lowered 1.3 inches. It looked great and seemed to run good. THAT WAS SHORT LIVED.. Ive owned it a year and 4 months. Have had it in the dealer for transmission issues, sometimes hard to get out of gear in driveway and learches forward when starting ( and yes the clutch pedal is fully engaged). Ive had two different dealers tell me nothing is wrong with it. Yet a trasmission shop says syncros.. But thats nothing.. THIS IS THE BEST.. IVE HAD THE TRACTION LIGHT ON THE DASH COME ON WHILE ON FREEWAY AND MY RIGHT FRONT WHEEL WOBBLES AND TRYS GOING RIGHT AND MY LEFT GOES STRAIGHT. THE REAR WHEELS HAVE HAD ISSUES WHERE EACH SIDE INDEPENDENTLY FEELS AS IF THE BRAKES ARE DRAGGING THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN RELEASES AND GOES BACK TO NORMAL.. I took it to one dealer who couldnt find a problem. Now ive taken it to where I bought it and can tell Im going to get the same crap.. It seems that the mechanics at the dealer are not mechanics, just a bunch of inexperienced idiots. The problems occurring are not continuously so obviously there is a flaw with the ECM module or whatever they want to call it.. STAND BEHIND YOUR PRODUCT!!! WHEN PEOPLE ASK HOW THE CAR IS? I DONT LIKE SASYING ITS THE BIGGEST BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAP EVER!! .. As it stands right now I could have bought a Shelby for the money I paid for this car.. Im so frustrated with what should be a great experience
 
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#65 ·
Sorry you had these issues, most of us here have been pretty much trouble free....

Your next one should be a great one :bigthumb:

P.S. ..... I have no life...J/K...LOL!!
 
#66 ·
Neverland

Moderator should close this f'n thread..he (WHINER) might return with a new saga of woe is me...................a life ,, hmmm retired PO,, have gun will travel in my perfect B5:bigthumb:
 
#69 ·
usually when you frequent a forum, you get to hear all the horror stories and you'll get a group of folks that have an issue and it makes something that might only happen to less than 1% of total owners, but because you're on the forum, you start to think it's a normal thing. But man, I haven't heard of a head problem yet on these cars....sorry to see it.
 
#73 ·
Just read this thread. The transmission symptoms that were first described are caused by the pilot bearing. I had the same problem. My buddy is a Mopar guy and owns the best trans shop around. He has a '70 hemi Challenger and a 392 SRT Challenger with a 6 spd. He diagnosed my problem before even driving it. Apparently the '09s were assembled with a sub-par lubricant on the pilot bearing. The Hemi Rams with manual trans were having the same problem. It was a very simple fix and took just a few hours. No more problem! I doubt that yours really needed the trans rebuild. Glad you didn't have to pay for it.
 
#72 ·
I'll trade you with an RT. Bet those problems covered by warranty can be fixed.
 
#75 ·
First off I feel sorry for you and I've bought many new vehicles in my time (52 yrs old) and have had a few real lemons in my day. As difficult as it might seem I think your first step is to have another shop who has done several SRT lowering's take a look at your car. Just because a shop works on high end cars doesn't mean they know how to properly lower your Challenger SRT8. With all the complexity that goes into modern vehicles today there is a lot to go wrong when modifying them. Either that or go back to your stock suspension and see if it solves your handling issues. I'm having a supercharge put on my 09 and made sure I found a shop that has done several other cars just like mine before I decided on that shop. It doesn't guarantee there won't be any problems but sure helps reduce the possibility. Sorry you are having so many problems because the car can be a really great car to own and drive.
 
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