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  #1  
Old 03-12-2009, 12:06 AM
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RAM MAN RAM MAN is offline
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Question any PT Cruiser owners ? -

any PT Cruiser owners ? -

or former owners ?

Any problem areas to look for (I'm checking out a 2002)

Any complaints ?

Happy with what you have ? (had ?)

TIA
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  #2  
Old 03-12-2009, 12:31 AM
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Biggrin

I love the PT.

In 2004, I rented one for vacation and drove from New Hampshire to Indiana and back. No problems.

In 2005, I rented a Limited with the small turbo. Drove from New Hampshire to Florida and back. No problems.

In 2006, I bought a new one for my fiancee for her birthday. Totally trouble free cars. Not the absolute best mileage, but decent enough.

It is the only car I have been in that I can drive all day and get out and start walking like a human being. The seating position and height is just perfect (for me).

My Ram, on the other hand, must be boarded by using the side step and the grab handle to get inside. Exiting is done by opening the door and just falling out. Dignity is set aside for this maneuver.

I am saddened to read that Chrysler will discontinue the PT ending with the 2009 model year. I think it would have great potential with different types of power. A small diesel or even an electric crossover...anything to get the mpg up in the high 30's. I think that would be a good offering in today's market.
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  #3  
Old 03-12-2009, 04:36 AM
buckneccid buckneccid is offline
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And I'm still bragging on my buddie's PT... He bought it new, put 200K miles on it before this happened to it...



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  #4  
Old 03-12-2009, 09:31 AM
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very cool

thanks
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  #5  
Old 03-12-2009, 04:40 PM
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nhdriver nhdriver is offline
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Make sure the previous owner maintained the transaxel & test drive it to make sure it goes straight. Mine was in a front end accident & has never driven the same since. You might want to have your mechanic put it up on a lift and & give it a good look over.
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  #6  
Old 03-12-2009, 08:15 PM
dgc333 dgc333 is offline
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I have an 03 GT Turbo with the auto stick. Its my wifes car and she absolutely loves it. We have about 75k miles on it.

Problems;
1. Had to replace a front wheel bearing at 70k.
2. The intake manifold gasket started leaking and tripped a misfire code at 50k miles. This was covered under the emissions warranty free.
3. The chrome plating on the wheels has not held up well to New England salted winter roads. I picked up a set of epoxy coated AR Riax wheels last spring for it last spring.
4. Had to replace one of the AC hoses that started leaking where the hose was crimped to the tube last spring.
5. The turbo motor eats spark plugs every 12k miles or so and the wires last about 35k miles. I recently picked up MSD wires and an MSD coil for it. The plugs had 12k on them and had started running rough at idle when I installed the MSD stuff and it immediately smoothed out. I now have about 20k on that set of plugs so maybe a good set of wires and a stronger coil was all it needed.

The car gets about 26 mpg on the hiway and 21-22 around town. I was a little disappointed in the mileage because my other three turbo mopars all did low to mid 30's on the hiway and 26-27 around town. But the PT is significantly quicker than those so I gues that's the trade off.

As I previously mentioned my wife loves the car and its the first one in the 20 years we have been married that she has never complained about.
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  #7  
Old 03-24-2009, 12:10 AM
jeffz jeffz is offline
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Bought our 02 PT new, and it now has 75k on it. Have done nothing to the engine except change oil. Manual trans is OK, except occl. grinding engaging reverse (since new). Front brakes @ about 50k. It has served us well.
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  #8  
Old 03-28-2009, 10:02 AM
43Aspen 43Aspen is offline
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We have a 2005 base model with auto tranny. Gas mileage is lower than desirable --about 22-24 mpg. Head gasket needed replacing at 37,000 miles (under warranty). A little under-powered, but all-in-all a pretty good car.
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  #9  
Old 04-02-2009, 06:27 PM
Maxwedge Maxwedge is offline
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someone in Detroit in the early 2000's was building a PT bruiser. its a Cruiser with a Viper motor or a Hemi in it....lol amazing
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  #10  
Old 04-03-2009, 09:51 PM
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KSTripleMstr KSTripleMstr is offline
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Own one no, work on them...YEs a ton of them!
Most common problems I see listed from most to least seen.......

1. Plugs and wires, spark like to start jumping around the plug instead of through it.

2. Water pumps at anytime over about 55K miles.

3. Front wheel bearings, they are a press in type bearing, not the typical hub assy like used on most vehicles today.

4. Radiator cooling fans......Brushes in them suck, usually loses low speed so you get no cooling fan operation until the PCM panics and goes to HI speed.

5. The occiasional tranny, some 02's were built with a mismachined LR (Low Reverse) accumulator cover, the cover will work back and forth against the snap ring until it breaks the tangs off it then it spit the oring out off the cover and then the car will not move forward or Backward cause LR has to be applied for 1st and Rev.

6. The occaisional AC line leak.

7. Small Evap leaks causing Check Engine light due to bad gas caps

8. General Evap system failure faults due to bad Evap system leak detectors.
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  #11  
Old 04-03-2009, 10:15 PM
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Appreciate all the responses and info, decided to go with a used Ram


thanks though !
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  #12  
Old 04-04-2009, 12:01 AM
sawtooth sawtooth is offline
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Have an '06 turbo & can't figure out how to change the spark plugs. Seems the center ones are covered. Anyone know where I can find some directions.
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  #13  
Old 04-04-2009, 08:14 AM
dgc333 dgc333 is offline
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You have to remove the top half of the intake manifold to replace the center two plugs. Its not hard and the gaskets are reusable. Not unusual with todays vehicles to have to remove part of the intake to change plugs.

The turbo has a cast aluminum intake that allows the all the plugs to be changed without removing the intake.
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  #14  
Old 04-04-2009, 09:40 AM
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KSTripleMstr KSTripleMstr is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sawtooth View Post
Have an '06 turbo & can't figure out how to change the spark plugs. Seems the center ones are covered. Anyone know where I can find some directions.
On the Turbo 2.4 and the regular 2.4 for that matter, the Intake plenum has to come off to remove #2 and #3 spark plugs. Youll have to have a Plenum gasket. 6-10mm bolts that bolt the plenum to the intake, unplug all the electircal connectors off of the T-body and the Map sensor, pull the booster hose and EGR hose and EVAP hose, then there is a brace that runs to the backside of the head---pull the bolts out of it and off it comes. When you go back together start the bolts in the rear bracket several threads first then install the intake to plenum bolts and tighten them then tighten the brace bolts......plug everything else back in and your done.
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  #15  
Old 04-05-2009, 08:59 AM
dgc333 dgc333 is offline
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I have an 03 turbo and I have changed the plugs about a 1/2 dozen times and have never had to remove the top half of the manifold. My brothers 06 wit the plastic intake you need to remove but not on the turbo.
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  #16  
Old 04-05-2009, 01:29 PM
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KSTripleMstr KSTripleMstr is offline
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Your right, I stand corrected.

Some of them do have a plastic cover that pops on over the plenum that can kinda blocks the view/access pop that off and there they are.
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  #17  
Old 04-06-2009, 10:21 PM
sawtooth sawtooth is offline
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On line PT parts manuals ('01 - '07).
'03 is a service manual.
http://www.ptcruiserlinks.com/forum/...01-2007-a.html
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