More Chrysler failsauce for teh lulz

[4cefed]

I think everyone understands my love/hate of Chrysler products, so I'm not going to debate that. I would like to share my adventure in replacing some control arm bushings on my 2003 SRT-4. Before I start, yes I live in the northeast and this car is driven daily in all four seasons, and it's not quite 7 years old yet.

A few months ago during mud season, my wife brought the car home and said it was making terrible noises after hitting a series of bumps. I was working the outage at Vermont Yankee and after 15 hours of driving/working I was in no mood to deal with cars. The passenger axle had come apart. I tried replacing it the next day to find it looked short and then noticed the engine was drooping on the passenger side. The engine mount bolt on the passenger side snapped and also broke off the top torsional mount. Sweet. I had my mechanic deal with it and replace my timing belt/idler/tensioner pulley because I was working and had no time to do it myself. $700 in parts and labor. At this time he noticed my front control arms had warn out the rear bushings and there was a small hole in the subframe from rusting.

I needed to replace the clutch release fork, TOB and pivot ball, I replaced the clutch too while I was in there. I was going to do this while I replaced the bushings in the front end with prothanes and do a touch-up weld on the little hole in the subframe.

The rear bushings to the control arm also pin the rear of the subframe to the car. The 24mm headed bolt disappears into the frame rail, they were rusted tight and I had no way of getting penetrating oil to them. I resorted to putting an 8' pipe on the end of my breaker bar. After about 1" turned out, the bolt snapped. This is a grade 10.9 metric with a shaft dia. of about 5/8". I broke that... on both sides.



This bolt seemingly had no other end, it disappears into the frame of the car. In the past, they would notch out a section of rail and have a tabbed nut you could get to. Not the case here. Good thing I had one of my friends helping me. I ripped out the interior of the car to pull up the carpets. He noticed a circular indent on the floor just above the location of the broken bolt. I drilled through the floor with a 2-1/2" hole saw.



They f*** planned for this to happen.



I located some 5" 5/8" grade 8.8 standard size bolts with nuts. I got hardened washers and 3/4" hardened washers that I squared up and welded the nut and a tab to to replace the old stuff.



I then proceeded to cut out and replace an entire corner of the subframe that rusted away behind the control arm.



Its all shiny because when I was done I coated the entire subframe in the used ATF from the transmission.

Here's another shot of the broken bolt on the subframe



I spent an entire day on two f*** bolts. Oh, and the clutch swap was the easy part of this.

[Jesda]

Sheesh! That's ridiculous. The Saab and Caddy are two decades old and show no structural rust.

I also have the same Mopar love/hate. I keep ending up with them. Some are pretty damn good, some are awful.

[Dano]

Wow...

[4cefed]

I don't think I've broken stuff this badly on the 23 year old shadows we work on.

The part that kills me is that at some point early in the design, someone KNEW that the frame bolt would break/strip and someone would have to get to the top of it. They put the depressions in the body floor to locate where you would have to HOLE SAW the f*** CAR.

[Jesda]

If you dont mind, I'd like to add this to the presentation I'm giving about Chrysler on Thursday.

[PEZi]

MOWPAHRRRRRR!

[seang]

How much can you design in the way of road-salt?

[skydragoness]

Oh my god...

That's really really sad considering what I've seen happen to much older cars.
You live in VT I take it?

[dickie]

But hey, its the quickest car you can buy for ~$20,000.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Take pride in knowing the average juggalo/wigger SRT-4 owner probably either tosses the car or continues to drive with the problems instead of taking the initiative to fix it like you did.

[4cefed]

If you dont mind, I'd like to add this to the presentation I'm giving about Chrysler on Thursday.

Uh, OK. I'm going on vacation this week, otherwise I would dig up some more Chrysler fail for you.

[4cefed]

But hey, its the quickest car you can buy for ~$20,000.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Take pride in knowing the average juggalo/wigger SRT-4 owner probably either tosses the car or continues to drive with the problems instead of taking the initiative to fix it like you did.

