My 05 SRT-4 is only 3 mos old with 3000 mi. And I really like it. I'm getting concerned about how reliable the cars are. I've been reading some of the issues some of you are having with your cars and I'm getting a little concern about the long term durability and reliability if well maintained. I also have a '98 Z28 with 130,000 hard miles and have never had a problem with it. no oil leaks or any other problems. Recently I installed long tube headers and dinoed it. 355hp at the wheels. So I know all the internals are still good. Does any one have a SRT-4 with at least 30,000 mi with no issues?. I'm spending a lot of money on upgrades already. But after reading some of your posts I'm not sure increasing the performance is such a good idea since it may decrease reliability.

 

I think you pretty much answered your own question at the end of your post. You have to expect that there is a chance that when modding a car things can go wrong. There are plenty of lightly modded/unmodded srt-4's out there with > 30,000 running just fine; the people you hear about and see postings from on the forums are almost always tuners, so the number of problems will increase over the actual car's reliability--also, a lot of them are young, with this car, and do things like "spring mod's..." and don't put the money into proper engine management.... If you maintain the car and drive it responsibly most of the time you shouldn't have any problems. Even upgraded, the car is a reliable performer if done "right". But - like they say, you have to pay to play.

If you want to push the srt-4 into a higher performance envelope it can certainly be done with great success - I am very happy with mine so far - at 20,000 miles. We'll see how it goes from there.

 

If you mod your car, you will have problems. Plane and simple. Maybe not now, but later on you will. If you want to avoid problems and avoid Warranty being voided, then leave your car stock. Mine is at 35k miles and working great. I had problems with my spark plugs which were incorrect length and were cause mass expplosions during high boost.(I THOUGHT IT WAS FUEL CUT) but other then that, i have stage 1 upgrade and the car is GREAT. I just cant manage to fix my stupid alignment.

 

I have the following mods so far. K&N CAI, Mopar BOV, Mopar STS, Mopar Borla exhaust, Stage 1 ordered, NGK wires and Iridium plugs, OCC both sides.
Will any of these be a problem????

 

IMO, all good mod's. The intake, exhaust, occ's, plugs and wires, are all going to extend your car's life, if anything, since they limit the strain on the engine. The stage 1 ecu is probably not gong to be an issue, either. The BOV is fine - again, it is going to protect the engine if anything, since it takes hot air that was previously dumped into the engine, and eliminates it. The STS should've been on there stock. Most importantly, almost all are mopar parts, which have undergone VERY extensive testing and development, and should be reliable through the test of time.

 

12K TPS sensor replaced.

30K New plugs and wires

54K New engine wire harness.

That's it. I could have just repaired the engine harness, but since I'll be selling the car, I figure it's only fair to the next owner to give them one with a new factory part.

 

'03 SRT-4: Mine's a daily driver and I drive it hard all the time. 60 hwy miles round trip to/from work gives me a lot of opportunity to open it up.

40K: New plugs/wires and eventually #4 valves (warranty).

45K: I installed the Mopar STS and BOV, K&N CAI.

52K: Just had the S1 and Denso Iridium plugs and 9mm wires installed at the dealership.

Couldn't be happier with the car or the dealership. Hopefully you will have the same experience.

 

Most mods will be totally harmless and have no effect on longevity and reliability. It's the fact that most modded cars are usually driven harder since the owner is obviously performance oriented and more likely to be more demanding of what the car delivers performance wise. The cars target demographic is also another big piece in the reliability puzzle, since it's young spirited drivers who are going to run the **** out of their car and often times modify them as well. So as you can see, it isn't the modifying of the cars that makes them more problematic, some can go several hundreds of thousands of miles without ever having any problems, it's just that most of the owners that do these mods usually run them fairly hard which is what causes the problems and not the actual mods themselves.

 

if you do cheap mods you're going to have problems, plain and simple. doing the spring mod or adding a bleeder, yes you will screw something up. as long as your smart about modding, there shouldn't be a problem.

most of the problems that you read about (other than things like the tps wiring and such) are caused by the owners. these cars are not idiot proof, and if someone does something retarded, things are going to break.

 

Thanks for all your input. I understand about doing stupid things to your car and paying the price. I was just hopping it wasn't a poor manufacturing issue. I've done my share of dumb things over the years and have paid the price.
Thanks a bunch.