Our Community is 940,000 Strong. Join Us.


2000 Intrepid - Blue Smoke, Oil Light


ShaunMac
04-16-2005, 11:42 PM
Hi,

I was test driving a 2000 Dodge Intrepid w/56,700 miles at the dealer today. The engine is a 2.7L V6 SMPI DOHC ALM.

The performance was excellent! And the seats, cabin size and power everything was very nice.

But when the dealer started the car, there was blueish white smoke coming out the tail pipe. This continued for a little while before the test drive.

As I said, the performance during the 2.5 mile drive was excellent. I could be very pleased with this car.

Upon return to the dealer, there was no more smoke, but the engine oil light was on. When we checked under the hood, there was some oil around the filler cap, as if someone was clumsy putting some oil in. A check of the dipstick showed plenty of oil that appeared to be clean and fresh, nothing obvious here.

I'm not familiar with Dodges approaching 60,000 miles. And this oil thing appears suspicious to me. Does this indicate a serious problem to you? What might I have a 3rd party check look for specifically?

What other experiences have you had with Intrepids in the 60,000 to 1000,000 mile range? What might I look for as potential problems in the near future?

Thanks for any input you might have

--ShaunMac

jsgold
04-20-2005, 10:03 AM
Stay away from this car. The 2.7's have a bad history of failure due to sludge build up because of a design flaw. If it had a 3.2 , well Ok, but not a 2.7. the later ones may be better, but the jury is still out on that. Also, the reason the car smokes on startup is that the valves leak oil either through the seals or guides after a while as well. My wife's does this now, although not bad and still runs good. The timing chain has to be replaced after 100K which is not cheap. can fail and totally destroy the engine. getting back to the sludge, the engines HAVE to have synthetic oils or sludge will build up. enough sludge and engine fails. Do some research on this car on this forum and do a general search on the internet for Intrepid problems. They also have steering issues (rack).

1thunder
04-20-2005, 07:07 PM
i agree 100% w jsgold

wafrederick
04-21-2005, 11:51 AM
Find one with a 3.2 in it,it is the better engine and outruns the 2.7.

sixxnine
05-05-2005, 07:31 PM
Do not buy the car!!!!at 64,000 miles i had to replace the engine and warranty did not cover it. They said it was due to lack of maintenance. I had the car 6 months before the engine went and during this time I had 2 oil changes. When i took the car to the first oil change the mechanic said that there is sludge on the oil cap which meant sludge in the engine and I needed to get it clean out. Being I am a female with no knowledge of cars i ignored his advise. The car's engine was messed up before i bought it. The car has 84,000 i replaced the electrical part of the transmission, and converters.

So dont do it!!!!

ShaunMac
05-22-2005, 11:29 AM
Yeah ... the bank didn't go for my buying the 'Trep anyway. Aww, boo hoo.

I had a Buick Century that I was trading in. It had some problem with this "Mystery Noise" that would only occur when I was driving it myself. No one could tell me what the problem could be, nor could they even identify this "Mystery Box" on the firewall above the AC/Heater unit. See Buick Century on this board, if it's still posted.

They're reselling the car for the same price I was gonna pay for it, 4995.00. '96 Buick Century w/49,200 or so mi. But with this "Mystery Noise". I sure do hope they FIXED it!

I was very fortunate to trade that car in for a brand new Focus. Not the horsepower I was looking for, but it's brand new, and it just might stay running for a little while.

Oh, BTW, I heard someone else did a test drive on that 'Trep and it crapped out just 1 mile from the dealer!

For used cars, the lesson is, Buyer Be VERY Aware!!!

--ShaunMac

Add your comment to this topic!