Purchased a 1999 Dodge Intrepid in 2002, which was a program car and it only had 10,000 miles on it at around 65,000 miles I had to replace the dual overhead cam chains. One year later the engine began to knock and then seized up. This vehicle has been sitting in my yard since 2003. I have all the records in which we had the oil changed every 3,000 miles and the repairs for the timing chains. This vehicle rides nice, drives nice, but the 2.7 litre engine is a piece of crap and because it is a piece of crap no one wants to work on them and suggest that the vehicle is not worth as much as it would cost to repair it. I feel that the Chrysler corporation should be held accountable for putting such a crappy motor in such a nice vehicle.

- Belton, TX, USA

Intrepid SE 2.7L, automatic transmission, 98,000 miles bought a beautiful 1999 Dodge Intrepid from a very reputable dealer. I immediately began having problems, like "sensors" needing to be replaced but I thought, eh, at $5,000 I stole this car. After only 2 months of driving the engine seized up while I was in traffic! I was almost rear ended by a car behind me as I crossed an intersection. I had driven this car only about 3000 miles when it locked up on me. During that time I had changed the oil once just like I was supposed to. I did not drive this car hard, I am a very safe driver. After having the car towed at my expense to a mechanic, after running a typical spark, fuel and compression test, I was told by the mechanic that he had to tear the engine completely down to find the problem. After two days the mechanic called and said that the engine was blown, a piston was seized and the exhaust valves were burnt. So I paid $5000 to ryan's engine exchange in Colorado springs to get a rebuilt engine, all at my own expense. I bought the new engine in March of 2003, it is now September 2007 and my car just stopped running again! I took it to a mechanic and he says that the cylinder has lost compression and that it is leaking air from a leak test into the intake manifold. Bottom line, I need a new engine again! this on a engine that only has 54000 miles on it and which the oil has been changed and maintenance performed religiously by the dealer. I am a single mother of one with one on the way and have no car to drive to work and may lose my job!

- Colorado Springs, CO, USA

I had a 1999 Intrepid with only 60 thousand miles on it and it was the 2.7L engine. The motor locked up and it was left to sit along side the road. The tow bill plus storage fee was in the amout of 4,000 dollars and that didn't count the replacement of the engine (5,000) and the loan amount owed ( 7,000) on the vehicle. The expenses incurred has left me unable to pay and the car remained with the tow company. The vehicle was then sold by the tow company for their fees. Now I'm forced to pay the loan of this vehicle without having it in my possession. This motor should have been recalled by Chrysler, considering all the complaints of failure to this design.

- Mullins, SC, USA

I was driving my 99 Dodge Intrepid to work and I was making in the left turn lane as the traffic cleared I began to make my left turn. Then all of a sudden, I hear the engine make a terrible sound and the car stopped. I shifted it into neutral and tried to restart to no avail. At that point I had to get out of my car in the middle of the intersection and push it out of the intersection. A couple of guys helped me push it into a 7-11 where I called a tow truck. My mechanic said that the engine needed to be replaced due to sludge. I only purchased this car 3 days prior with the insurance money from when my family was involved in a rollover accident. (we were struck from behind by a an unconscious driver traveling over 100 mph. Causing our aerostar to roll and flip with 5 of us in the car including our 18 month old) I got quotes on a new engine and realized that I am not in the financial situation to fix it. So it's been sitting in my garage until I found an article on aol which led me to this site. The engine manufacturer that I spoke with said that there was a problem with the standard Chrysler motor and that they made the oil return larger to eliminate the sludge problem. I don't understand how a car engine that dies while driving is allowed to go unresolved. I could've been seriously injured sitting in oncoming traffic. I was lucky but since this is a known problem (I didn't know prior to buying the car otherwise I wouldn't have risked my life driving it).

- Redford, MI, USA

I was on my way to work & my car started to make a clicking noise. I have always taken great care of this car! I was concerned, but I was on the highway so there wasn't a place to pull over! I was only about 20 min to town & thought I could get there to check this out. I was on a stretch of the highway that the only exit is another major highway. All of the sudden the car went from 65 mph to 0 mph. I was driving during rush hour traffic with cars speeding by me! the cars behind almost ran into me! I managed to get the car pulled over on the narrow shoulder. I was terrified to get out of my car due to all the speeding traffic and on the other side was such a narrow space between the car and the median. I called for a tow truck so I could get it to our mechanic. The mechanic shop said that the engine was dead/ locked up. It only had 81K miles on it! I have done an extreme amount of research of the 2.7L engine that Chrysler put in my 1999 Dodge Intrepid. The engine is defective! it is the poor construction of this engine that is causing it to sludge up causing it to lock up all the sudden, leaving you with a car you can't drive! I have had an oil analysis done on my oil, several things that were found concerned them, but the one thing that is prominent is that there was moisture/ water in the oil. It is alarming that there are so many consumers that have had this exact problem, and there's no recall on this engine! due to the moisture causing it to "sludge up & die" I think if one of the cars behind me would have hit my car (like they almost did) then I could've been pushed in to traffic and seriously hurt. This was a terrifying experience. I don't want this to happen to another person. I feel that this is a severe safety issue & somebody needs to address this matter soon! I am not able to afford another engine & installation at this time (priced at about $6K+). I own a car that I can not drive. It's Chrysler's fault putting this engine in, not mine.

- Olathe, KS, USA

I own a 1999 Dodge Intrepid with a 2.7 litre engine. As I was on my way to work the car began making serious noise. I pulled over and had it towed home. It has not run since. My mechanic says there is no compression in the #5 piston. I do not have the money to replace it.

- Columbus, OH, USA

I bought this car used in 2002. After a minor accident and repair at the body shop, the engine failed on a busy four lane road with three of us in the vehicle, one of which was our two year old son. After calling mechanics and Dodge service shops, we were told that the timing chain needed replaced, and the cost would be anywhere from 1500 to 2500 dollars. We paid for and my husband replaced almost the entire top half of then engine. This has taken a very long time, as parts are expensive, and time to work on the car is limited. After finally getting the engine running, the engine again failed. This time it was on a major interstate highway while we were in the left lane. We only barely managed to pull the car off the road before being hit by the semi's on the road. After having it towed home, now the engine is shot again, and the estimated diy cost for us is more than $2000. We still owe that much on the car.

- Mcdonald, PA, USA

On a trip last week it started skipping and quit running on the expressway, we waited about 30 minutes and it started running again. After running about 100 miles it did it again 4 more times.

- Cleveland, GA, USA

Driving along looked out rear view mirror blue colored smoke. Check engine light came on. Then car just stalled.

- Bristol, TN, USA

On Tuesday November 14, 2006 I was driving along a secondary highway when my 1999 Dodge Intrepid started to buck on me. It sounded like the engine was skipping and unbeknownst to me smoke came out of my exhaust when it bucked. I brought the vehicle to a local computer tune and lube for a diagnostic and they informed me that I would need a new motor in the car to the tune of 6500 dollars. I became angry and limped my car back to the dealership who told me that since I had a warranty I could get the engine fixed the engine is a 2.7 litre. I was told to bring it to a Dodge dealership who proceeded to break down the engine. They informed me that they had contacted the warranty company and I should forward all maintenance receipts to the company. Now earlier this year in February my car broke down and eventually they said it was the fuel pump. When they were done the checked out my fluids oil and other items and that settled that. I only put 5000 miles on the car between then and now and from what the described you would think I ran the car into the ground. I take pride in my cars and have kept a consistent record of running them for ten years. The warranty company is sending out an inspector but they are going to avoid paying as much as possible. I just bought this car last year and already it's in worse shape than any of my previous cars @ ten years. I would appreciate any advice you can give me as to a possible recourse to this dilemma.

- Enfield, CT, USA

Violent shaking of the vehicle. Loud metal clanging type noise. Sudden lack of acceleration. Stalling and failure of power steering at 45 mph. I was returning home from my son's school in heavy traffic and we almost crashed into a brick wall. Fortunately I was strong enough to maintain enough control of the steering wheel to somewhat safely stop the vehicle on the side of the road.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

While my wife was driving her car to work the check engine light came on and then the engine just seized up on her leaving her in the middle of a two lane highway. After we got the car home I tried to turn the engine over by hand and it wouldn't rotate. I did all the maintenance on the vehicle since new and used synthetic oil the entire life of the engine. Just purchased another engine and I am worried the same thing will happen after reading all the horror stories on the net.

