Deal or Steal? My Mechanic Bought a Dodge Dart DOA 

I almost bought a dart for my son less than a year ago. Took it to get a pre-purchase inspection and the seller went with me. The mechanic put a load test on it and the charging/battery light came on. Told me it would be about $650 to replace if it was the alternator. I didn’t even know the mechanic but he must have used his caller ID to call me and said “I’d be careful about buying that car. I didn’t want to tell you that in front of the seller but they can be very expensive to fix”. Thank God for honest people because I had the check in hand. He’s definitely earned my business. Edit: I didn’t realize that I would need to explain or write an essay for this comment. The guy wanted $8,000. I had done plenty of research and these cars were notorious for electrical issues to include the PCM going bad. They are also known to burn oil with no real fix from the dealer, and I noticed that a wheel bearing was rumbling. So with that being said the mechanic did say that it was clean, it was a nice car and appeared to have been taken care of. Then he followed up with the be careful comment. I knew from prior research that they were prone to certain issues and you either got a good one or you didn’t. It’s not like it was a $1500 car, it was $8000. Also the car sat on Marketplace for months afterwards and the asking price kept going down.

Around 2005, i bought a 2000 Sunfire 5speed coupe with 40k miles for $800. It would run for a minute or two and die. Checked the dipstick and smelled more than oil. I didnt say anything and offered to get it out of his driveway that day for the $800. Which was $700 less than what was asked. Loaded it up and on the way home i bought 4 new injectors, FPR, 10 qts of oil and two filters. Installed new injectors and fpr. Changed the oil and filter. Let it rin for 20minutes. Changed the oil again and drove it for 10 years.

The Wichita youtube mafia is getting A LOT of mileage out of this old beater

I like it when this young kid is on, he is a natural in front of the camera. And he is reasonable and understand what he is doing. Just like you and Mrs Wizard.

Geez, You know your getting old when you can remember buying a pickup for $250 and driving it home. Dang is the 1970's really 50 years ago.

One thing with the MultiAir motors is you need to change the multiair filter roughly every 40-60k miles. A clogged MA filter can cause a slew of problems as it limits oil pressure to the MA brick. These engines also suffer from burned exhaust valves for some reason. They are relatively reliable engines otherwise but for whatever reason these darts specifically seem to suffer from a lot of electrical gremlins.

The manual transmission adds special appeal.

Thank you, Wizard, for mentioning that you don't want to take advantage of the seller! ...really wonderful of you!!! The goal is to get a good deal given your risk...and for you to honor the seller. We are brothers/sisters in the world - love and care as you would want to be loved and cared! : )

Buying a non-running car is gamble, but can be a fun challenge. Nice job Mr. Grimes. 👍

I love the Dodge dart 1.4L DDCT but these cars are NOT for everyone! Even dealership techs can’t fix these cars. I’ve bought 3 of them now that the dealerships couldn’t fix, and I fix them very cheap every time. I just bought one with 70k miles the dealer diagnosed as a “bad transmission” that only needed a 15 min software update. There’s lots of videos on my channel about these cars and I’ll be making more to help people!

I agree with the Wizard. It's tough for me to get through my 64-year-old brain that two or three grand gets you a car that needs work.

I'm an Aussie and I would not call the Dart a bogan car. It seems to be a basic economical A to B transport with just a bit of fun with the turbo, six speed manual and a bit in common with Alfa. In 2012 it was considered for the Australian market but I don't know if that happened, I don't recall seeing them here. We did get the Neon for a while.

My late father had a new 1968 Dodge Dart. They don’t build them like they used to.

Seeing this, I guess I got a real deal. When the 400,000 mile Volvo gad to come off the road, Ma's next door neighbour had to stop driving, and suggested I buy her car. 2004 Toyota Corolla, Yoda, with 100,000 miles. She was 75 when she bought Yoda new. Always dealer serviced. Passed safety with zero issues. $2,700 Canadian is what she asked. Sold! I put a set of Haakappilliitta winter tires on, got new alloy wheels for the H rated Michelin Defenders, and away i went. Ive had to do the front wheel bearings and the cat. 40 miles to the Imperial gallon. I'm not complaining

What is surprising to me is that the mechanics vehicle is usually the most neglected vehicle. Grimes works on cars all day and probably wouldn't be too excited on more punishment at home.

