QuestionI have an '87 New Yorker with the 2.2L Turbo engine. In the last few days she's started stalling on me, and I want to try and narrow the
problem down before having to take it to a shop.
Five times in as many days, the car will up and die on me; no unusual noises or vibrations, just shuts off. It's happened twice pulling out
of parking spaces, twice stopped at a light/sign, and once while I was coasting under cruise control on the freeway. The only common factor is
that each time, there was little or no pressure on the gas. I've had it happen anywhere from thirty seconds after starting the engine (parking
lots) to fifteen minutes (freeway).
If I try to start it again too soon after it dies, the engine cranks but doesn't catch - given a couple of minutes however, it starts right
back up. When she's running, all seems normal; even after restarting from a stall. Nothing cuts out after the stall, and all my gauges seem
nominal; save for the battery gauge which drops a couple notches. Getting the engine controller error codes returns nothing useful, just
a 55 - end of file code.
The only maintainence I've had recently was an oil change, and a dose of fuel-injector cleaner in my last fillup. I've done some research
thus far and have a couple ideas, but nothing concrete. Any thoughts?
Thank you in advance.
AnswerNothing right off jumps out at me but this wasn't exactly the era I learned on. I started working on chrysler's in 98 so most of the OBDI cars stopped coming by the dealership.
This may take a bit of diagnostic tool buying on your part but the understanding and knowledge you walk away with will help you should you decide to keep this car for a while.
You mentioned a start and stall then no-start when immediately trying to re-start. I would suspect the engine's not getting spark and maybe not getting fuel too but mostly spark. There's a system that is responsible for providing power to the fuel injectors (two I think in the throttle body or maybe it's just the one) and the coil pack as well. It's called the Auto shutdown circuit or ASD. If it fails, normally from a computer or a relay problem, then you're not going anywhere.
If the fuel injector(s) is getting power then I would be more suspicious of the coil, the pick-up plate in the distributor which acts as the cam/crank position sensor. Frequently, on newer cars, this sensor will fail causing a no-start condition. There will be no spark what so ever but the injectors will fire.
If you can get the vehicle to act up (which sounds like it's never going to do it when you're ready) then you'll need to check for spark at the spark plugs. Check for spark coming out of the coil and finally check for 12 volts and ground at the ignition coil itself. Checking for power at the injectors should be easy but checking for proper ground will be considerably more difficult because the grounding is done by the computer and litterally only happens for a matter of milli-seconds.
I can help with the basics of trouble shooting. I've got access to SOME diagnostic stuff like manuals and diagrams but this is by no means my forte. Let me know how I can help.
Doug
