How reliable are Sebrings?

I have the oportunity to get a 97 Sebring LXI for $850.00. It has 136,000 miles, and seems to be OK mechanically. What are the major issues? The transmission kinda scares me, being a Chrysler. I have also heard of horror stories abot the distributers...any truth there? What about gas milage? My wife has a 98 Grand Cherokee that has turned out to be a big piece of crap!!!Any advise would be greatly appreciated!!!

Well is yours the coupe or the convertible? I own a 99 sebring converible(its green) and have had no problems with it. Ive owned it for 2 yrs and it now has about 81000 miles on it. Besides regular oil changes, nothing has gone wrong. When i bought the car, it needed an alternator belt and brake pads, obviously got them fixed but otherwise it has never been into a shop( I do my own oil changes) in like 2 yrs. hope this helps

I've got an 05 Sebring Touring - 4 door. She's got about 30K miles on her. So far I've had part of the front suspension replaced twice, the tranny rebuilt, the sunroof fixed, and a coolant leak fixed. Dealer advised me todfay that both front brake rotors are warped as well. Without the warranty, I couldn't afford to keep this turkey on the road.

Regards:
Oldengineer

I got a 97 sebring convertable about a year ago, It has 156,000 and runs great, the only thing I cant stand about the car is that it go's through brakes like crazy I have replaced them twice already and getting ready to again..
By the way thanks to this site, I now know everyone seems to have problems with the brakes, people keep telling me that it's just my driving. :smooch:

I have a 99 Sebring JXI convertible. 104,000 miles and still running like new. It has the 2.5 liter V-6 with the 4 speed auto. I've had no problems other than the usual tires, brake pads and oil changes. The factory stereo died on me when the car was only two years old, but an aftermarket stereo solved that problem.

I've owned an 02 Sebring LXI 4 door for going on 5 years now. It now has 130,000+ miles on it and I've had to replace the transmission last year. I just replaced a sway bar,bearings and about the 3rd tie rod since I've owned it. I have had to replace the brakes quite frequently as well as 2 rotors and I don't drive any different than anyone else really..they told me it's the way I drive. I don't ride my brakes and I can not possibly think of any other reason they would wear so quickly. I did take my car to the dealer the last time to do my brakes and it has been a while. I do love my car though. Oh yeah the blower for my heater and air conditioner also only works on high. Thanks to this forum I know how to fix that.:lol: I travel 300+ miles a week for work and I must say I get back and forth without a problem.

Well i have a 2000 convertible, and have had it since 2001. One previous owner. Besides changing oil, a few belts here and there, there has been no major issues besides the steering column *which can be avioded if you take the key out the right way, and not rush and just jam it out on an angle* I have taken my car up and down the east coast with no problems. It has 150,000+ miles on it, and still runs like its brand new.

i bought my daughter a 97JX convertable 4 months ago to drive around for a while and with the exception of the items that are common for this car ( dashboard, body drains, and tie rod ends) it has not been a bad vehicle. time will tell but considering that it is a 10 year old used car i am happy with it.

The 4 door and 2 door are 2 different cars. I have a 95 lxi coupe and it is built by DSM, this bad boy has 300k on it and still runs real hard. Coulpe of sensors here and there, oh yes the really "F-ing" expensive lower control arms. As far as reliable, hell yeah. Mitsubishi builds one hell of a good car. Better than the chrysler wanna be stuff.

I have a 2002 Sebring and have 54K miles on it. I had problems from day one with warped rotors that were replaced in first week I bought it (250 miles). The service dept dealer told me that they were defective when it arrived.

Since then I have replaced 2 outer tie rods - Pep Boys says get use to it.
I have also have replaced the trans cooler line.

The heater blower only works in the high position - it's fixed now and is a known problem. This feature showed up at the 32K mile mark.

Now I have and engine light on and the code comes out says it is defective gas cap. I am stumpped on this. Can someone help?

I have the oportunity to get a 97 Sebring LXI for $850.00. It has 136,000 miles, and seems to be OK mechanically. What are the major issues? The transmission kinda scares me, being a Chrysler. I have also heard of horror stories abot the distributers...any truth there? What about gas milage? My wife has a 98 Grand Cherokee that has turned out to be a big piece of crap!!!Any advise would be greatly appreciated!!!
My opinion.
If you are a car mechanic you can have any car. If you are not- try to stick with Toyotas and Hondas. About your Grand C- sell it to me!

I own a 97 Sebring LXi. i have around 158k on it bout it at 98k. Just in trannys alone i have spent $6500. thats not including tires which are expensive, brakes, struts, ball joints, numberous sensors, flex pipe (which blew for no reason). but tranny's are by far the worst i have seen. i have had my overdrive blow out on the highway twice, and have lost every gear but second in the city 3 other times (these are all seperate times) and i'm not goin racing around town, or neutral drops or anything like that. (oh just so you know i'm 20) just so that part makes sense. since i got the car i've had it in the shop more then i have had it on the road. but every time i save some money to get a new car something breaks and i have to spend the money..... so i'd advise to get away from sebrings as fast as you can.

