97 3.5 123k
Quick update for the "new" car and the idle problem. I plugged the holes that were punched in the throttle body with some Quicksteel, fixed the vacuum line that runs to the plunger lookin' thing under the engine cover and replaced the EGR valve and solenoid (when I sprayed carb cleaner around it, the engine would change idle). After this work the car ran great for a few days (maybe a week), maybe a rough idle every once in a while but not every time I'd come to a stop.
Now I have new (old???) issues. The car started to die for no apparent reason and now it's getting more frequent. Like I'll start it in the AM to warm up and it'll run fine and then just die. Today it died twice, at a light and coming out of the parts store (bought a fuel filter) and wouldn't start unless I stepped into the gas. I have no Check Engine light, I'm thinking the guy who sold the trep to me (or "his mechanic" who also punched the holes in the TB) disabled it.
As info, In between the thing starting to die occasionally and the work I've done above, I did have to replace the water pump.
I'm thinking if it's not the fuel filter, maybe a sensor?!?!?
All comments and suggestions are welcome...HELP, Need my car....
Also, I should mention that on the highway it seems to do OK. I can feel it stalling out a little but it's never died on the highway. After long periods on a highway, you can almost count on it to die.
UberIntrepid - right...I was just pointing out that there was a leak in the EGR and I fixed it. That's how we have found leaks in the past, spray a little carb cleaner around the intake, etc and listen for a change in idle. No change = no leak.
You could have a CAM or Crank sensor failing. If the signal from either of these is missed for very long the ASD and FP relays are turned off by the PCM and the engine dies. Or you could also have a intermittent in the Ing. switch.
even if your check engine light has been disabled or removed (an old used carlot trick) you should still have the computer scanned for trouble codes. they will still show up whether the light is working or not, you just have to use a scan tool instead of tthe key method. thats the first thing i would do is have the computer scanned and go from there.
Thanks I will give those sensors a look see. I had changed the crank and cam sensor on the trep I had right before I had to buy this one (in hopes that was my problem instead of the tranny, no luck, she's parked outside the house with a dead tranny). I had thought about getting codes read by the local autozone but I am a little scared to drive the thing the 15 minutes to get there. May have to bite the bullet though.
How do I check the fuel pressure? Is there an inexpensive fuel pressure tester out there?
Finally got to work on the car (I got 8 kids in the house, gimme a break). Changed the Cam and Crank sensors. Seemed to run better but still died on me at the mailbox after a test spin. Changed the ASD and FP relays as well. I think they were OK as I could here them click when you turned the key on. I bought a fuel pressure kit (very nice, nice to be able to relieve fuel pressure "correctly"). Tested my wifes trep and used it as a baseline. One thing I noticed is that idling it did not have as much pressure as my wifes car. I think it was 44 or 46 (I have to count hash marks to remember) and my wifes was close to 50. I swapped fuel pumps with my parts car, no change. At this point, my manual says there is either a restriction in the lines or Fuel Pressure Regulator. When I get another couple of consecutive hours, I'll start removing the intake and replace that as well. (Not going to go thru the effort of tearing down my parts car for that part, not worth it).
My question for anyone is: Is this sounding like a correct diagnosis?
Thanks to dodgerunner for the fuel pressure lead. (I guess no matter how complex the engines get, it still the same as it has always been, is there fire? and is there gas?)
for it to die at idle...
I don't have a 3.5 but what about that Idle air sensor thing on the throttle body. I thought that had something to do with what the car does when it's off throttle. Just throwing stuff out.
I'm going to create a new thread for this but I thought I would put it in here as well.
Went to change the fuel pressure regulator and I broke the little wall in the hole of the fuel rail where the regulator goes. First off, I'm no He-Man and I didn't push that hard. No wonder that is part of the safety recall, it's a piece of crappy plastic. nice...
I have a 97 that is basically a parts car so I pulled the fuel rail out of that (I'm getting pretty good at pulling the intake, took me 16 mins 2nd time around) only to find that I'd broke the metal clip that holds the metal tube in place off the piece of crappy plastic fuel rail.
Went ahead and took it to the garage because I wanted to make sure the parts store had not sold me the wrong regulator (maybe one slightly too big).
Here's what I found (this may be common sense to those who have done this before but maybe, just maybe it'll save someone repeating my headache). *** Put the O-rings in first *** not on the piece going in. I tried this multiple times on the metal rail and the different regulators I had. Whenever I tried to put the o-rings on the regulator or metal rail first and then tried to piece it together, it was next to impossible to put together without putting some force on it (this is what I must have done when I did the regulator the first time). When I put the o-rings in the regulator hole where they belong and then put the regulator in, it slid right into place.
I will be calling Chrysler today for a new fuel rail. (I'm dreading the price)
OK....I'm officially stumped. I've changed every sensor I can think of, I've replaced fuel related parts, I drove the car to Auto Zone and they pulled no codes (guess I'll have to fix that MIL light) and the car still dies while idling (either in gear or out). The one thing that seems to be consistent is it dies when the car is pointing downhill which tells me nothing (???) since with that information it should die every time I come to an abrupt stop....
If I understand the problem, it dies and then you can restart it right away?
This would indicate that it still might be related to a sensor or the pcm. Not that any of these would necessary be bad but could also be an intermitant connection, bad wire etc. Have you tried tapping or moving wires around on the cam, crank sensors, power dis. box and the loom to the pcm to see if you could cause the problem?
I did on some of the connections...I'll go back to that. not much moving if you are at a standstill and haven't been driving and it dies?? Still worth a shot...
That still almost sounds like the fuel pump is dying. My voyager van did that, would work just fine, pressure good etc. and then just give up and die. Would restart and keep going until it happened again. It later started to change sound when it was dying so I knew it was going....going..gone.
weird thing is I swapped the fuel pump from my parts car (which wasn't having issues at the time she passed away) back when I was changing the filter and such...maybe it's time to buy a new one and see if the problem goes away.
Now the most recent problem is that is started to overheat (the last time I drove it) but I think that is the thermostat sticking closed (cold upper hose)...
Thanks again for the help. I like these cars and I like driving them, this one is being a pain though ...
Know the feeling. I fought a electrical problem for almost a year that was cause by a transmission shop 4 years earlier...
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