Chrysler 300M

greasykid1 · May 2002

Have 2001 300M with oem 225/55/17 michelins. Am considering going to 235/55/17s.Possibly bridgestone Revo Z or Dunlop sport. According to tirerack site there is almost no differance in rev/mi. so fit should be no problem.

Anybody have experience or comments?

toms99 · May 2002

I agree with the article with ONE exception: I had the dealer replace my tranny fluid at 30K and the differential fluid at 40K. With Chrysler's reputation for tranny problems, I felt it was a reasonable investment. Although there have been very few reported tranny problems with the 300M/LHS (other than the speed sensors) why take the chance? This is one case where I would rather over-do the maintainence!

lonestarsled · May 2002

I have a LHS and replaced my grill that was damaged due to the license plate bracket. It required removal of the front fascia. I would assume that the 300M uses the same method to attach the grill to the fascia. Removing the front fascia is not hard at all. There are about 18 fasteners that hold the front fascia on. Majority of them are reusable plastic anchors. Four of them in the wheel well area can be cut out, plastic rivets. I have pics but no where to post them. If you have a broad band connection, I can email them to you to give you an idea of what is involved.

achance · May 2002

I'd really appreciate it! Have cable modem - achance@gci.net

easyrider300m · May 2002

there is a Chrysler-Dodge Day event at the Museum of Transportation in Brookline, MA on May 26th. I went last year and it was pretty good. About 30 or 40 Mopar cars of yesteryear were on display. Refreshments are also served. Here is the link for more information. http://www.mot.org/index_flash.html Click on events for details.

Easyrider300M

300michael · May 2002

to all the Mothers out there in 300M land.

beach15 · May 2002

I second the Mother's Day wish! Happy Mother's Day everyone!

toms99 · May 2002

If you wouldn't mind, I's like the LHS grill/fascia removal pics as well...

My dealer did the "Headlamp Welt" TSB awhile back and ever since the seam between the front of the hood and the front fascia seems way too big.

The dealer says it meets factory specs...That may or not be true...All I know is it "looks" larger than when I brought it in.

I'd like to play around and see if any adjustment can be made...

(I have a cable modem too, so let 'em rip!!)

tsokol5@comcast.net

300michael · May 2002

Pretty soon the (Special) 300M (even the stock version is faster) is going to be the slowest Chrysler in their lineup. With all the LH cars getting 3.5L engines, and the PT getting turboed. Of course the Viper need not be mentioned along with the Neon that is being redune. So much for Marketing it as a performance lux sedan. If they keep this up is will soon be marketed as a golf cart.
Sorry, for the rant and rave, but What are they thinking (or not thinking, is the problem)?
I want to get rid of my Honda next year and was hoping for something good. I may have to keep it another year.

sirharper · May 2002

Things will get better soon. After stifling R&D for 2 years the Germans are finally getting the picture and pulling out a few stops.

captainps1 · May 2002

would like a set of those lhs grill replacement pictures also. email to denvercane@aol.com

sdmike2 · May 2002

I can put those up on my site if you want.

achance · May 2002

Well, I can't top the five Ms in the earlier post, but I saw three at one intersection (including mine) a day or two ago in Juneau, AK, pop. 30K. I regularly meet a gold one and a red one like mine on the way to work. Now all we need is a road to drive them on!

redvel · May 2002

Hi all, I have a 2000 300. I would like to say that it has been trouble-free, but I can't. I had to have the weather sill replaced on passenger's door due to leak when raining, but the dummies did the driver's door. The molding on rear passenger door has a tendency to come undone, I can usually press it back on. lol. Sometimes when I start the car I see blue exhaust. I complained about it twice; response, "Problem was not duplicated". Even let the dealer keep car over the weekend. Do not see the blue everyday, just every so often, and I can here valve rattling. Have about 32,000 miles. Is the dealer trying to wait out my warranty or what? Anyone else have this problem? Please advise.
Note: Sometimes the car is not driven at all on the weekend, could this contribute?