[quote=dbapete

The heater blower only works in the high position - it's fixed now and is a known problem. This feature showed up at the 32K mile mark.

[/quote]
Hopefully it will make you feel better.
BMW 525 blower broke when buyer drove it. He couldn't turn it off! Broken part was 350 doll.! It was known problem. Friend of mine cut off one of termistors and fan worked fine except one fan speed didn't work. Here is advice- don't buy Sebrins or BMWs!
My 97 Cherokee is great working horse by the way. I bought it with 127K, now it has about 200K and I tow cars with it. Evaporator, w.pump and fan clutch. It is OK for 200K.

I have the oportunity to get a 97 Sebring LXI for $850.00. It has 136,000 miles, and seems to be OK mechanically. What are the major issues? The transmission kinda scares me, being a Chrysler. I have also heard of horror stories abot the distributers...any truth there? What about gas milage? My wife has a 98 Grand Cherokee that has turned out to be a big piece of crap!!!Any advise would be greatly appreciated!!!

They are not reliable. We have a 2002 LXi with about 75k miles on it and its honestly the biggest pile of junk and an embarassment to the American automotive industry. Search on google for the 2.7 Chrysler engine... ours has something wrong with the transmission that started around 15k miles and has been back to the dealer 5 or 6 times now with them always telling us its "normal". When you are decelerating from whatever speed above 20-30 mph, when you hit 10-15 mph the car lurches when it downshifts. It feels like you are getting rear ended. Sometimes when you are at a red light, you step on the gas and the RPMs go up but the car doesn't go anywhere... then CLUNK, off you go. This is "normal"? The power door locks only work when they want to, which is virtually never. The car stalls sometimes. The leather seats started cracking and discoloring almost imediately after we bought it. The upper coolant flange on the engine is plastic and glued together. Who designs a part that deals with heat and pressure and glues it together? :screwy: Not only that, but is glued in such a manner that the pressure pushes the glued piece apart and the flange that is boled to the engine is bigger than the flange on the L shaped tube. A moron, thats who. At least if the bolts went through both parts it wouldn't be as bad, and anway, why is such a simple part made in two pieces anyway? Ours blew apart, as did many others, just hit up google for that too. Our A/C only works on high. The tail lights blow out regularly. The car eats brake pads like they are going out of style. The Dodge/Chrysler brand brake rotors are warped garbage. I replaced them with some aftermarkets and they are much better. The oil pressue switch died, and let me tell you, that is no fun to replace. There is a wicked clunking coming from the drivers side front wheel, sounds like the frame is coming apart. The shocks squeek. Their warranty is a scam. All the parts that break are magically not covered under warranty. Do a google search on that too.

My wife really wanted this car and I bought it against my better judgement. My whole life people have told me to avoid Chrylser cars. Of course they told me that about my Ford too, but I haven't had any problems at all with my Mustang. It just works. So I applied that logic to the Chrysler. Big mistake. I tried to push her towards a Camry or an Accord.

I like working on cars and everything, but come on! Every other weekend I'm out wrenching on this thing. So far my skills have been able to keep it on the road, but I'm not a master mechanic or anything. I estimate its only a matter of time before I have to pony up some huge cash for a new engine or transmission. Although, depending on how much I have to spend, it might be more benificial to give it to one of those tax write off places and use the money I would have spent on repairs to buy a used Civic or something else that actually works.

The single thing I actually like about this car.... oil changes. The drain plug and the filter are very easy to get to and about 6" from eachother and straight on the bottom of the oil pan. Which reminds me, the last time Chrysler worked on the car the dumbass used an air wrench on the drain plug. It took me an hour and some special bolt extractors to get the stripped plug out. Had to rethread it and buy a new plug. But, if you do your oil changes yourself and your 2.7 blows up, and it will, Chrysler won't replace it. Search on that too.

This car will teach you some good lessons in futility. If you get it, be prepared for lots of this: :banghead:

-Bryan

it's not all doom and gloom chicken little! here is a list (in the link) of sebring's in allpar's 200,000 mile club. disregard the 1970's sebrings on the list the ones in the 1990's and up are the ones that apply. one is over 300,000 miles. mike


http://www.allpar.com/old/club/search.php?q=sebring&type=model

I own a '96 serbring/conv. I'm my opionion, chrysler could have done better. With 98K miles the following work has been done:

lower tie rod ends (60K miles)

Plugs / Wires (63K miles...at least 2 orig factory wires shorting out)

Plugs / Wires (96K miles, agains shorted wire)

Distributor (96K miles, per mechanic, the shorting wires caused the Distr to fail...very expensive to replace the distr)

Rear Break cyclinders (85K miles...bad leak, nearly cause an accident when they failed)

Power steering high pressure line sprung a leak. Had that fixed, about $500.

Rear flex break lines (85K miles...since Chrysler used steel vs stainless, could not remove the break lines from the rear cylinders)

Rough idle / starting: (haven't figured that out, something to do with the fuel and sensors...IAC, injectors, not sure...but very annoying)

Leather Seat tears, front.

