Overheating on the 2003 Dodge Intrepid
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When overheating gets reported
There are 7 reports of overheating on the 2003 Dodge Intrepid, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 102,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 86,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $400–$3,500 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 1999, at a median of 75,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 12; the 2003 has 7. 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.
Below, please find a partial copy of an email complaint sent to dodge on 4/27/06 complaint! Please be advise that on the evening of tuesday 4/25/06, my 2003 intrepid overheated severely (without warning) after a ten minute ride. Sadly, the dashboard indicators and temperature gauge were not working properly and thus I was not aware that the vehicle (which was recently maintenance by the dealer) was in such distress. The vehicle was towed on 4/26 and I received a call from the dealer during the mid-afternoon of 4/27 stating that two cooling fans had failed (due to electrical malfunctioning) and a gasket pertaining to the thermostat had broken, all of which was believed to be responsible for the overheating of the vehicle. It was recommended that thermostat be replaced as a ??precautionary measure??. It was also stated that the situation was "uncommon". When questioned, I was told by the dealer that the distress indicators would not have been triggered off by this event. My question is simple: why not? Is that not the purpose of the temperature gauge or thermostat indicator? I directed the dealer to review the fuses, switches and…
The car has major engine problems like all the 03 2.7 l eng se. Connecting rods is falling out, and etc. The car is unbalance. I took the car today to find why the oli light was coming on when the vehicle thermostat rises. Turn out the engine isn't allowing the oil to reach the upper part of the engine and that is causing my vehicle to overheat and make noises on startup. And also when you reverse you hearthe car make a bad knock sound and feel the vibration. This car only has 86000 miles and the mechanics could only shake their heads. This car should be in better condition then this. Anyways, the cost for new engine with warranty is over $6000. And that includes everything! Now who has that type of money and why didn't dodge recall this problem on the 03 dodge intrepid??? All I want is the engine replace and dodge could do that at any of their companies or auto lots. I'm a simple person. I just want to work and be at peace.
The car has major engine problems like all the 03 2.7 l eng se. Connecting rods is falling out, and etc. The car is unbalance. I took the car today to find why the oli light was coming on when the vehicle thermostat rises. Turn out the engine isn't allowing the oil to reach the upper part of the engine and that is causing my vehicle to overheat and make noises on startup. And also when you reverse you hearthe car make a bad knock sound and feel the vibration. This car only has 86000 miles and the mechanics could only shake their heads. This car should be in better condition then this. Anyways, the cost for new engine with warranty is over $6000. And that includes everything! Now who has that type of money and why didn't dodge recall this problem on the 03 dodge intrepid??? All I want is the engine replace and dodge could do that at any of their companies or auto lots. I'm a simple person. I just want to work and be at peace.
Also reported on the 2003 Dodge Intrepid
Other engine problem
Engine sensor failure
Other powertrain problem
Water pump failure
Other electrical problem
Complete engine failure or seizure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 7 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 7 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 overheating happen on the 2003 Dodge Intrepid?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is overheating on the 2003 Dodge Intrepid?
7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 72 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