Chrysler 300M

300msadowner

I'm starting to see daylight on the top left corner on bth front doors. It's only viable when I open the door. A freind of mine happened to point this out to me today while I was talking with her while the door was open

300msadowner

I had a list of small problems

1. shimmy in the wheel, afer several dealership visits they determoned that I managed to a nail in both front tires. they just could plug the tires they had to replace them. Afterwards I began to get a drift and and shimmy was still there they did an aliment, and balanced my tires. after a while the drift came back after a long song and dance and several vists they rotated my tires more than once, balnced the tires two more times and finalyy the shimmy in the wheel stopped but then returned again short but this time only when i brake. they smoothed out the rotors to stop the shimmy. the car was still pulling and once agin they took it to a aliment outlet and they fix itt. 2 weeks later I'm gfeeling the pull again and today a friend of mine notice daylight coming through the weatherstrips of both front doors. I remind you that thia is a short version of the pain I went through. Grated the problems are mall but with a new car that cost 30,000 the last thing I expected to be running back forth to two different dealers, a good year outlet, and a aliment outlet. Call me crazy but its no way with a new car I end up drvivng a renatl crappy car on three different occasion.
PS sorry about the sp and grammer but i really get P*** off when I think abou the money i spent on the car and going through all of this.

beach15

We have a 2000 300M with 8,000 miles and when through a very similar story back in January and February--one to which my wife is still complaining. I first noticed that there was a loud rattle coming from behind the gauges while driving along at night. She then heard it and called the dealer we bought it from. In the interim between visits, more rattles and creaks have surfaced and we have been back and fourth from 2 dealers and three all day visits. Both Chrysler dealers made us mad and she started yelling at them because they were to imcompetent to find what was causing the noises. All the noises are still there, we just try to ignore them as best we can--the excessive road drone and the Infinity stereo help a lot!!

Our car also has the extremely common shrunken weatherstripping and you can see daylight coming through when the doors are open. We also have a slipping/bumping transmission that needs to be looked at soon. When slowing down and reaccelerating at around 5-10 mph, there is a very hard bump, slip that snaps your neck. I checked the fluid which was fine but still don't really know what is wrong--I have emailed DaimlerChrysler as before, and am expecting a reply on the transmission issue soon.

We understand your anger because when you shell out the kind of dough you did for a 300M, you expect something a lot better than what it turns out to be. As for the shimmies and shakes, our barely broken-in 300M has all kinds of funny moves. For instance, yesterday on a brand new paved highway, I noticed that the car seemed to wobble and shake around a lot. I have an old 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu with very worn out shocks that moves very much like this car on the highway. I know we didn't get the "tighter" PHP suspension goodies, but this car seems to have loosened up significantly. These shakes and wobbles are so intermittent and variable, were not worried about getting it checked out.

My advice: Keep complaining and taking your car to the dealer as much as you can, inconvenianced or not. After four or so visits for the same repair with no success, you can enact the lemon law. I just saw a special on lemons on Good Morning America and it seems a little screwy--just be careful. We have also had ours now for about 7 months and while it is my wife's car and she just hates it somedays and likes it others, I still think it's a nice car and not near being a "lemon" (at least not yet!).

Try these sites:

Chrysler Assisstance

http://chrysler.ask.com/index.asp

(Go to "Contact Chrysler" and proceed through the directions.)

This place to contact Chrysler is very helpful and they usually reply promptly to your message.

http://www.lemonlaw.com

This might be helpful to you soon?

sdmike2

What year is your 300M? You implied that it was new, but they didn't put Goodyear tires on the 01. There are several owners here that had problems with the Goodyear tires and had them replaced or balanced using a more advanced machine, the Hunter DSP9000. Hopefully someone will chime in on this. My guess is that getting rid of the Goodyear tires will solve your balance and alignment problems.

The shrinking weather stripping is a known problem in pre-01 300Ms, and the dealer should replace them free of charge.

funroads

For anyone out there pondering a purchase... Good news!

The DC rebate on the M is up to $2500 (in the Northeast anyway).

BTW: A dealership near Boston regularly advertises M's at a price that is within $10 of the carbuyingtips.com spreadsheet price when allowing 4% profit. Will be heading there soon to order up a Deep Sapphire Blue w/ PHG and more.

sdmike2

Good news for those on the bubble. Use that extra $500 to get the luxury group or the full sized chrome spare

sdmike2

I got my car for a .75% profit (about $250), so it's very possible that you can still save yourself $500 or more off the price that Boston dealer is advertising.

