96 Stratus Money Pit
Bought this car 1996 Stratus 2 years ago as second in town car with 97,000 on it. Put new tires, belts, serviced all. Last year started developing check engine light and getting spotty with oil spots. Took to dealer. Codes to misfires. Found oil leaking into sprkplug chambers $900. Drove it on trip to west coast, engine would shut off in moutain passes climbing through 5,000 feet. Let it sit 30 min and would start again until next hill climb. Shop said coil pack overheating. Changed coil pack, plugs, wires $400. Now this summer car starts doing the shutdown thing on hot days after driving for 10 min. Can't even go to far in town. Finally car overheated. Take to shop-- Head gasket blown, Timing belt worn, water pump worn, steering hoses worn, oil pan leaking, steering pump leaking, exhust manifold crack. So I put $3000 in parts into this thing. Almost new everthing. Get it back 3 weeks ago and lo and behold it starts the engine shutting down thing after 10 min. Take to dealer, only code is ECM comm error. They reset it and drive it for 30 min and say cars is good. It does run good until engine, just out of no where shuts down like it loses ignition. Same thing this weekend shuts down. Car only has 103,000 on it now. 2 years and 6000 truly expensive miles. Any one ever have this problem?[:'(]
Update: Dealer Drove car and finally gave up a "too lean code": Did fuel pump pressure test and said it should be around 50 psi and mine is only 10psi. So fuel pump assy bad. Another $680 to change it. This make since anyone?


