Problems with 07 Dodge Caliber SXT

musicnote1

I bought a 2007 Dodge Caliber brand new from a dealer. I have kept everything up oil changes ect, just put new tires (4). My last oil change I was told that the ball joints need replace as soon as possible. My car has about 62,000 miles. I have no money to have this fixed, so I don't know what I am going to do. I still owe $11,000 on this car. It wasn't until I got new insurance that I found out that the car has had recalls that I never knew about them. Can the recalls still be fixed or not.

tammy0727

I was told that it needs a special fluid exchange with a special machine and its cost a lot extra... havent gotten that far yet.

tammy0727

I just had my car into a local dealership where I had won a free oil change. I was told that my left front lower ball joint was severe and needed replacement now. My concern is that 3000 miles ago I was at my normal service station and they didnt mention anything to me about it. I just got my snow tires on 1 month ago and alignened as well and they didnt mention anything to me about it either. I am taking it somewhere after work to get it checked out. In reading some articles, I am seeing that you cannot just replace the ball joint but you have to do the entire control arm as well.....does anyone know if this is true or can you just get away with changing out the ball joint itself??? UUUGH....Merry Christmas to me!!!

j_rimmer

I own both a 2007 caliber R/T and a 2007 caliber SXT (along with multiple other vehicles of various makes). I have replaced the front lower control arms on both vehicles (right and left sides). The lower control arms come complete with ball joints and the bushings. Since typically the bushings wear out as well it makes good sense to replace the assemblies instead of just the ball joints (which are available on their own). Doing both sides at the same time will put your vehicle back into reasonable condition all at once and you will save by not having to do two separate wheel alignments. Your tires will no longer wearout prematurely (my experience) and you will be confident that the ball joint will not have a catastrophic failure. Check Rockauto.com for an idea of pricing. I believe they are approx. $100 per side complete. They are a simple bolt on application and anyone with some mechanical aptitude could do this. Remember to get your front end alignment checked afterwards (you could probably have the technician double check your installation while he has the car on the alignment rack.

They do wear out so I would likely err on the side of caution.

My R/T had less than 50,000 mi. when it needed replacement of the LCAs. The SXT had 90,000 mi. BUT at that time the ball joint was about to separate which would have caused loss of control of the vehicle. Hope this helps.

tsurnick

Ok, I have had my caliber since 2007 when I bought it new. It started making this winding sound when the car is running. It gets louder when I have it in drive wheather I am sitting at a stop light or driving it does not matter. Sometimes it shakes when sitting at a stop light. (it is an automatic Trans). The noise seems to be comming from the belt area. I think it might be the Alternator bearings because there has been times when the noise goes away. The reason I think it is the alternator, is that sometimes at stop lights, it seems to shake a little and the rpms seem to slow way down almost like its going to die. I looked at the Belt and it is fine but the alternator seems to have some brown dust around the vent area by the pulley.(is that normal?). I checked and the alternator is $220.oo and before I spend the money to get it fixed< i wanted to get some oppinions. It seems to run rough at times and I diddnt know if the alternator would make it run rough if its not getting the correct Voltage? or maybe the load on the engine from it being bad would make it shake like that ? Sometimes when I am at a stop light, I put it into neutral and the idle seems to even out and it seems fine except for that winding noise. (the noise kind of sounds like when a young kid puts a playing card on the wheel of a bike and rides the bike) if you understand what I am talking about.
Any ideas would be helpful. I may try call the dealer and see how much they would charge to tell me what is wrong with it.
On another note, I took it to advance auto parts and they put the code reader on it and nothing came up on the reader, which is good but That doesnt help me figure out what is wrong with it.

