Chrysler Repair: 1999 Town & Country, engine cranks, egr valve

Question
Thanks for your quick reply Roland.

I agree that the issue of the stalling should be seperated from the no crank problem. The stalling may in fact have been caused by a faulty EGR. What caught my attention to these posts was that the several other individuals who posted this problem ALL said that it was the 4th attempt to start the van (after 3 stalls) where the engine refused to crank at all. That to me suggests that it's programmed into the computer that way and that for whatever reason the computer resets itself after some period of time. I would have liked the opportunity to keep on trying to keep it started rather then have the computer tell me NO!

This brings up another question...can the computer be forced to reset itself immediately? I have read here that even disconnecting the battery doesn't always work.

Thanks again,

Doug

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Followup To
Question -
We just bought a 1999 Town & Country. Last week it had the exact same problem that has been described in this forum before, i.e. the engine cranks, starts for a second, and stalls, 3 times, after which it refuses to crank at all. After about 12 hours it started right up on the first try and was fine. Fortunately it has a warranty. We took it to the dealer who said it was a bad EGR valve. They replaced it. I'm not buying their story and don't want my wife getting stuck somewhere. Was there any definitive solution for the others who experienced this problem?

Thanks,

Doug
Answer -
Hi Doug,
Unfortunately there is no definitive solution for not catching and idling that I have seen for any of the engines. There are more likely reasons but none that is exclusive. I have been impressed with the egr as a prime candidate but then others dispute me on that. But it is so easy to check out that it makes sense to do that early in the troubleshoot. That is to be distinguished from refusal of the starter motor to crank the engine. That is a battery or starter motor circuit, or motor proper issue. So I would separate those two aspects of a "no start" problem. Of course a no idle issue can provoke a no crank issue as the battery runs out of power. I don't keep track of all these problems and how they are resolved because I can't easily connect feedback to the original question unless quite specific reference is made by the questioner (the archive is indexed by "question subject" and date only; the name of the questioner is not tabulated). And of course only a fraction of the questioners write back. So see how the van behaves and let me know if the problem has not disappeared.
Until it breaks again there is no fix.
Roland

Answer
Hi Doug,
I don't believe there is any built in reason for the controller to limit to three cranks. It is conceivable that the theft security program may be acting inappropriately after three failed attempts to start and put the controller into lock down. But then you should be able to clear that by using the key to lock and unlock either front door. I don't have the complete wiring diagram of the security system so I can only conjecture.
It might be useful if that refusal to crank occurs to know where the starter relay is in the power distribution center under the hood and at that point to see if the relay can be heard to click when a helper tries the ignition key. While that would not prove there is nothing wrong other than an inability of the relay to activate the solenoid on the starter motor it would (absent a under dash anti-theft starter relay in series with the starter relay as in the Sebring model) suggest that there is nothing going wrong based on the controller. As I pointed out paranthetically however the Sebring has a series of two relays for the starter ciruit, the first of which is normally closed but which the anti-theft system can activate to open which prevents the voltage necessary to go thru the regular starter relay and on to the solenoid of getting to the latter relay. Whether the van is set up with the second relay is something I don't know. The next time you get a refusal to crank, you could take a jumper at the starter motor and jump briefly from the heavy red battery wire to the  brown wire on the solenoid and if that kicked the starter motor then you would know that there is indeed something wrong in the starter motor circuit between the ignition key and the solenoid. Otherwise you would learn that it is a battery issue.
Roland