[adecanmin]

They sold about 23000. I used to see a bunch back in the day. Not so much anymore. For those srts still functioning, what is the age group of the current drivers? I'm on the older side. I figure young people are more concerned about the latest phone instead of keeping a 15 year old car on the road. Your thoughts.

 

[adecanmin]

That's not many left. We have to do out best to keep the remaining running srt4s out of the salvage yard.

 

[adecanmin]

I'm still here, but battling Ohio e-check at the moment. Had the car since buying it new in 2005, and it's still mint. I'm 44 now and haven't seen any other SRT-4's around here since about 3 years ago - and that one was being traded in at the dealership.

Do you drive yours in the wintertime? I would think road salt would rust a lot of srt4s away.

 

[adecanmin]

They will definitely get rarer as time goes on. I'm taking my srt4 to Daytona for a track day. Paranoid about blowing up the transmission. I figure if I shift nice and easy it will make it through the event. I'm one of the slower cars out there. Can't hang with z06 Corvette or Porsches. When i get a compliment they usually say they like the exhaust note.

 

[adecanmin]

Orig owner here... in my 40's... '04 blue, 86k miles, Stage1. Car still runs perfect. Has passed WA-state emissions every other year for the last decade. I try to tag 18psi (spike) a least once per drive. Garaged and only driven when weather is nice-ish. Still looks great... still makes me smile. I've only seen ~4-5 SRT-4s around the greater Spokane area. Definitely more rare each year. Cheers!

I have stage 1 as well. The best I can do is 16psi. Do you have a tune?

 

[adecanmin]

View attachment 144451


I got mine this year. 2004 E Blue 153,000 miles and running hella strong! I won't be getting rid of this beauty....like ever lol!

Nice car. Did you have to do any maintenance on it after you purchased it?

 

[adecanmin]

Thanks! And yes I did. I actually was quickly greeted with having to change a passenger side cv Axel and wheel bearing. Kinda threw me into the ocean right away lol! But it really helped me learn the car better. After that I did a couple of oil changes to get it where I wanted, one step colder NGK iridium plugs, thicker plug wires and fresh transmission fluid. Runs amazing and I'm going to keep it that way.

I'm assuming the previous owner did the timing belt at 105k

 

[adecanmin]

I'm an original owner. Bought mine in January of 2003 and have logged 195k miles on it.

I am preparing to install the last full factory Stage 2 kit on it and it desperately needs a new paint job; the SoCal sun made short work of Dodge's clear coat. It's still a daily driver but I'm planning on turning it into a garage queen.

Are you going to have it painted?

 

[adecanmin]

I still have my original 03 and a 05 ACR

Cool. How reliable have they been? Low miles?

 

[adecanmin]

I run Mobil 0w-40 as well. Great oil for the price. I've got a timing belt coming. Only 30k on it but I installed it in 2012 with some of those being track miles.

 

[adecanmin]

I'm 53 and bought my '04 new with 2 miles on it in September '03. It's been daily driven ever since. Stage 2 w/toys, BWS turbo, custom manifold and exhaust, suspension upgrades, factory Neon cruise added. In 2011 it hit 111,111 miles, and last week 222,222. Will I make it to 333,333 do you think?

View attachment 144742
View attachment 144743

It is shiny. Do you keep it in a garage?

 

[adecanmin]

Wow very impressive thanks for sharing. Sucks about the smoke issue being the turbo. Crazy you replaced the rings and re-used the stock headgasket. I actually had a white smoke issue and I took the hotside of the turbo off and it had a lot of oil. A seal went out. Got the turbo rebuilt and installed it myself along with a new log manifold and 02 housing from AGP. $$$.
Are you still running the BS chain? I am running the Royal Purple Synchromax in my trans. Debate going to stock Mopar ATF. Glad you haven't had any internal transmission issues. I am running 5w-40. I was running 0w-40 but I thought the 5w-40 would help with heat on a a big turbo car. Probably go back to 0w-40 or even 5w-30 when I change it next.


I am still on my original timing belt. Car only has 21k miles though. Yes it is almost 15 years old. But the car has been garaged its entire life and has never been in a dry state. After replacing the timing belt on a 2003 Neon SRT-4 I had about 5 years ago with 120k and seeing the belt looked great...I think they hold up pretty well. I will probably have it replaced this year though for peace of mind.

