Chrysler Repair: Chrysler stalls in winter, chrysler town and country, coolant temp

Question
Hi,

I own a 97 Chrysler town and country. It runs great in summer. But in winter I have to start and step on the gas until the engine temperature reaches the normal temperature it operates at. If I don't do this it stalls almost as soon as I pull out of my driveway. I have tried checking the engine code (the on-off-on-off-on process) and there are no codes. What could be the reason and the possible solution?

Thanks,
Vishal.

Answer
Hi Vishal,
The most likely reason is that the coolant temp sensor has gone inaccurate so that there is no enrichment of the mixture when the engine is cold. That sensor is located next to the thermostat housing and has 2 wires (tan/black and black/light blue). If you lift the tab on the plug gently and remove the plug you will have access to its two contacts. When the engine is cold the resistance across those contacts should be 7,000 to 13,000 ohms and it should drop slowly as the engine warms to a value of 700 to 1,000 ohms when the engine is at operating temperature. If it passes that test then it would be useful to test that the wires from the plug are continuous to pins 26 and 43 respectively of the 60-way plug at the engine controller. So use an ohmmeter to check out whether this is or is not the case. I assume that you are at least getting a 55 code on reading out the controller (which means end of readout). If not, then you would want to read out the codes with a plug-in reader.
Please let me know if these suggestions don't help.
Roland