2004 Dodge Stratus Engine cooling Problems

“Car is driven on regular city streets and freeways. Roads I drive are paved - no country, dusty roads and area isn't heavy in pollution. I purchase my gas from shell or chevron and refill at 1/4 to 1/3 tank to reduce chance of picking up sediment from fuel tank. Noticed while driving on freeway.that car would drop in speed from 60 MPH to 20 rather quickly and then forget about going up a hill. I was also getting 8-10 mpg. A couple weeks later I noticed even on level city streets the loss of power. …”

“Our 2004 Dodge Stratus engine seized up completely and without warning in the middle of an intersection while my wife was driving home with our children. This car is equipped with the 2.7l v6 engine which only now have we become aware of the long history of this catastrophic type of failure. We bought this car new and have taken meticulous care with maintenance as noted by the service manager at our dealership. None the less, now I am expected to spend $6,700 to replace a motor that was clearly defected in design.”

“I have a 2004 Dodge Stratus that I recently was having rough idle and ended up stalling on me. The problem started several months ago and I had a tune up done on the car and the spark plugs where replaced. I then continued to have issues and the independent shop replaced the ignition wires. They said the computer was not giving a code however they could monitor the system and see a misfire on cylinder one. They changed the wire on 1 to 3 and 3 to 1 and then the same behavior occurred on cylinder 3. …”

“My car sometimes shuts off while in parking lots or at red lights. When I got out last time I let my car sit for about 30 minutes and underneath the hood was all hot! The dealer cannot find the problem because it only happens spontaneously and they would need to duplicate the problem. I read a website forum full of Stratus' that all have the same problem. They stop without warning, the radio stays on and everything! This could lead to a wreck!”

“I purchased a 04 Dodge Stratus with a 2.7 engine and need to replace the water pump, which is expensive. It has 100,000 miles on it. I have read the complaints with this engine and am scared to fix anything. This sludge problem I read about could be next for us. And from what I read will be. I purchased it for my son and never herd of these problems until now. He has had it for about 6 months and now this. We have hardships just like any other family and fixing minor problems with vehicles are bad enough. The fix for this is about 1000.00 will the sludge be next? …”