Re: '96 Stratus ES: broken timing belt

On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:10:29 -0400, "Percival P. Cassidy"
<nobody@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Our '96 Stratus ES (approx. 85K miles) "just died" several months ago 
>when our son was driving it, and we just got around having the problem 
>investigated.
>
>Verdict: broken timing belt. This despite my having requested and paid 
>for a timing belt replacement about 25K miles and 5 years ago when the 
>water pump was being replaced.
>
>Estimated repair cost: $2000 -- and I don't recall whether that even 
>covers valve replacements if necessary.
>
>Is it worth fixing? The repair guy said that this model has also 
>suffered from main bearing wear, resulting in low oil pressure, which 
>leads to other problems. And the oil pressure light on this car has 
>occasionally come on when the engine is idling.
>
>Perce


It looks like you are putting about 5k a year on the car.  What kind
of shape is it in otherwise?  These are pretty solid cars... I've been
around this group since this car was newish and haven't ever heard
anything about main bearing wear problems.  I wouldn't worry about
them for another 100k at least.

If the car is otherwise in good shape I would probably fix it.  Yes
the cost of the repair is probably more than the car is worth but
chances of finding another car for 2k that doesn't have its own set of
problems is rather slim.  At 5k a year you could easily get a number
of good years out of it.  

         Steve B.