Chrysler Repair: car shuts off: 97 Stratus, coolant temp, metal shaft

Question
i have a 97 dodge stratus with a 2.4 motor.the car starts fine when cold but after running for a few mins it shuts off.what would cause this to happen.thanks

Answer
Hi Darren,
Two things come to mind: the mixture of fuel to air is not being properly formulated as the temperature of the engine warms due to a fault coolant temp sensor OR the spark is being lost because of a faulty engine position sensor that is failing when it warms up. If you can get to an Autozone parts store they will often do a free readout of the engine contoller memory for fault codes that will give us a clue. Or an independent shop will do a readout for $40 or so. Get the code number, what it means, what they would do, and for how much. Then let me know and we can compare that to the manual.
You might try to test for spark after it has failed: use an insulated handle screwdriver: remove the cap off one of the spark plugs and insert the tip of the screwdriver so as to touch the internal wire down at the bottom. Then hold the screwdriver and cap so that the metal shaft of the screwdriver is 1/4" from the cylinder head or any similar metal part of the engine. Then have a helper crank the engine while you watch to observe whether or not a spark jumps across the gap during 5 seconds of cranking.
There is an outside chance that if you cycle the ignition key "on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time, that if you watch the check engine light (which remains "on") that it will then begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat the process to assure that you have a correct flash count. Then tell me the flash counts in order of appearance which represent any fault codes. It may not work but give it a try.
Roland
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