'94 3.5L Intrepid: Rack-n-pinion + engine quitting + 70K miles, longevity?

[azazello]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anybody out there had any trouble with the rack and pinion on a '94 Intrepid ES? It was really hard to turn the wheel at low speed (meaning almost stopped) so I replaced the power steering pump and it didn't help. I had a mechanic friend look at it and he said the rack and pinion was bad. It's drivable, but I don't know how safe it is to leave it like that.

I was also wondering if anybody has experienced the engine mysteriously quitting. My mom was driving the car and she said she had it in cruise when the tach fell to 0 and "the engine stopped". I asked her if the engine stopped running and she said she didn't know. All she knew was the oil light came on, then the tach fell and she pulled over and had to turn the key off and re-start the car. She said it ran fine after that. She also said there was no indication that it was going to quit-- no stuttering or anything. This has happened to her twice now and I'm wondering if she's seeing things, because no one else has experienced this while driving.

There are 70K miles on the car, and it's been lovingly cared for- oil changed always on time so I know the engine has some more miles in it. What I'm not sure is the longevity you get from these cars before other things start failing? It's been relatively trouble free, (tranny and injectors were fixed under recall). Anyone know on average how many miles, if well cared for, these cars are good for-- reliably?? I'm thinking about getting an R/T, but don't know whether or not to keep this one too or trade it and buy a lower miles used car for the rest of the family.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[kpzbee]

It does sound like it needs a p/s rack. It also might have a crank or cam sensor going bad causeing the quitting you described. I've seen these cars with 150,000mi on them. It is a mechanical thing, which can break.

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