Complete engine failure or seizure on the 2002 Dodge Intrepid
1 fire 1 of the 15 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When complete engine failure or seizure gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Dodge Intrepid report complete engine failure or seizure at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 105,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 53,829 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44,671 miles | 64,527 miles | 79,871 miles | 94,250 miles | 98,500 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $4,500–$12,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2001, at a median of 67,500 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 91; the 2002 has 15. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
My 2002 intrepid stalled on the highway less than a year from the purchase date. I was on the expressway doing approximately 60mph, when the engine completely stopped running, the oil light came on...luckily I was able to pull over to the side of the highway safely. The dealership stated that the engine seized due to sludge, however, the oil was changed as scheduled. The estimated bill was $5,000. After investigating this issue, I have found numerous websites dealing with the same issues, with consumers telling the exact same story that I had. It appears to be an issue with the 2.7 liter engine in the intrepid and all of the people who commented were accused of non maintenance of the vehicle because of sludge. Chrysler refuses to take the blame. I am still looking into whether or not my vehicle is covered under the lemon law, it has less than 18,000 miles since purchase and has been 1 year since purchase. *la
While driving engine blew out and the consumer saw smoke coming from under the hood. Consumer pulled over, and had the vehicle towed. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak
Merging into traffic when engine blew. Had to have car towed and engine replaced. Had to tow car from first shop who wouldn't work on it to another shop. With out use of car from 12-23-04 to 01-31-05. But still making car payments. Had to travel 220 miles to get car when work was done than 220 miles back. Engine was replaced with another out of wrecked vehicle. Old engine was turned in for core charge to a salvage yard.*ak
Also reported on the 2002 Dodge Intrepid
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Complete transmission failure
Water pump failure
Thermostat failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 15 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does complete engine failure or seizure happen on the 2002 Dodge Intrepid?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete engine failure or seizure on the 2002 Dodge Intrepid?
15 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed