QuestionQUESTION: Hi, I have a 2002 Chrysler pt cruiser Ltd edition. There are three lights on the dash lit up. Abs light, traction control light, and engine light. I have done the test on-off, on-off, on and the codes that came up are p1684 and p1495. The other problem is that when i try applying the cruise control, it appears on the dash and then disappears one or two seconds later and the car wont let the cruise control work. I would appreciate your expertise advice to fix these problems and understand what is going on with my vehicle. I have had many bad experiences with mechanics and feel as if i am being ripped off. It seems like i take my vehicle to this mechanic to get something fixed and a month later something else goes wrong, for example just had the car in to get the codes read, and the next day i did an oil change and found two sensor connectors not connected, they were connected 2 months previous when i did an oil change. seems quite weird. thanks for your time. sincerely
ANSWER: Hi James,
The 1684 means that sometime in the recent past the battery was disconnected...not a problem unless that is not true.
The 1495 means that there is a malfunction in the vapor collection system's leak detection pump circuit. The pump is located at the left rear corner of the fuel tank and it has a 4-wire connector but has only 3 wires. The light green/black wire on pin 2 should show 12V when the key is in the 'position'. The other two wires of the circuit are white/dark green on pin 3 and it should be connected to pin 77 of the pcm, and the orange/yellow on pin 4 should be connected to pin 72. If all those check out, then the leak detection pump may be bad. But you would need to remove the fuel tank to replace it. That situation explains the check engine light.
The ABS and tranction light means there is some sort or issue with that system, assuming that you have ABS. It could be something simple like a dirty speed rotation sensors at one of the 4 wheels. You could inspect those. The only way to know the exact cause of the code is to do a separate readout using a more sophisticated reader that accesses the ABS controller. Another alternative would be to wait and see if the code goes awaq on its own (in 3500 miles or 255 key on-off cycles). In the meantime the system is safe as designed if the overall brake warning light is not 'on'. The brakes will work just as if you didn't have abs.
One the cruise control, I suspect that the clockspring connector that allow for a flexible connection between the steering wheel and steering column has developed a break in one of the cruise control wires, and when you move the wheel the requiest for the cruise is cancelled. You could check the continuity of those connections yourself while turning the wheel back and forth. Let me know and I'll give you the wiring details. Another possibility is that your brake lamp switch may be closing on its own (which cancels the cruise) so ask someone to drive behind you while you try the cruise and notice whether you brake lights are flickering due to that switch being out of adjustment.
I can't conjecture about your bad experiences with mechanics. I try to do things myself whenever possible.
Roland
PS: Please 'rate' my answer, and where you see the question about 'volunteer of the month' please consider a 'yes' if you find my effort helpful.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I would first like to say thank you very much for your timely response, and how detailed you were. A couple of days after I had asked you these questions, my timing belt broke on my 02 pt cruiser, expensive fix. I have got a used enging with 82.000 kms on it and a new timing belt and water pump installed. as mentioned with the abs/traction ctrl lights on, the mechanic that installed the engine, did a code check and the right rear abs sensor is no good anymore, and for the check engine light, got a reading of a faulty emissions pump.How hard are these two issues to fix. With a new engine, the cruise control should work forsure right? Thanks you very much for your time and great knowledge, and care to help others.
AnswerHi James,
You are welcome. Thanks for 'rating' this answer if you would choose to do so.
The abs sensor issue is not that big a job but if you want to do it yourself it would be good to have the page that tells you how. I can copy and email that to you. While you have the wheel off you could try cleaning off the 'wheel' that the sensor looks at because dirt in the notches of that can make the system think that the sensor is bad when you only need to clean it of dirt.
On 1495 I can similarly send the pages that show how to do that.
I doubt that replacing the engine has solved the cruise control problem, which I gave you a couple of possible expanations for. So again let me know and I can send you the page that shows the wiring of the clockspring for you to check out, and of course make sure you don't have a faulty brake light switch/adjustment by having a friend drive behind you to notice if your brake lights are coming on by themselves.
Let me know which pages you want from the manual and tell me your email address (while Allexperts asks you that, they don't tell me what it is),
Roland
