Chrysler Repair: 3.8L 1997 engine problem, code capability, code translation

Question
Having trouble with stalling, I took my T&C 3.8L
to my favorite guy with Chrysler experience.  He
cleaned the injectors, replaced the plugs, wires,
and the 'air solenoid' in the throttle body.

Although better, now the engine exhibits poor low
speed performance (actually bucks on highway at
low throttle going 45 or so), and will stall in
a parking lot if I snap the throttle off quickly.
You can see in the tach that the computer tries to
recover, but fails.  If you snap the throttle off
at speed, the tach dips, but then recovers.

It has SLOWLY becoming worse over time, like something is getting clogged.  Fuel economy off
now by 10%, but still has good power if you stomp
it.

Thanks,

Glen


Answer
Hi Glen,
The only practical way to get a handle on this is to get a readout of any fault codes that are stored in the engine controller memory. The system in you van is called OBD-II which may not be readable without a separate reader that you plug in under the dash, but try the earlier way to get the codes via the ignition key: "on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing this within 5 seconds. Then watch the check engine light which is 'on' then begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause,  then group those numbers is pairs to form two digit numbers which are the fault codes. The last code will be five flashes each, the number 55, which means "end of readout".
Let me know what the codes are and I can use my manual for the 3.8L engine to tell you what to do. If the ignition key approach doesn't produce any codes, then perhaps you can go to an Autozone and get a free code readout, or a shop which might do this readout for around $30-40. It is probably an issue with one of the engine control systems that will be revealed by the self-diagnostic/code capability of these engine control systems.
Roland
P.S. You can also get a code translation at:
www.allpar.com/fix/codes.html