I love a gamble, I bought a non running 76 XJ-S V12 hahahahha. New fuel pump, fuel lines, pressure regulators, ballast resistor and header tank got her running.

We just sold a near perfect 1995 Toyota Camry for $2,000. AC was cold, interior was mint exterior only had 3 small blemishes. Maybe we let it go to cheap!!

A high chance that the #3 has a burned valve. Don't fall for the parts cannon, do a compression test before buying the coils!

For a non-technical person, such a purchase would be high risk. For Grimes, the purchase was a calculated low risk affair because he has an intimate knowledge about the engine and it's likely failures. This includes the hydraulically operated variable valve system - which gives a lay person the 'impression' that the engine has no compression when the engine remains stationary for a considerable length of time.

Tyler, best of luck with the Dart. Nice looking car. Nice black 67/68 Coupe de Ville in the background. Wizard, another great video.

I don't know how I feel about you sponsoring duralast coils. I have have replaced more of those on 3.6l pentastars then i have actual factory coils. Plus they always implode coming out, they are much cheaper quality then the OEM.

CW: do an episode on a scenario (because I see this a lot on Reddit) "should I sell my vehicle (that has too large of payments) and buy a cheaper used vehicle?" and focus on what are the common things such a buyer should do to ensure "problem free" driving for as long as possible. I generally recommend new battery, belts, radiator and heater hoses, fluids and filters, brakes, vacuum hoses, and evaluate tires/starter/alternator/water pump as those are common early failures or replacements that may or may not have been completed. Break up the episode into two or three segments that show definitely do/consider/evaluate on case by case basis.

I love Grimes. You guys put on a lot of miles out there in Kansas. Long distance between cities.

I changed playback speed to 1.5x. I'm enjoying this channel so much better now.

Your sponsor, I stopped buying parts from local chain stores unless its an emergency. I'll wait the 2-4 days to order from an online supplier for 1/2 the price and double the quality.

This car came from the Alfa Romeo Giulietta platform, so its basically a FIAT. A good friend of mine wanted to buy one, but I told him not to, because of the horrible reputation FIAT has. He bought it anyway, and so far, the only problem he had was with the clutch. Watching Grimes change the clutch on 100%Jake's channel, reminded me of the problem my friend had with his clutch. My friend did not get the multi-air, which turned out to be a good idea. All in all, these Darts aren't too bad, but they aren't Civics or Corollas either.

Great video today Wizard. Nice to see an episode on an entry level car. Well done.

Congratulations on 1 million!! Thank you for keeping the sponsorship short and relevant.

my oh my Grimes needs a major Pay Raise !

Good luck to Grimes, this car once it is all fixed up will be an economical daily driver at a good saving. My skills are in electronics and i have bought a number of items as spares or repairs the main thing to look at are the fixings and screws, if any are chewed up or missing walk away, someone has been there before and given up.

This is exactly why I subscribed to your channel Thanks

I just bought a 2003 accord 5spd with only 189k km on it with brand new tires for 800$, no rust. Needed a wire to rad fan fixed, new front calipers (seized from sitting), a vtec solenoid, and a battery. Ordered a full front suspension kit off rockauto for only 150$. In it for 1700$ total now and it runs and drives great. Will be my daily driver for a while

I had a 14 dart gt, black, leather, loaded. Alpine sound system, heated seats and mirrors and wheel, six speed manual on 18's. I know it's a Dodge and practically a remastered neon but I loved my dart. And it was like $212/ month lol. I hardly even noticed the payment.

