I have a 2001 Dodge Intrepid with a 2.7L engine. As I was driving down the highway the other day, I felt the car jerk a couple of times then it started to lose power and died out. I cranked the car up and let it run a little then I stepped on the accelerator and the car started to shake and smoke so I turned it off. When I looked under the hood there was no water in the jug, and the oil looked milky. The car didn't run hot, but I figured that I had blown a head gasket. The shop suspects that the water got into the oil because the water pump was leaking and they told me that the timing guides should be changed. Basically this would run over $1300. I had also been told that my car has 3 timing chains and requires a special tool in order to fix, is this correct?

Pvyne

Before you have any work done of your 2.7l check this out:
http://www.2-7-fix.com/index2.html

They are right sad to say. The chain assy costs a lot and very hard to replace. It is suggested to have this done at 100k. the 2.7's have issues so a lot of folks switch them over to other engines as suggested. 1300 dollars is very much a normal price and of course your other repairs will add more to it. These 2.7's can run 4-6K to buy if yours is damaged and cannot be fixed. Good luck.

If you want to go cheaper,do the 2.7 to 3.2/3.5 conversion and go with a donor car instead of the kit.You have the parts on hand instead of going back and forth for parts from an auto salvage yard.You will get better perfomance with a 2.7 to 3.2/3.5 conversion.The 2.7 has no power at all and the 3.2/3.5 will outrun it.