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Just my opinion of course - If a guy is ready to move on from their Intrepid, as long as he/she have something FWD or AWD that can get through snow, the new Charger is a thing of beauty, although the interior is rather cheap-looking (The interior door panels don't seem to seal the windows very well and the door panel itself looks like hard molded plastic - ugh). The Pontiac Grand Prix GXP and the Impala SS offer 303 HP each and FWD, and are much better appointed interior-wise that the Charger.
I disagree about the Charger interior...Pontiac continues to have cheaper looking interiors in my estimation. Happy Holidays and enjoy 2006!
Try the front sway bar rubber bushings on both cars. I had them replaced (under warranty) on my van and the noise went away.
This has to do with the vapor recovery system on the fuel nozzle. I believe that the fuel flow is shut off when high pressure is measured. The problem is that the rubber seal on the nozzle seals too well to the gas tank opening on your car. Try pulling the flexible rubber seal on the nozzle back a little when re fueling. I have had this problem on and off on various vehicles.
I'm just taking some stabs in the dark here...
> In a nutshell--make your purchase and enjoy. We too in
> this forum have heard about the "sludge" problem--
> trouble is the one or two sources are not reliable and
> you won't find significant real world data to
> support "sludge" as an issue.
This statement seems pretty ridiculous. Maybe it's the intervening time, but currently oil sludge complaints outnumber all other 1998-2002 Intrepid complaints by a factor of 15 to 1.
1999 Dodge Intrepid problems
2000 Dodge Intrepid problems
..etc.
No other vehicle on our website has graphs as one-sided as the Dodge Intrepid.
But I can't complain. My little 2.7 has around 113,500 miles on it now, and no problems yet...no nasty noises or signals of impending doom, and nothing's fallen off yet. If I can get two more years out of it I'll be happy, but even if the engine does sludge up, oh well it could be worse. At least it's paid for!
One thing that would REALLY piss me off is to have a car need a major repair WHILE I'm still making payments! I knew a guy with a '94 Ford Probe that had the second tranny go out at 86,000 miles, out of warranty. He couldn't afford to get it fixed, so he just let it sit for about a year and a half until he was finished making payments, then got it fixed.
Buy quality oil, change it every 3000 to 5000 miles (depending on your service rating) and DRIVE.
The total number of such failures against the number of engines built might give a more realistic statistic. I have seen many 98+ models with 150000+ miles,most were 2.7s.
I remember with the Toyota 3.0 sludging issue, it seems that a disproportionate amount of them popped up in the Sienna minivan, where the engine is supposedly more crammed-in, and doesn't dissipate heat as well. I remember the Camry getting named often too, but when you consider how many Camrys were built, that's not too surprising.
Thank you
Does anyone know what is going on or have similar problems? Please help, my sister now uses it while I am in school as a new driver, it just isn't safe anymore. Thanks.
did the coild pack go bad or is there something lurking in the dark shadows
So if you had, say, a code 37, the light would flash 3 times, pause, flash 7 times, pause again, then flash 5 times, pause, and then 5 more times, and then it was done. And then you had to go find out what code 37 meant, although nowadays that's not so hard with the internet.
However, I had an '89 Plymouth Gran Fury that did not have this feature. The L-cars (Omni, Horizon, TC-3, etc) might have done it though.
Does the '95 Intrepid have OBD-II? If so, there are any number of engine code readers you can buy to read the codes yourself. One of my buddies bought one a couple years ago to use on his '98 Tracker. We've also used it on my uncle's '03 Corolla.
My 1985 Omni GLH Turbo would demonstrate the codes with the ignition key trick. Used it many times and replaced oxygen sensors as a result of those codes.
Enjoy
Anyway, turns out this guy's a Mopar fan and once owned a 1994 Intrepid, and around the 200,000 mile mark bought a 2003 Neon and gave the Trep to his son. I dunno how many miles it has on it now though, or if he still has it. This guy also has a 4-cyl Dakota, around a 1995 or so, and it's over the 200K mile mark as well.
If it's hesitating, it might just need a good tuneup. As for the smoke, it depends on what kind of smoke you're seeing. If it's blueish-black, then you're burning oil. If it's white, and has a sweet smell to it, then coolant is getting into the combustion chamber somehow. Usually that's a sign of a bad head gasket or warped head, but it could also be a bad intake manifold.
If the smoke is just kind of grayish, or you can really only see it at night in the headlights of the other cars behind you as you accelerate, that usually means you need a tuneup, and the gasoline isn't burning as completely as it should.
I forget what black smoke means, though. Running too lean, maybe?
Still it may be something you are missing.
On another note, my 2000 ES is doing well though the "repair bug" just bit me in earnest. At a rousing 133,500 I had to have my radiator replaced because it had cracked and couldn't be repaired. Other than that....going strong!
But the straw that broke my back was in Nov.2005 when twice in two weeks all the gages were going haywire (at a standstill I was supposedly going 50kms, the RPM gage was saying it was revving at 5500rpms, etc.....)then *BOOM* temp gage went sky high then that lovely smell and outdoor cloudy mist of coolant. *AARRGGHH*
We limped home with the :lemon: as I am now apt to call the beast, got a new thermostat (which was now stuck open), put in a new water pump, got a new battery and now the *BIG STRING OF EXPLETIVES DELETED* will not even turn over :mad: :mad: :mad:
I am one pissed off Canadian chick that use to love her big beast but I don't know what else to do to her and my money is long gone as I am a mother of two kids under the age of three so money is always tight!!!! *SIGH*
Yes, he said the engine will sludge up, and yes, it costs about $5,000 plus labor to put a used 2.7 in. HOWEVER, in order to get it to sludge up, you have to consistently let it go 7-10,000 miles between oil changes! I think my all-time worst is 5,000 miles, although this last time was about 4600 miles.
You don't say what year your car is, but most cars these days require a major tune up and timing belt replacement at around 100,000 miles. This is why many people un-load cars just under 100,000 miles. This maintenance is something that you should price into the cost of a car approaching 100,000 miles.
At some point the car's going to need a new air filter and pcv valve, but those are at much more regular intervals...more like when they get dirty as opposed to a set schedule.
FWIW, when my 2000 2.7 hit 100,000 miles, it didn't need much. I had put new front pads and rotors on around the 98,000 mile mark. Had the coolant changed around the 85,000 mile mark. The mechanic said that even with the long-life coolant, you're better off changing it early. While the older green coolant simply loses its ability to resist freezing, and its ability to cool, and its ability to resist rusting once it's past its prime, supposedly the newer pink/orange stuff will actually start damaging the cooling system much more aggressively. I had the belts changed at 85,000 miles, too. That was when I discovered the owner's manual called for 60,000. Oops.
I did have to have new rear pads put on around 102,000 miles. And I put in a new battery around 105,000 miles, just as a precaution. Spark plugs had been changed way back at 51,000 miles, but possibly prematurely. Tranny was last serviced at 90,000 miles. Last set of tires put on around 77,000 miles.
I'm now at 114,700 miles. The next thing I'll probably have to worry about is the tranny servicing again, at 120K. Might also do the spark plugs then too. As for the coolant, well the mechanic said that the hoses themselves should be fine until the next change, which he suggested I do around 150,000 miles. But I might just have the mechanic check that out around 120,000 too, just to be safe.
Still, maintenance probably is why people unload their cars right around 100,000 miles. Especially cars with timing belts. And instead of doing things as they become needed, I'm sure many people just put them off, with plans of doing them all at once, but then sell the car before actually having it done. I don't know if it's true so much anymore, but the 100K mile mark used to just be a stigma. Used car lots didn't want to touch anything with that many miles on it. And people used to just think that by 100K a car was dead and buried, even if it really had plenty of life left in it. A lot of it probably comes from the old days when cars only had a 5-digit odometer. Plus, with the way cars used to rust, and the sloppy tolerances back then, many cars would be reduced to junk by 100,000 miles if you didn't take care of them.
Andre'--I'm having my tranny serviced again at 150,000 which should be about mid summer at the rate I accrue miles. Interestingly--and yet again flying in the face of many so called "complaints"--my transmission has never required one iota of unscheduled maintenance. Even after 133,000 miles of rigorous use.
look and I am hoping someone can save me some time. Thanks in advance.....
My one complaint with this car is some of the maint. items could have been designed better. But oil changes are a snap.
Thanks for the reply.
And yeah, oil changes are a breeze on the Intrepid. I just park it at the edge of the driveway where the ground slopes off, and can get up under it without even jacking the car up.
I changed the serpentine belt on my 1999 Intrepid ES (3.2L). I have done lots of work on cars and this was a real pain in the a**. I cannot believe that Chrysler does not use a self adjusting tensioner on these cars. You must adjust the tension from an almost totally inaccessible location. I felt that I had really achieved something when I was finished, but wished that I did not have to. I have changed serpentine belts on a 1995 Suburban which was very easy and on a 1992 Grand Caravan, which was just easy. The Intrepid was not even in the same ball park.
The NYer was actually really easy. Only three belts, and two of them follow the same route. IIRC, the power steering pump was on the one-belt loop, while the a/c and alternator were on the two-belt loop.
I guess the serpentine belts have their advantages in (usually) lasting longer, and only having to replace one belt. But they sure make up for it in aggravation! :mad:
A well designed serpentine belt can probably be changed in 5 minutes or less, and with an automatic belt tensioner, there is no adjusting. The Suburban was easier because the belt was right in the front and there was lots of room. On the Caravan it is on the side and not quite as accessible and you really need a special tool to do it easily.