Question-------------------------last saturday my wife had a tire go out on her and she took it to Walmart to get it replaced. Since then she said the car had been making funny noises and right after she drove off she had to take off this big plastic piece in the upper part of the wheel well wich had come part of the way off and was rubbing on the tire. As far as I know all they did was change the tire but she the car was sounding strange after that and we thought the muffler or something may have come loose if they but it on a lift but we could never see anything hanging down to explain the rattling noise we heard. My nephew gets off around 3pm and will take me to go get what I need so I'll get back to you then about what the outcome of the voltmeter is. thanks for sticking with us, hopefully we'll have this solved soon. James
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-------------------------once again thanks for the fast response my wife is 6 mths pregnant so I hate being without the car for even a minute. Anyway we don't have a volt tester (I don't work on cars) but we checked for the spark and I did not see one. just a few days ago the speedometer did stop working on us untill my wife got out on the highway. It was doing that a few months ago and in fact that and the odometer didn't work for weeks but we didn't notice any further problems then or when it started working again. While I try and track down the voltage tester could you give me an idea what if anything I may need to replace or repair. The wires seemed ok too from what I could see. We did retest for the code and we believe we got it right. Hope to here from you soon as I am missing a day of work not to mention picking up my paycheck. Thanks for all the help so far! James
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-------------------------ok we checked the car like you said and came up with the number 15 before the readout was done. Also the car is a 6 cylinder. thank you for the fast responce I will be waiting to hear back from you.
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I have a 1988 chrysler New Yorker that my wife drives. She has been complaining that it has been stalling out while she was backing up. It has plenty of oil and water but she seems to think it's the fuel filter since another car she had did the same thing. Yesterday while she was checking the mail she left the car running and it stalled in park and now we cain't get it started. Could it be the fuel filter, if not what else and please let me know where the parts are as I am not very familiar with this model of car. Thanks!
Answer -
Hello James,
I suspect that it is not the fuel filter but rather some part of the engine control system. Fortunately, there is on-board a computer that controls the engine that has the ability to sense what is wrong and store the fault as a two-digit number in the memory. The most useful thing to do would be to try to get the fault codes that are likely 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 the late 80's engines and we can look up the possibilities of what is wrong based upon what fault codes you show.
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. So send me a follow-up telling me the code numbers that you get and also which engine is in the car (4 or 6 cylinder).
Roland
Answer -
Thanks for the response, James.
The 15 code means that the signal from the sensor on the trans/axle which pulses as the wheels turn in order to give data on the speed of the car is not being received by the engine controller. This usually wouldn't cause a no start but in any case have you noticed any problem with the speedometer or odometer recently, because that signal is also used at the instrument cluster?
You might give the readout one more try, for verification.
The check engine light will be "on" as the result of leaving the key in the run position, but that is not a flash. When it blinks that is the first official "flash" to count. An 11, 13 or 14 would be more likely to be a cause of no start.
So let me know about the verification test. And then, do you have a voltmeter or even a 12V neon glow type of voltage tester? The next step if the code remains only the 15 would be to check for whether you have spark and whether you are getting 12V to the spark coil in order to provide the spark. What you do is pull the center wire from the distributor cap, hold the wire with the tip 1/4" from the cylinder head, and have your wife try to start the engine for 5 seconds and see if you have a spark jump across for the full 5 seconds. If no spark at all then take the voltmeter or glow tester and measure between the + post of the ignition coil(which has a dark green/black wire attached to it) and any shiney metal surface on the body (like the bolt that holds the coil mounting clamp to the body) while your wife again cranks for 5 seconds. See if you get the voltage for the full 5 seconds, 1-2 seconds, or not at all. Then let me know the results of these diagnostic tests.
Roland
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P.S. On the code 15, because it does reflect the earlier problem with the speedo/odo, is valid. But we can worry about that one after we get the engine running. It may be that the sender was damaged, if around that time there was any work done on the right side cv-joints or axle. If the mechanic didn't remove the sender before he removed the half shaft then he damaged the gear. Or if that wasn't the history, the gear could wear out, or the electrical disconnector could be loose. But as long as the speedo works there is no difficulty in the operation of the engine to worry about. That code will self-cancel after 50-100 engine on/off cycles if the signal is not lost again.
O.K.,
The possibilities are the spark coil, the autoshutdown relay, of the engine controller for the "no spark" situation. To avoid buying the wrong part, it would be useful to have either the voltmeter or a simple neon 12V glow tester that has two wires to probe the coil post as I described. You can get one at an auto parts store for a couple of dollars, or you can probably get a cheap volt-ohmeter for under $20 (in fact Sears in our area has one on sale for $10 (#82082) on Saturday only, so you might get a glow tester today and invest in that meter for the future tomorrow).
If the glow tester shows that there is 12V on the + post of the spark coil for the 5 second crank, then we know it isn't the autoshutdown relay, but rather either the coil or engine control unit. To determine which you will need to get a simple electrical part at Radioshack (a capacitor with a value of 0.3 microfarad or there about and a couple of short jumper wires with small aligator clips on their ends. Then we can determine which of those has gone bad.) While you are at the autoparts store you might check out the price of a new spark coil (it should be in the range of $50 or less, or if you want to stay with Chrysler products see whether the local dealer has one in stock and how much and are they open on Saturday or not). We'll not get into the controller as a possiblity as that would be much more expensive and you would do better to see if you can get one from a local auto salvage yard. But at least you will be ahead of the game either way as the testing continues.
If the tester shows no 12v on the + post, then the autoshutdown relay is likely bad and you can get that at a Chrysler dealer or the parts store for under $10.
If the 12v is there for 1-2 seconds only, then that would indicate a trouble with the signal from the distributor that times the spark, but that should set a fault code 11, which is why I asked you for the readout codes. So that is evidentally not the problem or the controller would have seen that and told us so.
So get the glow tester and if it is a lot of driving and there is a radioshack or similar electronics store nearby get the capacitor (the kind with wire leads (2)) and the jumpers with alligator clips, and we'll move ahead.
I am available until 12:30 PST, then I have a bowling match that will keep me away from the terminal till around 4 pm, but then I'll be around till bed time.
Roland
AnswerHello James,
I just woke up and realized that I was probably "maxed out" when you tried to write back with the results of your testing. Very sorry about that! The Allexpert site lets us set a daily limit on the number of questions, and because we had 4 exchanges, each was counted separatately, so I reached my limit of 5 before I realized it when I answered one more person. When you get this, please respond directly to my email box so this limit issue won't be a problem today as we get to the bottom of your no start. So send me your response at:
rfinston@hotmail.com
and I'll reply directly to your email box
'Going back to bed, up around 6 am PST
Roland
Hello James,
The only thing that comes to mind about your wife's tire experience is that the plastic part on the upper part of the wheel well may have been providing a water splash shield for the electronics control unit mounted on the other side (inside) of the fender metal sheet to which it is attached. If rain was going on when the car died totally, that may be a contributing factor. So I would suggest trying to get that piece back in place and secured for the future.
I'm going out for about 4 hours at this point but I'll check for any reports from you.
Roland