You should do a video where wizard, mrs wizard, grimes, Daniel, etc talk about some of your favorite vehicles/ vehicle brands. I'd love to hear everyones opinions

I scored a pretty good deal on Market Place on a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban for $1600. The body has a fair amount of rust, but solid, as well as the frame, but that is one advantage with a old school body-on-frame design. I redid the rear brakes with pads calipers and rotors, replaced the coolant hoses, both valve cover gaskets, and replaced a couple of o-rings that where leaking on the receiver dryer for the A/C, evacuated the system and charged it up, works, and that's it. Less than $500 for the parts, and did the work myself. All other accessories work, total cost,$2100, than passed it on to our daughter who had a jeep liberty that had a blown engine. Her, and her family absolutely love it!

My mom has this exact car. It has ~240k miles on it, and it's running strong. She puts ~80 highway miles on it daily. She keeps up with maintenance religiously.

Just paused the video at "misfire on cylinder 3." BLOWN EXHAUST VALVE!!! I have a 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth with the exact same engine that blew an exhaust valve last summer IN THE EXACT SAME CYLINDER!!! Now let's find out if it's the same valve! 😁 ... Apparently, not a blown valve. That's good! The parts to fix it aren't too bad, but labour is a bit of a nightmare. And I knew about the MultiAir brick emptying itself of oil over time which is why I start my car at least once every two weeks if I haven't been driving it for a while just to get the oil back inside. Changing the coil packs and plugs are pretty easy even when moving the 500's engine cover/airbox out of the way. I used NGK for the plugs and Bosch for the coil packs. Might still want to do a compression test while doing the work just in case cylinder 3 did go boom.

I just purchased a 2013 dodge dart 2.0 rallye 4 months ago at auction for 4,200 and had to replace fuel pump witch was list at most places for 900 found one on Amazon for 100 bucks new runs great now

Really appreciate Wizards advice at the end. Very good points! Bought a '98 Volvo a couple of years ago, around $2500. If I sell it today I'll get $3500-4000. Done some work on it, nothing major, but it's been a daily driver. Taking good care of it, maintenance and service according to Volvo's spec. And still value has gone up quite a bit.

If you had to pay a shop to do all the work, it would be $5000 in parts and labor. Would it be worth it then? Not really.

I think he hit a bull's-eye 🎯

Bought a 1990 Corolla, 1 owner off Craigslist for $700. I'm still driving it after 5 years of owning it. Have to replace small things here and there but its very dependable and gets 35mpgs

Nice purchase Grimes! Nice color and love that its a manual. I'm wondering if its actually a Limited though. Those have leather seats, nicer door cards, and a chrome grill.

When I bought my first car it was the same price with only 90K miles on the clock. Whomever actually got 147K out of a Dart should win an award! 😂

thought he had cars he could borrow from Jake... lol

A friend of mine bought a Mustang that was advertised as a seized engine. It only clicked when you tried to start it. He paid $800. Turns out, it was just corrosion on the ground wire connection to the starter. He drove it like 8 years until he hit a deer and totaled it.

After market coils are only good if they don't trip the CE light. Bought 6 cheap aftermarket coils for a Maxima once. Car ran ok but light kept coming on after reset. Put originals back, got 2 at a pick-n-pull. Passed emissions

It’s Fiat Aegea//Tipo in EU now,Giulietta is deferant platform and heachback

We never got those Fiat Darts in North Europe

Mrs. Wizard, the commentary was pretty dang funny...😉😉

love ms wizard interior overview

Even being a mechanic & having access to a shop & lift, the amount of time & effort he had to spend on the car has to be considered, IMO.

A burnt clutch must have been driven by a Generation Z skipping the first gear take off.

The 1.4 Multiair is a great engine, same as in Abarth 500. Very reliable, powerful, fuel efficient and fun to drive *Edit* timing belt is due at 150k and replace the 4 ignition coils with oem Alfa Romeo 4C coils

This was a great deal for a professional mechanic like Grimes who knows what he is doing and can do all his own work. Not such a good deal if you had to pay somebody else to fix everything, or even if you could do the basics yourself.

