QuestionI have a 1997 Chrysler Sebring LX. I hope you can point me in
the right direction. I have been noticing at times that my car will
stutter (for the lack of a better word) while I am driving and most
times when it idles. This only happens at idle when the car is in
Drive or Reverse, not in Park or Neutral. I recently had my fuel
filter replaced and thought that might be the issue. A friend told
me that I am having transmission problems. Which is it, if
either, and what can I do to correct the problem?
By the way, it was performing without this problem before I had
the fuel filter replaced.
AnswerHi Mike,
Perhaps is the behavior a "missing" which is short for misfiring, which means that the power output of one or more compressions strokes is not being realized, so the engine stumbles. If the problem began immediately after the fuel filter was changed then that is suspicious of an improper installation, but if it ran for while ok before this began then it is probably not related. There are a large number of possibilities, either fuel, compression or ignition related. If the problem were ignition related it may have been noticed by the engine computer/controller and registered in its memory as a two-digit fault code.
The most useful thing to do would be to try to get the fault codes that are possibly 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). 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".
I have the troubleshooting manual for several of the engines and we can look up the possibilities of what is wrong based upon what fault codes you show. But please tell me which engine (cylinder # and displacement) you have when you write back.
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.
The fuel related issues could be pressure, injector, egr valve, vacuum leaks to name a few and unfortunately without some tools are not quickly diagnosed. But let me know how much experience and tools you have as well and we'll see if there are some tests you can do to find the problem.
The compression test requires a compression gauge. So, let us begin with the trouble code readout and see if that might give us some direction.
Roland
