Expert: Roland Finston - 11/11/2009

Question
I have a 89 Dodge Spirit Let that will stall whenever it feels like it, could be after 1 hour of driving,5 minutes or days. I have replaced the fuel tank,pump & filter,plugs wires distributor  cap and wires.Last year I had a new radiator ,heat gauge and thermometer installed along with regular maintenance.We are out of possibilities on the problem & patience. Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Yvonne,
I have the same year and engine in a LeBaron coupe, so I have some experience.
Have you checked for fault codes in the engine control unit, using the ignition key? Turn the ignition key "on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing that in 5 seconds or less elapase time. The watch the check engine light which remains 'on', to see if begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat the count process to assure accuracy. Then group the counts in pairs in the order of appearance to form the 2-digit fault code numbers.
The write back or go to www.allpar.com/fix/codes.html for a code list.
The other item that will cause an intermittent stall is the exhaust gas recirculation valve. On your 4 cylinder engine it is located behind the engine (between the engine and the firewall) and it is closer to the front of the engine so stand on the passenger side and look down and in behind the engine for the egr which has a pipe coming from the exhaust manifold to its underside and a pipe from it going to the intake. There is a vacuum operated round fitting on its top, and also a vacuum line going to an electrically operated valve closer to the engine, nearer the throttle body. Look under the round fitting (which is mounted on a saddle with openings for access to view) on the top of the valve where you will see a vertical rod with a slot in it which is the valve stem. Take a straight blade screwdriver and use the slot to lever the valve up against spring pressure and see if it is dropping back down due to spring's action and closing positively. Put WD-40 on the stem to loosen it up in that motion if necessary. Check to make sure the vacuum lines are all attached and not cracked. Then warm up the engine and observe the slot to see if it goes up when you rev the engine to 2500 rpm and then drops back down fully, closing the valve, when you let the engine go back to idle rpm. Make sure that the fully down position is really down because if it is not fully closing when you let go of the accelerator and coast that will cause the engine to stall. It may be that to get it to close you'll have to unbolt it and clean out the gas flow passage past the valve due to buildup of exhaust fumes in the valve as sticky crud deposit around the internal valve. But give the WD-40 approach a try.
Roland