I bought a 96 Stratus with 2.4 4-cylinder a few months ago. It had about 98,000 miles on it. I've put about 3,500 more on it since then. The following items have failed:
- Bolt snapped in the engine and let the timing belt go - Over $1,000 repair bill, including replacing some covers where the bolt made holes.
- Not long before that, the timing belt slipped and the valve timing was off - $500. repair bill.
- The valve cover gasket leaked pretty badly.
- Engine Control Module can't control idle speed - Keeps getting faster and faster. The motorized valve that controls idle air intake is fine and so is the wiring from the Engine control Module to it. No one can find problem and fix. The service engine light is now on.
- Fan only works on the highest speed. (All fuses and relays are okay)
- A/C doesn't work or even engage the compressor. (Although all fuses and relays are okay)
- A hub cap came off and was lost (even though it was installed properly and no pot holes were hit)
- It's necessary to crank the starter fairly long before the car starts. The service center says that a valve at the fuel pump has failed and is allowing the gasoline to flow back to the tank from the line to the engine when car is turned-off, making it necessary for the pump to fill the line before the car will start.
Rear window defogger doesn't work - although all fuses and relays are fine.
- Driver's seat has a place where the padding has moved away from where it is supposed to be and a steel bar sticks up to dig into your back when you sit down.
- Driver's door switch that controls the dome light coming on failed.

Almost all of these items are not maintenance-related failures. There is no maintenance to do on them.

The bottom line: An 86 Chevy Celebrity I used to own was at least 100X more reliable when it had 200K miles on it than this Stratus at 100K. A 92 Toyota Corolla I currently own, that gets driven 3 or 4X as many miles as this Stratus and has 135K miles on it has required only the replacement of on piece of exhaust pipe in the 30K miles I've owned it, and it is 100% working including very cold A/C. I guess it makes the Toyota infinately more reliable than the Stratus.

Is this normal for Stratus's" Dodges? Chrysler products? How can Chrysler still be in business? (Note: I must admit that I also own a 96 Dodge RAM 2500 4X4 with the V10 and it hasn't been too bad. Although it is on it's 2nd engine which it received before it had 100K miles on it)

I'm 49 years old and have had a lot of experience with many different cars, new and used, foreign and domestic, and I've never seen anything like this. Unless someone can tell me something different, my recommendation would be to take any Stratus, new or used, directly to the junk yard as fast as you can. You're way ahead to just get it out of your hands, even if you don't get a cent for it, regardless of what you may have paid in the first place.

I liked Dodge, including styling of a lot of their vehicles. I'm extremely disappointed.

 

bad situation i had a 2000 alero b4 my strat about a mounth ago and like the dodge a lot better guess just bad luck MOPAR

 

I had a 97 dodge intrepid, and the only probs i had were a couple hoses.
One was actually a crapy hose clamp for transmission hose, the clamp came loose and transmition fluid srayed all over while i was on the interstate. didn't notice until the car stopped accelerating.

The other was a hose for the raidiator broke.

The last thing was the timing belt broke(which is when i decide to get my new 05 stratus). I thing my prob was that the previous owners didn't do good job maintaning it. Cause your soppose to check/replace hose every so miles.

Personaly the older the car the better. I had a 88 plymouth reliant before the intrepid, got close to 200,000 miles on it. Never had a prob except for brake calipers had to be replace 3 times. one because bleeder screw was stripped. The other time was piston seal broke.

always ran good and always started. UNTIL i ran a red light and totaled it.

Dodge products have been prety reliable for me, as long as it is has proper maintnance, oil changes, sparkplugs, and all the other stuff there is to do.

 

Check my signature.

I have a 1998 Dodge Stratus ES.....It has 125,000 miles on it...this car has NO new parts...except for tires and rims[8D]

The only trouble i have with it right now is that it IDLES high. It has been hot recently so im not too suprised

 

my fiancee has a 96 stratus with a 2.4 that she has owned since it had 70k on it and now has 210k and in that time she had brakes all redone a couple times, a transmission, tires and a couple tierod ends ........ its pretty wore out now but she drives it 100 miles round trip to work 5 days a week and before i met her she was lucky to change the oil every 20k lol heck the battery in it is 8 years old I have no clue how this thing has lasted I just changed the oil tonight it had 6k on it and it was on the line full!
me writing about it will probably kill it now!

 

u definetly got a lemon buddy...