Please help....

srrdaly

I met a guy who said he worked at the plant in Micigan where the Caliper was built. He stated that "Dodge was aware of the Mitsibihi engine and other front end items to be over weight for the tie rods, suspension and other related parts. Efforts were made to decrease the overall weight but from reading all the complaints and I myself experiencing same front end problems they apparently fudged on making a necessary adjustment. I bought my SXT in 2007 having 17,000 miles on it for 13,000! I still owe 2 yrs payments and recently had a problem. Cruise shut down, car jerked foreward, and acceleration dropped from 65 to 50?? solution; lender repossion,do homeworkstart over before I become a Dodge sucker!

srrdaly

When I first bought my SXT I thought what a gret car! I met a guy who said he was a line supervisor at the Michigan plant. He talked up the motor and transmission but did state the front end parts, engine etc. specked out over weight on the designed parts like tie rods, ball joints, etc. He said some redesign plans were approached to reduce weight on those parts but apparently they fudged on quality and seen an opportunity to capitalize ?? I bought mine with 17,000 miles on it, dealer used, and when I had problems it was still under warrenty. This was a left tie rod. After the warrenty expired the right ball joint went and now I am experiencing another problem. The check engine lite came on and wife said the cruise control shut off. I filled all fluids as recommended and thought perhaps a catilytis convertor was the probem since nothing else was happening. The next morning when my wife was coming home the car made some jerking and speed dropped from 65 to 50 and though she tried to accelorate it would not increase speed. A mystery for sure. After reading the many complaints and the potential costs down the road I realize getting rid of this lemon is my best bet. However, I cannot in good conscius sell it knowing I would be doing what the manufactor has done. Since I still owe my lender 2+ more years at 270.00 a month I am going to show them all these complaints and let them repossess the car. Perhaps a consummer crusade can develope and where Dodge as well as others will begin producing automobiles with real quality! Worried about your credit score? thats what they hope you will do!! NO FEAR HERE!!

caliber3

Is this a third world forum? Caliper? Really? And no, the lower control arms are non serviceable. Tell us more about the repo on the car and how you think they care about how bad the car is. You all sound retarded.OMG!

highwaysurfing

Hi, I'm having the same problem as you are. Did you find where the water was coming in at??? I've had up to 4 inches in the rear passenger right side . If you found an anwser to this problem would love to hear from you. thank you, Tim Potter

momof3cats

Hi, yes I found were my water was coming in. First off I had leaves and junk down from were they land on the windshield and go down the side. On my passenger side door in the front there are some screws. Open the door and going up by the front wheel is were the screws are. Because the driver side was plugged with leaves the water flowed to the passenger side. First we cleaned out the leaves then my father put some kind of water sealent over the screws and put heavy duty tape over that. No more water. Hope this helps. Theresa

ekr032

Bought my caliber in July 2011, it was an 07 SXT. When test drove it was 100 degrees outside, never tried heater, found out heater core was needed to be replaced. Found a guy to do it cheap. It works fine. The used car lot I bought it from wouldn't touch the car, said see if it still has its original warranty, which it doesn't. Well then the first freeze came, the car started, let it warm up, the check engine light and Electronic Throttle Control Indicator Light came on. Turned off the car, wouldn't restart. Towed it to Walmart for new battery, since it was soo badly corroded that the terminals broke. Now the check engine light doesn't go off unless it is above 50 degrees. Everything was fine until I was headed to work at 4am. Got to an intersection, stopped at light, it changed, went to accelerate, nothing. No rpm, nothing. Brake pedal has pressure on it, like it was jammed in or something. Let the car sit for half an hour, froze my [non-permissible content removed] off, it restarted. Couldn't go above 30mph without it kicking. Anyone have an idea? If not I am getting rid of this POS!!!

gary7878

let me tell u something i gave very good hard working money for my car n three day my car is falling apart i own my own business n town it from battery light coming on and staying on to the check eng.light staying on and now the car has a loud winding noise coming from it took it to auto zone today put the tester on it all looks good they say so now my car is n the shop and i dont even know what is wrong with it.i think it is a piece of junk and i owe 17,000 on it

corod

i had the same problem on my 09 sxt caliber. my problem was indeed the alt., turns out the fan blade inside the alt was breaking and rattling around inside of it. i got the alt replaced and after one week i was driving and the car just shut down on me. i got the car to start drove home took out the alt and unfortunately the same thing that happened to my first alt just happened to my new alt. im in the process of trying to bypass my compressor which i think is at the root of my problem..

tayc

I have an '07 Calibur that I purchased new in '06. I haven't had really that many problems with it. We replaced the alternator a couple of years ago and one of the headlights went out and we had problems getting the new one to work so we just hot wired the left light to the right one so the high and low beams would work. We have about 110,000 miles on it and it is still in good shape. But now it is shaking when we stop at a light. If I put it in neutral it stops shaking. I thought it might be something to do with the tranny but my tranny guy says it is something to do with the motor. He suggested checking the motor mounts (they are all fine), and we started thinking that it might be a pully arm tensioner or something. Anyone having the same problems?
BTW: I dont want to hear all the bitching, just looking for some intellegent input. Any suggestions?

lovedmykia

...going over rocks...

