Faults:
A tiny coolant hose had failed, picked one up at a small auto parts store and was told that particular shape and type of hose only fit 1978 magnum's, no other car. What luck!
Lean Burn system failed causing exhaust to leak into the cab. Fixed it by sealing off the lean burn system with JBWeld.
Consumed oil.
Low oil pressure.
Very cold natured, difficult to start in the morning.
General Comments:
This was a real beast of a car, my friends even named it "The Beast". I purchased this car because I was in an accident with a financed car and was fighting with the insurance company and needed SOME form of transportation for the time being. I saw an add in the paper for this car and 2 hours and $250.00 later I was driving it home with stinky exhaust filling the cab. I pinched some metal hoses and sealed them with JBWeld and no more exhaust. The car still ran as if nothing had been changed.
This car was old, poorly maintained, beat up, and ugly as sin. I even put a plastic toy from Taco Bell on the hood with a bolt to act as a hood ornament. It was a Goosebumps figurine of a hamster throwing up and the vomit glowed in the dark. Hilarious, yet fitting for the looks and sound of this car.
I added over 100,000 miles to this car with low oil pressure and oil consumption going the whole time. In the morning it would retain pressure, but after about 30 minutes the pressure would drop almost to nothing and the engine would clang, rattle, knock, and make other ungodly sounds, but the car would not die. It just wouldn't.
An example of this was while sitting at a red light, I noticed a tornado approaching (yes I'm serious). While out of the path of the tornado, I used it as an excuse to drive the Magnum down the road as fast as I could (like other people were trying to do). So, with no oil pressure, the engine rattling, and the whole thing wanting to come apart with almost 300,000 miles on it and an exhaust system that was JB Welded shut, I buried the 110 mph speedometer and it kept accelerating.
This car had numerous minor problems, but it always ran. It ate tires, oil, gas all the time, but would never leave me stuck.
I drove it daily until the time came where I had acquired two newer vehicles. I tried to sell the car, but nobody wanted it, so I let the oil level get down to about one quart, the coolant to be extremely low, and drove the car as hard as I could with no oil, running all the way over to H (Hot) on the temp gauge, and it would not die. Afterwards, I found a guy with a junkyard that offered me $50.00 for it and I sold it to him and he drove it off down the road.
Excellent reliability and dependability. They don't make them like this anymore. Get one!
12th Sep 2007, 21:16
Yeah, these were pretty cool, among the last of the full-size, rear wheel drive, V-8, 2-door sport sedans from Dodge. The muscle cars were gone, but these Magnums, the Cordobas, and the Chargers were still decent cars. It was downhill for Mopar after that.