QuestionQUESTION: Hi, I have a 1995 Chrysler Cirrus LXi 2.5L 6Cylinder. Recently I have been having problems with shifting out of first gear, I would drive to work in the morning and it would be fine, but in the afternoon it would not shift out of first gear. I took it to a transmission shop thinking the transmission was going. They worked with it for two days trying to get it to act up, and finally the mechanic was on the interstate and it went into limp mode. He did tell me that the transmission was fine and that the main problem was electrical, he said the next thing to replace would be the PCM. When the car does act up the speedometer doesnt work, however the mechanic also stressed that the tach needs to work as well, but it hasnt worked since i have owned the car. Do you think it is worth changing that PCM or is this going to turn into a money pit. I have been trying to sell it, but nobody wants to work on it so it has not gotten sold. I would like to get rid of it, but I also dont want to give it away. Also with that intermitency of it acting up, it seems to work better on colder days.
Any advice would be much appreciated
Thanks
ANSWER: Hi Todd,
I would set aside the tach issue to begin with. But the fact that when the trans acts up the trans goes into limp would suggest that the output speed sensor on the front of the trans (front of the car side) at the very far end is going out. It is needed for the speedo and for shifting. I suspect the transcontroller would show that to be the case, via a fault code readout. So you can either get a readout, or just buy and install a new sensor. It unscrews and screws in easily. Lift tab on the side of the plug to remove that first. Tighten it in to about 20 ft-lb, about the same as a spark plug.
Roland
PS Use the "thank/rate" tab to get back to me if you have further question, as you won't have to wait for me to be available to take a question that way.
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QUESTION: I was just gonna go out and check this, but is it located right under the hood?
ANSWER: Hi Todd,
You either have to get under the hood in the engine compartment, yes. Or even better I suspect would be to view from under the car because the air cleaner box and the 2 computers, and the fuse/relay box above it are hiding the transmission from view when you look down. Then look up from below, along the side of the powertrain (engine/trans) that faces the front of the car. Focus on the transmission which is on the driver's side of the midline of the vehicle. You will see a veritical rod which is what is rotated when you move the gear shift lever (have a helper move it so you see what I speak of). Further along the transmission toward the very end is the output speed sensor, screwed into the side of the transmission just before the very end of it, about mid-line level. For reference, it has a mate (the input speed sensor) at the front of the transmission on the forward side of the vertical shift rod and that should definitely be visible from underneath. If you can't see it from underneath the car, then I would suggest removing the intake air filter box so you can look down from inside the engine compartment. I haven't done the job myself, but this is what I conclude from looking at photographs. Even from underneath the view may be restricted by the under carriage panel behind the bumper. In and case, one way or the other you have to be able to see and get your hand on the sensor to remove its plug and unscrew/screw it back in. You can best decide how to get there!
Let me know what you locate.
Roland
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QUESTION: Hello again, I have not yet looked at my transmission, however I have encountered a new problem. I was moving the car to a spot so I would be able to jack the car up and look for that sensor, in the mean time a friend of mine noticed that the spark plug boots seemed not quite in the spot where they should be(they were sticking out a little, and they have ever since I replaced the spark plugs). So he pulls one off and it killed the engine, put the boot back on and now I cant get the car started again. If I let it crank for a few seconds the check engine light eventually comes on, but there just doesnt seem to be any spark.
I think if i eventaully get this car going right, ill definetly have to get rid of it.
AnswerHi Todd,
I don't quite picture why pulling a spark plug cap would change anything, except maybe the rotor inside the distributor or the spark coil itself which is part of the distributor. So check the rotor conductivity between the rotor tip and spring tab on its top. It should not be infinite ohms, but some number of ohms. Then you could check for fault codes:'on-off-on-off-on and leave on" with the ignition key, doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light, which remains 'on', to begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat to be sure you have an accurate count. Then tell me the counts in the order of appearance and see what the engine computer thinks is wrong.
Roland
PS Use the 'thank/rate' tab to get back with the results.
Ok so i did the on-off-on-off-on sequence, the check engine light flashed once then pause, then it blinked twice then pause, then it blink five times then pause, then it blinked five more times, then it shut off altogether. Thank you so much for your help, words cannot express how much i appreciate this
Hi Todd,
You are welcome. The codes are not remarkable as to the cause of the no spark. The 1-2 is a 12 code which means that at some point in the recent past (50-100 key cycle) the battery supply was disconnected as the computer noticed it wasn't getting current which it expects to see continuously. If you don't believe the battery was disconnected then it would imply the power from the battery to the computer has an intermittent connection. This is not very likely but check fusible link #3 in the power box under hood for a possible loose connection.
The 5-5 is code 55, which just means 'end of readout'.
As the only thing that changed was your friend's manipulating a spark wire, either it was coincidental or something related to that caused a change in the distributor like I suggested the rotor or the coil (but that would require a new distributor were that the case, so I wouldn't go that route without proof).
Recheck the wire that he manipulated is the first thing to do. Then remove the distributor cap and check the rotor and the condition of th interior of the cap for possible shorting traces or cracks in the plastic.
Also re-verify that you don't have spark. Usually if you have no spark it would cause an 11 code or a 54 code, which you don't have.
I hope this is helpful.
Roland