Mike

matti3

Well, here goes nothing! I am new at this, while I have own computer number of years I have ewer being in these discussion croups. Any way, my problem is I am 6' 7" and 265 lbs and now you can see my problem. It is very hard for me to find shirt, trousers or good size car (exept Cadilac) Now everybody knows that Cad is BIG car, right? Now go and look at the specks, inside measurements are almost the same than intrepid, 300M and concord.
I tried siting in the town car and Mercury and bottom of the dash is shaped in such away that my right nee can not fit in and even if I force my self in to it, I could not do any long distance driving. Any ideas, anybody????? matti3

beach15

When you post a link, how do you get the link to show up as a word or words (Like "Big Red" for example) instead of the web address? What do you do/click?

beach15

The LH-cars are gigantic inside as you probably know, but if you couldn't fit in a Town Car or a Mercury (model?) it would be kind of hard. I'm about 6'3" (about 4" short of you) and I can fit in the 300M just fine. Try putting the seat as far down and back as you can and see if you can fit. I know that I always have trouble getting my legs in under the steering wheel without changing its position but once I am in, there is no problem with space.

pat

here is the syntax - replace the square brackets [ ] with angle brackets < >

[a href="http://townhall.edmunds.com/cgi-bin/townhall/welcome]Edmunds.com" Town Hall[/a]

When you replace the [ ] in the example above with < >, here is what will post: Edmunds.com Town Hall - clicking on that will take you to the link supplied following the "a href=" - in this example that will be Town Hall's Welcome Page at http://townhall.edmunds.com/cgi-bin/townhall/welcome.

Hope this makes sense!

Pat
Host
Sedans and Women's Auto Center Message Boards

pat

Folks, I remind you again the TOU requires civil and respectful discourse. Some posts not following this requirement have been removed.

There is a link to the Terms of Use on the left sidebar - if you have had a post removed, please review it.

Thank you.

Pat
Host
Sedans and Women's Auto Center Message Boards

matti3

I agree, with some cars, if I can get in to it I would be OK, how ever Like I said Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis has the bottom of the dash pulled down so I can not get room for my right leg. I am looking for a car that can move me and give me a comfort on long distance driving, when I go down south or visit my brother in BC I think nothing to drive 10 to 14 hours a day, if the conditions are good. But now I got to go, Minister of war and finance just walked in from the door and it's debriefing for me!

beach15

I was just surfing around on the Intrepid R/T forum and found a picture of an Intrepid R/T in which a true dual exhausts system had been installed. It said some creative bending was required but looks pretty clean and nicely done. I would imagine this would be much pricier to do than some of the dual exhaust jobs people on this board have done to their M's. Wonder what the performance increase is like?

Go here: <True Duals

300m_vt

It does look sharp. BUT, I don't see any catalytic box under that car, looks like the pipes come straight off the exhaust manifolds, down the car, into the mufflers. I wonder how emmissions testing would pass?

racefan009

the cats are up high in front just like on the m, the problem with that intrepid is that the pipes are way to small, we get much better flow with one pipe using the michael hujo design, some camaro/firebirds are not true duals either they have the transverse muff in the rear with the duals coming off the sides. the trep muffs are already rusting and the tips are not pleasing to the eye. with that setup all you would be hearing is drone and all the sound is in the rear. don't try it, you'll be back getting the hujo design and then yes it would be pricier.

Race

beach15

I don't really like the idea or looks of true duals like in the picture I posted either. For all the work and expense involved with this, they could have at least finished off the back with some nice tips or something. I think the original Hujo design is much better suited to any of the LH-cars, especially the 300M. Too bad my wife doesn't agree with me on doing something with her M's exhaust. Our's has always had kind of a low tone growl (strangely, I actually saw a TSB for this somewhere) to it while idling and at low RPM that sounds kind of nice but there isn't much when cruising except when the gas is really pressed.

sdmike- Great video, it really gives a good impression of what the final product is like. Your M really sounds mean and powerful now with the duals. One time I was in a hurry to get somewhere and chirped the tires but I never got such as nice sound as your's now has.