Thanks Redvel

ottowrkr · May 2002

You wont have to wait till next year, the club also holds another show in the fall at the plant. I usally go to the fall one myself. The spring one never has nice weather, and being on Mothers Day sure dont help. Plus you can get the M all nice for the tour in Aug.

300michael · May 2002

You have made a complant, so the problem is on record (before the warranty ended), just keep complaining to them.
I would keep a journal for the car. and write down lenght of drive, tempiture, conditions (rain, snow, ect), how long the car sits before starting it again. To see if a pattern develops.
Have them change out the passengers door. and mention the blue smoke again.
The squeeky wheel gets the grease.

wire2 · May 2002

>Is the dealer trying to wait out my warranty or what?

If you've been to the dealer for a complaint in the warranty period, it's documented in their file on your car. Typically, they'll honor a related claim after the warranty runs out. The service manager should be able to confirm/deny.

easyrider300m · May 2002

it sounds like oil burning up in the engine---if its a bad leakdown then you would notice the oil level dropping--keep an eye on oil level---if you lose over a quart between oil changes I would demand they look into it---

sdmike2 · May 2002

white smoke = water
blue smoke = oil
black smoke = my wife's cooking

laurasdada · May 2002

A milestone today for my '99 Platinum, non-php, roof-holed, shiny wheeled and boom-boxed stereo'd 300M: I passed 36,000 miles! I'm out of warranty! Oh, joy?...

To date, warranty work:
Two window motors
One speed sensor
TSB work for rear door interior panels and stereo speakers.

All in all, a wonderful car, especially as I bought a first model year Chrysler! My fuel economy is now about 21 mpg using 87 mostly 40 miles/day commute. Not too bad. I'm looking forward to another (at least) eighteen months of trouble-free ownership. Two more payments and I own the Platinum bullet.

It is too bad Chryco didn't continue to evolve this fine automobile since inception. I still find it to be one of the best looking sedans on the market (does anyone really think a Caddy CTS is a better design than the M???), and a marvelous value in that MSRP is just a number in the window...! I've got a few luxuries (driver's seat ingress/egress slide: I love that! and memory settings for mirrors, e.g.)that the evil wife's Lexus RX300 doesn't have.

This car may not be the fastest to 60, pull the most .gs on the skidpad or stop the shortest. But, it does everything well! When you combine all the elements of performance, style, economy, utility and VALUE, I don't think there are a lot of ~$30k cars (not cars that START at $30k) that can touch it. Just MHO, of course.

To all that have had lesser 300M owner experiences than I (or most on this board), that is a shame, I feel for you. I hope that Chryco really knocks it out of the park with the next iteration. Good luck to all, continue to enjoy your Ms!

To celebrate this milestone, I think I'll take a road trip this weekend. Now, where should I go? Any thoughts, fastdriver??? ;-)

jgranata · May 2002

don't have a 300m but like like the banter on this
board...as far as the blue smoke issue, you might
have a problem with worn valve guides...this problem will not cause a problem with performance
and will not lead to more serious problems with the motor, if not repaired...to verify that the
motor is sound have a compression test and/or a
leakdown test done...if there's no loss of compression or any wide swing between the cylinders for compression...the motor is sound...
if you pull the plugs...the tip and the ground
conductor should be grayish white, but you will
probably see oil on the threads of the plugs..this
is the tip off that the guides are worn...jack g

easyrider300m · May 2002

good to hear you on this board again....I think most M owners have had a good experience with their M's. I have had several small problems with mine but nothing major.

door gaskets shrinking, imperfection in wood trim on dash, one window regulator, 2 door lock solenoids, one window switch, powersteering hose leak, seat movement (bad bolts), bad speaker.

I now have 34k on the dial and everything is running well now. Plan on keeping it at least another 3 years.

Laurasdada: suggestion for a place to go celebrate your trouble free M and warranty expiration: why not FOXWOODS where you can celebrate with free libations, tempting waitresses, nice atmosphere, and the excitement of making a donation to the Indians.

