QuestionI have 1995 Cirrus 2.5 6 cyl. with 46,000 on it. Every so often after it has been at normal temp. and then sat a couple of hours it will start and die right away. You have to give it gas to keep it running & it will run rough. It is fine if it is overnight or all day between starts and is fine if you restart it within a few minutes after shutting it off. It last did this a few months ago and new distributor was put in since then (about 1000 miles ago) but it did it again a few days ago. Thanks.
AnswerHi Jim,
I think it has something to do with the temperature rise that occurs when you shut off the engine after fully warming it up. It could either be a temperature sensor that sets the mixture, a sensor that controls the spark, or as was already done the distributor/coil unit in the 2.5L engine. Any of these could be temporarily faulty due to heat. For that reason you need to take advantage of the on-board self-diagnostic capability of the engine controller.
Reading out the engine controller memory for fault codes is the first step. Try using the ignition key: turn it "on-off-on-off-on" and leave it "on" (doing this quickly, no longer than 5 seconds). By "on" I mean just the normal position when the engine is running, not the cranking position. The 'check engine'light will remain on when you leave the key in the "on" position with the engine still not running. But then watch the 'check engine' light to begin flashing, then pause, flashing, pause, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause and keep track of the numbers. Repeat the readout and verify the counts are correct. Then group them in pairs in the order that they came out, thus forming two digit numbers. You may notice that the pause is shorter between the digits of a given number, and longer between the numbers themselves. Then send me a 'follow-up' question telling me the results of your readout. By the way, 55 will be the last number (two groups of 5 flashes each) and that is the code for "end of readout".
I have the troubleshooting manual for the 2.5L engines and we can look up the possibilities of what is wrong based upon what fault codes you show. There is also an essay on fault codes at the site:
http://www.allpar.com/fix/codes.html
which gives the meaning of the code numbers. But then you need to get specific info for what exactly might be the diagnostic tests or parts to replace to complete the repair. Let me know the codes and I can give you some direction. If there are no fault codes then the problem could be a spark coil issue.
Roland
