Expert: Roland Finston - 7/1/2009

Question
QUESTION: i have a 2000 chrysler cirrus LXI 2.5 V6, year ago after having tune and timing belt changed at dealer, stared to act up.with an intermitting prob.  1st didnt start on cold mornings, no prob. found after a few times going back they cheange the plug wires and cap again, and egr another time. than started doing on cold wet mornings starts up go a mile or so than when temp gage get to 1/8 stalls restarts put in gear stalls keep up untill temp gage gets to 1/4 than shes fine,replaced temp sensor, IAC mod.  now doing same but hard restarting ,once warmed up she runs great.



ANSWER: Hi Steve,
Any fault codes? On-off-on-off-on and leave on, using the ignition key and completing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch to see the odometer change to show any 4-digit numbers. If no numbers at all, then a free code readout at an Autozone parts store is the next step. Let me know any such numbers and we'll go from there.
Roland

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QUESTION: only once 2 times ago it throw cyl 1 and 2 misfire codes. all other times no codes.

ANSWER: Hi Steve,
You didn't specify which 'temp sensor' you replaced. There are two of them, an intake air and a engine coolant. Try replacing the other one, and then if that doesn't do it use a volt-ohm meter to check the continuity of the sensors' wires to the powertrain control module. I can fill you in on which pins need to verified.
Roland

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QUESTION: the IAT sensor ohms checks out good at all temps, also would like to add it dose happen on cool dam mornings, i also have tried cleaning thottle body with thottle body and intake cleaner,and cleaned up all the ground conections, ea. time now daily rechecking all sensors ohms at diff temps..with all this rain here in new england and hose can not get to doing it when wanted. but did get it to stumble but no stall in driveway. when temp gage was between 1/8 and 1/4. and still no code on dash or at autozone.

Answer
Hi Steve
You have evidently exhausted the electronic possibilities. So my suggestion would be to look over all the vacuum lines and fuel mixture possibilities such as detached/cracked vacuum lines and the possibility that the egr valve is sticking ajar slightly which will also play havoc with idle mixture. Spray some WD-40 on the the egr valve stem where it enters the valve body. Other than that, I can't think of anything else to suggest. It would be helpful to me if you could repeat exactly what is going on, and also spell check your response before sending it because it isn't clear to me what is the specific behavior being exhibited by the engine from start to warmed up.
Roland