Expert: Roland Finston - 6/3/2011

Question
'99, Chrysler Sebring JX, V6 2.5L, California Standard

Last year my 99 Chrysler Sebring Convertible over heated severely ruining the engine. The engine was in the care of a friend of the family for sometime and he rebuilt the engine. He claims to have got it started and running, but now it will not even start. We tried to replace the crank shaft censor, but that was not the issue. He couldn't figure it out and due to cost it went to a technical school for the instructor (a well known one) to figure out and have his students fix the problem. They have had no luck and even the instructor is puzzled. He said it could be the distributor, but he said the one time they got the ignition to turn on they could smell what smelt like a electrical burning smell, but still couldn't get it to crank. The last time I spoke to the instructor they had just got the battery (which nothing is wrong with) to start and hold a charge which it wasn't doing previously. He said something was draining it, but did not know the cause. He believes that the man who rebuilt the engine must have pinched a wire when placing the engine back into the car causing something to short. The school year is over and they do not have the time to chase the wiring. I have too much money wrapped up in the car so I do not want to let it go to waste. Is there any certain areas that are likely places to start without the time of chasing back all the wiring? I would love to have this car running by the 20th before I go on orders with the Navy. It'll make my life so much more easier.

Thanks,
Andrew

Answer
Hi Andrew,
There are 17 of the 19 fuses in the power distribution box under the hood that are directly connected to the battery, and depending upon what each is then connected to should either be disconnected from anything else (via the igniton switch or some other relay) or connected to a device which should routinely draw little or no current (thus show a high but not infinite resistance to ground). So I would suggest that with a digital ohmmeter you check out the resistance to ground that each of those fuses exhibit. But first disconnect the + wire from the battery and see what resistance it shows to ground. Then with the battery wire still disconnected check the resistance to ground of all the resistors, knowing that 9 and 10 which go to ignition switch should be infinite to ground with the switch off. Then we can focus on those fused circuits which show a near 0 ohms to ground (but evidentally not so low as to blow the fuse). Do you have access to the vehicle? 'Ground' would be the - post clamp at the battery.
Roland
PS Sorry for the delay but I just found your question in the 'pool' where it was referred by another expert in this category.