Stealth r/t reliability....

[klin0263]

So i'm in the market for a new car, and sure enough i find a nice stealth r/t for sale near me... my question is how prone to break down are these cars.... anything will be better than what i have now (spirit r/t) but if i get a new car i dont want to have to worry about fixing it more often than most cars....

[DodgeGarage]

wait, better than a spirit R/T?

I'm not a 3000GT/Stealth guru, but i know the AWD had tranny issues when modded. Well, that kind of goes with the AWD DSM catagory as a whole.

And I just realized something, WHY IS THIS POSTED HERE!?

[Shelby VNT]

Because it's a section for all other non turbo Dodges?

[Blue Iroc R/T]

Just because the badge says "Stealth R/T" does not mean that it is the Twin Turbo. The NON-Turbo Stealth R/T has the same 3.0 engine without the turbo's and is Not AWD or AWS. My son has a 92 Stealth R/T TT, it is AWD and AWS. The one he got had a lot of electrical issues that he finally got worked out. The parts for this car are BIG $$$, I say again BIG $$$. Some parts can only be ordered direct from Japan. The main thing to check for is; Has the timing belt & water pump been changed? These cars very rarely go over 80k with out a timing belt change. If it breaks, You WILL bend valves. It cost approx. $1500 to have a belt and water pump changed. And if you ever thought that the Dealer tech's knew nothing about your Spirit R/T, They know even less about the Stealth R/T TT. The ride is great and the power is awesome, but they are expensive to repair. Good Luck.

[grim]

my buddy had a r/t tt awd till he ran it under a dump truck .lol needed a front clip and 2 rims . called everyone and searched on net for weeks and the cheapest he could find the rims was 1300 $ cause he had to by all 4 cause of balance reasons or something and the front clip cost 1800 $ now motor still ran and my g/f has a pic somewhere of the speed o at 160mph .no crap !! he started looking around for hp parts and well we will say he sold it for 2000$ to some guy he knew . cost is unreal for those thing . but i heard that our t1 mitsus are an up grade for the stealth but dont know if its true .

[xtz]

I've considered one before, and looked pretty seriously into it. for now I'm sticking with the 1st gen g-body.

parts are expensive and availability is an issue. read the same thing on the trans issues. I can't tell you how many I've seen listed with dead or rebuilt engines from the owner's neglegence of the timing belt. and a lot of them were closer to 50,000 miles when it happened. that tells me the previous owner probably beat on it relatively hard & you can bet something's next shortly after you buy it (trans! transfer box!). can't take that badass look from them (open roof MANDATORY), but cost? even if I were making more, I think I'd still hesitate to spend it on a Stealth.

lastly and most importantly, two points. try and find one in anything approaching good condition for blue book. with a roof? ever take a good look at the engine bay? I could only truly call myself a shadetree mechanic, but I'm experienced enough to know what a PIA it will be to work on it. I'll keep making my current ride bulletproof & still spend less.

[wild thing]

Owner here...

It's a Mitsubishi. There is nothing wrong with Mitsu reliability. Parts availability isn't really a concern either as stated. What you do need to realize is that you're dealing with a semi exotic. It will be very angry with you if you don't use synthetic oil. It will be very angry with you if you don't change the timing belt, water pump etc. every 60k, most of all it will be very angry with you if you abuse it and don't take care of it.

On the other hand, if you take care of it, and don't run it's tires off it will treat you fine. Mine is at almost 113k, still shifts silky smooth and ran 13.54 (as you probably noted in the other post) just the other day.

Think of all the cars you know of that make 100 HP/L in production form. It's no worse than any that I can come up with (read TIII).

Take care
-JR

[desertsnake1991]

I love the overall look of the "exotic" Stealth, instead of the Secretary version...but I have a close friend, German F4 Phantom pilot...he bought one as a grad gift from Fighter school...was fun and games first 50,000 Miles...after that? The never ending nightmare!! He said if he could hop in a time machine, knowing what he knows now, he would have gotten a twin Turbo 300zx...thise things are simply unkillable and run in Ferrari country in the acceleration/corning department!

