Recently purchased 1988 Chrysler Conquest TSI, wanted to...

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Answer by kleahou1812
Submitted on 9/15/2005
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Well it might be a little late but yes these great cars have a problem.The passages between the oil and water jackets in the head are prone to crack. You end up with water in the oil and a overheating problem. The oil is at a much higher pressure than the water(oil-60lbs water-10lbs). If you don't know what to look for you might blame the turbo and replace it. But rest assured it will be in the head. There is a company in the los angles area who makes a after-market head that corrects this problem, it also gives you 40hp more and can withstand 20lbs of boost no problem so if you turn up the boost you end up with a 100hp or gain almost double the factory amount. Also if you are planning on turning up the boost to these levels I would recommend a copper head-gasket and studs instead of the factory hex-bolts, as they are less prone to allow warping and head-gasket leaks.

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Question by Scott
Submitted on 5/29/2004
Related FAQ: rec.autos.makers.chrysler FAQ, Part 1/6
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Recently purchased 1988 Chrysler Conquest TSI, wanted to know if there were any serious problems that these vehicles were known for?

Answer by mits5leater
Submitted on 8/9/2004
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if you tsi is stock, how many miles? they have problems with heads/ gaskets- counterbalance chains around 100k with good maint. just wear out

Answer by juggalo
Submitted on 9/22/2004
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Well i have an 87 Conquest TSI with all options available....the things i find wrong with mine and ive heard it happen alot is the body, conquest's are unibody's, and mine has some pretty bad rust underneath and i have replaced the quarter panels twice and its still startin back again. Another thing is the Turbo going out...you should have it checked out from time to time for oil leakin into the turbo this can really mess it up, turbos for this conquest are pretty pricey....goodluck

Answer by mrzmail01@aol.com
Submitted on 10/4/2004
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electrical, blowing out the rear axle, turbo needs to be taken care of.

Answer by Josh Froiland
Submitted on 1/11/2005
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Hey. Glad to hear your the proud new owner of a Conquest. welcome to the club!! I own a 1987 Chrysler Conquest Narrow body automatic. oh, the Conquest is a thing of beauty! I've never really had any problems with my Conquest. i just recently, however, blew my headgasket, and warped my head. Moral to the story, watch the temp guage. other than that, i am getting the turbo bearings in my turbocharger replaced. i'vehad nothing but good luck with it, from women to the street! Have fun with it!

Answer by becky
Submitted on 3/14/2005
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My husband had one and he couldn't keep the turbo gasket in it . Evertime it blew we had to special order it here in georgia.. other than that, we never had any problems out of it...

Answer by not2close
Submitted on 7/9/2005
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The Conquest has a few problem areas. The charging system is weak, the cooling system clogs easily(must use distilled water with anti-freeze or else.) The fuel injector gaskets crack and leak fuel(fire hazard). Cooling fans become intermittant. Head is prone to crack between valves, jet valves stick and break. Rear isolation mounts fail (rubber bonding to metal holding rear-end in place). Biggest is the timing chain gets sloppy shreads aluminiam casing into oil, or jumps time, or throws balance shafts out. Timing chain tension is maintained with oil pressure from oil pump. 2 Chain on oil pump may break.

Answer by unclebubba
Submitted on 9/2/2005
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the fuel and ignition system are crap. I know i own 2 of them . 1 1987 and 1988 mitsu starion same car different name go too topendperformance.com really only parts supplier

Answer by TURBO TOM
Submitted on 10/6/2005
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CHOPPER

Answer by Josh
Submitted on 1/11/2006
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yeah they got a few problems. 1. They are bad about cracking cylinder heads due to bad design with jet valves ect. 2. BAD electronics such as computer problems which are not as often seen on 89's and 88's. 3.Bad Fuel train design ,2 injectors, come on, and the one that goes bad most often is the Secondary and more expensive if you can even find it its about 800 for one injector. 4.Hard to find parts for. 5.Even harder to upgrade due to stone age technology. 6.Other than that they are a lot of fun and still very good looking cars.

Answer by Benjamin
Submitted on 1/20/2006
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I used to own one and there is something about the heads. I'm not a mechanic but there is something that can crack causing tremendous oil burning and smoking. From what I understand a company in California has redesigned a replacement for these heads which works differently and eliminates the problem. Sorry I don't know more.

Answer by chris
Submitted on 1/24/2006
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A conquest is all about keeping air from escaping. I placed a copper gasket seal on the headers to seal to seal it up. I have had two of them and both had an air leaks around the heads. One I even had to have it milled back to a smooth surface do to heat warping it. Their a little hard on starters for some reason to. But there worth it and a ton of fun. PS I have also been told to let the car run for a few minutes after driving it to let it cool down. make sure your inter-cooler is working properly also. good luck....

Answer by dave
Submitted on 2/10/2006
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only about every engine problem known to man. but god r they fun

Answer by conquest hes
Submitted on 3/23/2006
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they have very many electrical probs. and if u live in the u.s. where salt is used the unibody supports under the door jams have been known to buckle from rust. Also if u try and bump up the boost too much on a stock head they tend to crack between the combustion chambers

Answer by wildman willie
Submitted on 4/24/2006
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lots of stuff friend. Notorious for blowing head gasket. Cam problembs. Jet valve problembs. turbo problembs. car overheats if either radiotor is more than 5% blocked. only thing solid is performance on one that will actualy run. mine liked to quit running for no reason at all. baffeled all mechanics in town. swapped motor for twin turbo 350 , made car to dangerous to exist in good faith.

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Answer by josh
Submitted on 7/19/2006
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transmition

Answer by Conquest Owner
Submitted on 9/27/2006
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electronics can be a pain if they go bad and the fuel injection is sometimes "touchy" and the cylinder head will crack if it ever overheats for more than a few seconds but other than that they are sweet cars and fun to drive. I suggest you replace the head with one without a jet valve and then the head can take more heat but other than that I think their perfect