Over the past few months my 2000 300m developed an exhaust bark that sounded like it was coming from the front or center of the car, not the rear.
A visual inspection on a hoist (Midas) indicated that the first muffler/resonator in the exhaust chain was the problem - it's single seam running down it's side was starting to open up.
Turns out that wasn't the problem.
The problem was in one of the couplers situated mid-way between the driver's side cat-convertor and the aformentioned muffler. Something had given way or failed inside the coupler, resulting in a sloppy internal fit and lots of play (and a resulting exhaust leak).
Even though the muffler's seam was opening up, there is a second liner right under it that was still intact.
I took the car to a custom exhaust shop in my city (a place where I took my '73 Satellite about 10 or 12 years ago to have a stainless-steel exhaust put in - by the same guy). With the engine running, he identified the coupler as the culprit. This left-side coupler is a bitch to work on (the right side is much easier) but he says it's the left-side that always seem to go on the Chrysler cars.
I had the muffler replaced as well (Magnaflow #12258). The coupler was replaced with a generic woven/braided stainless-steel component. The exhaust guy said that that was my only option - short of buying a new cat-converter from Chrysler (that's the only way to get a new coupler). And the cat is (according to him) in the neighborhood of $1000. Regardless if he was right about the price, there was no way I was going to get a new cat-convertor from Chrysler just to replace the coupler.
Anyways, the generic coupler, the Magnaflow muffler, and labor totalled about $375. I think with the new Magnaflow that the car is now a little quieter than original. The Magnaflow was installed "backwards" but I don't think it matters.
Also...
Back in Feb 2004 the rear driver's side power door lock/latch failed. I had it replaced by the dealer. It cost (in US dollars) $105 with $92 labor. I actually paid $140 CDN for the part.
Within the past few weeks, the rear passenger door lock/latch also failed. The dealer wanted about $100 for the part (being that the Canadian and US dollars are at parity, the price is cheaper now vs 4 years ago). I would imagine that the price at a US dealer is more like $65 or $75.
Instead of buying a new one, I picked one up from an auto wrecker for $35 (it came from an intrepid, but was an exact match). It's a bit of a bitch to replace.
So that makes both rear door latch units have failed on me. Since very very very few things on this car have failed in 8.25 years, I would venture to guess that the door latch units on the LH cars must have a high failure rate...