Gen 3 Reliability

Hello everyone,
My name is Paul and I’m from Nashville, TN.
The Viper has been my dream car and I finally got one in April.(Gen 3 2003). I thought these were “bulletproof” and Have been daily driving it (already put 5k on it). But there are some things that bother me, I’ve researched extensively and feel like I can’t get a straight answer to all of my questions.
1. What is the deal with these early engine failures? I see engine failures often at under 90k and even more under 30k. Are these not reliable motors?
2. Do I really need the oil pickup? I will never track this roadster. The most I’ll do is have some fun around a ramp or hit it in a gear or two. Also is there a way to know if it’s been installed by a previous owner. The lowest my oil drops to is in the 40s.
3. Mopar oil filter. When I bought the car and it had a mobil 1. Does it cause damage to the engine when not using the OEM filter.
4. How many miles can you safely get out of the tires on average? I have the Michelin Pilot Super Sports and will only buy those.
6. If you drive these Vipers like a normal person with a few spirited runs mixed in will they last for 200k+ miles with normal maintenance. What kind of reliability can I expect? Are there any problems that will almost inevitably happen in that time? Anything I should replace as a precautionary measure?
Thanks for your time everybody!
-Paul

For what it's worth, I've got a 2004 with almost 123k miles on it and have had very few issues that were caused from normal driving. The short list is I suspect some of my shocks might have been leaking so I replaced them (I wanted adjustable ones anyway), the power steering line quick connect starting leaking (known issues), the oil cooler lines started seeping slightly (anothing known issue), and my driver side window regulator finally broke enough to be unusable (another fairly well known issue). I have had numerous problems with my power steering system, but that was after hard track abuse and I think I finally managed to figure out the issue, so fingers crossed for next track day (the short version of the story is I had a bad fan module ,which may have been caused from leaking fitting at the pump).

To address your questions specifically:

1. What would you consider often? They made something like 5-6000 gen 3 cars. How many failures have you heard about? The vocal ones are usually the ones that fail, not the ones that live forever. Did the owner mod it or do something obviously dumb to hurt it? I've tracked mine once a year for the past 4 years or so at a track weekend where I get something like 3 hours track time over two days and daily drive it and my oil reports show less wear than most cars. I've also not really modified it aside from exhaust and the tune that came with it when I bought it. In my experience the motor are basically bulletproof when well maintained.

2. No need. The only time you need it from what I hear is extended high speed corners like a big sweeping turn on a track. With street tires you shouldn't have to worry about making enough g force to have an issue. Straight lines are zero problem.

3. It doesn't necessarily cause any damage, it's just recommended to use the OEM filter. The primary reason from what I've heard is that the OEM filter has a higher bypass pressure, so it assures that your oil is going through the filter more often. They are pretty powerful oil pumps, and on cold starts you can have enough pressure to bypass the filter until things warm up. It's not life or death, but it's cheap insurance to get OEM.

4. Pilot Supersports are the only tires I've ever had on my car. On average I get around 20-25,000 on a set of rears and nearly double that on the fronts, but I'm also mostly highway driving. Your driving style can have a lot to do with it. I'm one of the few that likely wears out tires before ageing them out.

5. That's been my experience so far. I drive it like a normal car and it acts like a normal car. I keep the fluids changed and fresh fuel in the tank and it reliably runs like the day I bought it. Sitting is often harder on a car than driving it regularly as seals can dry out and oil can flow off of surfaces making for higher wear on initial use. I fully expect to drive mine consistently and never worry about it. The stuff I mentioned earlier is common for people to have issues with though. The oil cooler lines are easy enough to replace and reasonably cheap ($200-300). The power steering fitting is similar, though I'm not as big a fan of the aftermarket options there. I did a mix of aftermarket and stock for routing and hose sizes I liked better. There's no real point in replacing the regulators ahead of time as how they are installed can have an impact on their lifespan. My car was 10+ years old before one was ever replaced while others have barely made it a year without them breaking again, so hard to draw any real conclusions there.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and give me straight answers MoparMap! Knowing you have nearly 123k on your Viper puts my mind at ease.
I already replaced the oil lines. No problems with power steering.. yet. My window regulators make some noise sometimes but I’m just going to wait until they break.
I have Random Tech high flows and borla exhaust I don’t plan to mod it past that.. except for some Koni Coilovers one day.
Also I will mention I will always buy the OEM filter. Always get Pilot Super Sports.
One last thing any suggestions on alignments? I’ve heard mixed suggestions on this. Again thanks for your time!
-Paul

No problem! Always great to have someone else who wants to puts some miles on their car. I think the tricky thing with alignments is the factory setting is set up for the run flat tires that originally came on the car. Due to the stiffer sidewalls they run the tires a little more straight up. Fine for street driving, but you could probably get a little more aggressive with the supersports. Mine is currently set up around 1.6-1.7 degrees of negative camber on the front and 0.7 degrees on the back. Seemed very noticeable at the track compared to where it was the previous year I took it, but I don't have the specs it used to be at before I changed it. I think somewhere between 1-1.5 on the front and 0.5 on the back would be a good cruising setup that would make your tires last. Dial in a little more if you like twisty roads.

Ok thanks!

Good convo guys! I have had my 2003 Viper for a month now and am genuinely in love with it! I have only now began to search for info and join VCA. My Viper just turned 25k miles (only 400 are my miles) and I was wondering about the issues I may need to anticipate. I know the oil lines were just replaced but everything else will happen as I drive it often. This is the kind of forum discussions I was looking for and I’m already learning a lot. Thanks for the great questions and answers!

I have a 2005 Mamba with 52,000 miles. Reliable. Engine-wise no issues, strong and bulletproof under normal and fast driving conditions. I recently had the high pressure power steering line disconnect in my cul-de-sac. (quick connect fitting) I replaced the factory steering hoses with aftermarket hoses recommended in the Viper Club forum. This weekend I'm replacing ignition wires and plugs just because the wires are 13 years old and it is time for plug change. I use Nitto tires and they are great performers.

I sometimes wonder if the motor in the Gen3s are the
most indestructible part of the vehicle. I know several
Vipers in the 80k+ range, but I know dozens of Ram
SRTs in the 150k+ range. Despite how high strung they
are, if theyre even 'mostly' taken care of they seem to last
forever.

I think the impression of weakness comes from the simple
fact that not many owners put tons of miles on their
vipers. Sure an 8.3L might develop a hiccup at 25k... in
2018... after 14 years of the occasional 3-day weekend...
but im willing to bet the best motors of all time would
suffer the same...

* - [Id like to add] - in addition to MoparMaps answer to your
#4, miles are not the biggest concern with tires on a Viper.
Its time. The softer compound of even the cheaper tires tend
to start drying out before they leave the assembly line. Pay
attention to the grip and/or signs of drying out. Even if theres
only 5k on your tires, after about 5 years just change them
out for good measure. Every spring we hear some horror
story of a guy just (legitimately) going out for a simple 35mph
cruise and wrapping themselves around a pole because the
tires were as soft as hockey pucks. Youll hear us long-term
owners talk about a "Snake-Bite" (the natural tendency of the
rear of the car suddenly wanting to be in front of the car)
which you simply cannot recover from with hard tires. Be safe,
have fun, you wont regret it.