My Intrepid
I bought this car new in 2003 from Lithia here in Medford Oregon. The car has done well for the last 14 years and is just now starting to have engine issues at 65,000 miles. When the valve cover gaskets were replaced just last week I was called down to look at the valve assembly on the drivers side before they put it back together. What I saw was a tarnished dark brownish color all over the rocker assembly and head. The other side looked like new so the drivers side bank was not getting all the oil it needed to stay clean for all those 65000 miles. Also had the oil system back flushed to maybe clear any blockage that might have happened. Now just a week later I have a knocking sound coming from that drivers side valve cover at idle. I don't hear it when going down the road yet, but will call my mechanic tomorrow and see what he thinks. I find out from reading forums that this problem is not uncommon for the 2.7 or 3.5HO engines because of a factory flaw in the way the engine was designed. I guess I should feel lucky to have gotten 14 years out of the car, some folks were not so lucky. A new engine is just to expensive, $5000 to $6000 and if it has the same design flaw could be a problem down the road. Time to get rid of this car even though it looks and drives like new.
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