Inside/outside air divertor connecting links constantly binding and fall off. Have to pull the radio and facia off to access the control panel linkage.

Driver's door detent (think that's what you call it...keeps the door in place when you open it...anyways the internal spring or friction points have an annoying creaking....dealer recommends replacing the assembly. Got to take the door apart to access.

Etc, etc.

Bottom line, Lotsa quality/workmanship issues. I got too much invested in repairs to sell at this time. Should have dumped it a long time ago.

I own a '96 serbring/conv. I'm my opionion, chrysler could have done better. With 98K miles the following work has been done:

lower tie rod ends (60K miles) did you grease them? also their lives vary based on road conditions. i've been to chicago! roads are bad!
Plugs / Wires (63K miles...at least 2 orig factory wires shorting out)
to be expected with any make! plug wires are common tune up parts that are affected by age (your at 12 years), and not changing the plugs out early enough! 63k is way to long on a copper core plug! it is possible that the increased voltage on the overdue plugs caused them to fail!
Plugs / Wires (96K miles, agains shorted wire) did you use the 15 dollar autozone cheapies? those are known short time parts!
Distributor (96K miles, per mechanic, the shorting wires caused the Distr to fail...very expensive to replace the distr) possible to be caused by lack of early enough plug changes!
Rear Break cyclinders (85K miles...bad leak, nearly cause an accident when they failed) i know chicago is bad on salt in the winter! very possible the were leaking due to corrosion from the harsh winters in the rust belt!
Power steering high pressure line sprung a leak. Had that fixed, about $500.
orielly's auto parts lists that hose at 74.99! you paid 6 1/8 hours labor for someone to replace it? you need a new garage. some techs can to headgaskets on 4cyl in under 4 hours!
link to oreilly hose! at bottom of post!
Rear flex break lines (85K miles...since Chrysler used steel vs stainless, could not remove the break lines from the rear cylinders) i don't know of any manufactures that use stainless for brake lines! (at least not on every day cars) here in the midwest i have to replace rotten brakelines every 10 years! due to salty roads in winter and being in the rust belt. i don't think is bad build quality because the guy in california might not have to due brake lines for 20 years! secondly: how manty times did you flush the break fluid to get the moisture out? recommended every two years on every make of car! especially with abs modules costing north of 1500$
Rough idle / starting: (haven't figured that out, something to do with the fuel and sensors...IAC, injectors, not sure...but very annoying) time for throttle body cleaning! should be done every tune up!
Leather Seat tears, front. how much do you weigh?
Inside/outside air divertor connecting links constantly binding and fall off. Have to pull the radio and facia off to access the control panel linkage. finally the first build quality issue (or engineering issue) at least you know how to fix it!
Driver's door detent (think that's what you call it...keeps the door in place when you open it...anyways the internal spring or friction points have an annoying creaking....dealer recommends replacing the assembly. Got to take the door apart to access. not bad for 98k and 12 years. how ever does not effect the reliabilty of car!
Etc, etc.

Bottom line, Lotsa quality/workmanship issues. I got too much invested in repairs to sell at this time. a car is not an investement! you will have more "invested" in any car than it is worth. if you want an investement get a dusenberg! Should have dumped it a long time ago.Like any 12 year old 100k car. it is not going to be free driving

just my two cents!


link to power steering hose: http://www.oreillyauto.com/EW3/ProductDetail.do?id=1057725725&line=PPS&itemNumber=92064&categoryIndex=1&didSearchFor=Power+Steering&vehicle=1996CHRYSLERSEBRINGLXV6-2497%202.5L%20SOHC&bid=1194966348001&cycleCount=2438&currentPage=0

i think you car is doing fine and holding up better than you give it credit for! remember preventive mainenance is the key! mike

Thanks for the candid responses. Note, I do maintain the vehicle (oil changes, lube, fluid changes, etc) and purchase replacement parts from Napa, Quest and if Autozone, name brands (eg Champion plugs) Perhaps I may be expecting too much from a 11 yr old car w/98K miles, but friends, who own toyota/honda, and live in the rust belt, with similar age/mileage don't have many of the issues I have mentioned.

toyota and honda have a fair share of issues also,they are not bulletproof. i always find stereotyping manufacturers can get you in trouble! every manufacturer has great models, average models and bad models! examples include hondas v-6 transmission problems (needing rebuilds at 60,000 miles)from 97-04 involving the accord, pilot and odysey. now honda makes a fine car! but you would be pulling your hair out with these models v-6 only! toyota also has many failures of headgaskets on 4runners1990-1997. sludge from 1997-2002 accross most models! ball joints avalon and tundra. and most recent camshaft failures on 07 tundra.along with spot welds on tailgates breaking! toyota also makes a fine car i have owned a few in the past! and have put repair money into them as well (not complaining). but i have also had good luck with chrysler products as well. Good luck with future and present purchases! mike:2cents: