I bought a 2001 Dodge Intrepid ES with a 3.2L V6 and 51,000 mileslast Septemberfor my wife todriveafter she totaled her other car on some barricades on a wet and rainy day. Anyway, the coolant looked fairly dirty so I'm guessing it had never been changed before.I wanted to change it before we drove to Orlando for vacation next week. No way we're going to travel in my Durango with gas prices like they are.

I attempted to drain it and flush it myself today but ran into a problem. I ruined the drain plug! I turned it too far to the left so it never quit dripping when I tightened it back up! I drove it down to a car repair shop nearbyand they said the plug is stripped and now I need a whole new radiator because it's all made of plastic and not repairable.

Anyway, that mistake has cost me about $500. Live and learn I guess. At least the radiator in the Intrepids don't cost as much as some other vehicles. I know someone that just had a radiator replaced for $1,100. Then again if the parts were made of metal I probably wouldn't have had a problem!