Easyrider300M

jona57 · May 2002

Hard to believe, but sirharper's post reminded me that my 2001 300M is now a year old & has needed zero warranty work. Time flies!!
Anyway, with the traditional anti-Chrysler bias of its subscriber base (remember that those CR owner reliability surveys are ONLY from CR subcribers), CR's rating of the 300M as above average in reliability must mean it's truly outstanding. Based upon the experiences of several colleagues, I have a hard time believing the MB C-class is ONLY 5% below ave. This does not bode well for the new 300N (since it is reportedly to share many MB components).

Jon

blonda · May 2002

I assume you are talking about the outside window molding or bezel as DC calls it. I had 3 replaced on my 99 under warranty due to poor fit and finish. (They did it for me no questions asked). They updated the design since 99/00 and the fit is much better. The bezels are several separate pieces that fit together instead of one solid, molded piece. Just have this information with you when you ask the dealier to fix it: the corner piece (the half circle shaped, bottom corner piece) on the new design is a separate piece....it looks much better, but will be different from the one on the other side. You may want to TRY to get them to replace both just for that reason. I was semi successful in getting this done, as the rear on the driver's side was the only bezel they didn't replace. They agreed to switch out the rubber trim pieces to make it match a little better, but I still have the solid molded piece on that side and the newer design on the other(I was out of the mfg. warranty by that time so I couldn't complain too much).

grunschev · May 2002

I passed 50k miles this weekend. The car will be 3 years old in about 10 days. So I'm running about 17k miles per year. I have had no issues in the 14k miles since warranty expiry.

I have two road trips planned for this summer. Next month I'll be driving to Dallas and back (2000+ miles) and the weekend of 9/1 I'll make a trip to Denver for the Grand Prix (1800+ miles). Question for Denver folks: How bad is traffic with the T-Rex construction? We'll probably be staying somewhere near DTC for the race and that project will probably affect our commute!

Denverm, re wheel weight: I agree with what you say about the physics of the thing. But keep in mind on this that the outside diameter of the *tire* remains unchanged; all we've done is move the mass a fraction of an inch from the center of rotation. If you think of how the mass of the wheel and tire is distributed along the radius, at most we've moved the mass 1/2". I suggest that, although the effect is real, it is not significant and may not even be measurable.

Igor

denverm · May 2002

I agree that if it's just a question of moving some mass 1/2", that shouldn't measurably affect anything. I gather from others, though, that 18" wheels may be significantly heavier than 17" wheels, so that even with slightly smaller profile tires (to keep the same outer diameter) the overall weight is still greater. I don't know if that's true or not, but I was basing my comments on that assumption.

As for T-Rex, I really don't drive that section of I-25 very often, and never at rush hour. Conditions may well be very different in September, too. You might check the T-Rex web site: http://www.trexproject.com/ I'd say either try to avoid it or allocate extra time for the drive.

BTW, thanks for the CD - some great tunes, and an interesting mix.

scotian · May 2002

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/interior/center_console_light/

scotian · May 2002

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/exterior/old_new_b_pillar_trim.html

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/exterior/mvc-003f.html

http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/300m/exterior/exterior/mvc-004f.html

bigmike5 · May 2002

greasykid--I am running 245/50-17s on my 17x7" stock rims [99M non php]. There is very little product out there for the 7" rim. If you have that size, look at the "measured rim width" on the Tire Rack spec guide. Only a few 245s and 235s [none I think] will even be recommended on the 7" rims. Goodrich has 2. The Comp TAs [I have them in H rating @ $150 each] and the Scorcher, I think that is what they call the ones with the colors in the tread. I didn't like the colors and the weird tread design so I went with the Comps. I originally had some 245/45-17s on Dayton Daytonas in Z rating, but found out from the Bridgestone/Dayton chart that they were not recommended for lower than 7.5" rims. The seller changed them out once I called Bridgestone and they confirmed that they should not be on that size rim. The higher priced tires might fit, but I didn't want to go to $200 per. So far, the Comps have been great at the lower speeds but not as good as the Daytonas at the higher speeds. However, still better than the Badyears at any speed.

sdmike2 · May 2002

I don't know about you guys, but fotki almost always locks up my Netscape browser. Just doesn't like it I guess. Scott...how much do you pay for access and how much space does it give you?

blonda · May 2002

Scotian -
Looks like your replacement trim didn't match the original color wise huh? I was pretty fortunate, I don't know why, but the color was a perfect match between the new and old. That was my biggest fear before they installed it.

Redevl -
Let me know if you want to see what the new rear trim looks like and I can take a picture for you. But Scotian's pics show the difference how they are pieced together.

I may end up replacing my other rear trim on my own dime eventually. Unfortunately some "nice" person in a SUV appears to have opened their door on the flat portion and left a nice little dent there. I tried to see if the dentless repair guy could fix it but he was unable to.

videoman1 · May 2002

Ever since I saw the two tone seats of the 300M Pro-Am, I fell in love. So with a little graphics in Photoshop, I worked up how they would look in my M. It's at http://www.martin-productions.com/new-mod.htm.

There's a product from http://www.bryndana.com/ that can fix or change the color of leather. I bought a can and will be testing it out on some scrap pieces to see what the quality and ease of use is. Hopefully it works as good as they and others who've used it says. The problem is, this type of mod cannot be reversed.

Also, I hope to be ordering my Joshua Tree interior trim this week. Now if I can only get a few days that it doesn't rain.

hmk123 · May 2002

I totally agree with you. So far my almost 1 1/2 years old 300M has given me lot's of joy. I think of it as the "sexy Swiss army knife" of entry level luxury sedans. Reminds me of the old Atari slogan for their ST computer line: "Power without the price." I think the M is a great combination of many things: style, power, comfort and lots of room. About the CTS: I do think it is an "interesting" design, however I still prefer the 300M.

laurasdada · May 2002

Actually, I plan to hit Mohegan Sun as I've accidently left more of my money there. I'm sure somebody has found it and will be willing to return it to me! The evil wife ain't too thrilled with my road trips. They ain't been as profitable as they were back in y2k and the first half of 2001. But, like the Red Sox, this is my year!

I regularly read this board and post occasionally, but as I'm sure is true for many, not much to post when all is well in M-land. BTW, I think the Boston area is fairly M populous. Here at work, about 1000 people on campus and at least 4 300Ms in the lot. I was the first, however. Quite the trendsetter.

Raining quite heavily here. Nice to see the water beading on my freshly waxed (polymered?) M.

Hasta manana, amigos.

scotian · May 2002

$30/yr for unlimited storage & email account (which, strangely, has a storage limit).

fastdriver · May 2002

laurasdada-

Hey! How did I know that you prefer MS over FW? ;-)) I haven't been there myself lately. Guess it's safe now that they found the guy who robbed them of "some" chips! Turns out that a friend of mine knows this guy. He has a gambling problem. That's ended now.

Glad your car has held up well for you. Now that I have this car, I know how it feels to be problem free! Fourteen months and 14,500 miles and not a single problem. Just the luck of the draw I guess. Can't wait for some sunny weather and some free time to put on some Z. Last coat was over 2 months ago. Hasn't been washed in weeks either because of all this crazy rain. Thundering and lightning right now. Think it's coming your way! ;-))

Glad you're still here.

fastdriver

grunschev · May 2002

Thanks for the link to TRex. I knew the project was big, but had no idea it went that far south! I'll have to revisit the decision on where we stay for the race.

Glad you enjoyed the CD. You won't hear any of that stuff on the radio, particularly since you are in an area where one company pretty much rules the airwaves. (Okay, maybe KGNU plays some of that stuff, but that's about it!)

On the wheels, I haven't heard any real data comparing the weights of the various wheels. My 18x8 custom wheels weigh in at 24lbs each. Dubson's 20" wheels were 76lbs each. I would say 76lb wheels will cause a measurable difference, but I'm guessing the Special's wheels are more like mine than Dubson's.

Perhaps this is a question for wire2 or ottowkr. Can either of you guys provide weights for the wheels in question? Obsessed minds want to know!

Igor

km99cobra · May 2002

Talked with salesman at the dealership today about the brand new Special that wouldn't start on Saturday when I went to pick it up. They diagnosed the problem as a bad PCM (Power Control Module) and the part won't be in for two days supposedly. They still want to deliver it to me after it's been repaired, and they offered nothing in the way compensation. I don't know what I'm going to do, you know "the bad vibe" alarm is going off inside me. Maybe this is one of those Friday p.m. or Monday a.m. cars and this is just the beginning (J/K Otto ;-)).

fastdriver · May 2002

km99cobra-

Or it could be another ............... Nah, never mind.

fastdriver

km99cobra · May 2002

There, I said it!

easyrider300m · May 2002

Glad to hear the M is running fine.

I havent been to MS in over 2 years. Any improvements --shopping , restaurants, hotels, casinos... in the last couple of years? I was at FW about a month ago. Spend some time in the Racetrack Betting room and made my donation.

I hope you arent going to do a repeat of that gambler fanatic who thought the casino should give him his money back. You said and I quote "Actually, I plan to hit Mohegan Sun as I've accidently left more of my money there. I'm sure somebody has found it and will be willing to return it to me! "

By your quote, I hope you arent serious about doing that "hit."

mikeyjohn · May 2002

One week ago to-day we had a snowstorm go through and dump 3 ft. of snow in 24 hrs. and to-day the temp was in the 70's and sunny with no snow as it all melted and I spent the morning washing the car inside and out. Man this car sure looks beautiful when it is all clean and sparkely.

I also have problems with Fotki, I thought it was just my computer, but it locks up my computer big time, and seems to take forever to clear.

fastdriver · May 2002

km99cobra-

NO! You said the "C" word! God forbid. ;-)) Two were enough to cross the border!

laurasdada-

LOL.. I can see the headlines now......."Out of stater attempts to recover his losses at MS"! ;-))

fastdriver

sirharper · May 2002

Like every car model some may be gems and some will be lemons, they may even be one after the other on the line. In my expirence the operator of the vehicle has a huge impact on the durability as much as initial build quality even. When I'm at my 5* for an oil change I can't help but wonder what shock the owners of the Camry's with engines pulled across the street must be feeling. But...Toyota's don't break right? That's why people buy them right?

fastdriver · May 2002

sirharper-

They must be doing SOMETHING right! They sell an awful lot of them. The quality can't be a figure of everyone's imaginations.

When you have problems with a car from day one, I don't think the "operator of the vehicle has a huge impact on the durability". The reliability has to be there in the first place before the durability can kick in!

fastdriver

beach15 · May 2002

I agree fully, but won't go on any further!

greasykid1 · May 2002

Have less than 7000mi recently my outside mirrors no longer tilt down in reverse and also no dr. seat glide function. Any suggestions? Could there be a connection on these 2 problems?

denverm · May 2002

I don't think I'd let the bad PCM deter me. A few components are going to be bad or fail, and that's what the warranty is for. When I went to pick up my M, the salesman took a while to bring it around, and when he did he told me that they had to jump start it. He said the battery probably just needed to charge, but if I had any problem to bring it back. I drove it that night up to the mountains to a family cabin, 50 miles or so, but sure enough, in the morning I had to jump it. Stopped in to the dealer on my way back home, got a new battery, and no problems of that nature since (and only a few other small problems). I don't believe that every 300M is perfect, but I do think after spending nearly two years on this board that most are very dependable. All the other great attributes of this car make it worth an occasional service trip.

mikeyjohn · May 2002

Go back to your manual, it looks like you may have turned off that function from your overhead message center. It happened to me shortly after I got the car and I thought it was a major fault. I felt kind of foolish when the General Manager turned it back on for me.

99_300m_ric_va · May 2002

I do know if you set the seat back too far, then it will no longer slide back and forth when you enter/exit the car. It gets to a certain point and then moving the seat back a couple of inches is impossible.

I'm not sure about the tilt mirrors since my 1999 does not have them. The thought about turning either or both features off from the overhead console is highly likely if you have a 2001+ model.

Chrysler 300M

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