Chrysler Repair: Chrysler 1999 Town & Country Van, solenoid switch, starter relay

Question
Here is the problem.
Every so often my van will start and run for a few seconds then die. After three trys, it will not turn over at all. If I wait a few hours it will start and run perfectly for a number of months and the problem reappears. I've had it towed in and the service people get in and it starts right up. No problem found.
Thanks,
I hope you can provide a suggestion.
Rich  

Answer
Hi Rich,
I assume that the service people took a look for stored fault codes in the engine controller memory. If you aren't sure of that I would ask them and verify, otherwise get a readout for fault codes that might well tell us what is wrong.
Other than that, if we are essentially dealing with a no idle with no fault codes accompanied by a no starter after three tries, then I think the first thing would be to figure out why it won't run the starter motor after three failures and then work on the no catch and idle as a separate issue.
The no starter after 3 tries could be a weak or nearly discharged battery which would also give you a weak spark that may well contribute to the no catch and idle problem. So you might consider the age of your battery and whether it is recharging to about 12.6V or more when you drive the car. Also if you do a lot of short trips the battery may be cycling down over time to a low state of charge. When it refuses to turn over, do you hear the solenoid switch click at the starter motor, and if not have you tried to listen for the starter relay located in the power distribution center under the hood to see if it is clicking? If you are getting the clickings then the ignition switch and relay and solenoid are o.k. and the battery is probably just too low on charge as to do more than 3 tries. If the battery is good, then the possibilities are an ignition switch or relay or solenoid being weak. So next time this happens see what you hear when it won't crank.
The weak startup of the engine and refusal to idle could be associated with a stuck ajar egr valve. That you check by watching its valve stem (there is slot to help view the motion) when the engine is idling and see if it responds by moving quickly and possitively when you momentarily rev the engine to 2500 rpm. That is a possible cause for hard starting.
So I would like to hear from you when you sort out some of these questions if the cause of the problem hasn't appeared yet.
Roland