My son has his eye on a 2003 Stratus 2.4L, 5-speed SXT 2 door that has 123,000 mi. on it and I'm seeking the opinion of you guys whether or not to get this car for him. The dealership is asking $2,800 for it and the only obvious thing that it will be needing is a dash pad-it's toast for some reason I haven't determined. I've been under the car and there are no leaks at all. The body is perfect for a 6 year old car and the clutch and brakes are good. The 4 cylinder is strong and makes no unusual noises. Tires look to have 20 to 30,000 miles left on them and the suspension is tight with no clunks, moans or groans. It seems like whoever had it kept it serviced and that it has had alot of highway miles (20,000) per year. To me it seems like a deal, although dad will be replacing a dash pad (about $200) at the salvage yard. What do you guys think?

Also do any of you that have done it have any tips that will make the dash pad replacement easier?

 

I think that if you were in my area, Id go have a look at that car before you bought it...

seriously though, im actually surprised that it doesnt have nay noises, as the coupes are great for little, odd noises.

i believe that the dashpad issue is one that many coupe owners have faced, but on the 03s, ive not heard of any regular problems. ive had my coupe since it was new, and ive not had major problems...and for as clean as you make it sound, 2800 bucks seems like a good deal. hell, i was looking for a 1st gen sebring coupe last year, and we had a hard time finding one of them under 3000..!

 

If well maintained, the 2.4 is a good motor. I would check and see if the timing belt has been changed, thats the only major thing that could go wrong. Otherwise, jump on it.

The dash swap isnt hard at all. I just did this about 2 weeks ago. The 01/02 dashes are plastic and like to crack, and the 03-05 dashes like to warp.
The old:



This one had the same issue, but we fixed it before we installed it. 'Liquid Nails Small projects' glue did the trick.


Do yourself a favor and borrow a steering wheel puller from advance auto. You pay them $25, then when you return the tool you get all of your money back. It makes life much easier with that thing out of the way.
It looks intimidating, but isnt very hard.

 

pearl, where exactly do the cracks occur? it looks to me like yours warped...am i looking at it wrong?

 

Oops, sorry, thats not mine, thats a friend of mine with a 2003 R/T. After going back and looking at the post, it didnt make sense lol.

I have the Eclipse dash like yours, and it cracks near the vents. My car has about 5 cracks which I can live with for now and there isnt a fix other than getting a whole new piece or buying a cover

This is an extreme case. (not mine)



and this is the cheap 'fix' so you dont have to look at it anymore.




Some crack, some don't.

 

is that an additional sort of dash pad?

 

Hey pearl that's the exact same color! Well I bought it yesterday and picked him up from baseball practice in it. His buddies were all oohs and aaahs over it. They were also very impressed that it was a 5-speed (which I immediately gave him lessons on). He caught on pretty quick so hopefully there won't be a new clutch in the forseeable future. I searched for new and used dash pads ($600 dealer item) but I figure that they'll end up with the same problem so I went the cheap route and ordered a cover for it. He's as happy as a puppy with 2 peckers with the car the way it is so I don't think he'll mind the carpeted cover too much. Just out of curiosity pearl, does the trim on and around the dash mostly snap in place and how many hidden screws are there holding it in place? Also what the hell is that cover on top of the dash over the instruments for?!

 

The 2 dashes I posted are completely different. The first one I posted, which is the one we swapped out (His was messed up, and he wanted black anyways) is for the 2003-2005 Coupes. It has a foam top which warps and comes undone from the plastic underneath. It can be glued back and will look decent, for 2 hours of time and the cost of glue.

The second on I posted is the 00-05 Eclipse and 01/02 Stratus coupe. (The Stratus coupe is 98% Mitsubishi except for the emblems) The dash is all plastic, and the only solution is to cover it up or replace the the whole thing. Thats called a 'Coverlay' which just hides the cracks.
http://www.coverlaymfg.com/index.php...on=show_detail

To my knowledge there isnt a cover for the 03-05. To get the dash out you have to take off all the bezels that pop off (Instrument cluster, radio/hvac cover, 2 side covers) and remove the airbags and steering wheel. It took us about 45 minutes to get everything out, but we have also had most everything out before so we knew what to expect.

Make sure when getting ANY parts, you specify COUPE, or do what I do and tell them its for an Eclipse of the same year. (Mechanical stuff, not body parts)

 

have you seen the coverlay in person, or are those pics someone from 2g? it looks like a pretty decent alternative to tearing the dash out, but the comment on the site about exact color match not being guaranteed concerns me...but then again i suppose that it could be painted...


hey marvin, how about some pictures?

 

It was just a member from 2g. From the pictures it looks to fit well and be a good color match.