[roguetrip]

If your looking for reliability then stay away from the Stealth, They are great in low mileage and if well maintained they can be good at higher mileage but is a maintnance whore. I own a 92 N/A i got for cheap, with the ATX, which had problems but the ATX usually has the end clutch go which is kinda easy to repair, I've had to repair the ECU which has capacitors that go bad (common issue) Like everyone else says, gotta change the timing belt or destroy the engine, and just has alot of things that go bad and make troubleshooting your worst nightmare!

It looks great, handles good, but just shouldn't be a daily driver, more like the 2nd car.

Lol about the 300ZX, it's still a pig at 3400+lbs and is more of a PITA to work on! They are both equal horsepower for the 1st gen 3S until the second gen 3S made 320hp.

[wild thing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roguetrip If your looking for reliability then stay away from the Stealth, They are great in low mileage and if well maintained they can be good at higher mileage but is a maintnance whore. I own a 92 N/A i got for cheap, with the ATX, which had problems but the ATX usually has the end clutch go which is kinda easy to repair, I've had to repair the ECU which has capacitors that go bad (common issue) Like everyone else says, gotta change the timing belt or destroy the engine, and just has alot of things that go bad and make troubleshooting your worst nightmare! It looks great, handles good, but just shouldn't be a daily driver, more like the 2nd car. Lol about the 300ZX, it's still a pig at 3400+lbs and is more of a PITA to work on! They are both equal horsepower for the 1st gen 3S until the second gen 3S made 320hp.

Pick up coils go bad in 2.2/2.5, they cost more than the 3 capacitors in the ECU that fry in the 3s. Mine have yet to fry (112k)

Is it unreasonable to replace a timing belt at 60k? The only difference is it's a time bomb, if it blows a belt you'll likely have 24 bent valves. Russian roullette with a 2.2/2.5.

My Stealth is my daily driver. One time it limped home when I over-revved it (to the tune of probably 10k RPMs; user error).

I've been left on the side of the road by my 86 Charger, my 86 Laser, my dad's 90 Imperial has been towed home, our old 86 Lebaron threw a rod going down the highway, and my mom's old 89 dynasty drove home 30 miles one time in limp mode. The only K-car that I recall giving us NO trouble is the old 85 lebaron (RIP). I'm not bagging on K-cars, I realize that most of these are yet again a half decade older than my Stealth. At the same time I think only 2 of those ever had the mileage that my Stealth does.

I guess the only way to say it is YMMV. My mileage personally has been remarkably good in my 3s.

[Waramp]

88 Daytona- 4 cylinders, 8 valves 1 turbo and 1 cam 2 axles 2 tie rods

3000gt/stealth rt tt - 6 cylinders, 24 valves?(i think?) 2 turbos, 4...4 CAMS!!!! 4 Axles 4 tie rods!!! I can hardly handle what i have now LOL

I probly screwed up on a few things but oh well...

[wild thing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waramp 88 Daytona- 4 cylinders, 8 valves 1 turbo and 1 cam 2 axles 2 tie rods 3000gt/stealth rt tt - 6 cylinders, 24 valves?(i think?) 2 turbos, 4...4 CAMS!!!! 4 Axles 4 tie rods!!! I can hardly handle what i have now LOL I probly screwed up on a few things but oh well...

The 4 cams is definitely the kicker. Lots of belt to break and it has to be pretty tight. They have a much better track record than the T3s however. Very few have broken without being neglected first.

The turbos don't go bad, the car has a really nice oil cooler to keep them alive. Axles don't break and boots/joints don't normally go bad because the angles are good.

The rear steering is almost ZERO maintenance and I've never heard of anything ever going bad on it.

It's a routine maintenance machine. Change fluids on occasion, and do the belt/waterpump think every 60k. I seriously don't work on it anymore than I do my 93 half ton Ford truck.