Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90, 91-105, 106-112
Serviced the car for the passenger door lock. It had quit operating.
Had three recalls done at first time of service.
One of the recalls affected the operation of the convertible.
After the service recall done on convertible, it started leaking water excessively into the car. Brought the car back and repairs were only made to the driver's side. Parts were factory ordered. Brought the car back for the passenger side to be repaired for same problem. Again parts were factory ordered.
Brought the car back two months later for the power antenna to be replaced. It quit working. Factory ordered and after the car was there for a third day full day, I was told to bring the car back in when the part came in. Upon doing so, the car remained in the shop for a full week.
Brought the car back in two months for electrical problems with the headlights and interior dashboard lights going out. Another full day in the shop with no repairs. Could not find the problem.
The car was towed in two months later due to it not starting. The shop replaced the fuse and sent us on our way.
Car was hit on its side a couple of weeks later. The body shop did a shabby job of repairs. Door didn't line up and the passenger window and rear passenger window were not making contact.
The car was brought back for window repairs, leaking water again, and lining the door up again with the body lines.
Brought the car back for the transmission going out.
Brought the car back for more water leaks.
The car was towed back in for not starting again. They replaced the fuse again.
Brought the car back for more electrical problems with the headlights and dash board lights going out again.
Brought the car back for another transmission problem. Seal went out.
Car stereo has now totally quit and needs a new power amp at $250.00.
The convertible top is coming apart at the seams at all different points. The top is curling up. Needs to be replaced.
A year and a half after I bought the car, the driver's side leather seat ripped in the middle of it. I am not a real heavy person and maintained minks oil and leather cleaning. The passenger seat is now starting to wear badly. It is barely used.
I fell in love with this car when I first saw it. My husband bought it for me out of a loving gesture and as a surprise. We have both been surprised with the poor quality put into this new car, and the rude and prejudiced way I have been treated each and every time I have had to bring this car in for a repair.
Also the amount of time it took to repair it and the poor workmanship of body work that was done. The car still has a one inch gap between the passenger door window and the rear window.
It has just recently gone out of its extended warranty which is why we now have to replace the power amp out of our own pocket.
I own a 1996 Chrysler Sebring JXI. I bought it completely totaled and I have had it rebuilt to dealership specs. The only reason that my Sebring is at dealership specs is because I had a dealership advise the body shop that I had repairs done at. In the future, it seems that you should take enough pride in your Sebring to not disrespect it, but to find out how legitimate the work at an automotive body shop is BEFORE you let them do repairs on your vehicle.
I am the proud second owner of a 1997 Sebring JXI convertible. Since putting 14 000 kilometers on my car I am still in love with it and have had no problems, mechanical or electrical. It sounds like you may have purchased the only lemon out there, too bad.
I am the owner of a 1997 Sebring Convertible, bought it in early 1998 and the car now has 110.000 miles on it.
Every car this age may show some problems. These things went wrong with my car:
(during the years there has also been numerous recalls and fixes, but I guess it is a good thing that Chrysler corrects design flaws. the recalls have always been handled well)
2000. The large circuit board which is in the dashboard under the instruments stopped working and had to be replaced.
2000. A cracking sound started to appear when I put the transmission in reverse and backed up. The sound seemed to come from the right front wheel, but the repair shop did not find anything wrong with the car. The warranty had expired so I decided to live with the noise. A year later the noise was gone.
2002. One day the transmission started to act up and would not change gears, but was stuck in second gear. This happened usually when I exited the freeway, slowing down to a full stop. I found out that if I stopped again and turned off the ignition and then started the car again, the transmission would work fine. This problem continued for a couple of weeks and then went away..
2002. The rear window started to become unglued from the convertible top. A crack also appeared in the glass. The right had side electrical connection for the rear window defroster also fell off, the solder junction opened.
2002. The car would not start. I found that a 20A fuse for the ignition switch (located under the hood) was blown, and replaced it. The same thing happened several times a few days later. I will have to take the car to the workshop.
I am sorry to sound SO rude maam and/or sir, but it seems to me that you either DID buy a lemon, or you have not taken good care of your car. I have read many reviews for Sebring Convertibles, and I have a 1999 Sebring JXI Convertible myself, and nothing has gone wrong with it, ever. And out of ALL the reviews I have read, I have NEVER heard so many complaints and problems with the Sebring Convertible. Now like I said, you have either not taken good care of that car, or it is (like the other comment said from someone else) the ONLY lemon out there, if not the only, then one of the VERY few! And if this comment has not convinced you to quit complaining, then let me say this... I am a 17 year old teen, and you'd think that a teen would take LESS care of this car than an adult would, and I admit, I don't...I race it, I have many people in the car at all times, the are constantly climbing over my leather seats, but I've had it for 2 1/2 years, since it was new, and like I said, nothing has ever gone wrong.
My 1997 Sebring's convertible top is looking very bad. Does anyone know a place in Phoenix (preferably Chandler) to have this done at a reasonable price?
Karen
kdthelen@yahoo.com.
I have a 96 Sebring Convertible JX. I have had to have the transmission rebuilt, after 120k miles. Not too bad. I had the top replaced a few hundred miles after that. The circuit board for the dash needed replaced around 100k. Overall these repairs were made after most cars would need to be totally replaced. Right now the problem I have that I can't get resolved is the 20A fuse under the hood. It's blown time and again, just replace it and go. Now it's to the point where you replace and blow. The dealerships I've called all say they've never heard of this problem. I've read at least 6 reviews with the same exact problem. Has anyone ever discovered the cause of it? My poor car is just sitting because I refuse to take it somewhere to get repaired until I know what the cause is. Other than that, I'm happy with my convertible.
I'm a proud owner of a 96 convertible...and, there has never... i repeat..never been a problem with the car. In eight years of ownership I have put on 120,000 km and driven it in every Canadian winter... it gets a tad cold sometimes!!!
I guess its one of two things, either you bought the only lemon on the market, or you just didn't look after it well... either case, don't disrespect the best car in the world please!!!
O yeah, I did get normal wear and tear items replaced, brakes once and that's it.
I am really sorry to hear about all the problems you have had with your car. I owned an 88 Le baron convertible and then was stupid enough to buy another one in 94. I should have learned my lesson from the first one. What can I say... It's a Chrysler product. The 88 was in the shop too many times to count. I put more money into it then I paid for it. The 94 was the same way. As usual with Chryslers it started smoking at 75K miles and the transmission slipped severely. I learned my lesson and bought a Honda Del Sol and it has never given me a problem aside from normal scheduled maintenence. The car now has 181K miles on it and is still perfect. I couldn't even imagine getting that many miles out of either of my Le barons.
Re blown fuses: I have a 1997 jxi with 137+ thousand miles on it. (Bought it from my nephew who took very good care of it, but let it sit in a garage for 6 months without preparing it properly for storage...) My fuses started to blow after a particularly cold day - when I took it to my neighborhood gas station, the guy said I needed a new starter - and he put one in. The guy has always been fair with me, so I figured he was telling the truth - although I thought that the starter just might be frozen and didn't really need replacement.
In any event, that was two months and many MANY colder days ago, and I've had no problems since. Therefore, I'm guessing that your fuse problem could be starter related... have someone you trust check it for you.
PS my car has a number of little annoying problems, but compared to the other cars I've owned (Buick, Ford, Chevy, Isuzu, Mazda, Fiat (holy cow! how did THAT get in there?!), Dodge, and Subaru) this little puppy is a champ!
I am the owner of a '97 sebring convertable.
Beautiful car, i get lots of comments.
If they only knew.
My father brought the car home, and I actually wouldn't drive it for the first 4 months or so, it seemed too nice a car for me and my kids.
I finally gave in and decided to take it on a trip I had planned, first thing was to bail, (wet vac) approx 12 gallons of water from the floorboards. sounds goofy I know, but what the shop found causing such a water level, even more goofy sounding.
