My son's Dodge Stratus has succumbed to the dreaded sludge monster. Chrysler made a crappy engine for these cars. Poor oil circulation, internal coolant leaks and other various issues. It finally gasped its last breath today. Shop estimates a Jasper replacement engine (including labor) at $5,600; that is double what the car is worth.

We are now looking for a decent replacement.

 

Nice story bro.

 

60K on a single oil change

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1281659



How many miles did that Dodge Stratus have on it? I'm sorry you're out of pocket on the car, but, man, what a massive piece of ****... let us help with the buying decision on the next one for your son. I sure wont suggest another Stratus.

 

It sounds like the car gods did your son a favor.

 

Ah... the infamous sludge. How many miles did you get out of it?

Reminds me of the time my Father purchased a brand new '03 Matrix XRS for my Mom as she needed something that got better city mileage. The piece of sh*t lasted 30,000 miles (2 years later) before the engine just died on the highway due to a sludge problem. Toyota wouldn't honor the warranty because we didn't have it serviced at a dealership, only family mechanic & Texaco express lube.

What you can do is see if it's possibly to just clean out and rebuild the engine. We did that with the Matrix, only cost around $1,200 and we traded the car in for a new car. Then again, I'm not sure on how much the car is worth. We only felt it was worth it due to the car being only 2 years old (engine was junk in '05) and 30,000 miles.

 

It has a little over 105k miles on the odometer. We bought it used with approximately 15k miles so, we surely got our money's worth out of it. We did regular oil changes but, that engine design had some major flaws that contributed to its demise.

I'll take suggestions for a reliable replacement. His budget is less than $10k. We have been looking for one since it died and have seen a few candidates that we still need to check out in person.

 

Mazda protege?

 

Is it even a question? Get that boy an RX-8.

 

I recommend he snag a clean Mazdaspeed Protege.
Loads of fun and quite reliable.

 

Holy cow!

 

Is this the same engine used in the 2nd generation Intrepid 2.7L V6 ? I had one of these go on me I believe for similar reasons ... I think it was a rod bearing that busted.

 

I believe that it is.

 

Just a pos. Throw it away and get a protege or civic. 200k is easy

 

Well, there's alot of new year sales now.

 

Update:

My son is now the owner of a 2009 Ford Fusion SE i4. Approximately 30k miles on the odometer, locally owned, single owner, complete service records, good carfax, clean everything, multiple reviews claim it it to be very reliable and a simple interest rate of 6%... Seems we found the right car for him.

Now, if only I could get rid of the Stratus...