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Dodge Viper Servicing and History

The Snake is an unabashedly All-American style sports car. In 1989, copying the groundwork set by the great AC Cobra and Carroll Shelby, Chrysler set out on a two seat sports vehicle with a high displacement engine, rear wheel drive, and assertive styling. Leaning heavily on Lamborghini, which Chrysler owned from 1987 to 1994, Chrysler created a naturally aspirated, 400hp/465lb/ft torque V-10 using one of Dodge’s wagon engines as a mold. Using the minimalist approach that was so popular with Cobra tuners, the car came from the factory in 1992 without traction control, antilock brakes, air con, a roof or side windows (a soft top with plastic windows was included), making it a threatening automobile when its boundaries were pushed. Despite this, the Rattlesnake quickly gained acclaim with the US market, due to its dreadful looks and matching performance. The notoriety of the Snake rose up till July 2010, when production was stopped. Middle management are tight lipped about the return of the Snake, but we are able to only say that we will see this icon again soon.

The Dodge Viper has decisively placed itself in American car history since its introduction as a idea auto in 1989. The engine, which at its roots was nothing less than a V10 Dodge van engine, was breathed on by the engineers at Lamborghini, which was then owned by Dodge’s holding corporation, Chrysler. Producing 400hp and 465lb/ft torque, good for a 0-60 of 4.6 seconds and a 12.9 quarter mile, the vehicle was a far cry from anything that any American firm had released in quite a long time. The final model boasted 600hp and 560lb/ft torque and a burning 3.4 2nd 0-60 and 11.6 second quarter mile. Today, the Viper is in a transitioning period. Production of the Viper ceased in July 2010, and there are already murmurs from the Dodge brass that another Snake is in the works. We will be able to only hope the Rattlesnake will soon return to the lineup at Dodge and take its legitimate place at the very top of America’s best sports vehicles.

When the Viper hit showrooms in 1992, the list of options wasn't long. For the list price, you purchased a fiberglass body with a massive V10 shoehorned into the engine bay and not much else. Actually the first Snakes did not even come with air conditioning, which drew beefs from many customers since the engine produced so much heat that it turned the cabin into somewhat of a convection stove. Finally introduced in 1994, aircon helped to cool the cabin a little but still looked not totally up to the task. With minimal sound deadening and a thin firewall separating the cabin from the engine bay and transmission tunnel, heat readily poured into the cabin, seemingly from all sides. Throughout the years nonetheless improvements came in and slowly civilized the Snake, year by year. Even at the end of its production, the Rattlesnake was still an intimidating auto, and made the driver pay excellent attention while behind the wheel. Many hope , however , that with the release of the new Snake comes a slew of new driver aids and amenities that make the beast rather more friendly.

The transmission in the Dodge Viper has long been one of its strongest assets. The engineers at Dodge had to choose a transmission that might reliably handle the power that the great V10 could produce, and was also financially feasible for production. The first transmission was a 6-speed manual which featured tall gears so as to supply a decent Miles per gallon number for the car. It worked pretty well, and the Viper managed a respectable 12/20 city/road average, which many thought would be difficult thanks to the size of the engine. The last production Viper was fitted with a TR6060 transmission which also shares duty in the prevailing Mustang Shelby GT500, the Cadillac CTS-V and the Dodge Challenger, amongst others. Reasonably trustworthy, this transmission served the Snake well in its 4th generation and required little to no upkeep aside from that scheduled by the dealer.

The 1st generation Rattlesnake was a beast of a different nature. Unabashedly Spartan, the Snake got by only with what it wanted to get the job finished. Coming from the factory with no roof or side windows, the Rattlesnake made do with a soft top and zip-on plastic windows which sat on top of the roofline. Like a toupee. Even more loony, traction control or antilock brakes were not available on the Rattlesnake, making it extraordinarily frightening to drive, even to the most experienced driver. Auto and Driver Mag wrote that the Viper was similar to “playing ping pong with a Louisville Slugger”. In late 1996, ABS finally became an option on the Rattlesnake, making a real difference in stopping distances and real world drivability. In the last active model Viper, 14″ rotors were combined with an ABS system to radically improve braking performance and make the Rattlesnake a true player on the world circuit, contesting with Porsche, Ferrari and the likes.

The hi-performance engine in a Viper runs notoriously hot. With some stock advanced models approaching 700 horse-power, the cooling of the engine begins to be a legitimate concern. When an engine packs that much of a punch, the obligatory cooling hardware must rise to meet the need. A high flow radiator on the Viper makes sure that enough coolant flows through the hoses and into the engine block. From there, it is returned into the radiator core, where the hot liquid is quickly cooled by passing through the veins in the radiator. Dodge suggests that you change your coolant each 30,000 miles for best performance and test your radiator hoses at 50,000 miles for crakes, breaks and any stress marks that could indicate future trouble.

The older model Rattlesnakes were fairly simple when it came to electronics. No electrical nannies to manage any of the engine or throttle responses, no traction control, no air-conditioning and a non compulsory radio. This meant that there had been less that could possibly go screwy, at least in principle. However , a big EU which was implemented to keep all 10 cylinders under control added a little bit of a lucky card, making frequent checks a prerequisite. As new conveniences were added and the electrical load increased, the Snake became more and more complex. Still, the Rattlesnake has maintained its mantra even today as being a “no frills” sports automobile, offering raw performance and exhilaration over all else. Some see it as a drawback, but the thousands of Rattlesnake owners would don't agree, seeing it as one of the most perfect driving forms available right now.

Tyger Lucas has been in the car repair business for over 30 years and his independently owned shop Lucas Automobile Care is the logical dealer alternative option to your agency for all Viper Repair Houston.

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