98 Dodge Stratus - Leaking Head Gasket, Worth Fixing?

I have a 98 Dodge Stratus, with the 2.4 DOHC engine. It has about 73K
miles on it. I've been told by the dealer that my head gasket is
leaking. The estimate for repair is $700 - $1000. Is it worth fixing?
At 73K miles, if I fix this, will there be any other big repairs
waiting in the wings? Or should this be the last of it? Is it
reasonable to expect to get another year out of this car?

I don't understand how the head gasket can go, as the car has never
over heated the entire 6 years I had her. And I've always kept up with
recommended maintenance with the vehicle.

On another note, I must admit that my experience with this Stratus
precludes me from ever buying another Dodge vehicle. Has Chrysler
cleaned up its act since Daimler bought them out? I'd like to still
buy American, but if I have to buy an import I will.

 

These engines had a manufacturing defects with the head gaskets. Chrysler
knows it, because they had issued a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) to
their dealers about it. HOWEVER they are too damm cheap to fix it for their
consumers by way of a recall. I suggest youcall Chrysler headquarters and
complain LOUDLY and may be they will have their dealer fix it for no charge
or share the cost with you.

This is the problem with American cars! Poort quality compared to european
or Japanese.

 

My 1998 Stratus did the same thing at 53,000 mi. This was a common
problem with the 2.0 and 2.4 litre engines until an updated
multi-layered steel (MLS) gasket was introduced midway though the 1999
model year. I decided to have mine fixed, since the car was in good
shape otherwise. I also figured that the car would have diminished
resale value with a blown gasket.

If you decide to have it repaired, make certain that the shop uses the
correct Chrysler made gasket with the recommended sealer. The price
they quoted you is consistent with what I paid. It is a labor
intensive procedure.

I bought my Stratus when it was a year old. I purchased a third-party
extended warranty that covered most of the repair costs.

According to a Chrysler repair tech that I spoke with, the new gasket
will solve the problem so long as the surfaces are properly cleaned,
and the gasket is installed according to the instructions supplied
with the gasket.

-Kirk Matheson

 

Contact Chrysler and see if they will give you any assisstance in the
repair, that head gasket had been updated due to servere oil leaks

 

Again, Recalls are for SAFETY issues, not defects in the car.

My 87 Plymouth Reliant never had a blown head gasket, (got wrecked at 12 yrs
old, 150 k miles on it) but I remember my friend's Toyota truck having one.

Chrysler did have a head gasket problem with the 95 to 98 1/2, 2.0 and 2.4 L
engines. Neons, Breezes, Stratus's all had the problem. Lots of people
were able to get it fixed with Chrysler footing the bill for all or most of
the costs, it they had 80 to 100k miles or less on the car. Sometimes
Chrysler refused to help at all-- it seemed to be whatever dealer you went
to and how they felt that day.
It doesn't cost anything to ask, but for a 6 year old car, I'd be surprised
if Chrysler helped out much.

Good Luck
SRG

 

My brother sold his Toyota Tercel with over 200K miles to a mechanic. It did
NOT burn any oil either.

My fatherinlaw is still driving his 1990 Toyota Camry without any problems.

BUT my wifes Voyager gave out after 40K miles same head gasket problem.

If I had a choice, I would stay away from American cars especially Chrysler
products.. The quality is just NOT the same as Japanese and European. Though
price/features is great compared to them.

 

we had chrysler split the bill on the ones that were under 70k only if the
vehicle was properly maintained other wise it was 3/36 or service contract

 

Great, my Reliant didn't burn any either, and, as I said, another car
wrecked it, otherwise I would have made 200k miles as well.

Great, lets give him a cookie!

Same problem? I have no doubt it had a blown headgasket, but we were
discussing the 2.0 and 2.4 L Chrysler engines from 95 on in their "Cloud"
cars. I mean, you could also bring up 70's Ford Pintos exploding, or how
about VW Bugs rusting out until people literally fell through the floor.
(European by the way). Or MY Grandma's 1991 Camry that leaked oil, no
matter what they did??

Forgive me, I didn't realize that there was some sort of slavery in the US
now, Or, is there a gun to your head? Divorce the wife, pack up and move to
Europe or Japan and enjoy the automobiles in their native setting.

Now, give your Father-In-Law his cookie, and ask him why his daughter forces
you to put up with those BAD American cars!!!

SRG

 

Yes..fix it...and ask Chrysler for "goodwill" help with the cost. It's still
should have many more miles in it...at least another 73K miles (assuming good
maintenance habits during its life).

 

After much cogitation, says...

The head gasket on my 97 Stratus (2.4L) went at 80K miles. I had it
fixed and it is still running great at 166,000 miles.

 

I'm trying to resist calling this a silly question. Of course its worth
fixing- could you possibly replace the car for $700 to $1000? NO. Could
you sell it for anything like its actual value with the gasket leaking?
NO. Is changing a head gasket a huge job? NO.


I've kept all my Chrysler products to at least 200k, so unless you can
drive over 130,000 miles in a year...

The whole problem is that some key folks retired from Chrysler
Engineering in the early 90s, and then they started designing cheap
engines like the Japanese imports do. Soft alloy heads without enough
head bolts, interference engines timed with belts, etc. The 2.4
4-cylinder and the 2.7 V6 are particularly Honda-esque. Or maybe the 2.7
is more Toyota-esque, since its problem is that it cooks its oil to
sludge like Toyota engines do. Fortunately they got bit hard, and the
newer engines like the 4.7, 3.7, and 5.7 seem very solid. The 3.2 and
3.5L v6 engines were/are good as well, and the 3.3/3.8 in the minvans
were some of the last designs from the good days.

 

Steve - Having said that, why would DC design in the 2.7L as the
baseline engine in some of their new vehicles? Has the root cause of
the problems been fixed, or are they stupider than a box of rocks (or
believe that their customers are)? I've asked this before, but
apparetnly no-one is in the know on this - hopefully one of these times,
someone who knows for sure will post an answer.

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

 

I don't have a CLUE. You've obviously proved that the 2.7 isn't
universally bad, it just has a bad tendency that can show up under
certain conditions and maybe statistically they feel that it is
"reliable enough." And they may well have gotten it fixed in later versions.

But this isn't unique- look how long GM has held onto the 3.4L v6
despite its numerous problems (and how many millions of cars it is in
that have had NO problems). Ditto the whole Ford Modular v8 family- Ford
has spent a ton of time effort and cash into upgrading them to get rid
of high failure rates. And I'm not just slamming Toyota and Honda
either- they've both kept very questionable designs in production for
years and years at a stretch- particularly Honda. They were fixing head
gaskets for free 5 of 10 years before Chrysler engines even started
having an abnormal number of head gasket problems.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I think I'll invest getting her fixed.
Trying to see if DC will help out since this is a known issue. But I'm
not expecting too much help. But will post the results of my
conversations.

MP