Anyone- How much do you think it would have cost Chrysler to install a similar factory dual setup right from the factory? I really don't think it would have cost that much and by adding a just little extra to the sticker for this, not many would mind knowing that their car has better performance. Next year's "Special" M should have this don't you think? Well, it just must be one of those things like the chrome shifter that was discontinued (I know most of you don't like it anyway, though). I still like the chrome window switches that are in my 2000 because as small as they are, they still look nice. I wish we had that real Walnut however.

300msadowner

Thanks for the advice. Taking a number from the book of Bill Clinton I do feel your pain. My 300M is very tempermantal as well. There are days when I love the car and its days like this one when I can't wait to rid myself of this pain in the a** car that seems to be falling apart piece by piece. My lawyer was in contact with Chrysler and of course those snobby A** holes refused to buy back the car. So now we are filing suite against them. Court date is for Dec 01. In the meantime I have to take the car back because of the weatherstrpes that's loose, and I noticed today as I was cleaning the car that on the right bottom corner passage side a floor panel doesn't seem to be completely attached to the floor like the left one. and on the left bottom rear door one of the bottom rubber stripes seemed to be loose. I do have to say that the steering wheel stopped shaking ( for the time being) but I'm starting to feel the pull again even when I hold the steering wheel straight the car seemed to go where ever it likes. I know I sound like a damn SOB, or a spoiled brat, but I'm not a rich a person. When I put money into something I expect it to last more than 7 months before things start falling off. I just feel as if I've been taking for a ride by the cyrysler dealer, and during the court proceedings I would be surprise to find that this car was a buy back and they didn't tell me. I doubt it though because at delivery the car only had 100 miles on it. Of course it could've been in a accident or flood or something because something is not right with this car. If I lose this case I'm going into a deep depression

beach15

I really feel bad for you but our 300M issues are very, very minor (kind of just complaints) compared to your's. I have noticed a few loose or misaligned things but nothing all that terrible. Sure, the noises used to be bad and I would vent a lot on this board (as you all know) but most of them went away and it wasn't like the car didn't run. Kind of strange though that your's seems to have a mind of its too--ours has good days and bad days just like a person. As for the money factor, I know how you feel. We have never had that nice of cars and our previous 97' Grand Voyager was the first new car we ever bought--it was also a stripped base model. So when my wife decided that she wanted a 300M, we were kind of excited. Power everything (it's our first car with power locks or windows), leather, a moonroof, heated seats, etc.; I was really impressed. I never thought we would have such a nice car.

What year, colors, and options is/are your car? Was it new when you got it? When did you buy it? Ours says March 2000 on the door so it had been on the lot for a few months but only had 53 miles on it when we bought it for $27,300 back in October. I hope the best for you and in the meantime try to enjoy the car as best you can while the weather outside is getting nice--oh yeah, where do you live by the way? If you could, take some pictures to post so we can see what your M looks like. I'll post the link to some new one's later.

easyrider300m

I would think the true duals would have better performance than the hujo design--too bad the intrep used clamps on the pipes instead of welding but I guess it would be easier to replace sections as necessary---race: that rust you think you see is actually the clamps that were used

SDMike: is your setup totally stainlees (pipes, mufflers etc.)

others who have duals---are your setups totally stainless or will your pipes need replacement in 2-3 years? If I do duals, I would want a totally stainess system even if a couple hundred extra--

beach15

I have added some new photos to my album that include a the shrunken weatherstripping from the outside, interior pics, and one of the engine.

New 300M Pics

beach15

Does anyone use a foldable sunshade in the windshield of their M's to block the sun when the car is sitting outisde? What kind did you use and where did you get it from? I think one of these might help block sun of the rays from completely baking the agate interior but don't know which one I should get.

99_300m_ric_va

I got on of those foldable dual hoop sunshades typically found at Walmart, Pep Boys, etc. It's black nylon on one side and one of many colors on the other. Get the Extra Large. You twist and fold it down to about a 1 ft circle for storage, so it lays in the floor board behind the seat when driving.

99_300m_ric_va

My dual exhaust on my 99 M is Aluminized. The Magnaflow and Rhino mufflers used are aluminized and so is the pipe in the back. I kept the stock pipe between the resonator and muffler, which is stainless. The Borla tips I used are stainless. The exhaust will last several years, or at least until I trade for the 300N.

racefan009

all aluminized here too, when is the last time you saw a rusted coke can??? last three cars i've owned never saw replacement tires much less exhaust parts. la di da!!!

