94 Spirit/K-Body Longevity

Hello,
I was wondering what peoples life expierences have been with the
longevity of these vehicles and the 3.0L engine.
I have a '94 Spirit that the Wife drives, with our child, it has
178,000mi on it, and is still running pretty good. I have rebuilt the
41TE transaxle twice, but that is another story (I got that job down to
12 hours and about $350 in parts). It has the 3.0L engine.
It's starting to blow/burn oil a little. How many miles is this 3.0L
good til? The engine is still failry responsive and still gets around
28mpg on the hwy.
I bought the car brand new in '94 and have maintained it well.
I've only replaced the transaxle, radiator, ball joints, tie-rod-ends
(Excellent Michigan roads!), struts/shocks, and fixed a leak in the AC
system, other than that, no problems. I'm just getting concerend with
the amount of miles.
Just wondering how many miles people get out of these things before have
to declare them unreliable.

Ken

 

First off, it's not a "K-Body". The '89-'95 Spirit, '89-'95 Acclaim and
'90-'94 LeBaron sedan are the AA-body cars. Derived from the original
K-car, yes, but not a "K-body".

The AA-bodies are extremely durable and are widely considered to be
latter-day Darts and Valiants.

Generally about as durable as the 2.5 litre Chrysler 4-cylinder, but it
will have more problems along the way. The top-end oiling and crankcase
ventillation systems aren't engineered as well as they should have been,
so they tend to be problem areas. The most infamous of the 3.0 problems
(valve guides dropping causing oil burning) was fixed from the factory in
early '93-model production with the addition of circlips to hold the
guides where they belong, and most 3.0s have been field-retrofitted by
now. However, the crankcase ventillation system *must* be maintained
fastidiously -- it contains hoses and passages that are more than
ordinarily clog-prone. Also, the valve stem seals tend to harden up and
stop sealing after awhile. Both of these can cause oil burning.

Other than that, no real problem areas.

Wait, you have a '94 Spirit with a 41TE? That's weird. Most '93-'95
AA-bodies with the 3.0 engine got the 31TH (A670). The 41TE (A604) was
used exclusively with the 3.0 in AA-bodies from '89-'92, and some '93s got
it.

Your particular 3.0 is good until it's bad. There's no reason to think
it's about to grenade just because it has "x" hundred thousand miles on
it.

DS

 

Thank you very much for your response. It does indeed have a 41TE
transaxle. No doubt about it, I've taken it out and rebuilt it twice,
with help. And since I owned the car since new, there's no chance of a
swap. I ordered the car, I checked the 4speed automatic option, the
other option I specifically wanted, which appently is very odd, which I
have had a hard time finding parts for, is the rear disc brakes. (I've
had to order pads, no one around here carried them in stock, not even
the dealer, and when I ordered them it took 5 weeks because the
warehouse didn't stock them either..) and according to my research, for
that year, all 4speed autos were the infamous 41TE.
I know technically they are not K-bodies, but then again, they are the
evolution of the k-body, as you mention.
I have maintained all the crankcase ventilation pieces at, what I would
call, decent intervals for those pieces, (40,000mi, but from waht you
say that may not have been enough), but I've never replaced any of the
external hoses for that system. I'll have to check on that when the wife
gets back today...could it be the source of the sudden oil burning. The
oil burning thing came on kinda of suddenly, one week, nothing, all of a
sudden, it was noticable (There's a slight blue tinge to the exhaust
when you rev it in park)

Thanks again..

 

Arrrgh! You coulda had the much more robust 3-speed...

If they're the large brakes that require the 15" wheels because the 14"
wheels don't fit over them, they're quite good brakes. I had them on my
'91 Spirit R/T. You shouldn't have problems getting pads for them -- these
brakes were also used on many other Chrysler products, primarily minivans.
Check your local NAPA. If no listing for '94 Spirit rear disc brakes, use
'92 Spirit.

Nope, see previous post.


DS