[Sc0ob_do0D]

Here's the situation:

2010 Dodge Charger 3.5 V6 with 54k miles on it, we bought it from Carmax with about 35k on it in March 2011. It's my sister's car but the loan is in my name. Engine siezed/failed. Before we knew it was the engine, we had it towed to a local mechanic (knows my family well), thinking it was something minor. When he told us it was the engine, I immediately looked up the warranty coverage (powertrain: 5 yrs/100k mi) and had the car towed (for free) to the nearest Dodge dealer. The car had just had an oil change done that day, so we had him check oil/level/plugs/etc, which all checked out.

Once they determined it was the engine, they asked for maintenance records in anticipation of submitting the warranty claim. Unforrtunately my sister is a horrible record keeper and all we could dig up was the last oil change that was done by Jiffy Lube the day the car broke down. Since that's all I could provide, I had to give them authorization and a $700 deposit to tear the engine apart so they could look inside the cylinders. They even had some "forensics" guy from Chrysler come out to look at it. I never got to talk to that guy directly.

Day after Thanksgiving I get the call stating Chrysler denied any assistance through the warranty for two reasons; 1) The paperwork on my last oil change shows 318 miles more than what's on the odometer - ok...so someone at Jiffy Lube was lazy and rounded the mileage up...BFD!; and 2) "The oil in the pan was darker than it should have been for having just been changed." - Umm yeah! That's what happens when SOMETHING GOES WRONG!

So the repair cost is $6,000 (for a new long block). The car is just sitting there while I figure this out.

I was able to determine, through my sister, that she's had 3 oil changes since we got the car. Depending on how spread out they were (she couldn't recall the intervals), that about puts it on par with the every 6k miles recommended in the manual.

So I'm scouring the internet for what to do in this situation. I'm going to start going up the chain of command at the dealership, and then possibly getting in touch with a "zone representative" for the manufacturer. Any tips/assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. First time, after 5 Japanese cars (3 Hondas, 2 Subarus - now 3 with my BRZ), that I put my name on an American car and this happens. Go figure...