1997 Plymouth Voyager SE review from North America
"Unless you are a good mechanic with lots of spare time... stay away from this piece of scrap metal"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Went to pick it up, it was quite cold and it wouldn't start (here's your sign.. LOL) after much playing around it was towed to dealership.. Timing belt had jumped off.
After being serviced for timing belt, the serpentine belt kept falling off. New tensioner pulley and belt.
A week after we put it on the road the oilpan rotted out of it... replaced oil pan and gasket.
Replaced tranny seal around front drive axle (used more tranny fluid than gas I think)
Waterpump seals went... replaced waterpump.
Re-occurring oil leak at cam seal.. 4-5 hours of work to change.. this thing has had 4 new seals put into it, so I'm guessing a new cam is in order, which I'm sure will not be cheap (1 litre of oil/50km of driving... not to mention the stink and burning oil on the exhaust and spatter up the back hatch)
Electrical problem with wipers.. found a short in fuse panel under hood (was very tempted to just dump some gas on it)
Strut tower bearing gone.. replaced.
Brake line rotted off near the rear of vehicle (regular maintenance I guess... they use a lot of salt on the roads here).
New air idle control motor and coolant temp sensor in a vain attempt to solve a cold starting problem... that I'm still not 100% sure I've fixed.
General comments?
This is one of the best riding vans I have driven yet and I find it very roomy and comfortable. It could use a little more heat in the rear, but seems to be OK once you're on the road for a while (30 minutes).
Luckily though for me, I'm not too far away from being a mechanic and do all my own work to my vehicles, which has saved me thousands of dollars in labor on this vehicle.
It's almost like a hobby keeping this poorly engineered van on the road. The engine is crammed into the engine bay and almost impossible to do any type of work on the rear cylinder bank. (have fun with the spark plug on the rear passenger side if you decide to change it).
Maybe Plymouth.. Dodge.. Chrysler, whatever name they're hiding behind now should put a little more thought into making an engine that will hold fluids a little longer... seals and gaskets in particular.
I know the van has a lot of miles on it almost 300 000km, but my 97 Blazer has more kilometers yet and hasn't given me a fraction of the problem with all the same maintenance intervals.
So IMHO the 1997 Plymouth Voyager is a LEMON period.
Recommended reviews
| Nicely designed, poorly engineered |
|
| Average transportation if you have lots of $$$ for maintenance |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| Model year | 1997 |
| Year of manufacture | 1997 |
| First year of ownership | 2004 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2008 |
| Engine and transmission | 3.0 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 4 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 5 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 200000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 289000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Chevrolet Cavalier |
| Date of Entry | 26th December, 2008 |