300M reliability

The *only* tranny failures to expect would be speed sensors - there are two. They cost less than $20 apiece, and take less than 20 minutes to replace even for a first-time DIY'er.

Many people here feel that the few tranny failures that you may hear about were actually speed sensors but people didn't know any better and/or were ripped off to the tune of a couple thousand $$ for a $40 problem.

The fluid and filter would need to be changed at 60 to 80k miles with ATF+4. $100 to 200, or DIY for about $60.

Like any car, engine failures are not unheard of, but reliability is very good in general.

Window motors are a weak point, but hopefully any such problems on a

2000 or 2001 will have been ironed out by the previous owner.

Windshield wipers act weird in cold weather (below 25°F).

Some brands and models of tires (including ones that came on them from the factory) do not work well with these cars (noisy). If problems, you can fix that after you get it. Come back for recommendations on replacement tires.

As with almost all cars these days, rotors are marginal, and it is not unusual to have some warping. Fixes for that too - report back when/if the time comes.

BTW - those are the best two years as far as features and decontenting.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Hey Bill, What's the fix for the weak rotors on these cars?

"> unusual to have some warping. Fixes for that too - report back when/if

I have a 2000 I bought new for my wife. She has 10,000 miles on it.

Internet chat suggests the following issues with the 300m.

Original factory Goodyear tires not so great wind noise windows that stick to rubber seals and/or window motor problems paint finish on bumpers and hood that is easily damaged Some questions about wearability of leather seating surfaces and steering wheel and shifter. Some problems with tranny sensors Some problems with chrome look interior pieces wearing Recall for bolts in seats. Some steering rack complaints including early failure of rack / tie rod end bushings. The factory speakers are easy to blow out with the sound system.

Personally in 10,000 miles what I have seen on my own 300M are the following. Don't care for the roughness of the Goodyear tires some minor steering wobble at low speeds (tires)? a white haze on the top of the dash every couple of months that has to be wiped clean. sticky windows, maintained by coating the rubber with some silicon lube real easy to scratch the bumpers up and the lower front valence Killed the battery one winter because we didn't use the car for over 2 months straight due to weather (garage queen) The memory seats/mirrors/radio won't switch between user 1 and user 2 when unlocking the car with different key fobs. Works fine when selecting 1 or 2 from seat switch. Can't get my daughters bari sax in the trunk without putting a rear seat down. The sax fits in my K car based 88 New Yorker trunk or 1990's Thunderbird with no trouble. No tranny problems. No engine trouble. No braking or major steering problems or serious structural issues. But then again it is a garage queen.

Steve

Rick, Here's my personal list of recommendations:

1) Only be concerned with the front rotors - the rears don't see much heat or wear, and are never (almost never?) a problem for warping or wearout. 2) If you don't have the Performance Handling Package (PHP), switch over to the PHP type rotors in whatever brand you plan to use. They require no mods to fit right in place of the non-PHP rotors. PHP rotors are vented differently (pull air from road side rather than engine side of wheels) - that's the only difference. The outside venting is not as effective if you have the steel wheels, so if that's the case, best to change to alloys for better air flow. (Rear rotors are the same regardless of PHP and non-PHP.) 3) Get a good quality rotor. People, including myself, have reported good success with Raybestos (there are other good brands as well). NAPA's United Brake brand are re-boxed Raybestos, and are $47 each - the right part number is 86777 (ignore the counter guy if he says that's not the PHP rotor - their computers are wrong, even though their web site, www.napaonline, lists them correctly). 4) I got the Raybestos, and went an extra step further and had them cryogenically treated $75) for claimed resistance against warping, and longer pad and rotor wear life. Have had no more problems since doing that. I honestly can't say if just switching to Raybestos alone would have solved the problem or if there really is something to the cryo-treating. (My car is a Concorde which came with 15" wheels - I had to go to 16" wheels and change out a suspension part on each side to accept the larger front rotors that come on the 300M - but as I said, no mods necessary on the M to go with the PHP rotors - they all come with the larger front rotors, whether PHP or non-PHP.) 5) The 300M ezBoard and both have a special arrangement with irotor if you're into drilled, slotted, and plated rotors - partly for performance, partly for flashy appearance - not my cup of tea, but people are having good performance out of them. Fronts only: $135; all four $249, free shipping for club members. 6) From reading a few Chrysler- and LH car-centric forums, it also appears that the pads can make a difference. I have a theory (not original with me, but I mostly believe it) that the pads can make unwarped rotors *seem* warped; how they do that is that they can film unevenly over the wear surface of the rotor (inconsistent friction properties). It would appear that some pads are much better about this than others based on reports on the forums. Two that people seem to have very good success with are Hawk HPS (I use them and am very happy with them), and Akebono ProAct (ceramics) for the front and Satisfied Pro for the rears (from 7) You probably know this, but it seems there are always some who haven't gotten the message: Always torque your lugnuts properly - no weight on the wheel, star pattern to half torque (45 ft-lbs), then star pattern to full torque (95 ft-lbs - have someone apply brakes if necessary, but don't apply weight on wheel until it's fully torqued). 8) Have your alignment shop give you "before" and "after" printouts on your next alignment. That way you know there are no alignment problems that they just don't want to fool with, are fudging, and aren't telling you about. 9) Be sure the tires are not causing problems - critical with these cars.

It's hard to pin things down when there are multiple interacting problems (alignment, tires, brakes).

HTH

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Oh - one more thing: Be sure to follow the pad manufacturer's instructions to properly bed new pads in (goes back to the filming thing).

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

I've got a '99 with 74,500 miles. Only problems I've had have been with the windows, and what I thought was premature brake rotor wear; had to have them turned and new pads at around 50,000. Owner of the local dealership keeps asking me when I'll be buying a replacement, and I just tell him to let me know when Chrysler comes out with something better.

Gramps

Thanks, Bill. Great info.

You're welcome, Rick. Tried not to tell you what you "have" to do, but give the right information so you can make your own educated decisions that fit you.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

I've owned a 99 300M since new. I haven't had any major complaints. The only real nuissance was a bad window motor that needed to be replaced and I had one occurance of the bad input speed sensor. Both were fixed under warranty. One minor nuissance (that 99% of the people out there would have just ignored) was a tiny bit of seepage from the differential. I also had this fixed under warranty. It's now at about

34k miles and it is absolutely bone dry (not a leak or seep anywhere).

In terms of preventative maintenance, here's what I've done:

Mobil 1 synthetic oil after initial 1000 miles and changed every

2500-3000 miles. Brake fluid flushed every 2 years. Transmission fluid changed every 15,000 miles (with ATF+4) Coolant flushed and changed every 2 years. Power steering flushed @ 30,000 miles.

Some of these change intervals are substantially shorter than those recommended by Chrysler, but I'm rather obsessive that way. 8-)

Most of my other "issues" were just idiotic dealer-related silliness. The few times I was too lazy to do things myself and relied on the dealer, I've generally walked away disappointed. 90% of the time I do my own work since my family owns a service station w/lift/tools/etc.

Lastly, I'm actually selling my 300M. It's basically been sitting in the driveway for the last few months since I bought my Audi A4. If you're in the NYC area, give me a shout if you're interested. 8-)

Cheers,

C

Great car except power window problems which hopefully were resolved in the car you would be buying.

transmission? Was