Question1996 T&C 3.8l, 45k mi. 1 owner, no prior trouble or repairs, mostly highway mileage.
On recent 9 hr. trip the van stalled at highway speed 4 times ~ 1 hr apart. On three occassions the van restarted immediately. It has no hesitation or warning, just acts like you turned the ignition off. On the 4th stall the engine would start but had no power and if attempted to rev in neutral, engine sounded like it wanted to backfire. Turned engine off, after cooling down for 10 minutes it started and ran perfect for final 2 hours of trip. Does not stall at slow speeds, starts and idles perfectly.
AnswerHi Rich,
Thanks for the detailed background.
The '96 year was on the cusp from OBDI to OBDII pollution control systems, so there is some uncertainty whether the engine controller has a self-readout for fault codes or whether you need a reader to plug in to find if the controller has recgnized a problem that will tell us what is wrong. But let's give it a try:
The most useful thing to do would be to try to get the fault codes that may stored in the engine controller memory to readout. 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".
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. I should be able to help you with that
If this approach doesn't produce fault codes at all, not even a 55, then you will have to go to a good tune-up shop where they have a more sophisticated code reader in order see if there are any codes. You should be able to get a readout for under $50.
So those are some ideas for you to consider. Let me know what happens and how I might be of help. It is behaving as if it is a temperature dependent failure which often is caused by a solid state sensor which is beginning to break down. But a fault code could be very helpful to tell us which one it is.
Roland
