Working on modern Mopars

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Teeth & Tires

A-retentive
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How are they? Easy? Not so much?

My wife drives an 09 Volkswagen that I am considering pelting with Molotavs. The entire engine is a Chinese finger trap with 50 or more 'sensors' just waiting for the right moment to ruin your day. I'm sick of it!

Considering a V8 Charger or Chally to serve as the primary family whip. How would such cars compare in terms of user-level maintenance complexity?
 
how modern?
my winter beater is an 08 charger
3.5 v6 awd
I changed the VC axles since the boots ripped
and the bumper, since the wife also drives it
other then that, oil tires and brakes

got about 150K on her
 
My oldest has a 08 Charger with the 3.5 also. I despise working on newer stuff but find the V6 Charger not too bad. It has more room under the hood than the Hemi which is a plus. We've done the alternator and replaced the plugs, which requires pulling the intake. Much easier than I thought it would be. We've also replaced the rotors during a pad change. One time it showed a ck engine light an we had to replace a $25 map sensor. The only thing I hate doing is removing that plastic belly pan to change the oil! He's at 170K
 
Just depends on how much you want to educate yourself. Sometimes the more sensors there are the easier to find the problem.
My biggest gripe came years ago when I had to re-buy almost every tool I owned in metric sizes.
 
My biggest gripe came years ago when I had to re-buy almost every tool I owned in metric sizes.

what does a BFH looks like in metric?

poke.gif
 
These VWs have already forced the metric thing along with a full line of Torx tools. Then there's "special" torx bits for pulling the tamper-resistant hardware (like on the airflow sensor and others). I'm quite accustomed to dropping belly pans so no biggie there.

As for sensors...man, I'll say this: It's almost 50/50 that the problem is either what the sensor says it is, or its the sensor itself.
 
These VWs have already forced the metric thing along with a full line of Torx tools. Then there's "special" torx bits for pulling the tamper-resistant hardware (like on the airflow sensor and others). I'm quite accustomed to dropping belly pans so no biggie there.

As for sensors...man, I'll say this: It's almost 50/50 that the problem is either what the sensor says it is, or its the sensor itself.
And on a VW everything has a sensor... EVERYTHING!!
 
Pass.
Good info, guys. Thanks.
And yeah, the 08 and up are all qualified though I am thinking primarily about V8 cars, although 250hp in the 6's is nothing to sniffle at, imo. Mileage counts.
 
I have a 14 R/T Charger. It has been pretty reliable. To change the plugs is pretty way but does require removing the air filter box. Other than routine maintenance I have had to replace a wheel speed sensor, oil pressure sensor which required pretty much getting done by feel and an outer tie rod.
 
I have a 06 Charger with the 5.7 and I've put almost 100k on her in a few years. Almost at 242k now. For me personally, it's simple; still a pushrod V8, but with more "eyes" (sensors) to keep an eye on. Still easy access on most if not all things. Yeah you have to remove a few more plastic pieces, and the little plastic retainers get irritating when they break. But general maintenence is easy.

I will say that modern Mopars really only like the OEM electrical stuff : part store quality stuff is a very big hit or miss. And a fair warning about 06-10 Chargers, that body style is notorious for eating suspension parts. I want to say that improved it in the 11-14 body style but I'm not sure. And please, don't buy a 06 R/T.... They had batches of PCM failures that shut the entire car off while you're driving. Ask me how I know!
 
You have to do this just to check the power steering fluid on a newer challenger, some things aren't too bad and some are ridiculous.......

20191117_134316.jpg
 
we need a "WTF" button.
 
Yup..I knew this was coming.
Let me look.
OK.
So I have big daddy that is 21 ounces.
A mommy that is 510 grams.
And a little gem of a guy that is a few carets short of a garden.

I got a 20 pounder left from the old days !
 
I have a 13 awd hemi charger. Replaced alternator and water pump so far, 113,000 miles. Were easy to do. Have a wheel speed sensor bad right now. It’s one 10 mm bolt and a wiring plug. Problem is you need a scanner to determine which one is bad. Lol. Auto zone don’t scan for abs lights. So unless I buy a scanner I have to pay somebody to do it. Last time I asked the dealer they wanted 100 bucks to scan it. The wheel sensor is 30 bucks. So I may just buy all four sensors and change them all. Lol..
 
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