- Katy, TX, USA

1999 Dodge Intrepid 2.7 engine...goes dead while going down the road. I have had the oil changed religiously @ 3K miles, but it just loses power & dies. I am afraid I will get hit one of these times because I am unable to get the thing off the road with no power. Yesterday almost caused a serious incident. The engine died, the car lurched, I lost power but no lights ever came on. The tach needle hit zero and as I was trying to find somewhere to try & pull off while coasting, the stupid thing all of the sudden came back to life & took off. These incidents are getting more & more frequent and have been occurring about a year now. I've already had to have the water pump replaced, but I can deal with repairs...but after doing research today, I have found thousands of incidents like this are happening all over the us! is this not enough to get someone to pay attention & make Dodge recall the engines before some terrible accident occurs??

- Milan, TN, USA

Purchased a 1999 Dodge Intrepid. The motor blew at only 80,000 miles. This is a vehicle that we depend heavily on as a family vehicle. The car could not be fixed. A new motor was hard to find and the cost of the repairs would be more than the car was worth. We simply could not afford to pay $5,000 to replace a motor. A used motor was not much less expensive because so many owners of the Dodge Intrepid were in the same situation. Because of all this, we were forced to buy another vehicle and we still owed 2 more years on the Intrepid. This experience has definitely made me lose my faith in the Dodge name. As of yet, there has been no effort on the part of Dodge to rectify this situation. Our family has been deeply hurt financially because of this.

- Clinton, MS, USA

1999 2.7 liter engines used by Dodge fail without warning. This leaves people exposed to high speed traffic on freeways. It also leaves the disabled vehicle on the roadside until it's towed. This makes the vehicle a danger to all that pass by it. The failure rate of these specific engines is excessive. The ntsb should insist that Dodge make an effort to remedy the problem. Dodge has ignored the issue and blamed their customers. Dodge has decreased the margin of safety on our roadways by producing vehicles prone to failure.

- Stillman Valley, IL, USA

'99 Dodge Intrepid with 2.7 liter engine. (3 years ago) sounded like a diesel truck, mechanic diagnosed engine problems, replaced timing belt. Today car is now spewing black smoke - related again to engine problems. Changing belt 3 years ago bought time, now I am faced with replacing an engine before it seizes up while I am driving! Chrysler takes no responsibility, states it is a user issue. Documented problem with Chrysler technicians, yet Chrysler will not warranty their product.

- Pittsford, NY, USA

Engine has been burning oil at the rate of 1 quart every three weeks. While driving, total engine failure occurred unexpectedly, making it very difficult to control the vehicle.

- Old Hickory, TN, USA

Timing chain failure - second time. Tensioner failed, allowing timing chain to flop, resulting in nine bent valves and head damage.

- Vancouver, WA, USA

When I left the house the car was ok, I drove to my friend house the car started making a real loud noise. I shut the car off. It wouldn't start up again, I had to have it tow to shop where I bought it. I was told the timing chain was out and it would be cheaper to get another engine. Now this is where the fun being. We had a difficult time finding a engine. Once we did and had it put in the car, it didn't work. We brought the engine from T&M auto salvage in canton. They put another engine in the car. I drove the car about 3 months when it starting making a strange noise the warranty had expired. Therefore, we took the car to the Dodge dealership. They had the car a month or two. They told me they steamed clean the engine because it was sludge build up and they had to take the engine apart to replace the timing chain. Now the car still isn't working correctly for whatever reason we can not afford to find out.

- Southfield, MI, USA

1999 Dodge Intrepid 2.7L engine failed due to engine sludge. Only had 47,000. No warning. Just would not start. Had it towed to garage and told the engine is blown. Just like thousands of other with the exact same story. Have been very diligent about maintenance especially since hearing about this problem from a co-worker whose engine blew at 70,000. Had read the average is 63,000. I only had 47,000. Took a chance that with good maintenance it wouldn't happen to me. - I lost. Hope the good people (they know who they are) at Chrysler are sleeping well. I feel sorry for anyone who works for them because they are being made to lie to consumers to cover for their employer.

- Rocky River, OH, USA