New to us 2005 Magnum

Thanks Orthmann! You guys may have converted us to Mopar people, this will bring us to 2 LX cars along with the Wife's 2020 Go-Mango Scat pack Charger. Well at least Kat will be a Mopar girl now.

Well Hopefully I will be able to tow it home on the 25th of this Month, I will post some pictures of it in route (Hopefully)

 

Considering that I owned a 05 Magnum SXT 3.5 for 13 years and the only issue I had was with a faulty A/C that was fixed under warranty, I'm going to say congratulations




Took these pics in 2018 at 182,000 when I sold it.
A few things I would recommend,
1: switch to a synthetic 10W30 if it hasn't been already
2: Which ever is due first, replace both the timing belt and water pump at the same time, it saves you time and money.
3:When it's time to replace suspension components use SRT8 components.
4: If you hear rattling in the front when going over bumps check the front stabiliser end links, these have a tendency to wear quickly, I went to aftermarket grease-able links

 

kevdupius, thanks for the input and good wishes! I am starting to feel better about the 3.5L engine after hearing from some current and former Chrysler Engineers & Technicians. It sounds like most if not all the early failure modes were caused by customers not keeping up with the preventative maintenance. Mostly not changing the oil regularly and using cheap oil. This led to oil sludging causing the PVC valve to clog, then letting water build up in the oil, oil foaming, and clogged oil passages leading to connecting rod failure, and cam shaft wear. The other big issue is the timing belt that should be changed at 70,000 miles.
So as you suggest I plan on switching it to Mobil 1 10W30 after it actually has a few thousand miles on it. As it is now I don't know if the piston rings would be fully seated with the current mileage.
Good to also hear from some satisfied customers. I will keep in mind the suspension suggestions, The car already has Performance Sway bars and end links installed according to the seller, along with springs and shocks. But I don't know the exact P/N's of the parts yet.

Also I noticed we are both from Belleville's just on the other side of the St Claire River it seems.

 

Oh, yeah, with the low miles, the rings aren't seated. The figures I've known over the years are 5-600 miles for the first oil change, 1800-2000 for the second, and 3700-4000 for the third, then make the switch to full synthetic and high-grade filter, changes every 3000 miles. You also can help break-in of the rings by driving at 'slow' highway speed (typically 45-55 MPH) and shift from OD to high gear for one minute, then back for three minutes, then down shift, etc. Do this for the first oil change, then drive normally but slowly (no high-speed Interstates) for the next oil change, then Interstate driving afterward.

 

That will be awesome. Looking forward to seeing them.

 

Mobil 1 was what went into mine, since it was what the dealership used.
Something else I was going to mention, when I inspected the old timing belt it was surprisingly free of cracks or missing chunks but the water pump on the other hand had so much side play it was a wonder that it didn't leak.

 

Oh, one other thing I should add, your timing belt tensioner and idler pulleys need to be checked. If it's the older hub and ball bearing design, they wear out in short order, and either catastrophically failing (which is a pattern failure on them) can put enough slop in the belt to allow a one-tooth jump. The only one I've encountered so far, I was working on when I worked at a fly-by-night car lot. I had an Intrepid with a slew of bad cam sensor, misfire, and rich O2 codes, and sadly, I couldn't figure out why. Fortunately, the owner knew the Dodge dealer's lead mech, who came in, started it, looked at the code list and said one of the cams jumped time. Once I got in there, I found that the tensioner pulley was attempting to eat its way through the cover, all the bearing balls were gone.

 

Thanks for both ideas, I had been reading about water pump issues, but mostly about the plastic impeller eroding away causing low flow, and hot running issues. And I will defiantly keep an eye on the timing belt tensioner and idle.

Jeff R

 

Happy to share. Those wagons were nice as-built back then, so here's to hoping your wife gets many, many years of use out of her.

 

Thanks, I hope so to.

It had been pointed out to me that both the Red Dodge badge, and the SRT/design badge on the rear hatch are not stock. I will have to ask the seller when I pick it up if he added them? I don't think they are to much they kinda add some color to a very monochrome car. The grey pinstripe certainly doesn't add anything to a silver car IMO.





Still looking forward to picking it up at the end of next week.

 

It's too bad the interior isn't a primary color, like blue (my favorite). It could be a reason to change said pinstripes to blue, to match.

 

Now I under stand why these cars were a dime a dozen about 10 years ago. Perfect condition, low mileage, but don't run. They could be had for $1500-$2500, bill of sale only. I figured they had lunched the engine and the car wasn't paid off yet....trying to scam the finance company.

 

I think the color would look good with a bright red interior! I had a Silver 2nd Gen Trans Am with a red interior, I thought the combo looked good. I think the interior of our car is the best looking available at the time, the other 2 options were light grey and dark grey (charcoal)
The 2.7L & 3.5L engines both had poor longevity rep's. Mostly due to lack of Maintenance I am told.

 

The specific red it would've needed was Porno Red. That one really pops....

 

Pretty car. Congratulations.