Dodge Intrepid problems

[Briar Hopper]

Well, momma's 96 Intrepid is in the shop again, getting it's third water pump in a year & half. It never has lost the smell of coolant, I've smelled it every time I was ever forced to drive it. When I wasn't smelling the spilled flower pot dirt, spilled milk soaking into church programs, or mildewy bric-a-brac scavenged during her Saturday morning yard sale hop-abouts.

Anyway, I was wondering if any of y'all's ever had this much trouble with your Intrepids, or are y'all just buying Jeeps and Toyotas?

Seriously now. She's looking at Intrepids AGAIN ! As in, new car bug. So... . any problems, particularly from 1999-2001 models?

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

There's nuthin wrong with an intrepid that a hand grenade won't fix

 

[wcaldwell]

Or a CTD Ram and a good long chain... ... ... ... ...

 

[Briar Hopper]

Heehee, so she should buy a Toyota? I remember running around in my younger days, with a Harley shirt, the front of which had a picture of a hand grenade, and the words " Japanese Motorcycle Repair Kit" around it.....

Not a great day for this country that a Japanese-owned company (or any foreign-owned) is perceived as better quality than Chrysler. Uh... . wait a minute... . isn't DamNearChrysler a foreign owned company too?

Not knocking the Japanese or Germans, you understand. It's not THAT. Just... . I hate seeing our money and jobs disappear overseas...

She'll find some kind of car, I'm sure. Still wondering if anyone in the forums owns or has owned an Intrepid? And what experience you had with it?

 

[LSMITH]

Briar, the company I work for runs them in the fleet (new intrepids and concordes) and they are junk. Trannies are the most common failure, and tons of nagging little things. I would advise momma to look at something else.

 

[Paulsdodge]

water pump failure

The water pump failure that you describe sounds like it could be caused by a timing belt which is adjusted too tight. Also, I would insist on a good (read not Autozone) water pump. The timing belt tension is adjustable by means of an oil filled shock mounted on an idler pulley. You might want to check this first.

 

[Hammer]

Briar,,I've just got in off the road and seen this,,I'll make a few calls to the resident Mopar heads I got around here who specialize in this and see what I come up with,,Serpentine(not timing)belt tension is a major death factor in the 3. 3/3. 5's water pumps,,My sons 93 is leaking again and needs replaced. it seems like a continous problem,every other year,,Remember to use the new,not rebuilt water pumps,it may cost a little more up front but give you a little more life,,PM me a email address and I'll let you know what i come up with today..... Andy

 

[Briar Hopper]

She's got an extended warranty, guys, so no biggie, at least until it runs out. I've told her she ought to get into something else, before this one gets too many miles on it. She prefers to take it to the local Dodge dealer, it's a gasser, they don't seem to have a hard time figuring it out. I don't touch the car, I literally anfd figuratively do not have the time, between two jobs and two other vehicles in constant need of attention...

My main point was to ask if the newer Intrepids are any better. She wants another one, and I'd rather see her get a Toyota Corolla.

 

[Steve M]

The only car I ever started the lemon law process on was a Toyota. It had fuel delivery problems that the dealership could not figure out. They removed the head, bead blasted, replaced the fuel system with a retro kit that was suposed to cure the problem all to no avail. My ex kept the car when we divorced. She deserved it.

I like Chrysler products. We went from a Stratus to a Durango for my wife. It's a truck and is a big step up from a Stratus or Intrepid in my humble opinion. We've had good luck with all of our Chrysler products.

If I were going to go to another manufacturer for better reliability in a car, I'd give Buick a try. They're rated one of the highest and I've never heard anyone complain about their Buick. My only complaint is they don't make the Grand National anymore.

My parents went down the Honda road a few years ago. They're all hype. They both had alot of problems with theirs and they were maintained by the dealership. Moms had in less than 70k miles two new alternators, new transmission, new electric door lock in left rear door, new CV joints at $400 a side, and finally the head cracked and they wanted $1800 to replace it. She sold the car to a mechanic and inherited our Neon. The Neon has passed the 70k mark and has had two evaporators and two fan relays other than tires and maintenance.

In the four years we had our Stratus, believe it or not, it never needed anything but oil and filter changes. Maybe not the norm but we sure had good service from ours.

I like the new NASCAR paint job option on the Intrepid. Don't know about reliability except my brother in law complain about the brakes on his. They squeek!

 

[BCFAST]

American jobs

Briar, if you are concerned about keeping jobs here, then buy a Honda Accord (Marysville, OH), a Toyota Camry (CA), a Nissan Altima (CA, I think)... etc. When the UAW collapses and we start to make decent cars, then buy one. Until then, spend your money wisely. My German-built Passat was flawless (except for the payments ).

 

[LSMITH]

Steve has a good point on the buicks, the company I work for runs them in the fleet too, lesabres and regals. They are very solid cars with no real trouble. They do not have the chronic trouble of the chryslers. I had sworn off chrysler completely, was never going to own another unless it was a CTD, and I had a town and country van fall in my lap for a song so I bought it. Same base as the intrepid and concorde, hope it is better than the fleet cars.



Personally unless it was a smokin deal I would not buy another chrysler of any kind, and go with an import.

 

[Big E]

My wife drives a '98 Intrepid ES. The only problem we have had was a bad ac compressor clutch relay. Its only got 32K miles on it but most of that is running around town miles. I just pulled the transmission pan and everything looked good. My oil analysis readings were good except for a few high copper readings which seemed to have stabilized. I'm hoping its from the engine oil cooler.



Anyways thats my experience so far.



Eric

 

[Briar Hopper]

Good point BC, Mom now thinks she'd like to look at Camrys, they're built right here in Georgetown, KY. We'll see how it goes.

My aunt has had good luck with her later model Intrepid, by the way, 60K miles, not a single problem.

We all know lemons come in all brands, anyway.