1997 Dodge Stratus from North America - Comments

Hood latch replacement.

Tie rod ends were rusted.

Check engine light kept coming on due to a problem with the gas tank/cap.

Shifter almost engaged in reverse on its own.

Head gasket replaced twice!

Finally, locked up the motor after the final head gasket replacement due to an oil leak around the oil flues (passage ways).

The car drives nice and is good on gas.

Handles pretty good for tight corners.

A bit noisy at interstate speeds.

Just got tired of adding oil for a car with only 40,000 miles...

Anyone who claims their Stratus is reliable either works for Chrysler or hasn't had theirs long enough.

I had a 1996 stratus just traded it off at 98,200 miles. The only thing I did was replaced a gasket on the pan for an oil leak... waste of a 100,000 mile warranty.

I own a 97 Stratus, and I have only had it for one year. I've already had to replace the head gasket, which seems to be a running theme among owners, and now it's in the shop for suspension arm replacement and tie rod replacement. The tie rod broke this morning... at 82000 miles. People I've talked to say this shouldn't be happening yet.

I have a 1997 dodge stratus, at 133,044 miles the head gasket failed, other than that this car has been great, I bought it new in 1996, and the only maintenence I have done to it is change the oil and replace the tires as needed and had the timing belt replaced at 105,000 miles.

I own a 96 Stratus which I bought in Dec 95. The car ran great for 66,000 before I had the first tie rod replace. At 75,000 miles I noticed the oil leaks, but ignored it for I only added 1 quart per month to top it off. I experienced my first major problem at 110,000 miles, my thermostat went bad which damaged the water pump and caused my engine to overheat. This also caused my leaky head gaskets to become worse. After getting those items replaced, the car runs great, but the mechanic told me the tie rod was bad. Thinking I could wait awhile before replacing it, I took the car. Five hundred miles later the tie rod completely broke. Luckily I had just stopped in the parking lot of my condo when I heard it "POP". After 7 years and 110,000 miles and are just now making major repairs, I consider myself lucky. I know that no 2 cars on the same assembly line will perform the same, so I do not expect to have the same story as others. But I would like to caution you, if you have a Stratus with over 80,000 mile and haven't done so, replace the water pump, thermostat and timing belt together. This is the recommended life expectancy of these items and replacing them together will reduce maintenance cost. If you are replacing the head gasket have it done then, doing that saved me $1300 in labor charges. Since, it has now been close to 50,000 when the first tie rod was replaced, I'm going to have them both replaced. I will see if anything else breaks on this car.

Where is the thermostat located on a 97 Dodge Stratus? I need to replace mine.