Faults:

At 77000 miles the 2.7 liter in the intrepid blew up due to a spun rod bearing. Had the motor replaced 10000 miles later the motor blew again. Dodge would have nothing to do with me except they wanted me to trade the car in and buy another intrepid.

General Comments:

Dodge does not stand by there products and would not admit the 2nd motor that was installed was done wrong. I will never own another dodge in my life.

Faults:

Needed a new starter motor at 80,000 km.

Needed to replace BOTH the engine cooling fan and the air conditioning cooling fans at 90,000 km.

The driver's side front door window became separated from the track at 95,000 km. I was informed by the dealer there were no service parts available from Chrysler and that I would need to purchase a complete window and track assembly to correct the problem. I chose instead to take it to an auto-body shop who bonded the window back onto the track for a small fraction of the price of the new window assembly from Chrysler. 55,000 km since the repair and it seems to be holding fine.

At approximately 100,000 km, my Intrepid developed an intermittant condition, where, for no apparent reason, it wouldn't start, but when you'd try to start, all the dash lights would flash repeatedly at a very fast rate. Sometimes it would start immediately on the second try, other times I would have to let it sit for up to an hour before it would start. The cause turned out to be the poor location of the battery down in the right front fenderwell just in front of the right front wheel. These cars no longer use a good solid battery cable end, but instead just a narrow metal clamp. With the hidden location of the battery, it is not possible to see the condition of the battery cable ends at a glance like cars that have the battery located in the traditional location in plain view in the engine compartment. Undetected excessive battery corrosion, no doubt aided in part by road grime due to the battery location, had corroded all, but a thin sliver of the battery cable clamp making for a poor and inconsistant battery connection. A few dollars spent on a new battery cable end seems to have corrected the problem, but what a lot of frustration for something so simple.

In 3 years and 68,000 kms of ownership, I've had to replace the heater and air conditioning fan speed relay 4 times. The replacement interval has been shorter with each of the 4 relays. The Service Manager at the dealership says this is an indication the fan speed motor needs replacement.

The engine oil light flickers on and off below 1,000 RPM. When this condition started I thought all the horror stories about the sludge build-up problems in the 2.7L engine I'd read about were now killing my engine. Turns out there is a Technical Service Bulletin from Chrysler to the dealers about the oil light flickering problem. There is a oil pressure sending unit wiring harness and vent assembly that needs to be replaced to correct this problem. I found the information about the Service Bulletin on the Internet. My dealer was not familiar with the Bulletin, but found it only after I inquired about it. I have an appointment to have the part replaced next week.

General Comments:

Owning this Intrepid is a real Love/Hate relationship. There are so many things I love about this car...

Styling,

Comfort,

Quiet Ride,

Interior and Trunk Space.

I hate the constant problems and costly repairs. I continue to be nervous about all the bad reports I've read about 2.7L engine.

I've driven mostly Chrysler products all my life. With the exception of this Intrepid, I've been extremely happy as a Chrysler owner. For that reason I'll likely own another Chrysler and chose to remember this Intrepid as the bad one.

If I wasn't a loyal Chrysler fan and say instead, this had been my first experience with a Chrysler, it would certainly also be my last.