2.5L V6 Stratus. I'm told it's a Mitsubishi engine.
It's the 99-ish looking Stratus.

Anyone know anything about this engine?
Is it an interference type?

I've got one that I'm working on for someone that will not start. Supposedly it just died on the freeway. A shop said full engine replacement.

The timing belt does not appear broken. It's a new belt. I've taken off the timing belt inspection cover. On the front bank, the belt one side of cam gear is very taught where as the other side of the cam gear the belt has about 1" of deflection.

When I can get it to crank, the timing belt moves like it should.

Drained the oil, it's very black. Used to be a rental car but it only has 80k miles.

It doesn't turn over very well. It only does sometimes, even with a good battery and a charger on the battery.

Fuel pump is priming.

Checked the front bank of plugs. None of the electrodes are smashed. The rear bank requires removal of the intake mani, don't want to do that yet.

The serpentine belt is about half of what it used to be. It still has proper tension, it just looks like it was walking and shredding itself.



Any tests/ideas/checks? Let me know gurus.