Funny you should say... They front end has been rattling horribly for over a year. My new policy concerning Chrysler noises/things that don't look right is that I don't replace anything until it explodes or falls off. I have literally spend hundreds of dollars fixing things that didn't need to be fixed trying to chase the real problem. My mechanic who inspects my car noticed the buchings and I ahd to replace them or he wouldn't pass the car.

But when it works, it's a pleasure to drive.

[turbonxsx]

I love my Nissan

[Bubba1]

But when it works, it's a pleasure to drive.

That's true about Chrylser vehicles. they have always designed nice cars. The problem is they build them so poorly and they use cheap parts. I've always followed the philopsophy of leasing a Chrysler vehicle instead of buying. Replace them before they fall apart, which seems to start at 60K. I leased 3 LHS's, and a 300M. Except for the first one (a 94 LHS - wonderful car), I was relieved to have returned them.

[4cefed]

There is something to be said for simplicity. I loved the older 87 style electronics on the turbo shadows. They were advanced enough to run the engine efficiently (for 1987) yet simple enough to diagnose problems and fool them for more boost and power. Although, I ran into two failures simultaneously in my Shelby that ended up parking it for about 7 years. We figured it out, but the whole can needs attention before it goes back on the road.

[themadscientist]

My experience with their products are the inconsistency. Some are great, some of the vary same model are crap. It's like depending on what day the car was built it was done right or not. Mitsubishis are consistently crap. I like that.

[IanS]

If you dont mind, I'd like to add this to the presentation I'm giving about Chrysler on Thursday.

You know whats really funny?

Chrysler uses the exact same bushing design on all the neons, and the PT cruiser. Its a common failure. I work on at least 1 a week that either needs the bushings replaced, or they have been done recently.

The funnier thing, having the bolts just shear off is not uncommon either. Ive drilled a few too many wholes in floorpans to EVER buy a Chrysler.

Dont even get me started on all the problems with the magnum/charger/300C.

[alms24sebring]

I love my Nissan

I know that dodge/chrysler etc are pieces, but dam. My friend just got an SRT4 with slight mods and I cant wait to tell him what a pos he just bought besides the suspected boost leak he has. It is only 1 more reason I refuse to buy one or even work on one. Stupidest a$$ designs on some of these cars, even on common basic maintenance. Regardless, I still like srt4 and chrysler srt vehicles for some reason. To me their becomeing more and more of pos's to only keep for a couple years as stated before. And wow, rust... really

[4cefed]

My experience with their products are the inconsistency. Some are great, some of the vary same model are crap. It's like depending on what day the car was built it was done right or not. Mitsubishis are consistently crap. I like that.

I've run into that my whole car life. I've met people that have turbo K cars with 250,000 miles that just change the oil. Never in my stable will you find such an example. We've decided that black ones are s***, red is ok, and white ones are best (relatively.) I know in 87 black two door shadows were first to come off the line because those were the ones Shelby used for the CSX. Maybe the tooling took a while to break in? Oh, and Mitsus are crap unless they are totally illegal, over 400hp, not mine, and only at my house for storage, then they run like a top.

I know that dodge/chrysler etc are pieces, but dam. My friend just got an SRT4 with slight mods and I cant wait to tell him what a pos he just bought besides the suspected boost leak he has. It is only 1 more reason I refuse to buy one or even work on one. Stupidest a$$ designs on some of these cars, even on common basic maintenance. Regardless, I still like srt4 and chrysler srt vehicles for some reason. To me their becomeing more and more of pos's to only keep for a couple years as stated before. And wow, rust... really

When the day is done, they started out as neons, so cheapness and parts-binning is to be expected. Mine is relatively stock and looks nice, so I love driving it. It comes in handy for stomping hondas and the occasional mustang.

But WTF is the boost leak s***? It's only a problem for SRT4s apparently. I've never heard it outside their forum. Are they aware of the magnitude of CUBIC FEET OF AIR PER MINUTE that goes through the system? Who gives a f*** if you loose a half pound per minute? WHen the engine is running, YOU WON'T NOTICE! Hey pump one up to 20 lbs and then start it to see what happens. True story. Only on srtforums will you find that genius. /dipshhitsrant

[Jesda]

The Crossfire, which is no longer mine but still driven by me on occasion, is finally settling into a groove. This is the first year of its life where it hasn't had an out of the ordinary repair.

