Chrysler Repair: 97 Concorde: engine turns over but doesnt fire up, problem indicators, wd 40


Question
97 Concorde, 3.5L v6, LX

I drove the car to work in the morning - ran fine, no problem indicators. When I went to lunch, the car wouldn't fire up. It turns over. I can hear the fuel pump when put the ignition to the RUN position. At first, I thought "no spark" but when I crank the car, I'm not smelling any unburnt fuel. I did check for spark just in case and I'm getting spark. I left the car at work. I went back the next day and it started up and ran for approx. 6 seconds and just died. When it ran, it ran normal and smooth. Not rough like there was water in the gas.

I'm thinking that the injectors aren't spraying but what would stop that? If I remember, this car doesn't have a return line to the gas tank so I was thinking that it started because the fuel eventually dripped into the cylinders. Thanks in advance!

Answer
Hi Ryan,
I wonder if you solved this yet, because I just saw your question in the 'pool'. In any case, try to get fault codes using the ignition key:'on-off-on-off-on and leave on' doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the odometer to see if it changes to show 4-digit codes beginning with a prefix P, or to see the check engine light begin to flash, pause, flash in which case count the flashes. Let me know results, either way.
Also, it may be that the egr valve is stuck ajar so check that out as well, it is near and under the throttle body and has a valve stem with a slot which you can move back and forth with the tip of a screwdriver. Put some WD-40 spray on the stem where it enters the body and move the stem back and forth to be sure that spring action closes it to a dead stop.
Finally, I wonder if you have a theft system that isn't disarmed? The start and die after about 3 seconds is symptomatic of that. If so then try to lock/unlock the passenger door using the door key to see if that cancels an alarmed shutdown situation.
Roland