timing chain ?

Bought a 2000 chrysler town and country about a month ago from a reputable dealer. Has a 3.8 litre engine and is fully loaded. After driving for a couple weeks we found that with the a/c on the engine hesitates quite a bit. Took it back and they found it was a plugged catalytic converter. They changed it out and the problem was still there. Next, we took it back and the shop foreman took it out for a drive. His exact words were " wow, this thing has no power". They have had it for 4 days now and dug really deep and say they have narrowed it down to the timing chain being to loose and throwing the timing off. They are trying to find what would cause this, which leads me to my question of what are your thoughts as to what would cause the chain to stretch out ( engine has 60,500 mi. on it). Also, they are fixing the problem but I'm concerned now that we could have other failures down the road if this went because of other issues with the engine. Never had a major issue like this before on a vehicle. Maybe we should complain and see if they will give us a different vehicle , but not sure if you can do that or not. I know the lemon law reads they have three attempts to fix or you can file a claim. Any thoughts, Maybe I am being overly concerned here. Thanks

 

wouldnt worry to much about it as long as they get it fixed its not unusual for a chain to stretch while 65000 miles is really low for needing a timing chain replacement would really have to question the mileage on the engine you really dont know the history of the vehicle as you have just bought it other things such as how it was driven by previous owners can cause early failure of the timing chain also.

 

First, off the lemon law only applies to NEW vehicles. So, you better get this right, cause you're stuck with it. Sorry.

Second, it is VERY unusual for the 3.8 motor to have a stretched timing chain. In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen that occur on a 3.8 and I've seen plenty of them with well over 200,000 miles before too.

To me it sounds like another guess by that shop...like the same way they guessed by saying it was the catalytic converter. Boy, I bet that was an expensive guess.

I suggest you try another shop...there are plenty of things that can cause the type of problem you are getting. Some a lot cheaper to fix than replacing that timing chain. Are they willing to bet the job on that chain? In other words, will the shop manager assure you that if replacing the chain doesn't fix the problem...then you don't have to pay for the unnecessary repair? I bet if you put to him that way all of the sudden he'll feel a lot less sure about his diagnosis(guess).

I'd start looking for another shop.

 

Shouldn't a catalytic converter be covered under an emission warranty if it was replaced at a Chrysler dealership? 8/80,000 or something like that?