Question1990 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible with V6 3.0 litre, The problems I seem to be having is with the transmission (automatic)and the electrical system .The trouble always starts when the car comes to a complete stop and stands still for more than a few sec's, after that the transmission refuses to change gears and stays with the first one. I have discovered that if I stop the car and turn it off and then start it again the problem is gone, until I stop again. The electrical system also tends to go crazy at the same time (turn signals, the hatchets for the lights and the locking system for the doors stops working).
Another problem is that the car just dies with no warning, as if you turn of the ignition. I have also used the diagnosis tool in the car and it gives the cel code 12, which according to a webpage I found means: Direct power input to the PCM has been disconnected within the last 50 key-on cycles. The webpage also says that I should check for loose battery cables and that it's normal after PCM reset. Which I have done, but I didn't find any loose cables.
And the last problem is with the exhaust system all the values are way too high(co,hc,co2500 and Lambda) is it possible for me to adjust it or is this something that i need special tools for?.The previous owner told me that the transmission had recently been renovated.
Any help or tips would be great.
AnswerHi Sven,
It sounds like a number of these problems are interrelated so we need to get the common ones resolved first and then see what is left over. I suspect that there is a loose ground connection...any pathway that returns current to the - post of the battery. You have checked the battery clamps so those are presumably o.k. though i suppose there is the possibility of an internal 'open' in the battery itself, though usually that will not be so flakey. So lets assume the battery is o.k.
Now if you look at the - battery clamp you will see that it has 3 green/black wires. One goes the engine where it is bolted, one goes to the frame below the battery. Clean and tighten both of those to make good contact conditions.
The last green black wire goes to a splice from which 5 black/other color wires split off going to various places to ground the engine controller and the transmission. Two go to the engine controller 60-way plug on pins 11 and 12.
Two go to splices and then to pins 53, 54, 57, 58 of the 60-way plug on the transmission controller (right side inner fender). You could verify that the 60-way to the controller has clean pins and sockets and is firmly attached. An important ground wire (black/red) branches off of a secondary slice to a relay mounted on the right inner fender near the trans controller. Check that the relay is plugged in and that its contacts are clean, and that the black/red wire is indeed grounded to the battery clamp because if that wire is not patent the trans will go into limp-in mode whenever the circuit opens (stays in 2nd gear and will not shift). You can ID that relay by its 4 wires: red, light green, black/red. and red white.
That pretty much covers all the ground wire "branches", one of which might be the cause of your problem. The last possibility is that the + supply to the ignition switch or the ignition switch itself is flakey. Try tapping on the steering column (right hand side, and jiggling the ignition key while you are driving to see if you can get it to cut out in response).
After you check those out let me know if you find anything that helped, and what remains to be done. Take your time and work methodically. Shake some of the wire harnesses that are related while you are measuring the connections with an ohmmeter to perhaps identify a loose splice.
Roland
