James said,
<> my friend's 2.5 year old PT Cruiser busted a connecting rod after 30K
miles.
> dealer wants $4K to fix and refuses to cover under warranty because she
> doesnt have oil change receipts.>
Man alive! This sounds more like a "You didn't use the dealer's expensive
service so we're going to XXXXX you!" If I was the owner and actually HAD
changed the oil regularly, I'd be 1) taking a sample of any remaining oil in
the car and getting it tested for its current condition at a test lab;
2) camping on the customer rep's doorstep;
3) or parking the sumbitch in front of the dealership with lemons glued to
every surface.
All the more strange that you could spin a rod bearing, if they're using the
same bottom end on the 2.4 as the 2.0. I _would_ guess that they've upgraded
it a bit for the SRT-4.
FWIW I know a mechanical engineer who puts all his time and maintenance into
his racing motorcycles, his tow vehicle just gets a new quart whenever it's
low. No changes. He was over 100,000 miles with that sort of mistreatment.
I'm impressed, though I would never buy a car from him :) Modern oil is a
wonderful thing.
I guess I'm just spoiled by bulletproof engines that I've had. Volvo was at
160K and didn't even use a quart between changes, the Yamaha/SHO V6 is just now
using a quart maybe every 3-4000 at 130K miles. Has been on mostly synthetic
or blends for the latter half of its life.
PaulT
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