1997 Dodge Intrepid 4 door from North America - Comments

steven@carsurvey.org:

Please note that this review has been editted to remove case numbers and names of Daimler Chrysler employees other than the CEO.

Daimler Chrysler Corporation

1000 Chrysler Drive

Auburn Hills, MI

48326-2766.

Robert J. Eaton

Chairman & CEO.

Dear Mr. Eaton,

As an American I try to support our countries' auto manufacturers by purchasing "American" branded vehicles, and had done exactly that in 1998 when I purchased my Dodge Intrepid from a local dealership. It is the first Daimler Chrysler product that I have ever owned. Previous American vehicles were exclusively Ford products (5) until 1990 when they failed to provide "Adequate Customer Service" surrounding their peeling paint, and air conditioner problems on the 1987 Aero star vans, at that point I swore off ever owning a vehicle from that manufacturer again, and have passed on the stories surrounding my experiences with their corporation and customer service to literally hundreds of individual, even to the extent of forming and initiating a "Lemon Line" at all local dealers.

To date I had experienced few real difficulties with my Daimler Chrysler other than the standard American benchmark of using cheap plastic in such areas of visor clips, cup holders, and buttons, that break and have to replaced, that is until late April of 2002.

My difficulties began with the A606/42LE transmission shifting erratically from second to third gear surging the vehicle forward, after that it would "Lock" into second gear and the engine light would illuminate.

On July, 20, 2002 I had the vehicle electronically diagnosed and it was determined that the Internal Solenoid Pack of the transmission had gone bad, I had it replaced at a cost of over $400.00.

After one week the same problem reoccurred and again I had the vehicle electronically diagnosed and the problem this time was that the Internal Under drive hub had broken, this component (as explained by the dealer's top transmission tech) is a common occurrence and in his opinion is due to a bad weld that connects the Internal shaft with the Hub assembly. Their estimate for the remanufactured Mopar transmission and installation is $2,500.00.

I spent the following 2 days doing exhaustive research on the Internet surrounding other problems reported by owners, the NHTSA, CAS, AutoSafety, etc. I discovered that out of the 139 technical bulletins published for my vehicle 12% were directly connected to the transmission, and that the predecessor of my transmission (the A604) had also been plagued with problems and eventually even recalled. I also discovered that in Canada your corporation is commonly assisting your customers with 50 to 100% cost coverage under the "Customer Goodwill" program in repairing these transmissions.

I contacted your corporation on August, 12,2002 (see addendum below this paragraph) and requested assistance under the "Customer Goodwill" program and was quickly denied with little logical explanation given. Do your Canadian customers deserve a higher level of response than your customers located in your own Country?

Telephone Conversation with Chrysler.

I am calling concerning one of my current Chrysler/Dodge automobiles; it is a 1997 Dodge Intrepid with the A606/42LE in-line transmission.

Recently I have paid for three attempts to diagnose and correct a delayed shifting, and "Limp Home Mode" problem with the transmission. The most recent diagnosis performed by my local Chrysler/Dodge dealership determined a "Broken Internal Hub" in the "Under drive" section of the transmission, and indicated that the transmission would need to be replaced at an estimated cost of $2,500.00.

Since this particular transmission and its predecessor, the A604, have multiple manufacturer TSB's addressing these exact problems, I am requesting a case file be opened for the vehicle and that you authorize the dealership to perform the recommended repairs under the "CUSTOMER GOODWILL REPAIR" for an out of warranty item.

Response from Chrysler:

Stated Goodwill Warranty is done on a case-by-case basis and mine would not be covered. That she had the power to make that decision and that there was no one above her that I could speak with.

To my disbelief and disappointment she offered no assistance, and little explanation of why, or who else had input on the decision that I could speak with. Although I believe in employee empowerment, I also there believe in checks and balances being in place for the sake of customer satisfaction.

Today I write to you as an American citizen, who purchased your American vehicle in goodwill, knowing that there would be some shortcomings while the company transitions under new leadership, but believing it was the right thing to do. I have sworn off ever buying a Ford vehicle again and have stuck to that commitment, my question to you is where does Daimler Chrysler stand? Is it behind their Canadian customers, or their American customers who helped to make you the company you are today?

If you are not familiar with the history of this transmission I invite you to visit several Internet sites that portray the swelling anger and concern your customers are feeling.

In closing I am asking for your intervention in providing outstanding customer assistance to an American car owner who would enjoy being able to not only recommend, but also commend your company and it's level of customer service. I believe that it is only a matter of time before this transmission is also recalled to some extent and hope that you make the commitment to be proactive in my case.

Thank you, and I look forward to you reply.

Reply from Chrysler via email.

Dear Greg:

Your e-mail regarding your Intrepid has been received and the concerns you have raised are appreciated.

After thoroughly reviewing your request and the files on this matter, we respectfully concur with the decision rendered by our Senior Staff.

Thank you for taking the time to communicate with DaimlerChrysler Motors Corporation. It is regrettable that a more favorable reply cannot be provided.

Sincerely.

Senior Staff Representative

DaimlerChrysler Customer Assistance Center.

My reply to them:

Perhaps you could, at the very least, be specific on the exact reasons for denying to assist a "First time Chrysler" owner. After exhaustive research I find I am not alone with these transmissions problems surrounding the A606, and much like it's predecessor will eventually be handle through a recall due to quality issues. The question is will Chrysler be proactive in providing customer service, or reactive only after a formal recall? Once I receive the specifics than we can address them each and hopefully restore some level of customer satisfaction and confidence in your company standing behind your product.

CHRYSLER - 1-800-422-4797 - Brochures, dealer locator.

CHRYSLER - 1-800-521-9922 - Service Contracts.

CHRYSLER - 1-800-992-1997 - Customer relations.

CHRYSLER - 1-800-853-1403 - Recall information.

CHRYSLER - 1-800-521-2779 - Roadside Assistance.

CHRYSLER - 1-800-465-2001 - Canada Customer Assistance - English.

CHRYSLER - 1-800-387-9983 - Canada Customer Assistance - French.

CHRYSLER - Customer Relations Zone Offices.

DODGE - 1-800-423-6343 - Brochures, dealer locator.

DODGE - 1-800-992-1997 - Customer relations.

DODGE - 1-800-853-1403 - Recall information.

DODGE - 1-800-521-2779 - Roadside Assistance.

DODGE - 1-800-465-2001 - Canada Customer Assistance - English.

DODGE - 1-800-387-9983 - Canada Customer Assistance - French.

DODGE - Customer Relations Zone Offices.

Orlando Zone

Customer Relations Manager

Chrysler Corporation

8000 South Orange Blossom Trail

Orlando, FL 32809

407-352-7430.

Atlanta Zone

Customer Relations Manager

Chrysler Corporation

3350 Cumberland Circle, Ste. 800

Atlanta, GA 30339

404-644-6888.

The 1997 Dodge Intrepid is a good car.. the only problems I have had was the transmission went out after a year of putting the car through a lot.. high speeds sharp turns hard breaking.. The Dodge Intrepid is a great car it is a smooth riding car and it handles very well.. I give the 1997 Dodge Intrepid high marks on it performance. and a big fat 0 for the transmission...

I own a 1994 Intrepid 3.5 with the 42LE transmission. It (transmission) has acted up for as long as I have owned it, but it too now can only limp home : (

I have since bought a 2002 intrepid. I hope it works a whole lot better. Has anyone had any luck with the goodwill replacement in the U.S.? Please contact me at bonamo1@juno.com.

Thanks.

I have a 97 Intrepid that barely "limps home". The transmission has always been problematic. It would roll backwards while in gear (on an incline) or would not engage when shifted into drive. Prior to dying it's last death, I had the transmission "adjusted" twice. However, my local Dodge dealer wanted $2400+ dollars to fix this latest problem. Thus, I opted to buy a new car instead.

Scary as it sounds, I bought a 2003 Intrepid as a replacement. I just couldn't find anything for the price that intrigued me. This one will hopefully be better -- otherwise, I will swear off Dodge.

Hi I work at a Chrysler dealer, I am sorry to inform all

of you who have bought a newer same name chrysler.

The intrepid, Concorde, LHS, and 300m all have the same

trans as the older cars the 42LE, but modified. Even though

I work at a dealer I had the same thing happen to me with my

1994 eagle vision 3.5l. just remember it's a family car not

a sports car, and drive easy.

I own a 1994 Chrysler Concorde. I believe I am having the exact same problem as all the rest of the people on this list. I just wanted to add my name to the list of people down wrong by a bad transmission.

C. Clark

Tallahassee, FL.

I bought a 1992 Town and Country with only 50,000 miles on it 3 years ago. I thought it would be a good safe van for the family. About a year ago I heard a light thump when shifting to 3rd gear. One day while driving I noticed the van would lock into 2nd gear. It now has 66,900 miles. I took it in to a dealer to change the fluid and filter, that didn't help. The dealer wanted $90 to check the transmission, so I took it to a transmission shop. They showed a 3-4 gear ratio error, and said I need the have my transmission rebuilt for $1350 plus tax. I called Chrysler today and was told flatly they won't help, and that I should stop calling. The man finally hung up on me after yelling. In the 25 years I have been dealing with companies, I have never been treated more rudely. The man refused to give his employee id# and would only identify himself as Joe. He told me there was nothing I could do about it. After his rudeness, I turned on my recorder and told him I will tape the rest of the discussion. He then became very anger, told me he didn't give me permission to tape him, then hung up. If this is the kind of people Chrysler hires to represent themselves to the public, it tells me they don't care what the public think. I was only calling to request the number to the zone office in Orlando, but the man (Joe) told me won't tell me the number.

Thanks for having this site to vent and share experiences.

Todd 5-29-03.

I have a 96 Dodge Intrepid ES, which has the 3.5L V6. As I type this it is sitting at the shop having some repairs done. My transmission has had a few problems. It has gone into the "limp home" mode a few times. I found that if you take the negative cable off the battery for 5 minutes or so, and then place it into the normal drive. It takes it a few minutes and then I guess it resets itself and you can put it back into auto stick and it works fine. It is in the shop for multiple reasons. One of those reason is a 66 dollar transmission mount that is cracked. Which causes it to clunk and shake when in gear, especially reverse. I have also noticed people have complained about a lot of the same problems I have had with my car. I got my car in May of 99 it had 22,018 miles on it. It now has 90,125 miles on it now. About February of 2000 I was driving down the road and poof it just stopped running. Lucky for me it was under the extended warranty that I bought from the dealer. The water pump had gone and so had the timing chain. What would have cost around 600 dollars or so cost me 30 bucks. Then around 36,000 miles I went to replace the front brake pads, which I figured was fine until 10,000 miles later I needed to replace them again. I am not the greatest when it comes to fixing cars so I took it in to have it done professionally, $260 later I had new rotors since they were out of spec, new calipers and new brake hoses, and of course new brake pads. Apparently it was the hoses being clogged not allowing the brake fluid back into the reservoir so it caused the brakes to drag and wear out the rotors and pads before their time. Since then I have also replaced the thermostat twice. I don't know why it likes to brake and leak coolant right there at the thermostat. Since I have owned the car I have had to add antifreeze/water mix to my reservoir about once a month. If I had the money I would get me a Toyota and not have to worry about reliability. I also have blown the head gasket on the drivers side. So, it seems that about once a year I need to drop my car off to a mechanic and say here rape me for 600 to 900 dollars. Its not like I dog on my car all the time. I don't drive it like grandma, but its not the Indy 500 either. The car has a nice ride and reasonable performance. Other than my yearly mechanic visits I love the car to death. I take care of all the normal maintenance my self. I change the air filter, spark plugs, oil and filters all at the manufactures recommended intervals. So, its not like the car isn't cared for. No car is perfect, but this car has more than its share of problems.

Chrysler did not learn their lesson in the 1970's when they

were out of business and the government only bailed them out to preserve family life for the thousands of Americans

who worked for them directly or as a sub-tier supplier.

Competition is good. You can choose a Honda, Toyota, VW, Audi, etc. All these companies build superior products for only a 10% premium up front by the model. If by rare occurrance you get a bad German or Japanese car, they stand behind their products, realizing that return business is earned, not a birthright. They resale value of the european and asian makes reflect a perception of long service life.

Stock price goes up by customer satisfaction on returned business, won on superior engineering and service. The American carmakers have always tried to win on greed - the easy way. They put most of the R&D money into advertising and marketing. I got screwed on every car I ever owned from Detroit, whether it came from GM, Ford or Chrysler.

Now I drive other makes. And, by the way, there is no such thing as an "American car" anymore. Ford's are half Mazda,

GM is half Saab or Toyota or Suzuki, Chrysler is Mitsubishi.

So buy a car you can believe in and put the $1000 you would have spent on an extended warranty into something tangible.