Race

racefan009

mopar makes a nice one for the m, but i bought one from autozone, silver, folds up, fits great, XL.

Race

racefan009

you're right Easy, rusted clamps, "alls we gots is some of these here rusted clamps do you mind if we use em' on yer car? they hold better." i've seen better exhaust systems on old 80 model chebby pickmup trucks. good thing the owner of that car isn't an edmunds townhall poster, we might have to smack some sense into him.

Race

racefan009

whatever you do make sure you find a reputable shop, one with after school body shop kids, every town across America has one. :~)

Race

ruski

Does anyone know the color code for the Camel interior on the '99 300M?

And can anyone recomment a good vinyl repair kit?

I was fooling around with my center console today, hoping to find something inside of it that I thought had fallen into it (a cap from the cigarette lighter). So I took the shifter knob off and pried the console cover open.
Well, I did not find what I wanted there. When I was putting the plate back in, its front part gouged the vinyl on the left side.

I feel like a dumbass. I also cracked the black part of the plate a bit when I was pulling it up. But that is not very visible.

racefan009

must be a nice cig lighter huh??? as usual i have no answers for you sorry...

Race

sdmike2

Like the other Hujo design systems mine is aluminized except for the stock stainless intermediate pipe. With the mild weather (no freezing, no salt) in San Diego I think my exhaust should outlast my car.

Thanks for the compliment Beach. My wife finally got to drive the M for a while today (I drove the kids in the van, she drove the M). She said she really likes the way it sounds on the freeway.

-M

easyrider300m

all about cars, gals and jokes---check out the Corvette on the front page--then explore the rest of the site--this is a site to bookmark for everyday access!

http://www.uti.com/~thekeep/

rickgonz

matti3
I live in an area where a lot of the Washington Redskins live. Most of them are shorter than you, but they are big and heavy. They drive trucks/SUVs: Caddy Escalades, Ford Excursions & Expeditioners, Tahoes, Land Rovers, etc.

Either that, or you might have the dealer install longer seat tracks, so you can push your seat further back in whichever car you choose among the Lincoln, Ford, or Chrysler.

mrl859

You can buy a custom fit one from Covercraft (UVS100). Or, you can buy the exact same one from DC. They're both heavy duty cardboard covered in reflectorized material. The DC one has a "Mopar" emblem on it.

300michael

I to have a varient of the Hugo exhaust. The Midas shop warrienties the mufflers as long as I own the car. The mufflers are alum, the rest stainless steel.

hatax

I am using a stainless muffler up front to replace the factory collector muffler (14258) But then after the pipe back, it's aluminized on the muffler and pipes to the tips.. And it will be on this week hopefully! As soon as the 90 degree mandral bent pipes from JC Whitney get here (Thanx Roger!) it's getting slapped on, then I'll post pics for it.

charlesf2

Hi Ruski, It is nice to see a familiar face still in the town hall. It has been a year and a half since I have been here and I see a lot of changes. I see you are still driving that old 1999. How about the Pontiac, do you still have it? How is the wife and twin girls? My 2000 has over 18,000 miles on it now and not a problem. No window problems, pulling to the side, etc. etc. What was that guy's name who used to give us a bad time about how bad Chrysler products were? When did you move from the New York area. You should move out here to sunny CA. I am paying $1.66 gal at Costco and the power company has not shut off our electricity yet. Is that fellow still around who lived is Alaska?

fuzzywuzzy

Has anyone heard of a DC dealer called Colonial Chrysler Jeep. It's in Belmont. Bought My used explorer there, & drove it down to South FL.(1400 miles!) Just wondering??

tksatksa

I was washing my car Friday afternoon when I heard the Village Idiot down the street run up his Camaro and take off. I also saw the little guy (maybe 8) down the street on his bike come out of his driveway. I yelled, so did a neighbor, but no one could hear us.

I ran in and called 911. My neighbor went to the kid but when the EM got there he said the boy was instantly killed. I couldn't bear to go near. It's still shaking me up pretty good.

Have fun guys, but be careful. Take it to the track or the industrial area or out in the country or somewhere. Show some respect for you neighbors. And find your kid and give him an extra big hug.

I'm sorry this is a downer but I think its important. I never want to see anything like that again.

sdmike2

I have three kids. That story hit me right in the chest. A painful reminder that as much as we love our cars, they still weigh a ton and a half and can be lethal if not handled properly.

