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...
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