That's amazing. It is a good idea to change that belt. I suppose even if it looks good it can still break. Are you going to change anything besides the belt? I'm going to change my water pump.The seals no. I might do the engine mount. I have 89k.

 

[adecanmin]

I think that last bit about the younger generation is largely false. I'm 25 and love working on vehicles of any sort. I've got plenty of friends too who always want to wrench, we also see plenty of young guys at racing and drag events. Attended Woodward dream cruise this past year and there were plenty of people, young and old sharing knowledge and stories, great event. But anecdotal evidence and personal experience will always shape opinions. Anyways! I've got a few projects, most notably my 03 srt4 with 31k original miles and my 87 GTI turbo build among a few other rustier projects. As far as the srt, I'm prepping fuel system, engine mounts, suspension and trans etc, for turbo upgrades down the line and excited to see what the future brings. Cheers to everyone with srts still on the road. View attachment 144763

Nice ride

 

[adecanmin]

I definitely have a problem with the trade vs college issue. I attended a trade program through highschool and it got me quite far in my field thus far. But I have many friends who went the college route struggle to find jobs, and indeed are the same ones who have never learned to work with their hands. Also can't fix anything worth a damn. I do see that side of it, and it's unfortunate. Hell ya can't even find a plumber or even engine builder these days who's not slammed with work year round.

Very true. The problem with an affluent society is the younger generation don't have to use their hands to get by. I worked on my cars in my younger days not because I couldn't wait to work on my 68 fiat 124 but because I was poor and couldn't afford to take it to a mechanic. So I learned out of necessity.

 

[adecanmin]

I am 57. I rescued my SRT4 from the Florida gulf coast in August 2018. It has a clean title and the odometer shows 130K. Honda boys were passing it around like a $20 whore, abusing it and doing Honda boy mods to it. I feel they would have destroyed it by now. At the pace they were going, for sure it would be a 20-25 owner car, maybe painted red or black. I have now owned my SRT4 longer than 11 of the 12 previous owners 😎

4000 left from 25,303 is an amazingly depressing attrition rate. I thought it would be easy to make a list of 127 `04 yellow VIN's and then try and determine how many were left. I found 26 and gave up. Doesn't really matter, My car is Hemi Cuda rare, but so cleverly disguised even those familiar with the SRT4 by default probably think they are looking at an `03. Daimler dropped the ball in so many ways, one was not bringing back NYG for a SRT4 paint color.

Nice save. This srt4 is the second longest car I've owned after my 93 honda accord. Still fun to drive. Not as fast against other cars today as it was in 2004 but still enough to get you into trouble. I'm fortunate I'm able to have the srt4 in the garage. The paint looks almost brand new as well as the interior. My honda sits outside and the paint is shot. Still runs well however. I'm curious what the landscape will be like 5 years from now? Maybe 1500 to 2000 srt4s road worthy?

 

[adecanmin]

I'm still on my original clutch about 93k on it with about 3000 track day miles thrown in. No more tracking due to lack of transmission parts.

 

[adecanmin]

Nice srt. Those are some low miles. What did you have to do after six years to get it running? Did you drain the gas before hand? I'm assuming it was kept in a garage. Are you on the original timing belt from 2003?

 

[adecanmin]

Mine still works, just don't drive it much.

Cool. These cars are going up in value at least temporarily.

 

[adecanmin]

P205/50R17 Continental Extreme Contact Sport

I've got those same tires. Awesome for the price. Michelin pilot sports are better but won't fit our 6 inch wheels

 

[adecanmin]

Pilot Sport All Season 4's will. I did have them on the OEM rims before, but no pics before I swapped them over to the 17" Empire rims.

View attachment 149388 View attachment 149389 View attachment 149390

I have a set of OEM SRT rims with Extreme Contact DWS for comparison; no contest. The Michelins are far superior. Disclaimer - yes, these are the all season variants. I have AS3s on the SRT8, and at this point, any new performance tire purchase will be a Pilot Sport of some variation for me... unless they screw it up.

Thinking back, I've also ran:

• OEM KDWs
• Ventus V12s
• Kumho Escta ASXs
• Cooper Zeon RS something or another (they were utterly forgettable)
• General GMax AS03s
• Continental WinterContact SI (dedicated winter)

While I was not a fan of the volume the KDWs generated as they wore past the 1/2 mark on the way to EOL, my memories with them were good. Probably distorted by time at this point though.

The all season Michelins are the same price as the continentals. Next time I might try a set.