Stratus 2000 2.5L Distributor Testing

215

Asked by dgplugge Oct 23, 2013 at 05:57 PM about the 2000 Dodge Stratus SE Sedan FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 6 Cyclinder, 2.5L Dodge Stratus 2000 has a bad distributor or at least I believe it
does.  I pulled out the distributor, but it turns out Advanance Autoparts no longer
check distributors.  Before I buy a new distributor and put it in, I had two questions.  
First, what things can I do at home with just a multimeter to check out the distributor.  
And secondly, Advanced Autoparts sells a refirb distributor for just over $200.  On
Ebay, I can get a new distributor from King-Auto Parts for less than $100.  Does
anyone see anything wrong with getting the after market distributor?

Thanks,
dgp

By the way, I'll include why I think my distributor is bad down here.  The Stratus
simply stopped running while my daughter was driving it down the street.  It would
crank, just not turn over.  I had it towed to a mechanic where they first said it was
getting gas, but not getting a spark.  They didn't want to just start replacing parts, so
they told me to take it to the dealer -- which was odd.  I asked them to at least check
the distributor and they said that the distributor needed to be replaced.

I called the dealer and they gave me a quote of $1600.  I told them that the car wasn't
even worth that much and I would have to do it myself. I asked if the distributor was
easy to access and they said it was an hour and a half of labor.

At first, I simply removed the distributor cap and checked it out.  It looked to have
enough build up to warrant replacing it, although I didn't think that was the problem.  I
also decided to simply crank the ignition with the cap off to see if the rotor was
spinning.  The car didn't crank and I mistakenly thought that it was because of the
distributor cap being off.  I later realized that the fuse had blown while I was working on
the car.  I removed the plenum over the intake and pulled the entire distributor at that
point.

2 Answers

215

Here is the replacement I am considering: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-IGNITION-DISTRIBUTOR-2-5L-FITS-ALL- CHRYSLER-DODGE-PLYMOUTH-1995-2000-/281138208316? pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4175249e3c&vxp= mtr

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