I purchased my 2002 Intrepid ES a month and a half ago and finally had the chance to have it serviced and the dealer claimed that they noticed a spark knock and recommended that I use a higher grade of gas than I currently use. My Intrepid unfortunately does not have a owners manual currently so I did not have the luxury to look it up. I assumed that since this was not the H.O. version of the 3.5L I would not need to use mid-grade as I did with my 97. Do they recommend using mid-grade on the normal out-put 3.5L (234hp & 241 ft-lbs of tq), or do you think it needs something else?

 

much more to gasoline than octane:

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1997/14-08-97.htm

http://www.epa.gov/orcdizux/rfgecon.htm

 

89 octane is recommended.

 

Thank you mlkmgr. I have a question that is actually similar to an older one. I'm probably going to have my waterpump and timing belt changed to play it safe and I was wondering, how technical this was to fix in the sense of whom I could trust to have this done correctly. My budget is tight currently and I was wondering if I could trust an ordinary shop to handle this task or if this is something like say the transmission that you really want to stick with a dealership to play it safe.

If I have a shop other than a dealership, do you have a recommended supplies to purchase, such as a brand name of timing belt that might be stronger or in some way superior to the stock one, and/or a recommended water pump?

 

for the water pump, go with napa or rockauto.com (both identical parts) and exact replicas of OEM's, but i believe rock auto is cheaper. avoid Bosch water pumps at all cost. have heard a couple of bad stories about warpages and leaks. all new pumps should come with a new o-ring alreadyinstalled so no worries there.

you will also need a pulley, again go with same place you get the pump from. would be a shame to get everything apart only to have the pulley bearing go bad 10k later and have to have everything pulled apart again or a possible engine failure.

as for a belt, go with a name brand such as gates, goodyear, etc. they are stronger and less likely to fail.

if you want to get raped, seriously, then go to the dealer. they will charge you huge labor rates and jack the prices up on the same part you get from somewhere else especially with transmissions!! find a local mechanic you trust and bring the parts with you. if you have to ask around in the parts stores. sometimes they will know who to trust best when it comes to fixing a car. where you located at anyway?

you will also possibly need: two new belts (serpentine and v-belt). these are coming off anyway to get to the timing belt so might as well replace em. can be re-used is finances are tight. new upper radiator hose as you will need to remove the old one to access timing belt. new coolant as you will be dumping your old.

all i can think of off the top of my head. i replaced mine approx 85k ago at 100k miles on my 01. any other questions, don't hesitate to ask...

 

Okay, I went to get some pricing at the store and they mentioned a Crankshaft seal might be needed. Would that be true and if so, is there a brand that you would recommend?

I found a Goodyear Gatorback for $57 at the store. Does NAPA make a belt and if so would it be of the same strength and quality as the Gatorback?

Also, I read this while I was searching for other information. "A word of caution (This is what happened to me). When I replaced mine 2 years ago, I bought an aftermarket one through NAPA. Almost all aftermarket pumps come as only the front half of the pump. You need to take the back half from the old pump. If you buy the pump at your local dealer, be prepared to spend about $145 US. NAPA was only $45US."
http://www.allpar.com/eek/timingbelt.html

First of all, I don't know what engine he was referring to but it was either of the older engines featured in the K-cars that have pretty much nothing in common with the 3.2L/3.5L, but would this be true in the case of the our engines? If this is true in the case of 3.2L/3.5Ls would this be a kind of risky in the standpoint that something could go wrong with the rear half and cause it to somehow wear out and cause even bigger problems?

Does the brand of the Belt Tensioner/pulley matter? If so, what brand do you recommend?


Actually some dealers around here are very reasonable in the smaller communities and they all have very good reputations. I'm not quite as comfortable about going to the independent shops because we have had much fewer problems with our cars since we started going to the dealerships. Many of these places will tell you that Dexron or Mercon are the SAME THING as ATF+4, that is why I go to the dealer for the transmission maintenance. I've noticed a trend that people who go to the dealer have much fewer problems with the transmission than people who go to these shops. The problem is our NAPA store has their own shop so they are naturally going to recommend themselves and I don't exactly trust them from things I have heard. I could ask the Autozone, but many of our shops have switched hands several times. I'm located in the St. Louis area for the record.

If I decide to replace the serpentine and v-belt what would you recommend for an affordable model. I'm nowhere near as concerned about these as they will not lead to the damage level of what a timing belt can reek havoc and I can more easily see when these need to be done and they are easier and cheaper to change. Since I didn't have a manual, and I'm having trouble figuring out the color, does it use yellow coolant or green? I think the radiator hose should be okay, but if it needs replacement, I'll probably go with whatever is economical or go with NAPA.

Thank you for the advice that you are providing. I really appreciate it.

 

i don't believe a crankshaft seal is needed. at least i did not use one on my car. all depends upon if something is leaking i spose. if you pull the crank or the gears, be sure you have all the proper tools to realign everything or your car will be dead until you can get it somewhere to be retimed to the cams. (if you are only changing the belt, pulley, and water pump, you don't have to worry about this).

unfortunately allpar does not list the date of the posts or to which post the writer is referring to. AFAIK, the water pump comes as one assembly. again, mine was entire assembly with new o-ring. ask the next time you call NAPA. you can go with just about any name brand belt. goodyear or gates preferably especially with a timing belt. i have seen kits on partsamerica.com that offer both the pulley and the belt all in one package. pretty good deal.

the tensioner pulley i got was made by Cloyes and i purchased it through oreilly auto (oreillyauto.com). i am sure there are other varieties out there that are just as good. i went with what was in stock, in town, at the time.

as far as the main belts, if they look good and show little wear, keep em. like you said they are easy to change out and can be done on any given day.

and you will want the green antifreeze, i am pretty certain. double check by calling your local dodge dealer and asking what color is the anti-freeze.

there are plenty of steps and possible "could go wrongs" when opening the front to do the timing belt. be sure you completely understand what you are getting into before attempting. good luck and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.