2005 PT Cruiser

So my fiance Christine bought an 05 PT Cruiser a couple months ago:


It's really nice to have a car worth modifying, as the LHS is pretty tired... Perhaps a 2004 Chrysler 300M Special will be replacing her.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to go over my additions to the Cruiser.

First was a basic tune-up: It was idling pretty rough, and seemed to surge like one cylinder wasn't getting fuel or spark. Since we bought an aftermarket warranty we took it to the local dealership to investigate. Of course they didn't really know what the problem was, and the warranty company wasn't going to cover it... Basically this means I spent 70 bucks in diagnostic fees for nothing (bah), but at least they pointed me in the right direction -> plugs and wires. I replaced the plugs and wires with OEM replacements (should have gotten performance parts, but nothing was available at Murray's - might add performance plugs and wires later if the problem returns). She runs like a top now, which was pretty clutch since I worked on it the day before we drove up to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

I also added a drop in K&N air filter. Christine swears it improved acceleration...

When we bought the car the left front door speaker was pretty janky, so I replaced those with a set of Pioneers; I think they sound great. Old:


New:


Also when we got the car the dealer was adamant that you had to open the rear hatch using the key. Truth is there is a pressure switch located under the Chrysler wings in the back that pops the trunk whenever the doors are unlocked. Again I thought the dealership could be of help, but they charged me 40 bucks in diagnostic fees, just to tell me the whole unit would need to be replaced for $375. And of course warranty again wasn't going to cover it. Beginning to wonder why we signed up for this aftermarket warranty... So we said "No thanks" to that. I looked on ebay for a replacement, and found one for 60 bucks. I thought I was making the right move there. Well, turns out this replacement hatch handle I got had a severed wire (even though the seller said it worked great on the car it came off of), so I proceded to take the whole thing apart. I was hoping to solder the connection back together. If you want to try this at home, don't even think about it. The flat switch wires are sooooo thin; I don't think there's any way to repair the connection.

I thought about this for a minute while sitting at our dining room table, and made a trip to Radio Shack to look for a simple switch to use. This is what I came up with:

The thing works perfectly; I'd go as far as saying I like it better than factory. I'm pretty proud of it. Plus I could have done the whole thing for $2.99 - the price of the switch! I now have a replacement handle (since the ebay seller won't accept it as a return since I disassembled it - doh!), so I think I'll post it up on a PT Cruiser forum; maybe do the same repair for someone else.

The last thing I've done is hard-wire an auxiliary input into the factory radio. I only did this because Christine's FM transmitter for her iPod sounds so staticy; I couldn't stand it anymore. I bought an iSimple kit on Newegg for 60 dollars - totally worth it:



The switch on the left turns on the box, which plugs intermittently between the radio and antenna; it's run audio from simple left and right RCA jacks. The kit also came with an iPod specific cord that will play your tunes and charge the iPod, but I like the FM transmitter Christine has which holds the iPod and charges it. So we just run the headphone cord to the dash. I think it looks factory, which makes me happy. Sounds great too; no static!

So there you have it. Not sure what's next for the Cruiser; we have some pink pinstripes to put on. That should compliment the stuffbyxtine.com sticker nicely. I know rims are in the future - pink accented ones are necessary. I wouldn't mind a new exhaust... But who knows. Only time will tell what else is in store...