14th Mar 2006, 10:16

I would like to comment regarding the issues that people have had with their Sebring instrument clusters becoming inoperative. I have a 1997 Sebring JXi convertible, and the instrument cluster was in a non-working state when I bought the car. The tach does not work, and the odometer does not appear to work (although it still records mileage, just won't display). Chrysler had a flawed design for a few years; there is a resistor on the PC board assembly on the back of the cluster that overheats and burns out. I have not replaced mine yet, but I understand they are rather expensive. In my opinion, Chrysler should honor a lifetime warranty/replacement on this obviously defective part, but I doubt that is the case. I love my Sebring, but I also understand that it is a typical American car and it has to be babied a lot. I only drive it for fun, it is not my primary vehicle (reliable Toyota). But is has killer styling, looks and the V6 can get up and go. I just has the interior reupholstered and had new carpet installed. I intend to keep it as a very beautiful (although problematic) second car, and keep fixing the issues as they arise.

5th Jun 2006, 20:01

I am an owner of a 2000 JXI sebring. I've had some of the same problems that have been mentioned before. I've learned through my experiences that if the passenger side floods, there are about 4 very small and very ineffective drain holes along the side of the bottom of the car. A simple bobby pin or toothpick can easily clean out the small holes. I've actually taken screw drivers and widen the holes so that the problem wouldn't persist. I've also removed the drain plug in the right rear tire well to avoid any water building up at all.

One person mention their key getting stuck in the ignition. I had the same problem, fortunately I had the problem in my mechanics parking lot after an oil change! 300$ to fix! Anyway, a preventative step to take is to spray the key and the key hole with WD40 (so says the mechanic). I do it every once in a while when I think about it and have not had any problems since.

I also had the transmission trouble that one person spoke of a few posts back... found out it was faulty transmission sensors and that's why when you turned the car off and restart the engine it worked just fine. Not sure how to prevent something like that.

This car, (mine at least) has nickel and dimed me to death. I love it dearly and will always make the necessary repairs, but I sometimes wonder if other vehicles have as many "small" problems as this one. On the flip side though, the car has always gotten me from A to B. It has always started and run well (with the exception of the transmission problem, but even then I was able to drive where I needed to go). The car looks sharp and runs impressively on the road. I enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone with a few extra bucks to spare.

8th Jun 2006, 20:19

I have a 1998 Limited Edition and nothing, but problems. The horn does not work, the instrument panel lighting is out, I have had to replace the air conditioning compressor, drier, everything pertaining to the air conditioning, I have had to replace twice. The heating element has come off the rear window four times. The blower would only blow on high and I have replaced resistors twice and replaced the blower motor. Just recently, the air conditioning started blowing hot air and the car running hot, had to replace the cooling fan. If anyone can give me any information on the instrument cluster panel and the horn, please email me at martarion@aol.com. PS the only good thing about this is I have had no water leaks and no problems with the fuses blowing and so far, no problems with the top coming apart. I would like to get rid of it, but it is paid for and I don't want a car note.

11th Oct 2006, 05:32

I also own a 1999 Chrysler Sebring JXI. It has been a great car and very reliable. This past May, it rained and the passenger side of the car flooded. The car was taken to the dealership and carpets cleaned, dried out, etc. It is now October and the same thing happened yesterday! Apparently when the car was fixed, no one found the cause of the water coming inside the car. After it rains, you can actually hear the water sloshing around somewhere inside the car, but I cannot find where the water may be building up. I have read a lot of the same problems on this website today. Does anyone have any information on why these cars do this? I have owned this car for (6) years.

20th Oct 2006, 04:05

I have a 2000 Jxi convertible with on again off again leaking/sloshing in the right rear of the vehicle also. Very disappointing when Chrysler won't back up their own design flaws. They want 100 dollars to drill out larger holes, so it will drain properly. Chrysler makes good looking cars, that are engineered poorly, and the company just dumps it all on you. I will NEVER buy another cheap Chrysler!!

21st Oct 2006, 20:11

Re: Sebring Sloshing:

Same problem and got fed up today. After removing the back seats and everything around and finding them bone dry, I drove the car forward and back quickly to hear the sloshing; and I did. Although I seem to get water in the rear well, this never allowed water into the back seat. What I had today was under the "running board" on the driver side between the wheel wells, running the full length. After riding back and forth quickly, I noticed water dripping from half a dozen places below this wheel well between the welds. A hammer and a medium sized nail solved the problem instantly. There is a weld every two inches or so under this running board and I drove a nail up between every other weld. I must have lost a gallon of water in two minutes. I don't know where the water came in, but now I know it will run out without filling up my interior floor behind the front seat. One thing. As I got further up, the water pouring out was darker and orange so I am guessing that this water was around for a long time. Open up from front well to rear well every few inches to make sure any old build up drains before eating away at your sheet metal. The metal is pretty thick at these welds and I have no visible signs of rust of any kind. Hope this helps.