Chrysler Repair: Engine stalling, chrysler town and country, chrysler town and country van

Question
My 1993 Chrysler Town And Country Van is stalling ocassionally when I slow down to exit the interstate, round corners, or am stopped at intersections.It usually starts right up again. When this happens the steering column seems frozen.This same problem occurred about three years ago and a mechanic cleaned off some sort of plate. Can't remember the name of the part, can you help? thanks Odetha

Answer
Hi Odetha,
One type of 'plate' that might have been cleaned is the throttle body plate. That is located at the outlet of the big hose that brings air from the front of the van to the engine's throttle. There may be an air cleaner with the filter just before the air gets to the throttle body, but in any case if you trace the throttle cable (move the gas pedal while someone watches to see what is moved, the thing that is moved is the throttle body plate). So if you can remove the air cleaner or the big hose (if it appears to enter the very spot where the cable is connected), then you will see a round air intake pipe with a round plate which moves when the gas pedal is pressed. You can take a q-tip and dampen it with solvent (paint cleaner/thinner) to clean the back side of the plate which is exposed when the pedal is pushed all the way to the floor, as well as clean the inside of the pipe (called the throat) as best you can with the q-tip, but don't drop anything used to clean it into the throat. There may also be a small hole at the edge if the edge of the throat that would be well to clean as this is the air passage thru which the air flows when the engine is idling (foot off the gas). There may be a build up of oily residue on the back of the plate and throat and hole so cleaning it may correct the problem again. Another solvent you could use is a spray can of carburetor cleaner that you can get at an auto supply store. Let me know if that works or not, and if not I can suggest another part to check out. But tell me which engine you have: 2.5,3.0, or 3.3L?
Roland