1999 Dodge Stratus from North America - Comments

Speed sensors (both in and out) for transmission computer chip. That was a good $300 plus the $150 transmission flush I had the dealership do b/c while the sensors were out, the car wouldn't shift and I was worried about future transmission problems.

Rear CB (? I may have the wrong initials) bearings replaced right before I purchased for about $300.

CV joints just went bad... estimate at $250.

I want to reiterate that I just bought the car less than a month ago from another person. It was impeccably maintained with routine maintenance performed religiously. Visually, the car looks brand new inside and out. It drove completely fine when I bought it.

Within 10 days the sensors went out overnight rendering the car useless. It looks really nice sitting in my driveway.

The CV joint has progressively gotten worse and worse sounding; it was misdiagnosed as bad control arms (but hey, I have two new control arms so that's one less thing to fix later).

Now, when I accelerate or drive on the highway, it feels as though the transmission is slipping. I don't even want to think how much this car is going to end up costing me. I am a law student with no extra money to spare. I thought I was getting a bargain as I bought the car under retail; but really I just invested thousands of dollars into a non-running unreliable money pit.

I had the same problem, the sensor went bad (about 2,000 miles ago) stuck in 2nd gear and got replaced now it won't sift worth anything or feels diffrent with no (power) kinda, went to get fluid changed they told me its more than that, its the tranmission going.

I'm having a problem with my Stratus right as we speak. My transmission is stuck in 2nd gear and right now, I was told I need to replace the computer... is this correct or is it just the sensor???

I just had the same problem with my 1999 dodge Stratus. Had to replace both sensors and do a transmission flush. What kind of problems can I look forward to in the future I have already spent close to 1,000 dollars and I only have 55,000 miles on it.

Man oh man maybe we should all post our VIN numbers and see if they came off the assembly line the same day. My 1999 ES (2.5 liter) probably has the same problem. It currently has 62K miles. The last six of the VIN is 657146.

I bought it from my sister who was the first owner and had 20K on it when she sold it to me. She drives as conservatively as I do, no racing or abuse (married mother of one...).

ANYWAY, the preface to this is that two months ago I had a small leak in the transmission cooling line that goes to the front of the car (near the radiator). It was a very small leak and I was lucky to catch it since there was snow on the ground it was easy to see the few drops that had leaked overnight. I took it to a Dodge dealer two days after I saw the leak.

The service advisor ordered parts and said the leak was very small and the car would be okay to drive for a couple of days. He said they topped off the fluid level. I kept rechecking the level to make sure I wasn't dumping fluid and it still stayed put.

The line was changed within a week. No other problems.

The other day I happened to check the transmission fluid level since it's getting close to oil change time. The trans fluid dipstick was showing quite high, well above the "hot" index area and this was after the car had been sitting overnight. The "DO NOT OVERFILL" warning on the dipstick had me concerned so I took it to a corner service station. The mechanic didn't think it was a problem and said he didn't need to drain any fluid.

The next day (April 10) I was driving in automatic (I rarely use the Autostick) when I realized the car was stuck in second gear. I put the gear selector down into Autostick to see if I could manually change it, but no effect. I put it back into automatic and still no change. Then the check engine light came on. I pulled into the nearest service station (one that I have used before with my last car) to see what was going on. I explained to the mechanic everything that had happened with the car since January and told him about the overfilled trans fluid. He said he'd run the computer diagnostic to see what the transmission computer had to say. He also said I should check the level on the stick with the engine running.

I repeated the process twice, wiping the stick off each time, and it still looked to me like the level was well above the "HOT" zone. I left the car for him to look at today.

The mechanic told me today that the trans computer gave an "input/output" error and that they would need to replace the sensors before they could determine if anything else was wrong. He doesn't have an estimate yet because I think he's scrounging the junk yards to see if he can get them there.

I'm just worried that the excessive fluid caused structural damage to the transmission itself. I know its more likely that it would damage the pump and cause more leaks, but looking at other articles about servicing the transmission fluid level they all seemed to indicate having too much fluid was as bad as not enough.

SO at the very least changing some circuits and sensors. Will I have to have the transmission replaced? Should I take it back to the dealer who did the original work and tell them to fix it since they were the ones that overfilled the transmission fluid?

All in all I won't say the Stratus is a bad car, it's actually been pretty good to me. Besides the leaking transmission line ($300) the only other thing on the car that broke was the sunroof. It was still under warranty at the time so I got the fix for free.

The really funny part about this is that I just mailed my last car payment into the bank last week. So I guess I'll be making (at least) one more payment.

I just bought a 1999 dodge stratus 6 weeks ago. My check engine light just came on, my speedometer doesn't work and my RPM'S are running very high. This happened all at once. I am going to bring it back to the dealer as I paid for an extended warranty, but someone said it may be the speed sensor which sensors aren't covered under my warranty. What a trip. Like I have money to spend after buying this car with 113,000 miles.

I'll never buy another Dodge. Huge amounts of oil under car at 35K. Mechanic said the head gasket needed replaced. Thank goodness he's honest. He told me that Dodge may replace it for free, if not it would cost about $700. Dealership charged $50 to look at it and then replaced it for free. Transmission went out at 90K. In the process of fixing that so no cost estimate is available. Once the tranny is fixed this car will be sold. Power windows are beginning to fail as is power driver seat. Car also goes through brakes way too fast. New front brakes every 30K.

Car was fine up until about 80K miles. Way too early for a car to begin falling apart.

Very disappointed in our 99 Stratus. At 58k miles, our transmission has been slipping. Going 65 on the expressway, suddenly the car feels as though it's in neutral and all you are doing is revving the RPMs. Took to the mechanic who specializes in Transmissions and will cost $1500 to fix, minimum and we'll be without a car, causing a rental for 4 days.

We had the same problem with a 95 Dodge Intrepid that we had way back when... we were hopeful that it was a one time deal and that they'd have fixed any problems.

We're going to be in the market again soon for a new car and unfortunately, I don't think we'll be buying a Dodge again.

I had to replace the head gasket at 130,000 but the motor in this stratus was the more expensive of the 2 possible engines I could of had and the the cam-shaft had to be replaced as well 2500.00 was the cost just 1 month before it would have been paid off. Then transmission started surging like it didn't want to shift and it is now stuck in low. I hope it's just the sensors, but this car has been a headache with the injectors acting up as well.

Hey!, I have a 1995 Dodge Stratus ES, 2.5L V-6 all done up, I had the same problem with my car being stuck in second gear. It is the speed sensor. Also there was a knocking in my front end which ended up being the control arm joint or something along those lines... took 10 minutes to replace and cost $120 to fix. My fuel pump needs to be replaced, the car starts terrible!, Man it's a money hole, but it looks good. I have 170 000km on my stratus.