2.7 litre's in Intrepid's

Has anyone heard about early problems with this engine? Have a Pharmacist
friend that had the same engine just stop..ticked and then just stopped.
From what he was told, they knew about this problem, but did nothing..

 

We have this engine in a 2001 Sebring. I believe the 2.7L engine was
out in '98, so ours certainly isn't an early one.
Only 25,000 KMs on my wife's Sebring but IMO a great engine in a great
handling car.

I've rented a few Intrepids with the 2.7L engine and found it didn't
respond as well as the Sebring.
I found this strange as the Intrepid is only a few hundred lbs. heavier.

I rented a Magnum for two weeks and felt the 2.7L didn't have enough low
end torque for such a heavy car.

What is the problem with the 2.7L?
In general I would avoid a completely new engine for a few model years.

 

Do a search on this ng (using Google's newsgroup search) and on
www.dodgeintrepid.net froums (their own internal search function), and
you will find the problems discussed ad-infinitum (a good keyword is
"sludge").

I am the owner of a '99 Concorde with the 2.7L that has 148k miles on it
and is doing great - but only because I knew about the "non-problem" and
took measures to prevent damage. You will find links to Chrysler hate
sites that will bring you up to date on constantly threatened legal
action against DC that never gets anywhere. Chrysler claims to be
handling the failures on a case-by-case basis (a P.R. & legal ploy),
while other manufacturers with similar problems (Honda, Toyota, Lexus)
have real programs in place to pro-actively deal with it. What that
means is that a sporadic small percentage of unfortunates might get some
relief from D.C., but most are getting stonewalled. IMO, it is
automotive manufacturer irresponsibility at its worst.

There are those people (some here) that will tell you that the problem
is irresponsible owners that did not maintain the car sufficiently (oil
& filter changes, etc.) - I used to be one of them, but as I've read and
seen more, I am now in the camp that believes that the engine is
unreasonably likely to sludge up under certain reasonable maintenance
conditions. This is also evidenced by the fact DC has made specific
unpublicised mods. to the lubrication and PCV system starting in about
'00 or '01 and are using the engine in their new line of vehicles (IOW -
"Screw the earlier owners - we know what the problems were and we fixed
them for our new line - but don't tell anybody").

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Actually according to Consumer Reports, even companies like Toyota who claim
to have a program to take care of repairs, often refuse to do it without a
fight. In one case one of their readers could not get their Lexus or
Toyota fixed (I forgot which) but when CR contacted Toyota, they suddenly
decided the car qualified for repair.

 

Really? I had no idea. Is there any way to tell if my engine is the
newer generation (it was a 2000 Intrepid purchased very late in the
year)? And, as has become the custom when these threads arise:

230 000 kms on my 2.7 l and still running like new. Switched to
synthetic oil about a year ago, have always changed oil and filter at
5000km interval.

 

An indicator would be if the PCV hose (from driver's side valve cover to
PCV valve screwed into intake plenum) has a bulge and two small (Ø10
or 12mm) coolant hoses coming out of it, or if it is a simple molded
hose (one hard segment, one rubber segment). Take a look at this photo
I took of a new PCV hose with heat exchanger held in parallel to the
original hose (without heat exchanger) just before I installed the new
one: http://images9.fotki.com/v181/photos/4/42816/2169829/IMG_3902b-vi.jpg

I don't know if *all* the mods (oil pump, oil galleys, heat exchanger
added to PCV hose, plus possible other unknown mods) were done in one
swell foop, or if they were added at different times over a 2 or 3 or 4
year span starting sometime in '00 or '01 production.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out.

KJ

 

Just finished rebuilding my 01 2.7L and I have the newer PCV as per your
picture but understand my engine didn't have the oil updates. I think it was
a progressive improvement over 01, 02, and 03.

Mark R

 

Hmmm - OK. I have been trying to find out if the upgraded oil pump is a
drop-in replacement in the original ('98 & '99) engine. I may replace
the timing chain and water pump in the not too distant future, and would
go with the better pump if it would fit. However I'm thinking that if
it will fit, that DC simply would have obsoleted the original pump, and
by simply ordering the right pump for that engine it will be the better one.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')