My wife and I have a 1995 Intrepid ES. It has the 3.5 Liter engine and the infamous 42LE transmission. We have 150,000 miles on the car now and the trans is just starting to act up. We are the fourth reported owner of the car. My wife's mechanic said his brother had a '98 Intrepid and it had the same problem. He said it was the lip seal. Fortunately I happen to know a good transmission specialist and he confirmed the seal problem. He also stated that there is also a problem with the planetary gear. There are aftermarket versions of the gear, but the factory one is recommended. He said Chrysler also offers a heavier duty gear. When I took the car in for the diagnosis he said I was the fourth person that day with the same seal problem. It is just something that happens over time. Fortunately it will only cost about a $1000. That's with the complete overhaul, new seals, planetary gear, torque converter and 12 month/12,000 mile warranty.

Chrysler has recently issued a recall on the intrepid's problematic transmissions. Safety recall regarding issues with rolling when supposedly in park.

Anyone owing a Chrysler or Dodge product I suggest visiting the allpar. com website. It is a forum set up by Chrysler enthusiasts. Many of the problems experienced by people can be fixed without the replacement of the transmission. Garages want to replace your transmission they don't want to do a simple fix. This site will answer many questions and give you an insight as to what might be the problem. Being educated before going to the repair shop will save you many many dollars. I had a problem with the limp home mode as well. All that was required was the computer had to be flashed with a new code to reset the shifting interval. Maybe I'm just lucky to have a good dealership close by.

All you LH body owners (i.e. Intrepid, Concorde, LHS, Vision) should report to www. dodgeintrepid.net.

This is our DIY site and contains extremely useful information. Check it out.

Regards,

JE. Electronics.

Hello.

I own a 1997 Dodge Intrepid ES. I've had the rack and pinion changed by a qualified, competent mechanic (with a new rack and pinion purchased through Napa Auto parts). I've heard "clunking" noises since the replacement. I've also had all the rods, struts and mounts replaced... over $3K of work on this car (all front end related) over the past couple of years.

This past Friday (07/01/05), I was taking one of my daughter's friends home. I went to back out of the friend's driveway and heard one big clunk... then realized that my steering wheel had completely disconnected from both front wheels! This could have been a tragedy - myself, my two daughters and any friend (s) could have easily been killed with such a sudden, catastrophic failure. I had planned to drive my daughters out of state on Sunday (07/03/05) - what if the bolts had failed on the highway at 65 or 70 miles per hour??? Would we have been one more quick news story about an entire family killed on America's highways?? Would anyone have ever figured out why we crashed??

I was able to find another mechanic that verified that the rack and pinion was replaced properly, and that Dodge has a "bolt kit" that they provide (through Mopar, for approximately $55.00 that contains heavyweight bolts) that should be used when replacing the rack and pinion in these cars... who knew?!? How was my mechanic supposed to know that he should have purchased heavier bolts to secure the rack and pinion to the steering column?? My (new) mechanic told me that Dodge is aware of the problem and that they didn't use heavy enough bolts in the first place (at the time of manufacture)... why don't they at least send out a Service Notice or something so that mechanics everywhere will know of this very dangerous situation?

I absolutely love everything about my car... the way it drives, the way it looks, the way it handles... everything... that's why I've put so much money into it, but it is going to cost me another +$600 (new bolt kit, another rack and pinion (which is covered), labor and alignment) to get my car back on the road (above the +$3000 I've already spent on it), then I plan on selling or trading it in. I can't take the chance that it will fail so completely and suddenly again.

I plan on letting Napa Auto Parts know about this problem and ask if they could recommend this heavy bolt kit when someone wants to purchase a replacement rack and pinion for this car. If they could, there would be a way of making the mechanics aware of this dangerous situation! I am also taking my story to the local media to make sure that everyone knows about these (original factory installed) "lightweight" bolts that shouldn't be used.

Does a child (or entire family, in my case) have to die before Dodge (Daimler-Chrysler) decides to let this information out to the public - or at least to the mechanics?

DC - Franklin, MA.

I too own a 1994 Chysler Intrepid ES with the 3.3L. I recently had the same problem with my car as well. the only way around it without doing any work on the tranny that I have noticed it to shift the car into 3rd on the center console. I have been doing the same for about three weeks and works fine, but still hesitates to shift from 2nd to 3rd. I was told by a local garage that the tranny needed replace, but who the hell ever believes what THEY tell you. Anyway i;m not about to sink thousands of dollars into this car to still have the problem fixed so I went out and got myself a BMW which I've heard are really reliable. If anybody does here anythign else about a possible recall on the tranny please inform me as well. jwolf133@yahoo.com.