Joined: Sun Oct 09 2005, 08:35PM
Location: Cleveland, Oh
Posts: 775
Need to buy another car for daily driver. Looking right now at a 98 Intreped. 2.6 V6. Excellent condition body and interior are great.
My concern is the car was a lease car 98 ->2000. Then bought by current owner. Low miles 73.116.
I am worried about motor sludge problems with no record of oil changes during lease period. Went off lease with 24.855 miles on her.
The owner has moved and his nephew is manageing sale. No maintence records. But is sure is pretty and drives great. I see no problems at first look.
What are your experieces? What should I be looking for? I called and am waiting for a name and phone number of the Uncle in AZ to talk to him directly.
I am looking at Chrysler/Dodge 4 door models. Kinda leaning toward larger style rather than Stratus or Neons. Which means V6.
I've had 2- 2.7's. Didn't have any trouble with the 2001 and have an '04 now. My loves it. To me it's just another POS! I prefer my 04 Dodge Diesel or my 71 Fury.
U am pretty sure these pans are pretty easy to remove. I think it's a straight drop down without fooling with anything on the bottom. I haven't been under there in a while.
You may want to drop the pan, clean it out and start using synthetic. Mobile 1 something like that. That will eliminate the sludge problem in the future.
This is my wifes car with 11K on it. So that we have a record of the work, I've been shipping her off to Jiffy Lube. Just in case. . . .
If I recall correctly, the motors weren't problems that year, it was the transmissions. We have a 2000 with 83000, it had been a very reliable car. The mechanichs are good, with the freak excpetion of having to replace 3 starters in 1 year, but that was 2 years ago. The trim quality is another issue. Very unhappy with it. The door weather stripping shrunk 4 inches on all 4 doors in the first 2 years. A friend had a 99 do the same. There is some plastic laminate around the door openings that is peeling off. I don't even understand why it was added to begin with, you can't see it.
Overall, I give ours a thumbs up. We bought it 1 yr old with 23,000 and the price was excellent. My friends 99 started having tranny trouble at 120,000 miles, but they NEVER serviced the car except for Jiffy Lube. Even when I mentioned to him at 100,000 that his trans sounded funny and it should be looked at.
Joined: Tue Oct 11 2005, 04:38PM
Location: Grandville,MI
Posts: 957
I had a 2000 Intrepid w/2.7 I don't know what happened before I got it but it had 11000 miles on it when I got it and When I heard about the problems with them I started using synthetic oil it started rod knocking @ 43000 mi after I spent 1600 bucks on a timing chain replacement!!! Almost became a Ford man at that point!!!!!! I loved the car but NOT the 2.7!!!!!! I read recently that you could swap in a 3.2 or 3.5 pretty easily,change the starter,one motor mount and change the exhaust a bit so you could drive it and if it dies swap it out!! Arlen
Joined: Fri Oct 14 2005, 07:26PM
Location: Pittsburgh,PA
Posts: 481
Yes 2.7's will sludge up if you do not change the oil, have seen a bunch. I will suggest to take the car to a servicer that can do an oil flush service to remove any sludge build-up that already exsists, this service works great, but,only if the engine is not already making the Batan Death March noises. Tom
Joined: Tue Oct 11 2005, 11:07PM
Location: Chi Town
Posts: 12
There were design changes for the 2001 Model with the 2.7. They thought the oiling problems were solved. The older body style has a bad reputation for problems, especailly the trans and steering. I had a 2001 with the 2.7 and it gave me zero problems. It is a mid to high rpm motor and takes some getting used to..but is is surprizinging strong and reminds me of a motor with a big cam coming in at 3500 and pulling strong..