[JohnnyB]

Something to check - dependent on where the car has lived most of its life as far as corrosion: Brake lines - specifically in the engine compartment parallel to the driver's side fender (as well as power steering fluid lines in the same tray) and the two rear lines just ahead of the driver's side rear wheel. Also - the lines at the brake line manifold/ABS module under the PDC.

You need to look for serious corrosion pitting. Again, depending on the environment your car has lived in, this either will or will not be an issue. If heavily pitted, do not ignore it. Both my Concordes ruptured one of the rear lines towards their end of life. It's an exhilarating experience to initiate a panic stop and the pedal goes to the floor - happened on both my Concordes (also a hole rusted into one power steering metal line on one of my Concordes). If you see heavy pitting, you need to do a complete vehicle brake line replacement - semi-major project. If no or only slight pitting, consider yourself blessed.

Hey Peva ! Thanks for all your help - I got the subframe in extra and everything was running like a gem.

Recently, my transmission/transaxle ended up with a crack in and a piece of aluminum fell off exposing its innards. It happened right near the drive axle shaft.

Remember, this 2001 Intrepid had the old 2.7 L engine swapped out for the 3.2L. I called a really helpful dealership and they told me the transmissions are separated by years: 1998 (stands alone)
1999 and 2000 are listed together)
2001 (stands alone)

He said bc the engine/parts/transaxle are so old -- there's info missing or has been deleted from the system - due to probably computer software upgrades.

Any, if you can come up with ? Any help would be great ! The guy at the dealership said those same named transaxle - might be similar in 95% of all aspects, but some could have a bolt or two more, or line could go to a different position in the transaxle.

I tried like dickens to find the VIN on the back side of the driver's side header and couldn't locate it. I'll take my lit mirror, flashlight and cloth and try to locate it again now. Wish the guy who swapped the engine would have had the forethought to record it.

Hope all is well with you and yours. Looking for to your expertise and any suggestions or help you can come up with.
Thanks,
John

 

[peva]

The range sensor connector was changed at some point so that you either needed to swap out the range sensor or the cars's mating connector/harness to do a transmission swap between the affected years. Valve pack assembly was different between earlier years and later years (I don't know if different-design valve bodies were swappable between transmissions or not - the earlier design valve body was actually more reliable).

Others here are more knowledgeable than I am about the details and if there are any additional meaningful year-to-year transmission differences.

External to the transaxle proper, the hole pattern in the flex plate (flywheel) for the crankshaft position sensor pulses was changed to be compatible with a change in the ignition firmware pulse protocol (resolved by simply swapping flex plates).

Can you provide clear photos of the case break - at least on close up, and one further back to show where the break is in relationship to the rest of the transaxle?

 

[JohnnyB]

The range sensor connector was changed at some point so that you either needed to swap out the range sensor or the cars's mating connector/harness to do a transmission swap between the affected years. Valve pack assembly was different between earlier years and later years (I don't know if different-design valve bodies were swappable between transmissions or not - the earlier design valve body was actually more reliable).

Others here are more knowledgeable than I am about the details and if there are any additional meaningful year-to-year transmission differences.

External to the transaxle proper, the hole pattern in the flex plate (flywheel) for the crankshaft position sensor pulses was changed to be compatible with a change in the ignition firmware pulse protocol (resolved by simply swapping flex plates).

Can you provide clear photos of the case break - at least on close up, and one further back to show where the break is in relationship to the rest of the transaxle?

Hello again Peva:
Sorry, it's taken so long to reply. My father's dementia is getting worse over the last 2 to 3 months.

Yes, I can get some pics of where the break in the case in. Isn't there stickers or possibly a stamp - on the transaxle, which has the "serial number" --- meaning the last 7 to 9 #s of the VIN ? If I found that sticker -- take pic --- then I could finally find the VIN ?

I thought I read that somewhere. Remember (I you read and answer a lot of questions on here) - this 2001 Dodge Intrepid SE was originally a 2.7L and the engine was swapped out in the last 10 yrs to a 3.2L, but the person who did it -- never recorded the new VIN.

I've tried like the dickens to find the VIN on the back of the driver's side header or just below it -- and simply cannot locate it.

Thank in advance for your assistance.
John

 

[peva]

Sorry to hear of your father's condition. That's not easy for you or him.

Apparently you couldn't see the VIN located on the engine as described in post no. 2? Can you get a mirror or cell phone or both into position to see or snap a readable photo of the VIN?

From the FSM, there doesn't appear to be a VIN marked on the transaxle, but there's this label with manufacturing info. about the transaxle itself (including build date) that should be visible (again, could possibly snap a photo by cell phone or use a mirror even if not able to get decent direct eye contact). Pretty sure the build date is read as last digit of year and day of the year, so "1125" would be the 125th calendar day of 2001:

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