We had a local mechanic take a listen and he said it may just be one of the three pulleys. So 100$ later, we replaced all three pulleys and belt to no avail. Same noise and it's loud and constant. Called the dealership and checked for recalls and nothing. Looks like it's a new alternator for me and 400$ for the mechanics Hopefully this will fix the problem. I still owe 7000$ on the car and in reality, I want to drive it into a lake.

msgreeneyes

My Dodge Caliber is currently in the shop for the alternator. It begin to whine, just as you've stated in your complaint. The car has 74,000 miles on it. It does much more than whine, it almost sounds as if the engine has a serious knock when running. Has only gotten worse. Literally just took to dealership yesterday.
My car also has the crunching or popping noise when turning..has since I bought it. It almost feels as if I'm going to lose control of the vehicle when making a turn quickly. NO one has been able to diagnose the popping noise at this point.

mik_yelnats

My 2008 caliber was hesitating around 25 mph and 45 mph, sort of jerking. I looked in the owners manual and saw that the plugs should have been replaced at 30,000. This was bolded in the book, which meant it was a must, not a maybe. Well, my car was at 66,000 and as an original owner, I knew I'd never had the plugs replaced. So, I dropped it off, and asked them to check, and sure enough, the plugs were bad. They hadn't noticed when I dropped it off for inspection 2 months ago, though the recommended other non-critical things. So, check the plugs. They are supposed to be changed every 30,000 miles. If you haven't had them changed, it may be the source of your problem.

mjjohn

Hi. I am currently having the same issues. Could you please tell me if the alternator fixed the noise? Thank you very much and greatly appreciate it.

sarabjit1973

i am having problems with it starting up got new battery. starts up 1 day but not next day and never 2 days in a roll,jump starts fine every time dont know what to do next

chryslergroup

Hi sarabjit1973,

Sorry to hear you are having a concern with your 2006 Dodge Caliber.

I checked for Technical Service Bulletins but could not find anything related to the concern you described. You may want to consider having the vehicle diagnosed by your local authorized Dodge Service Department or a trusted mechanic.

Lisa
Customer Care
Chrysler Group LLC

breirv

Hi! I have a 2007 Dodge Caliber. It now has 204,000 miles on it. It has been a great little car and obviously I have driven the wheels off it. Reading these posts makes me smile. I've been thru so many of the same things. I drive 54 miles to and then from work.

The crunching, popping noise.. replace the ball joints. Get the ones that come all together and change everything at once! We tried pressing them in, but that didn't last long. Been great since.

Had to hot wire left head light to right head light and never did figure that out except one mechanic told me he thought a small part of a "card" was burnt out that controlled the headlights. So we ran a wire... works fine.

At 120,00 had to replace the alternator... but the first one we bought at the parts store only lasted a few days. This past summer at 180,00 miles we had to put in the THIRD air conditioning compressor, the first to were factory problems. Something about not having enough liquid or pressure in them to begin with. Changed 3 in two weeks. Our mechanic was very frustrated... but it wasn't the car's fault! After market parts.

Now the switch that controls the direction the heat/air blows isn't working. Anyone have any issues with that?

matthew_brad30

Has anyone ever Bypassed the Ac and the smog pullies. Both? My ac pully is going out, and now my smog pully is going out. I want to just bypass them both. Is this a logical decision? :confuse: :confuse: :confuse: :confuse: :confuse:

grits2009

Hello, I have had to replace the alternator. Replaced front right ball joint and control arm. Still not right. Took it into Chrysler today to have it checked out... They told me the rear ball joints need replaced tie rods, sway bar and more.

Really rear ball joints?

Oh as as for the blower... yeah I have issues with it too. The "fan" works on all positions but one. It works but not like it should. Also when I change from or to defrost it wants to kick back up off defrost. I usually just hold it until it takes hold. Also the speakers are gone. I think there might be one or two that still work barely.

