Well, as some of you know ive been trying to find a good dealership to take my car to regarding servicing and what not since the dealership closest to me (East Hills) I have yet to have a pleasant experience- Nothing wrong with the people at East Hills, but it takes them forever- sometimes weeks to perform even the most trivial issues which I will not get into… Initial impression at Westbury Jeep: Well, when I was just going to give up and succumb myself to Jeep SRT withdrawal while handing my keys over to East Hills for my list of problems, someone over on the LX Forums suggested I take my SRTGC over to Westbury Jeep and ask for A.J. (Hemituner on LX forums)- So first I Pmed A.J. gave him my number and he said we will call you to set up an appointment- at first I was like yea right a dealership call me- but low and behold, the very next day one of the service advisors called me, took all my info, and scheduled me in- they even send you an email the day before to remind you of your appointment (now when I say service advisor calls you, this is the person that handles your case and your case alone- it is not passed around the dealership like a cheerleader in the Boys locker room which makes it much easier to figure out the status of your repairs). I was already very impressed and I haven’t even seen the facility yet- well, I pull up to this huge service facility (It just opened 4th of July weekend BTW and there had to have a couple dozen bays full of cars; some of these included 2 vipers, 3 chargers, another jeep SRT8 and a few 300 SRT’s- I knew I had found the right dealership to service my rig) once you pull up they don’t even have you get out of your car- you give all your info to the attendant, they do an exterior damage assessment and they give you your paperwork, and depending on how long your work will be, will set you up with one of their service loaners, or give you a ride to the train station or wherever you need to go within a reasonable distance. ***On a side note, if/when you ask for AJ, he really goes the extra mile and give your vehicle TLC- he garages his clients rigs when night falls, and really stands by his work and will work with you till your problem is solved** Really great guy and he is Mod friendly (doing Cam, header installs, etc.) What I took my car in for AND results: MINOR ISSUES: Issue 1: Drivers side outside mirror- seemed as if half of the “autodimming†feature wouldn’t work properly- almost as if it was half tinted and half not- at night, when driving it looked as if there were 8 sets of headlights instead of only one- nauseating at times. Issue 1 Result: Mirror ordered and replaced under warranty Issue 2: Crackling interior right front speakers- speakers just didn’t sound right at higher volumes- almost as if blown, and sounded very “loose†(sloppy bass) Issue 2 Result: Speakers ordered and replaced under warranty. Issue 3: Hood strut needed replacement (failed to hold hood open) Issue 3 Result: Strut ordered and replaced under warranty Issue 4: I didn’t even know this was an issue- but, while AJ was assessing the car, he found the battery was weak and replaced it also under warranty MAJOR ISSUES: Issue 1: As many SRT Jeep owners know, when you push the T/C button you seem to get a grinding/whine in the drivetrain, well in my Jeep it not only occurred then, but also while normally driving. So, I asked AJ to see if he found anything unusual about the way the Jeep Drove. Issue 1 Result: Well, AJ called me the next day to tell me about a few things that needed to be replaced: A- He thought initially the rear end gears needed to be replaced, but once he got the new ones out of the box and compared them to mine, he realized they were fine and left them alone. B- Rebuild BOTH the Transmission and the Transfer Case- Words straight from the service report (without the tech Jargon)- “while roadtesting, vehicle is chattering and shuddering under moderate accel. And around turns and makes a very loud grinding noise- removed transfer case and found transmission coupler and output shaft splines in transmission are twisted and rusted. T-Case: Disassemble transfer case, clean coupler and replace bearing. Replace clutch discs for viscous coupler. Reassemble t-case seal and fill with fluid. Tranny: Dissaemble transmission replace outbut planetary assembly. Replace all seals in unit, replace torque converer, recon valve-body assembly, Reinstall trans and T-Case. **Roadtest and noise is goneâ€: And when he says gone, like all gone- truck is VERY quiet now (besides the Hemi rumbling) when cruising along now- both with the T/C on or Off… Issue 2: This last issue apparently has been a problem for this car since it was built, according to the service history on my vehicle, ::Cough:: which I wasn’t supposed to see ::cough:: Well, during the period between ordering the tranny and tcase parts and getting the truck back in, my dash started to light up like a pinball machine, I got the infamous “service park assist†message, boxes around [P][R][N][D] and I went into limp mode every now and then. Issue 2 Result: AJ went on to analyze the electronics on the car, found fault codes related to poor communication- thought the source was a faulty ground which he cleaned and tightened- check engine light went away (he had a very similar issue with a Jeep before, and this fixed it) picked her up, drove to work, everything was awesome- truck drove perfect- went to drive home, got a check engine light, the boxes around the gear selectors and Limp mode. Drove right back the next day, he plugged the Starscan in, messages were indicating the cause was a faulty ignition switch- ignition switch replaced, no more codes. Drove her home fine- went to go to work that afternoon, start her up to grab some subway, and again a check engine light comes on…now at this point I’m very frustrated and had to go on a rd trip Friday (here we are Thursday afternoon) and I just want my Jeep to run right…called AJ explained to him what happened again and he told me to bring it in in the morning- so I did, and right away he came out, plugged in starscan- all previous codes were gone, but a “lost comm. With ESM/FCM†code came up- so he replaced the Bezel/Gear selector, as recommended for fault. (I should note now, that from when AJ first plugged in the starscan after the first issue, several codes disspapered after 1. Fixing the ground, 2. Even more after Replacing the ignition switch, and Finally 3. All of them were gone after replacing the Bezel) ***In AJ’s defense with the limp mode issue and people wondering why he didn’t replace all the above things at once, he was not just throwing parts at my car in hopes to fix the issue- he was taking baby steps to solve my problem, and took his time to get my Jeep to 110%- if that costed me a few more trips to the dealer, so be it- also, as stated above, this limp mode issue has been a problem with my Jeep since its first owner, as stated in the service report.*** End Result: After a handful of trips to the dealer, my truck runs quieter, smoother, found an awesome dealership to get service done, and also met a cool guy and great mechanic/tuner; and found out that my jeep was born on June 16, 2006! In closing, my experience at Westbury Jeep was SUPERB- this is where I will continue to take my Jeep in for service, and request AJ whenever I bring her in- he is a Mod friendly mechanic who does great work and will analyze every aspect of your car to make sure it is running correctly. In addition to him being a great mechanic, he is starting to get into CMR tuning and he will be the man to tune my beast sometime by the end of the year. While waiting to take my Truck home, I also met Server (lx forums) and his car (300C SRT) and he had nothing but praises to say about AJ and his tuning capabilities, which is always great to hear. Also found out that AJ will be bringing a Torch Red Paxton S/C Charger to one of the days FlyByU is going to the track with his 426, and he was considering going out to Texas to see Brian (BJB) and John Hennessey go at it! My recommendation to all my fellow NYers and Long Islanders, if you have an issue with your car, or want to get it tuned, take it to Westbury Jeep and request AJ (Hemituner on Lx forums) to work on your car….He will take his time and make sure your car is running at its best and some… Thanks again AJ and to everyone else, thanks for reading! -Ryan :future: :thanks:
