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My front brake pads lasted about 65000 miles (of course it is not miles that count, it is stops that count in brakes). The rears lasted about 90000 miles. That is some strange wear on your passenger side, it sounds like the pad was on crooked to get that kind of wear pattern.
I have a rattle in the driver's door and am thinking of taking the door apart to see if I can stop that rattle.
Have you ever changed the fluid in the power steering reservoir. Mine is looking pretty black and I was am thinking about changing some of it by sucking out what is in the reservoir and replacing with new fluid. I know that won't replace all of it, but a few exchanges should allow it all to be changed.
Keep that Intrepid going! :shades:
The last time I had my Intrepid in the shop, they had the replace the bearing hub on the passenger side, up front. So I wonder if there might have been something wrong with the bearing hub, from the get-go, that made the brakes on that side wear funny? Or maybe it was just coincidence?
My front brake pads lasted about 65000 miles (of course it is not miles that count, it is stops that count in brakes). The rears lasted about 90000 miles.
For about the first year that I owned my 'Trep, I still had an evening job delivering pizzas. No doubt that contributed to the rapid wearing out of the brakes. I actually bought front pads for it around 15,000 miles, figuring that it would be time to change them soon. My old '68 Dart would usually go through the front shoes every 10-15,000 miles, and I had no idea how long the pads on the Intrepid would last, so I bought them just to be ready, and kept them in the trunk. I kept checking them, and was shocked to see the OEM front pads make it to 39,000 miles!
Have you ever changed the fluid in the power steering reservoir. Mine is looking pretty black and I was am thinking about changing some of it by sucking out what is in the reservoir and replacing with new fluid. I know that won't replace all of it, but a few exchanges should allow it all to be changed.
Actually, that's one thing I've never checked myself. I've had the car in a few times and had my mechanic check over it for stuff in general, but power steering fluid was never anything he caught. I'll bring it up to him the next time it's in. Or, maybe I'll just try that trick myself...sucking out what's in the reservoir and putting new fluid in. Should get most of the old stuff, eventually.
I do hope the car holds out for awhile longer, because there's really not anything out there that really turns me on. I do kinda like the new Altima, but not enough to ditch a fully-functional Intrepid for. I dunno if my next purchase will be another Chrysler product, because the 300/Charger just aren't doing it for me, and the Sebring and Avenger almost make me wince.
I pulled about 16 ounces of brownish clear fluid out of the reservoir with a cooking baster I bought at Walmart. I replaced it with colorless clear Prestone brand fluid. The capacity of the steering system is listed at 1.17 Liters, so if I do this again after the system has mixed it together, I should have replaced 3/4 of the fluid. I don't know if this is worth it, but I did it. :shades:
Websites say that power steering fluid is good for the life of the vehicle, but I feel better for changing some if it. It takes less than 5 minutes.
I noticed yesterday that the tread on the Intrepid's front tires is getting pretty bad, so I'll probaby have to bite the bullet soon. These tires are Yokohama Avids that I put on the car at 76,000 miles. It's now around the 133,000 mile mark, so I'd say they've served their purpose! The tires on the back of the car still have plenty of life in them. I replaced one of them in October when someone stole the wheel, tire, everything off the car in a parking garage. And then the other one got replaced back in December. I let my roommate borrow the car, and he had to hop up over a curb to keep from hitting someone head-on, who came into his lane. I half-jokingly told him he should've let them hit him, because the car's worth more as a total than a trade-in! :surprise: But, if it got totaled, I'd have to replace it with something, which would end up costing me money. I'd rather just keep the thing until it's all used up.
You've figured out how to post, so that's a good start. The next thing would be to ask your questions with as much details as possible.
My car stutters up util aroud 25 mph but after that it runs great. Any ideas?
Tell a little more about your car. Year and engine? How many miles on it? It sounds like a "miss", which is often more pronounced on acceleration than when cruising.
If it were mine and it has a few miles on it, I would start by adding a fuel system cleaner to a full tank of gas (try Walmart, Autozone, Pep Boys etc.) Drive it for awhile and see if that clears things up.
Another thing is to have the computer scanned for codes. I know Autozone will do this for you usually free of charge. Other auto parts places may do the same.
Let me know how things are going.
Intrepids are great cars, by the way. 117,000 miles on my '99. :shades:
I took my Intrepid up to PA weekend before last. Probably put around 400-500 miles on it, and there were no issues to report for the most part. The a/c is getting a bit weak. It was hotter than hades that Friday/Saturday, and the a/c was marginal. Sunday was much more mild though, and it blew nice and cold. So I'm hoping that it just needs a charge, and nothing more major. I averaged around 28-29 mpg on that trip, too, so I'm not complaining. When the time comes, I'll probably get something more fuel efficient, but I'm not to the point that I'm ready to trade a good running car in just for slightly better fuel economy!
I think I'm up to around 135,000 miles now.
Well, yesterday I was feeling adventurous, so I got out the toothpaste and took an old toothbrush and scrubbed the lenses. They don't exactly look brand-new, but they do look considerably better than what they did!
It is in the nature of glass that cracks propagate and propagate much better in the presence of water. I'm not sure if these Intrepid headlamp lenses are actually glass or some kind of plastic. If they are plastic, then they don't have the characteristic of propagating cracks that glass does.
I rarely visit these boards. My 2004 Intrepid SE is running well and looking good.
They're plastic, not glass. My buddy's '95 Grand Marquis also had plastic lenses, and they cracked along the bottom. One thing I did notice about the Intrepid, when I was rubbing the lenses, is that the plastic seems thicker than it did on that Grand Marquis.
I don't know if you could really describe it as an etching or not. The lenses just got kind of a cloudy haze on them, and made it look like the car had cataracts! I've seen some lenses get a yellowish hue to them, but mine were just turning white.
Anyone have any comments or suggestions?
My objective is to have a reliable car for freeway speeds on long trips, like Denver to West Coast. Thanks for reading all of this. (new to this board and 1st message)
The old girl just turned 70,000.
Would there be any downside to putting a bigger filter on the Intrepid? Seems to me that increasing oil capacity and filtering capacity are definite bonuses, but could there be any downsides to the larger filter?
Right offhand, the only thing I can think of is that if the filter is TOO long, it'll hang down and be more prone to scraping or puncturing. But I dunno if the PH43 or PH8A would be long enough to really stick out.
1) Could somebody advise if the reconditioned came with a new timing belt?
2) Where can I find the S/N number on the engine( It is a 3.2)? Who could tell me about the history of the engine (mileage, age etc..). Garage say they don't know.
Hopefully this is just hearsay, although I have heard that Stratus/Sebring 2.7's were more prone to sludging than 2.7 Concordes and Intrepids.
a Woman in trouble. :confuse:
Car runs great,but upon taking it home I noticed a lot of steering wheel play . Car tracks perfectly straight, no wobble--smooth as silk even at high speeds,brakes fine, but when the wheel is in the straight position, there is a dead spot in the steering--wheel turns from about the 11 to 1 o'clock position without affecting the steering,
Kinda scary on the highway..........
Any ideas?
Thanks
Good luck
http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_to_central/automotive/1271931.html:)
i am new to this forum. i was given a 2000 intrepid by my father-in-law last year. he told us it had a problem with the o2 sensor. we replaced it. but a couple months after we had it, the timing belt tensioner went bad and it jumped time and bent a few valves. well, since the car had not actually been changed over in our names, we didn't want to put the $ into having it repaired. we just parked it. earlier this year, we found another one (same year, same engine) from a used car lot for $500. it had only 80k miles on it. it appeared to have been sitting for a while. (turns out for 3 years) the car was about an hour's drive from our home, but all my husband had to do was jump the car off and on the way he replaced a clamp to the transmission line and put more fluid in it. i had been driving it only for about a month and the timing belt tensioner failed on this one too. my husband took the bottom end off the first one and top end off this one and made one. every couple of weeks, the tensioner would start to rattle and then he would take it out and check the o-ring, replacing if needed. we heard that the motor had very small oil ports and not to use anything higher than a 5w-30 oil. with the 1st car, my husband put 20w-50 in it. so that's what we thought went wrong. well, this time, only running the 5w-30 in it, the same thing happened. i really love everything else about this car, but i was wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem, and also, if they have found a solution to this very common problem.
if so, please email with information:
carachase2007@yahoo.com
Interior looks like new,engine purrs,brakes/tires like new-no leaks anywhere--even a/c works.Passed state inspection.
Body is a mess --last owner was an older gent that sideswiped parked cars and pushed in both passenger doors--nothing structural--but it looks crappy.
What should I do--sell it-or fix/keep it. The stories of the 2.7 failing have me spooked. But with a little body work the car is virtually new with many years of life left.
If I sell as is--will I get much--or should I repair doors and sell???
If it's any consolation, every mechanic I've talked to has told me that to get the 2.7 to sludge up, basically you have to go something like 10,000 miles between oil changes, let it run low, let it overheat, stuff like that. Basically, neglect the car.
With only 25,000 miles on it, I'd imagine that it should run a good long time as long as you keep the oil changes to around 3-5,000 miles. Do you know when the coolant was last changed? It should have the orangish-pink long life coolant in it, which is supposed to be good for 5 years/100,000 miles. If you don't know when it was last changed, you might want to do so, just to be safe. Also, you might want to get the transmission fluid changed, if it hasn't been done yet. The owner's manual calls for changes every 50,000 miles under the "severe" schedule, and 100,000 miles under "normal". But just to be safe, I always had mine done every 30,000 miles.
My '00 2.7 is currently at around 137,000 miles, and still running fine. I did have to have some freon put in this past week though, and some suspension work done.
Unfortunately, the Intrepid doesn't have very good resale value, so you probably won't get much for it. And depending on how bad the damage is, you might not get your money's worth fixing it up.
The way I look at it that car is worth whatever it saves you on another car payment. People say the car is not worth putting money into. As long as you enjoy the car, its paid for, and its reliable its fine to invest in repairs.
Look at the alternative I have a 2006 Uplander. I bought it used for $18,000 its costing me $4,000 a year for 5 years. When all is done I will have $23,000 into this car and it will be worth about $4,000. Using that model spending $2,500 on the Dodge is not such a bad deal, as long as the Dodge is reliable.
Just my thoughts................
PS the whole thing ran $1,800
A few mechanics have told me to use 1 qt of transmission fliud in place of 1 qt oil to clean the engine slowly...when time comes for a change, then use 10W-30 full synthetic oil and it will kill any sludge.
Interesting.
One other thing I just thought of with regards to oil. Sometimes these cars can trigger a false reading on the low oil pressure light. Happened with my '00 back in late 2003, around the 85-90K mark. Supposedly, the sensor that triggers the warning light can get hot and make the light come on, mainly in situations such as sitting at a traffic light, idling, where there's no airflow. There is a TSB that covers it, but I dunno how far back a dealer will honor a TSB.