Wait, no, the headlight switch fried and the transmission speed sensor leaked ATF and caused the car to frequently stall. But I'd say its MB's fault since they built and engineered the entire car. The only Chrysler involvement was the shape of the body and the sound system.

Still, it makes the brand look bad.

[MinisterofDOOM]

But hey, its the quickest car you can buy for ~$20,000.

Exactly. This is the perfect example of what I mean when I say (about the SRT4, Evo, etc.) that adding power to a car I don't want to own doesn't change the fact that I don't want to own one. Budgetmobiles are budgetmobiles, whether they're pushing 150hp or 300hp.

Another case of "fun to drive, not to own."

[Jesda]

Cobalt SS is one car in that category that I'd be happy to have, but mostly because the base model, while quite bland and uninteresting, is at least respectably built.

NOTE TO SELF: STOP BROWSING NICO AND DO YOUR DAMN HOMEWORK OR YOU'LL FAIL AT LIFE

[4cefed]

The Crossfire, which is no longer mine but still driven by me on occasion, is finally settling into a groove. This is the first year of its life where it hasn't had an out of the ordinary repair.

Wait, no, the headlight switch fried and the transmission speed sensor leaked ATF and caused the car to frequently stall. But I'd say its MB's fault since they built and engineered the entire car. The only Chrysler involvement was the shape of the body and the sound system.

Still, it makes the brand look bad.

This is actually the first time in it's life it's been "down" for more than a day, and it was voluntary. I think two months after we got it it went to the shop for running on 3 cylinders, which turned out to be a plug wire. Other than blowing the fuel pump, (at 80k miles) it's never stranded us. It's always wear and tear stuff that I can fix at my convenience.

[Shizane2002]

Holy snaps!!! Dude thats crazy O_O

[alms24sebring]

When the day is done, they started out as neons, so cheapness and parts-binning is to be expected. Mine is relatively stock and looks nice, so I love driving it. It comes in handy for stomping hondas and the occasional mustang.

But WTF is the boost leak s***? It's only a problem for SRT4s apparently. I've never heard it outside their forum. Are they aware of the magnitude of CUBIC FEET OF AIR PER MINUTE that goes through the system? Who gives a f*** if you loose a half pound per minute? WHen the engine is running, YOU WON'T NOTICE! Hey pump one up to 20 lbs and then start it to see what happens. True story. Only on srtforums will you find that genius. /dipshhitsrant

you know alot of people say its 'just a neon', but nowhere on the car does it say neon. It is an SRT4. Its kind of like mustangs and cobras (except it says mustang on the dash in cobras), but I feel they have a different rep IMO.

I havent really heard of the what sounds like an excuse of a boost leak from srt owners. Last time I rode in it it really did not pull as hard as it should have. In fact it felt slow, spiking at around 20 then letting off towards redline. I dont know, Im not defending them, Im just saying that they are reasonably fast from the factory, look and sound nasty, but can be cheap pos's sometimes being from chrysler. Id hit it then quit it.

[MinisterofDOOM]

you know alot of people say its 'just a neon', but nowhere on the car does it say neon. It is an SRT4. Its kind of like mustangs and cobras (except it says mustang on the dash in cobras), but I feel they have a different rep IMO.

MUSTANG Cobras are Mustangs.
COBRAS are unrelated.

SRT-4s are Neons. You can take the Altima badges off an Altima and it's still an Altima. Hell, you can put Ferrari badges on an Altima but it's still an Altima. The SRT-4 is a Neon. A fast Neon, but a Neon.

[Jesda]

With the E36 M3, BMW made genuine structural and reliability improvements to help the car handle the power and the thrashing it would likely receive. It was manufactured to a completely different and much higher standard.

So, an E36 M3 isn't really a 3-series other than the architecture and sheet metal.

But an SRT4 is very much a Neon, a fun one.