Chrysler Repair: 2002 Chrysler TC 3.8 stalling, chrysler tc, lean mixture

Question
I have a Chrysler tc which has been shutting off under hard acceleration, or load with a bank 1 too lean dtc. P0171. I replaced the fuel filter hoping to maybe free up some fuel, but that didn't help at all. The Van now shows a red engine light as well as a amber check engine light after dieing under "merge like acceleration", although I cant pull any codes. I didn't know if a "brain" is bad when it cant diagnose itself? The fuel pump is pulling about 8 amps, the van smells rich and the avg mpg on the control center is about 4 mpg lower than regularly.

Answer
Hi Grant,
Without a second fault code there are so many possibilities that could be involved but perhaps they aren't setting fault codes yet. So don't try throwing parts at it. I am not clear what the two different color engine lights are, is there a label on the red one?
My immediate suspicion is that your egr valve is sticking slightly ajar which will cause the engine to falter/stop at idle speed after slowing down and also when accelerating with a wide throttle. And it is often not detected and coded as a fault. The valve is located near the throttle body air intake at the end of the engine, mounted in pipe that recirculates exhaust gas from the rear cylider bank exhaust pipe back around to the intake manifold. The exhaust gases have some fumes that can plate out a crud on the valve stem and thus keep it from closing tight when you are at idle. That makes for a too lean mixture so the engine stalls. The valve proper is mounted horizontally with the stem visible in a space between the body of the valve mounted on the pipe and the round top of the valve which is flanged and so if you look carefully you will see a metal rod (stem of the valve) with a slot around its circumference. You can take the tip of flat blade screwdriver and insert it in the slot and then lever the valve back and forth to check if it is moving freely (against spring action in one direction) or not. If it doesn't seem to close easily with the help of the built-in spring, then I would spray the base of the stem with solvent from a pressure can (such as WD-40 or carb cleaner) while moving the stem back and forth.  Then see if that solves the issue. If the valve doesn't close tight it lets exhaust gas get into the intake manifold when you don't need it e.g. accelerating hard/idling-starting.
Roland