Hi, my first post so here goes ...

I bought this just a couple weeks ago from an individual for a running around & work car. Its a standard sedan 2.7 4 cylinder 128,000 miles. It was clean & didn't leak anything no lights on dash had new tires, recently replaced timing belt , thermostat and water pump. So I thought it probably wasn't a bad deal for $3K .
In the first few days I noticed loose steering and noises coming from the front drivers side area , it sounds like metal vibrating and doesn't do it every time I slow down and the check engine light came on as well. I took it to NTB because I had a coupon on the oil change and asked them to check the noises . They said I needed tie rod ends and an alignment , front rotors and new pads , they said somebody put new pads on rotors that should have been changed. I couldnt afford all of it at one time. So I did the tie rods and aligment that day. $ 360. The brake work was going to be another $400. The check engine light was a code P0441 they said that was emission and not a huge deal.
Today, I was driving and the radio and odometer light started dimmimg and brightening on it own , very sporatic not all the time. Any Ideas ? The radio doesnt cut out its just the lights. I am starting to think it wasn't such a good deal . It does seem to run ok and doesnt overheat. Someone at work told me the struts may be bad and might be part of the noise. Does that make sense?

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated ! I cant buy another car right now.

Thanks

 

It's a 2.4L, not a 2.7. The 2.7 is the V-6
The rattle may be the upper ball joints. I had that problem on my 2001 Sebring sedan and after replacing a lot of other stuff, it was the upper ball joints that finally got rid of the rattle. Other things to look at would be the sway bar links and the struts. Struts get to be expensive. Upper ball joints and sway bar links are relatively cheap. Cheaper still if you can do it yourself.
Search the forum here as there was a discussion a couple of years ago or so about the inverter in the instrument cluster. It's a little gizmo that converts DC current to AC for the lights in the dash. The problem is that if you want to fix that you're going to have to do it yourself because it's not a regular service item. There's a guy up in Canada someplace who repairs instrument clusters. You can find him on the internet with a little searching. It's also possible that the light problem could be related to the dimmer switch. Try spinning that a few times to clean off the contacts.

 

Thanks , for the info. I had the front brakes and rotors replaced. One of the rotors was warped. I turned the interior dimmer switch down to the minimum and haven't had a problem since.

Thanks !

 

Now I'm on to the single thud / jerk noise when I have to brake or accelerate at moderate speed. I'll make a a new post about that.

Thanks again !