CarComplaints.com Notes: The Dodge Intrepid, Stratus & other Chrysler sedans are infamous for oil sludge problems with the 2.7L V6 engine. If someone offers to sell you a 2.7L V6 model, it's only worth the price of the scrap metal it's going to shortly turn into.
NOTE: Only the 2.7L V6 has the oil sludge problem. Our "Avoid like the Plague" designation is ONLY for models with the 2.7L V6 engine. All other available engines are very reliable with no major problems.
Even with regular maintenance, the oil sludge defect eventually destroys the 2.7L engine typically around 80,000-100,000 miles. The only true fix we know about is to put in the larger 3.2L engine, which has a great reputation.
This issue was never deemed a safety defect by the Feds, so there was no recall. In the end, Chrysler got away with FOUR YEARS worth of defective 2.7L V6 engines in their sedans.
6.4
fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
11,069 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
While driving at normal highway speeds the car suddenly downshifted, causing a terrible jolt to my family including two children. The jolt nearly caused an accident from cars behind us (the car does not light the taillights even though the car went from 60mph to 30mph in probably less than a second). We were told that the problem was the input and output transmission sensors. This is the second time this has occurred to us in 33000 miles!! we were lucky but this could easily cause a fatal accident to somesone. I hope the NHTSA will do something about this issue soon before a fatal accident does happen!!!!
While driving on freeway near tracy, ca vehicle drove over smoothly part in freeway that slightly went upward then slightly downward causing vehicle springs or struts to lift up or hop far too much creating very poor vehicle traction, traffic then abruptly halted, had to brake hard to stop vehicle, vehicle had poor traction and just slid making a loud tire screeching noise, had to very quickly release the brake since vehicle was skidding, shifted into autostick and downshifted quickly in conjunction with quickly using brake get vehicle to stop properly. I am using stock Goodyear tires with good tread, service center told me tires are ok, I am supposed to have ABS (anti-lock brakes) so this does not happen. I beleive that the ABS failed due to the springs or struts bouncing allowing the vehicle to lift up too much thus loosing traction causing ABS to fail. I have not had any other problems with ABS however brakes are starting to sometimes feel funny, almost a little rough when applied lately. I talked to independent mechanic that told me that my vehicle should not have skidded as it did and my springs could be responsible for the excessive uplift that occured. Vehicle does seem to hop or bounce a little much also at times causing the front wheels to loose traction or slide on slight turns. New springs or whatever with only 32,000? I have never had that happen in my old 1995 Dodge Intrepid although it had it's problems. This should not happen and is dangerous, I almost smashed into the traffic in front of me. Please advise. Thank you.
- San Leandro, CA, USA
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- Overland Park, KS, USA