"If believin' in GRIMES!1!! is wrong, I don't wanna be right." Thanks guys. PS: This is an "OK" deal, only because it comes with its own highly skilled mechanic, a prerequisite for any Dodge or Fiat.

I own a 2015 dart with 300k and never had a problem with my car but maintenance, these cars are actually pretty good, even when people beat these up they still ran

I love the exotics you bring in but I like these type of videos when you diagnose vehicles. They’re more real world problems.

That ceiling stain looks like it came from opening a can of overly shaken cola that went “boom”. You can usually get it off the seats because you’re working facing down to get at it. The ceiling, not so easy.

Ah Fiat/Stellantis, can't go wrong there......but being the skilled mechanic you are not nearly the risk that it would be for that community college student buying it because they need "cheap" transportation.......

Car not running well?...Breaks down a lot? *Mechanic looks over car.* *Picks up the "Dodge" emblem.* *Here's your problem!* 🤦‍♂

As an Aussie who is, I freely admit to being a hoon (but older & wiser to know I shouldn't be), I wouldn't call the Dart a bogan car but I find myself loving the look of its rear end. As I'm in my late 30s now, I acknowledge the feelings of driving something that is good on fuel but fun to drive. Aside from the 1.4? engine, which probably does go quite well, it looks like a perfect daily driver. I currently flog a 3.8 v6 & if I'm calm, it's quite alright on fuel but when I'm all........ pissy, it gulps the fuel. All in all, I just wish we got this in Ausland.

Tyler start your own channel bro.That's what the car wizard did.Don't be an employee forever.Use the recognition I live in the ghetto in Chicago and I know who you are believe me.Your name will be out there

Do not ever buy a newer Chrysler vehicle.

😮

glad to see this second overview of the Dart

2013 Dart limited owner- that car was likely hit in the back at some point and the trunk was replaced. The limited has an entirely different interior (gauge cluster, seats, headliner, sunroof, etc.), different wheels, and chrome handles on the doors.

No new dodge dart is worth it

cracks me up when the car is owned by the shop/workers it's always "doesn't look to bad" but when it's a customer car "I'm not putting your old parts back in, replace everything" gotta make them boat payments

When buying a second hand car colors matter. A red car means it's been driven fast = lots of issues. Red paint also often fades relatively quickly. Neutral colors, cold colors could indicate more passive driving style: White, gray, blue, green and black.

The mentioning of Bogans was quite a surprise! Didn't know they are at all known of in the US!

Dodge - CRAP even brand new. LOL

This car was meant for teenagers and college kids. It failed at that, nobody bought it. They weren't toyota reliable either, only about the same reliability as a VW or Kia

Thank for this great informative video.

If I've learned anything with Chrysler vehicles, never buy the first couple years of a new model. They don't work the kinks out until they are about ready to go to a new model.

It’s a fiat fix it again tony

In 2012 I bought a 2005 Buick Regal for $1200 or $1300. It would sometimes run, sometimes not. Seller thought it was some electrical issue and wanted it gone. I was pretty sure it was ignition related but not quite positive on what exactly. It ran when I bought it and died on the way home. Had it towed, did some more research, replaced the ignition control module and it ran fine after that. I drove it a couple months, did the regular maintenance, and then sold it for almost $3000. I'm pretty sure after all the costs with it I netted $1000. Not bad, but I really don't recommend doing that and haven't done it since. Wizard is right, you can get yourself in a real pickle and lose quite a bit of money and time on these things. They don't always turn out well.

My 2013 1.4T manual is at 300k and has been mostly trouble free. Only issue it’s had outside of maintenance is a turbo at 200k

I have a 2013 Dart Aero with the 1.4 turbo and 6-speed I bought new. 40+ mpg highway. Still a hoot to drive.