Sorry

-M

sugar300m

Thanks for your responses. Had some good driving this weekend. Tangled w/ an Acura tl type S heading out of Long Island around 2am sunday morning. He led, then I led, then he got off (the road). Blasted a guy who was driving his Explorer like an SHO (he did get over triple digits). Sugar also passed 29,000 trouble free miles this w/e. Perfection?? as close to it as Chrysler will come. What a car!

99_300m_ric_va - what aftermarket woodtrim package did you use? It looks great!

sugar300m

Very sorry to hear that. Thanks for the reminder. I live in a area full of kids, so I usually take it easy 'til I hit the highway.

ruski

hey, I still have the old 1999 M.

Grand Prix is gone. Lease ended in December. Wife got an SUV.

Moved from NY to FL about a year ago.

funroads

fuzzywuzzy:
I used to live in Belmont and still pass through there frequently. Colonial is a small dealership with a small stable of M's which I peruse occasionally as I try to make up my mind. (I do not own one, yet) Also, a friend is a part time salesman there.

Did you have a positive experience with your purchase at Colonial?

300michael

charlesf2, bushpilot is probably still digging out of the Alaskan snow. It has been a while since he posted.

tksatksa, All to true, there is a proper place for everything, but you will always have idots like him, who hurt (sometime kill) someone else in the process.

sugar300m, at least you caught him on the freeway. He would have taken you at the stop light. Most SHO's are over rated. Let me know when you take an M5

jgoodson

I think the interior code may be imbedded in the VIN number. I checked on a price for the center console lid recently and had to provide the VIN number for the correct color. I know the exterior color is in the VIN as I recently ordered touch up paint with it.

intrepidspirit

I have not purchased M's in succession, but I do currently have 2 M's (2000 & 2001)! What's kind of neat is comparing issues about the cars, not by memory, but by actual testing and observation. This should come in especially handy if I continue to have ACT issues with the A/C in my 2000. I could take both cars in at the same time and have the dealer explain to me why there is such an obvious difference. Hopefully, it would get him away from that "performs within spec's" routine...

Took my first actual "trip" in my 2000 M on Saturday -- total of 185 miles (175 on the freeway). I had 3 adults in the car, driving up to the high desert of Palmdale/Lancaster from the L. A. area through some pretty hilly areas on the 14 freeway. I got 26.2 miles per gallon, mostly @ 75 miles per hour. I was pleased!

Now have 6,500 miles on "His" and 750 miles on "Hers". Hers will pass His before long as my wife drives much further to work...

Last week at work I was asked why my inferno red 2000 300M always looks so immaculate and I quoted the gospel according to Saint Zaino...

sleepymw

sorry to hear about the boy. I have 5 kids of my own and for the life of me, I can never understand why anyone need to gun their car in a neighborhood, whether there are kids around or not. honestly, who cares if you know how to gun your car.. does it really impress anyone? rather than saying "pooh, nice car"I usually say "what an idiot"

the other day, my twins were out riding their bike and I had the baby in the push along bike while helping one of the twins get into the street while another was already in the street. the neighborhood idiot gal didn't even pay attention as she came pretty close to my daughter. I think id' have to beat her to a pulp if she had gotten any closer to my kid.

we live in a cul-de-sac and usually there are no traffic, but this lady lived down the street. now, I've often would stop until i can assess what the kids are going to do. ya know.. the usual when you go through a street you can ACTUALLY see the kid are outside on the street. but this dumb B just flew by... tell you what, if she's in a hurry to get somewhere, and had grazed my kid, she's be really late, AFTER i'm done with her, and after she's out of the hospital, that's for sure!

on a different note:

Sadowner: sorry to hear about your car we love our M's here and there have been a couple of them that has been problematic for other owners here, ask fastdriver... LOL.. but overall, it's a wonderful car.

Tomorrow Mary goes in for her rotor change and the stripping too. washed and waxed her today. gotta remind myself not to let them give me a complimentary wash and wax!

fuzzywuzzy

Fine. It was a used Ford Explorer. Sales guy was steve keating. I fly up, paid for it, drove it to Fl.

fastdriver

tksatksa-

How sad. Sorry to hear it.

intrepidspirit-

Nothing like Zaino on that Inferno Red!! Looks just like glass. ;-))

fastdriver