I have hated this car ever since I got it. Only reason why I got it is because I needed something ASAP.

Any one out there have an issue with ALL the blind spots? I have counted 6 of them.

dee108

I bought a used Dodge Caliber at 55000 kms. Ran great till I hit around 120,000. Currrently sitting around 208,000. I have had to replace front struts. Now I need to replace ti rods and ball joints. The other day my check engine light popped on. After taking a look under the hood, the downstream o2 sensor is in two pieces! The plug on the wire harness end is missing completely!! As well as the plug on the sensor itself. Also have a newly added ticking/knocking noise coming from the passanger side of the motor! Maybe the top end? The car is running horrible!! Stalling at lights, etc. Idling anywhere between 500-1000 rpms. No idea what this could be??? Anyone have any ideas?? Soo frustrated!! Any input would be great!!!

jamacc

My Caliber is about 80k miles now. At 60k I had the ticking noise, it ended up being the alternator,; the belt was pulling the alternator apart I should say causing the metal to clang and make the ticking sound. I have had my mechanic for 8 years and 3 cars so I have faith in his judgement. He said that the alternator issue is fairly common with the caliber. He also said just about everyone at one time or another will replace the struts, joints and even the ties because the body is too heavy for the chassis and owners start see problems around 50 to 60 k miles with these cars. I have not had the O2 sensor issue yet. I wish I would have done my research, Apparently Dodge is replacing the Caliber with the Dart even though the Caliber is one of its best selling cars so these issues must be very common!

dee108

I agree, I wish I done my research as well. I'm going to check the alternator out, but not sure that will cause the stalling, low idle, and rough sounding motor... Guess that will be the next thing to have to figure out. Really beginning to think of a trade in.... Any one have the rough ride, staling problem??

stanton_7346

I purchased my 07' caliber in 06'. I have over 200,000 miles on it (I use to like to drive). I've replaced the Throttle Control and I've had to replace the alternator twice (the first one, an after market, was defective). Now I'm having the whinning sound again and seems as if the car is struggling at times uphill. When I reach 60mph, it starts to shake (maybe balancing and rotating the tires will cure that). I've changed the oil and the spark plugs. I have new hoses. I just noticed today that the engine is ticking. If anyone is having this problem or has had this problem, if you have any suggestions I'm more than willing to listen. I'm putting her in the shop today or tomorrow. I love my car and I haven't had any major repairs other than the Throttle Control (all other repairs I've bought the certified Dodge parts online and had a mechanic install). Thanks for listening

brittneybagley

Hello! I have a 2007 Dodge Caliber and was having a similar problem. It wouldn't start and wouldn't even turn over when I tried the key. One minute it would work and then it wouldn't and then it would again. We thought it was the battery at first but that was completely fine. Then we thought it was the starter but that turned out fine as well. Turned out it was actually the key. Apparently the chip in the key went out and wasn't registering every time I cranked it. I've been using my spare key since and it's working just fine. If you don't have a spare, take it to a dealer and have them fix the key. Hope that helps!

shannon_steel

Hello,
I'm having a repeated problem with my check engine light. It's been on since I've owned the car (6 years). In order to pass a smog check in the state of California, my check engine light can not be on, and I do not feel like paying someone illegally to pass it. The "mystery code" is P161b. I have been told by the dealer that this is not a valid code, but it is... It showed up on the diagnostic. It is also a code that will not clear! Please help! Does anyone know what this could be? Maybe there's a secret sequence of buttons to push to clear the code? I'm desperate! Thanks!

The problems my caliber has are: the passenger air bag light is on (below the air conditioning controls) and the airbag light on the dash is on. It also has a hard time starting sometimes and when it does that, when I accelerate, it jerks and does not move above 1 mph fully gassed. I turn it off and let it rest for a minute and then it's fine. Also, sometimes when I'm at a light and I accelerate, it lacks the power to go, so I gun it and blow out whatever is in the engine, then it seems to work fine.

Thanks again for any advice you may have!

crazystang70

You mentioned you had the problem fixed at the dealer but you didn't say what the problem was. Can specify because
I am having the same issue. Thanks.