QuestionQUESTION: '97 Ply. Voyager SE Rallye, 3.3L V6, FI, VIN: R
Van runs for 15-20 minutes then just stalls w/ no accessory function (no buck, no hesitation). Restarts in 5 minutes, runs for 5 min, stalls again. Takes progressively longer to restart. Fuel, ASD, and Starter relays have been replaced. Any suggestions for top 3-5 likely culprits? Thx.
ANSWER: The top two are the crankshaft and camshaft rotational sensors. These devices when failing, do so by quitting when heated, recover when cooled, etc. The '97 model year was trasitional between OBD-I and OBD-II code systems so you can't be certain if you can get a self-readout of the fault codes that might be stored in the engine controller which would detect such a problem and tell us which sensor or other device has failed.
Turn the key:'on-off-on-off-on and leave on' doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light, which remains 'on', to see it begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the flashes before each pause. Then repeat to be sure of an accurate set of flash counts. Let me know the counts in the order of appearance. On a chance, you could also observe the odometer reading to see if it changes to show any 4-digit numbers, but that really didn't start until '98 or so.
If that approach doesn't work and there is an Autozone parts store within driving distance they will do a free code readout with a plug-in reader. An independent shop will charge about $40 for the readout.
I do suspect one of these sensors so let's not go to the more subtle possibilities yet.
Roland
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QUESTION: Did the key thing. It was 1-2-1-1-1-1-5-5 (#=flash, -=blank).
No 4 digit code showed on the odometer, just mileage.
Hey, it's 6:10pm here. I didn't realize the time. Sorry 'bout that. Hope I'm not keeping you from something. Thx again.
AnswerHi Mark,
The only important code is 11 (twice) and that points to the crankshaft sensor failing. It is located on at the seam between the engine and the transaxle on the rear (firewall) side of the unit. You can get to it most easily by raising and supporting the front end on jackstands and going in from underneath.
You will see the diagonal metal plate at the seam, and the sensor is hiding to the rear of that, just above the top of the transaxle housing. It is held in by a bolt. Remove the electrical connector, then the bolt and the sensor pulls out of a hole. The new sensor has a paper spacer on the tip and that must remain in place when you insert the sensor in the hole, press the sensor in until the tip touches the hidden metal surface of the engine/trans flex plate that it 'senses', and then while holding it in contact tighten the retaining bolt to 8 foot-pounds (enought to hold it there, but don't strip the threads of the bolt). Reconnect the connector, lower vehicle and I think your problem is solved.
Roland
The 12 code means the battery has been disconnected sometime in the past 50 key on-off cycles, while the 55 just corroborates that it has flashed out all the codes there are in the memory.
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It is only 3:30 here on the West coast so no interruption.
