DSM reliability; the real scoop?

[BloodRed]

The 420a is NOT the same engine in the 1st gen Neon. It is the same block, but the 420a's head is on with the exhaust up front and the intake in the back. That is reversed on the Neon's engine. The Dodge advenger/1st gen stratus coupe/1st gen sebring coupe (non convertable)/1st gen breeze coupe were all were based off the same platform as the 2g eclipse and completely made by Mitsubishi. The current Dodge Stratus Coupe/Sebring Coupe (non covertable) platform is based of the 3g eclipse/galant, also still made completely by Mitsubishi.

[mrblunt]

Being that i'm probably one of the more knowledgable people in the city about this platform i'll share what i've seen. Timing belt needs to be addressed at 70K, do not overlook this. The car also is notorious for headgasket issues. The corner bolts stretch over time and its pretty common to eventually have a leak. ARP's fix the issue at 90 bucks. Also the oil pan has no bafffling so oil pressure gets scary low on a hard right corner. The website that sells crank scrapers also made a full drop in baffling system for the pan, its very much worth the money. There have been a lot of guys who've spun rod bearings as a result of running oil too low and starving the motor b/c of the lack of baffling. Don't expect a stock clutch to last from lots of abuse, but this can be said for most cars. Clutchmasters makes a great clutch for this platform. If your feeling crafty you can take the head and bolt it to the 2.4 block found in many late model chysler cars, throw lots of srt4 parts at it and have a pretty stout motor w/ lots more torque. Theres lots of information about the 2.4 swap on 2gnt.com.

 

Aside from these issues, I know of cars on a nat'l forum that are abused on a weekly basis and have few issues. The trans is very stout, i'm putting over 300 ft lbs of torque to the drivetrain and have never had any issues. Dont expect to make a lot of power n/a if you start throwing parts at it. N/a they are slobs. I'd recommend keeping the car mostly stock as they are reliable and get excellent gas milage.