NHTSA Complaint #11614112 — 2017 RAM PROMASTER

What happened: While driving on the freeway, the engine cooling fans failed, causing the engine temperature to rise excessively and increasing pressure within the cooling system. This resulted in a hole being blown through the thermostat, and all the coolant leaked out. Only after the coolant was lost did the engine overheating warning lamp come on. I safely pulled over, but the engine had already overheated severely. I was unable to drive the vehicle for a week while waiting for the dealer to replace the cooling fans under the recall. After the recall repair was completed, I picked up my vehicle from the dealer. On my way home, I noticed a loss of power, poor acceleration, and engine shaking, especially after the engine had been off for a few hours. I replaced the thermostat and radiator myself, but I believe the overheating caused internal engine damage, potentially a blown head gasket, cracked, or warped heads. Additionally, before taking the vehicle back to the dealer, I noticed the newly installed cooling fans (replaced under the recall) stopped working again. Despite all these issues clearly being related to the initial fan failure and overheating, the dealer is now charging me for further repairs and is not addressing the underlying problem with the cooling system. The fact that the cooling fans have a recall due to failure and have caused other issues are trying to tell me I’m responsible. They wouldn’t give me a loaner vehicle while they were performing the initial recall repair or now since I’ve taken it back.