96 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8L stalling

[dneedham]

I have a 96 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8L, 184000. This past month the van has taken to dying unexpectedly. It will occur going down the street at a steady speed, it has occurred while slowing down to stop or going around a turn. It hasn't happened at highway speeds, but it has stalled at highway speed when letting off of the gas. No codes are present or freeze frames in the memory. I have tested and replaced the TPS, replaced the EGR valve (on a hunch), spark plugs and wires are new this year. I have to pull the intake manifold off this weekend to replace some rotten rear heat plumbing, so I thought I would check the plugs and wires again, the fuel pump is about 2 years old. I checked the pressure and it was at 52 psi at idle, it didn't dip under a load. Any other ideas would be appreciated. I have yet to find any definitive answers. Could this be a catalylitc converter issue?

Thanks
Darren Needham
Andover, Ks.

 

[Cheef]

Throttle body is coked up. Classic symptoms.

Get a throttle body to intake plenum gasket and a good can of quality carb cleaner and a nylon brush and spray, brush and flush until all the black goo is out of throttle body. You will need to disconnect the TPS and AIC motor, 2 x 13 mm nuts, accel and cruisecon cable and air cleaner assembly to do.

DO NOT use ANY Bosch products or multipoint or splitfire or conventional point spark plugs. You will have grief.

My personal favorite with countless scads of Caravans/Voyagers and T and C's out the door is Autolite APP646 plugs, 5 years unlimited mileage warrantee and Autolite pro wires w/ a very real lifetime warrantee. With literally hundreds of plugs installed, I have had ZERO PCM rejections from incorrect firing or spark characteristics/misfires and have replaced 6 plugs from wear (they were at 4 years old and had 112K miles on them...warranted out and replaced for free) and two from mechanical failures. You will get an honest 90-100K miles out of them without a whimper.

Cheef

 

[dneedham]

Thanks, I will do that this weekend. I used a set of Champion Duel platinum plugs with a set of ac delco wires. I also have the pleasure of dismantling have the engine to replace some rotten hard coolant lines that run to the rear heat/air setup. Luckily, or not the local dealership had the assembly in stock. Thanks again for the advice, I will let you know how it turns out.

Darren Needham
Andover, Ks.

 

[Cheef]

If you do not know this already, remove the wiper module. 2 x 15mm nuts for the wipers, use battery terminal puller to remove the wiper arms. Be sure to mark where the tips of wiper s are on windshield for reinstallation. The remove torx 25 screws or philips head holding trim, 4 x 10 mm nuts and 8 x 13mm screws that hold module to firewall. One electrical connector for eletrics by brake booster and the line for the wiper washers. Gives you tons of room.

Cheef

 

[WrenchMonkey]

are any of your fuses going off? i had this costomer come in for something about the same thing and a fuel injector relay fuse would blow, there is a coolant line above the intake manifold in between everything and it was leaking into the fuel injector and cause it to stop running (i dunno just trying to be a bit helpful hope it helps outor gives a bit of ideas) , i replaced that and it was fine after..

 

[dneedham]

I do have an interior fuse that blows about once every 2 or 3 months. Haven't been able to trace it down, but mine is leaking underneath the car where it connects to the next section of hard line to the back. No other blown fuses though. Thanks for the tip about the windshield wiper removal. I was all set to remove the intake manifold again. I will try your suggestion to see if it saves me a lot of trouble.

Thanks,

Darren

 

[dneedham]

I just want to send out a big thank you to Cheef! You were you dead on as to the stalling issue. I tackled the leaky coolant pipes that go the rear heat this weekend and your advice on taking the wiper module off was brilliant! I have had the intake manifold off a few times and never knew this trick. What a time saver and wow, how much more room you have to work!

Thanks again Cheef!

Darren

Andover, Ks.

 

[dneedham]

Re: 96 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8L stalling (Again)


Sorry to report that the van stalled once today while my wife was driving. It didn't die, she was cruising down the street at around 40 mph and it just tried to die. She let off of the gas and it caught itself and went on. I thought I had it fixed when I cleaned out the Idle control valve passage way. It did have some gunk in it. It hasn't done it for about 2 weeks. It only did it once. As a recap I have cleaned out the IAC valve and passage way, replaced the EGR valve, and replaced the throttle position sensor. There are no codes, the check engine light is not on. Gas mileage is the same.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Darren Needham
Andover, Ks.

 

[dneedham]

Well, I think I know what the stalling problem has been with my wife's van. I was driving it the other night, and it was kind of stumbling as I went down the street and then when I came to a stop light, it just died. This time however I had a code scanner with data logging attached to the van. When I got home I analyzed the data. At the time it died, the pcm saw nothing wrong and wasn't trying to do anything irregular. It then occurred to me that the last time I had symptoms like this was in 2001. Right before the transmission failed. So I pulled the transmission pan yesterday morning. I had just drained and filled the transmission in July, I was disappointed to find what I did. Small shimmering pieces of brass in the pan. Although the fluid looked brand new, what was in the pan shimmered like fools gold. The transmission fluid has become a high friction liquid instead of the lubricant that it is supposed to. I can't remember what part in the transmission these pieces come from, but this is the exact same situation I had in 2001 when the original transmission died. I don't think I will be investing in a third transmission for this van. What really sucks is that I have been super careful with the maintenance of this transmission. New fluid and filter every year since it was installed. I guess that it is true that Chrysler transmissions from this era just plain suck. In 2001 I spent the extra money to have a "genuine" Chrysler re-manufactured transmission installed. It came with a 3yr 36000 mile warranty. Too bad it only lasted 76,000 miles. Oh well, time to get something else!

Darren

 

[Cheef]

Generally, I do not get too upset on a F and F on an A604 where the shimmer effect is if:

First change after an overhaul

>40,000 on the current fluid

There are other issues with trans.



I am still at a loss on why some people get sooo many miles and others do not. I have 142K original on mine....my ex got 174K on hers all original...record was Chaplain Colon at 246K all original with a 3.8 behind it.

I still think there is some engine or electrical related issue. Unless you have a fried converter, the trans should not cause stalling. I have never seen it anyways.

Mopar remans are assembled from piecemeal stacks of parts. Frankensteins in other words.

Sorry I have no real solutions here.

Cheef