[Xyele]

I have a 96 Intrepid 3.3L that just hit the 100k milestone a couple of days ago, and recently has developed a couple of issues that I was hoping I could get a little help with.

Twice while driving the car has shut completely off ( and only the two times so far), no spitting or sputtering, just shut off completely, and when trying to restart it will crank but not turn over, and usually after a few tries it turns over.

Over the last couple of days though it has started to get to where it will take even longer to turn over, still cranks just fine, no weak sounds or clicks or anything, just takes longer to turn over. Today it was to the point where the battery was getting weak before it finally started, and that is the hardest time I have had so far.


Went to Auto Zone and got them to pull codes, and the two that came up were: P0174 and P0154.

Also got the codes from the CEL flash, and those were: 12 11 51 55

From what I can gather, and I was discussing it with a friend who seems to think I need to try cleaning the MAP sensor, and after reading some other problems people have had, starting thinking that maybe it is the crank sensor, or possibly the crank and cam sensors together going bad.

I was looking at a diagram from Auto Zone.com as to where the crank sensor is, but it doesn't really help much, so I was wondering if anyone had an actual picture of where the crank sensor is on the 3.3L.

If anyone has any thoughts, I would greatly appreciate it!

[Veeb0rg]

Crank sensor is on the passenger side bell housing of the transmission.

[Adpros]

If you take the air intake ductwork loose, you should be able to access it from the topside.

[cdmccul]

Here's a picture from the top of the transmission... yes, on the 3.3, it is an easy change from the top. Takes a single 10mm socket. Putting the new one in may take some wiggling, as it goes in at an angle that is kinda hard to hit from the top, or so I've experienced.

[Xyele]

Thanks for the help with the sensor location, haven't changed it yet though, but have run into a few more problems that I will have to take care of first.

Decided to do the key trick again, and when I did it this time I got the 12, 11, 51, 55 as normal, then after driving I did it again, and got a new one, 45. So I went out today and pulled the codes and got P0174 again, and also got P1899 I believe it was.

I still have not yet replaced the crank sensor, and what is somewhat odd is the car is still stalling out like someone just turned the ignition off every now and then, but the last couple of times it turns right over no problem, then sometimes it will take forever, which still almost screams sensor based on my reading of other similar problems.

I read a little bit about it, but I'm not sure exactly what could be causing that particular P1899 code, it just seemed to spring up overnight. I haven't noticed any problems with the transmission or anything of that nature, I have been keeping a very close ear out for any odd noises, or odd shifting or anything like that, just to be on the safe side.

The only thing that happened before that was unfortunately the tie rod on the drivers side broke last night, while stopped at a light, and not while moving fortunately. The car was pushed out of the road by a police cruiser, so I am hoping that there is no other damage that was caused by that, but it was safer than getting hit.

But back to the question at hand, based on that, besides going ahead and replacing the crank sensor is there anything else I should be looking at as a culprit to root out the problem?


The help is greatly appreciated.

[cdmccul]

I wonder if maybe you've got a bad ignition switch... I've seen it cause it before - and since you say it is firing right back up...

You've inspected both cam and crank plugs to make sure they are plugged in all the way? Any worn through wire harnesses?

[Xyele]

From what I could tell everything was connected good, and none of the wiring harnesses appear to be worn through. It is possible it could be an ignition switch though.

It is just odd that at some points it will be a pain to get it to restart, and then the last few times it just turned right back over. I do wonder another thing that could be the problem too, and I don't know how I forgot about it, there is an aftermarket remote starter on the car.

I wonder if maybe that could be causing an issue somewhere, or maybe that caused an ignition switch issue and it's just now getting worse. I had forgotten all about that honestly. I remember a few times using it the car would start, run for a bit, cut off, start back up, run for a bit cut off, and then I just never paid it any more mind and didn't bother with it anymore.

Hard to really say though, as the cutting off has become a recent thing, normally it does not fire right back up, the one time the battery was almost worn before it even fired back up it took so long.

I would say that first few times it takes about 10 minutes to start back up if I had to guess a time on it, with the last couple of times it starting right back up. There has also been the occasion when the car was parked and when going to leave work I would go to start it and I would have the same issue, car wouldn't fire for 10 or so minutes of trying off and on.

[cdmccul]

Well, removing the aftermarket starter sounds like a good thing to do then... Swapping the ASD relay for another might be something to try also before removing the remote.

To remove the remote, I'm sure you will have to re-solder some wires back together... Personally I'd solder, rather than crimp.

Along the lines of the remote starter... The system generally goes in just as a piggy back to the rest of the wiring... Except for one wire. That wire is cut and a switch is put in place. That cut wire could just have a bad joint also. You'll have to pull some panels of the dash and try to find what they did to install it.