Good video car wizard. Just shows how someone without mechanical knowledge could get blindsided. In the 80’s and early 90’s I was a hardcore dodge/chrysler guy. I never paid more than $300 for a car (including a rust free 68 valiant). I got very good at getting them running reliably in all weather (damn ballast resistors😂). Miss those days lol

I hear you on used car prices timing chain guide broke on my 04 Corolla replaced the timing components to find low compression. OK easy way out buy another one, I like the car with a manual they are fun cheap transportation. I live out a ways and don't want to drive my truck everywhere . Then I saw how much they want for them now 5-7K! Looks like I'm buying a head. Cylinders still look good nothing broke off internally and it had good pickup before the incident.

Iike Grimes..hard worker and honest. I hope he gets this car working and gets 5k for it. Maybe the Wizard will loan him some $$ and get a reliable used Toyota for the difference in price.. Don't keep this car..sell it and flip another until you meet the Mother Lode...a Toyota you won't have to be sinking your time and money into.

Awesome deal, I had a renegade with that engine. I’d recommend a carbon cleaning with that many miles. 👍. Hope it serves you well.

My son bought a 2013 base model new with the 2.0 engine and manual transmission. Had it 2 flawless years (25k miles) and actually loved it. The seats and the ride were extremely comfortable too. Traded it for a new 4x4 when he moved to Ohio in 2015 (you know how winters can be).

Hey Grimes ...NICE NEON!!!!

Wizard, Grimes is awesome! His and your knowledge together is unstoppable! I love your channel!

Congratulations Wizard - you've got another Alfa Romeo ! Its basically a Guilietta (149) sedan....

I came home as a newborn in a 63 Dodge Dart. Much later in life, I had a Dart like this one for a week as a rental car 🚗. It was a good car. The dual clutch automatic transmission was a little squirrely, but it drove and rode fine.

Love the marketplace scores! I just finished a Honda Accord that I drive daily now that I got for $900. Of course I put about 3K in parts getting it back in shape. So the risk is real!

Keep up the great work Grimes.

I think Grimes needs a raise!!!Why is the Wizard letting him drive this death trap.

I owned two of these "PF" Darts; both had the 2.4L and both were great! My first was a '14 Limited, bought brand new in Jan 2014, and like Grimes' it replaced an aging BMW...an E-39 540i which was costing >$400mo to fix...doing work myself. It lasted about two years until it was totalled; so after an abortive experience with a Ford Escape (never again), I bought a '15 Limited, gently used in Nov 2016. The second was sold to my son in 2019, so I finally upgraded to the "big brother" Charger. The '15 is still running great for him now, very few issues. The 2014s and newer resolved some of the weird quirks & bugs of the first-year 2013s. Unfortunately, the PFs didn't sell well and I think FCA pulled the plug on them before they really could come into their own...

What a great RU-vid channel!

I've got a 2013 Dart with the 1.4 and the automatic manual... No crank no start. But every once in awhile it will start out of the blue... Then sometimes out of the blue it will crank but no start. 99% of the time it's like it might be the ignition switch. I just don't know anymore. Also if you try to jump the starter motor it acts like it's in gear.

Incredible film good sirs 👏

Congratulations Grimes. I hope that your Dart gives you many miles.

I’ve bought 3 of these 13 Darts!! One I got for $700 all that was wrong was MAF sensor. Another was no crank no start was the inline fuse at the starter and 3rd was a failed transmission actuator but got it covered under a warranty!

I had a 2013 dart, and they said that was the worst year ever. Even going back to the seventys, I had to replace the engine transmission and was on my 3rd turbo and never ran well after all the problems i had fixed, so I traded it in

Nice little car Grimes, a great commuter for you for sure.

Good deal,you're a mechanic you can basically fix anything... Your knowledge, educated guess you usually come out ahead if flipping or if you keep it as a driver,you bought it less than half price! I bought/sold every type of car(former Toyota Tech)..The last few years I just specialize in classic cars(mainly old Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth muscle car era).I do mechanical my cousin/best buddy does amazing bodywork!