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Wow, these cars are real peaches hu?

1K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  gr8crash 
#1 ·
Ya know, I love this car. But God only knows why.
I have had so many problems with this car since I bought it last March. I have already dumped close to a grand into it between the brakes and sensor problems.

My wife drives a 96 limited edition Sonata ( my joke there being, "thankfully limited") :D
Anyways, we bought it in 96 and it has required 1 brake job (pads) and 1 sensor replacement. Thats 2 repairs in about 7 years.

Mine? Twice on the brakes: rotors and pads. The strut. An oxygen sensor, and now this recent tune up issue. Thats 5 in 1 year.

Both cars have the same amount of miles on em. Yet mine visits the garage way more often. Sigh.....
 
#3 · (Edited)
Well to further my gripe here: It sux when I have to go home and say "honey, um, the car is doing this and that and I think it has to go back in the shop".
After the idle incident (see my other posts) I went home and told her and she summed this car up with a heavy, drawn out lament -
"Oh Jeeeeeez, not AGAIN"

There were guys off my last ship that didn't visit the whorehouses as often as my car hits the shop.

I am thinking of renaming my car "Indifferent" vice "Intrepid".
 
#5 ·
My check engine light is on as well. My mech says I need a tune up, nothing major. I hope he is right. If new plugs and wires solve the problem, then I will certainly be alright with that.
I am dreading him finding another sensor is out.

I really wish Dodge had taken time to put out a better setup. These autoworkers are some of the highest paid in the world, yet they crank out garbage. I don't get it.
 
#7 ·
I recall seeing this car on tv back in 95 or so, and saying "one day, I will get one of those". I always wanted one.
They look great. Myself, I don't feel they look like grocery-getters.
I have been talking to a transmission company, and they claim they can rebuild my tranny to provide for a more reliable gearbox and more power to the wheels. Unfortunately, they also provide a large asking price, at around $4000 for the tranny and converter. Arrgh! Great lengths to go just to get a better running car. Still, I refuse to give up on this car. Why?
Why can't I let it go?
 
#9 ·
Well, it all depends. Some people have been extremely luck and others extremely unlucky. Many people are in between. Me, I have put on 53,000 miles on my car in 2.25 years. I have had to do all the fluids, filters, plugs, wires, tires and basic things. Things I wouldn't consider basic: stabilizer links, tranny cooler hose, head light brackets, and EGR valve. I say not basic to these repairs only because I never owned a car that needed any of these three things replaced. But, on the plus side, I didn't have to replace an ECU, turbo, motor mounts or wheel bearings like two other Chryslers I owned.
 
#10 ·
I'm not trying to stick up for the LH car here but you are comparing a car you bought new to a 5 year old used car.
What kind of problems are you having with brakes?
And I would expect a 3600plus lbs car to use up brakes faster than a Sonata.

STrut?? Does that mean you are not replacing Struts? in pairs.

Your compliant seems fair and I would not try to defend these cars for the "most reliable on the road" but for the early 90's they were quite the car for the dollar compared to other full size sedans.
I like the LH's for all the other reasons, ride, comfort, value and safetey. They look good too.
 
#11 ·
jfsram,

Now I feel guilty, and I am not kidding. I am still driving my car, although it is running rough. I have to wait til Tuesday for my mechaninc to fix it. I did notice something this morning while under the hood. The PCV tube is very soft and compresses easily under the fingers. I dunno if this is an indication of anything or not, but...
I love this car. I drove it to work this morning, thinking "everything will be fine after the tune-up, everything will be just fine..." It really is a sucky attitude, because when this car is running smooth, there is nothing like it. Hell, I paid around $7000 for it with 60K+ miles on it. I guess the car is just showing it's age.
I told the wife I wouldn't give the car up until it explodes or melts, ect. And I meant it. Handles great, accelerates well enough.
Sigh....
 
#12 ·
I bought my car in July 2000 with 68k on the clock. I bought if from a Ford dealer who had taken it in on trade from the first owner. It was in great shape, ran well, and had great maintenance records. Thank god I bought the Ford extended warranty. I had to do the tranny (second replacement for the car), steering rack, lateral links, tie rod ends, ac condensor, ac evaporator, front struts (at my insistence) etc, etc, $8,000 later the car runs very well. The warrany picked up about 80%. At least I haven't had many of the drivability problems a lot of folks talk about here, with idle, surging, etc. But the car does run great now.
 
#13 ·
i havent even had my car 1 year and its already had the motor rebuilt and its working on trying to get a new tranny in it. ive always heard bad things about Chrysler but never paid any attention, but after owning one ive got to say most of what i heard was true. dont get me wrong its a great car, if you look past all the problems it has , like weather stipping, infieror trannies, that damned winter poping noise in the stearing. ive got no choice but to keep my car for another 3 years, i make around $10 an hour and still cant afford to get the car fixed everytime somthing comes up.
 
#14 ·
i've personally had very few probems with my car. tranny once, had a bad seal. and from what i've heard and came across our trannies aren't actually all that bad. the only things that realy go are seals, the "hard" parts never wear really. what trans do u think they use in the liberty's? same basic one as ours i was told. but same thing,s brake,s plugs etc. i mean **** brakes. espicalyl if u have an earlier model year, ur gonna have more problems. i'm not gonna get rid of my car til it blows up or i buy the new hemi ;-)
 
#15 ·
Let just say if I had no warranty from 97-00 I would have had to take out $8000 Canadian(eh?) from my pocket (warranty alone was $2000)

Since 00 I spent about $4000, mostly on repair. Only about $1000 was for maintainence
 
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