No leaks from the convertable top, but instead, the body seemed to fill up with water, slowing seeping up into the floorboards.
The shop folks cleared the blocked drainage holes (???),
charged our extended warranty upwards of $800.00 to do so, and I am still bailing today.
My father contacted chrysler, but they were not helpful to resolve the what has become a moldy, soggy misery for this first time chrysler owner.
I can almost accept all of the other problems that I have seen mentioned, and a lot of them we have experienced.
I can certainly sympathize with you. I have had numerous problems with my 96 Sebring convertible. Just recently, I have had flooding problems. After doing extensive research, I will go to the dealership and have them correct this VERY COMMON problem... very stinky.
In the past, I've had to have the engine replaced (the same day I had it serviced), the driver's window replaced for a small piece of plastic ($500) (it still doesn't close correctly), the brakes done NUMEROUS times, and the instrument panel knobs have warped off due to moisture. I am sure I am missing many things. The two dealerships in Birmingham have been inconsistent at best. Unfortunately, I have lost ALL faith in the dealership where I bought the car.
My boss knows of my many woes with this car as I have to make arrangements for off time, etc. My friends and family constantly remind me of my mistake in purchasing a Chrysler product. After I bought mine, two of my siblings have bought Neons and my dad bought a Dodge truck. All are always being serviced. Their Hondas, Fords and Toyotas are running fine.
It is a beautiful car and when it runs it runs well. That's the only good thing I can say about it.
I have a 1998 Sebring Convertible and really enjoy it; however I don't enjoy finding 6 inches of water on the passenger side floorboard or hearing a "sloshing" sound when I accelerate or brake. I see no visible leaking "place", but obviously water is finding a way in. Living in Florida, our rainstorms are ruining my enjoyment. Does anyone know exactly what causes the leaks and will replacing the top solve it? Also any idea how much it costs to fix the problem as it may be time to find
another car huh? methemama1@hotmail.com.
I own a 1997 Sebring JXI Convertible, the car is great and a lot of fun to drive. I get a lot of compliments. But as an owner I have discovered a few major flaws with the top.
The top is coming apart at the seams. I could understand it if this car was a street rod, but it has been garage kept and has only 14,000 miles. on it. The car is in Showroom Condition.
Another Complaint is that the car fills up with water when it rains. I partially solved that problem by removing body plug in front of rear wheel, inside wheel well. This is OK for the warm seasons, but in the winter the water freezes up & Becomes a real problem. Chrysler has to come up with a better design. If any one knows how to solve problem please info. me at marksigns@verizon.net.
I own a 1997 Chrysler Sebring JXI. It's a great car, but then again a lot of the faults I've read about on this page are common to my vehicle also. I am writing to shed some light on the mysterious 20 amp engine ignition starter fuse that occasionally blows when you turn the ignition key. Took it to a trusted mechanic where I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and the verdict was that I needed to replace the starter. Apparently the solenoid which is actually located internally in the starter had shaken loose from where it was supposed to be screwing in. When it was where it was supposed to be then the car started with no problem. If the solenoid vibrated into a position were metal touched metal then the fuse blew. The starter was about $220 and the labor to install it was another $70. The Chrysler dealership gave me a similar quote for the part, but the labor quote was $110. My car also has the problem with the top coming apart, odometer display intermittently operating properly, and I've changed more brake pads and rotors than I care to think about. Oh well, it was a fun single guy car, but now that I'm married with 2 sons it's getting close to time to sell my Chrysler that now finally starts every time I turn the ignition for a minivan. The Ford Windstar and Honda Odyssey are looking better and better every day. Oh the shame of it all :).
In my life I have always owned European cars, but my daughter decided to have me buy her a 1998 Sebring convertible limited. What a great looking car! after reading all the problems some of you have had, it makes me very nervous to have my daughter drive this car. But I must say that the only problem I have encountered is the drifting of the idle on the car after it warms up to normal temp and you come to a stop. It's at the dealer right now for that problem. Lets see how they do on fixing it. I will keep you informed. By the way, I drive a Jaguar.