Water in the Transmission...

[bobthebuilder]

Hi all, I have a 2008 Magnum SRT8 and a Journey. We recently had the Journey taken in on a flatbed, loss of power to the drivetrain. As it turns out there was water in the transmission, about 1/2 quart I was told. I was asked if we had driven through high water, we have not, nor any large puddles. I did however drive in some very heavy rain, had to pull over as I could not see the road. The car only has 32,500 and is still covered under the warranty, except, they say, in this case as the water was not put in by the manufacturer!! This is where it gets interesting, as they were convinced that the only way water can get into a journey AWD is one of two ways, filler cap and high water, it must be my fault, right. So i posed this question to them - If indeed we did drive through high water, how high is the vent and how much water would you have to drive through in order to get 1/2 quart of water into the transmission. As it turns out the vent is 2.5 - 3 feet from the ground, so driving through high water and getting water into the vent without your car floating away and other problems arising, would be impossible, I am assuming. Then they said that a 8-9" puddle can also get water into the vent. So I asked them how long would you have to drive through a 8-9" puddle to get 1/2quart water into the transmission, seems highly unlikely to me that either way seems plausible. No-one can give me a strait forward honest answer. So at the end of all that Dodge is refusing to pay for a new transmission ($4500), kinda out of line I think... Has anyone had any experience with this and how to handle the situation. I did see a post from last year about this and how the dealer said that it would be almost impossible for water to get into the transmission via the vent from puddles and heavy rain, however the drain hose near the PTO/PTU can leak into it.

Charliie