I wouldnt let my daughter buy nothing but American car, so she comes home with a 2002 Dodge Stratus R/T Coupe pretty car open hood everythings Mitsubishi , are they pretty reliable? it had a oil leak so i took it to the dealer $718.00 to install valve cover gaskets and a tune-up

 

Welcome to the site. I moved this thread to the Stratus section,
FF

 

Face the facts, there is no such thing as an american car these days. Most of the foreign companies are actually more american then the big three.

On reliability for sure. Everyone I know with a coupe or an eclipse has had very good luck with them.

 

Wasn't Dodge using MitsuMotors back then? Hell they probably still are but I thought I remembered reading something about it.

 

Mitsubishi and dodge had been together since the late 1970s thru the mid 2000's Remember the dodge colt, dodge avenger, dodge laser, and the ram 50 truck. Also all them were made by mitsubishi too. I'm sure I left out one or two other models.

 

It was built in Normal, IL, so American hands touched it . As far as reliability, I couldnt ask for a better car. The $718 tune up was a raping. You have to remove the intake plenum to do the spark plugs and wires, but its not hard, just a little time consuming. If you know where the bolts are you could do remove it in 15 min.

 

I agree, my avenger which is the 2.5 has been the best car by far. And yes that price is a bit high for a tune up and valve cover gaskets.

 

the first generation 95-00 stratus with the V6 had a Mitsubishi engine in it.

It was a rock solid piece of machinery. The valve covers have a tendency to leak, but it's a pretty simple job to replace the gaskets, which the OP has already done. A pain to do a tune up since the 2.5 and the 3.0 are very similar in design (intake has to come off to get to the rear plugs and wires). I would say, if it's taken care of, it'll last nearly forever.

I actually just sold my '00 v6, with 179,xxxMI. It was running strong but needed other minor work (and a fuel pump), and I could not justify putting anything else into it. I trust it will serve it's next owner for years to come.

 

Well valve cover gaskets and tune-up $650.00looks like the leak has stopped, im afraid to ask what it costs to change timing belt?

 

Typically $500-550 but its a pain to do so its worth it. If you go back to the same mechanic who did the valve cover gaskets and plugs, probably $1400