1998 Dodge Intrepid review from North America

I have purchased a 99 Intrepid 2.7.

I've read a lot of complaints regarding the oil pressure and knocking sounds; similar problems to what I am currently facing.

I tore the block apart, it seems to have more moving parts than an aircraft engine LOL. I've replaced a bunch of valve lash adjusters, factory piece of crap oil pump (don't buy the Chrysler oil pump, it's piece of junk. I'd recommend a Meiling pump that has a steel cover), water pump with Sertafit gasket, clean the oil pick up tube strainer.

This is where I begin to worry; aluminum flakes in the oil pan, checked my crank and rods for excess play, didn't find any, cams look fairly decent as well as cam bearings. Getting ready to reinstall timing components. I've done everything by the book, so wish me luck.

Seem this engine was designed with numerous flaws in the lubrication system, mainly hydraulic lash adjusters (somewhat of a lifter), aluminum cased oil pump with machined hardened steel impeller gears, that chew up inside of the pump after a mild wear, and $399.00 timing set.

Perhaps for few of you unfortunate 2.7 owners, the knocking top end might not be the end of your engine, check your piston compression, CP sensor, timing, there are a lot of things to go wrong, and remember not go to Chrysler for help, if you want something done right, do it yourself. A Chilton manual is a great aid in fixing it yourself, or getting an idea on what might be approximately wrong with your car, before letting some greedy dealer sucker you into spending a lot of money for nothing.

5w-20 Mobil 1 synthetic is the only oil that will not gunk up your heads, don't use any other viscosity of oil. Clean your oil pan and oil strainer if you've been using anything other than Mobil 1 synthetic 5w20. The reason why is oil passages are too small for thick viscosity oil, so if your oil dummy light is on, thicker oil won't help, it will only stress the oil pump even more. Your nominal pressure is 25~100psi.

Wish me luck with mine, I only paid 300 it, that's what it's worth at a junk yard LOL.

By the way, change your oil every 2000 miles, not 3000 or 6000.