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I have a stalling problem with my son's 2000 Dodge Intrepid 2.7L that's driving my mechanic friend and me crazy. Just after my son got home (fortunately) from college for Christmas break, his car started stalling and dying without warning. It happened twice while he was driving it but restarted immediately. It then happened twice while I was driving it on Christmas Eve and wouldn't restart. We went back to get it after church a few hours later and it restarted so I drove it to my mechanic friend. He started it, letting it idle, and found it would die after about 45 minutes. Sometimes it would restart immediately, but sometimes it would need to sit awhile. We researched the problem online and found several posts with suggestions but no definitive answers. Several posts indicated an intermittent fuel pump was the problem. He replaced that, but it did not help. Others suggested replacing the camshaft position sensor. Replacing that did not help either. My friend found that a very light tap on the camshaft position sensor would cause the engine to stumble and sometimes die. He put the original camshaft position sensor back in but a light tap would not cause it to die. It did die on its own about a minute later.We're thinking about replacing the engine computer but I don't want to spend that much with no guarantee that it will help. My friend has noticed that the running time is getting shorter before it dies. He does have a code scanner but this problem has never produced a code. I found a TSB listing that sounds like it might apply, but I don't have access to the contents of the bulletin.2000 Dodge Intrepid Engine And Engine Cooling Service Bulletin 195966NHTSA: Action Number: 606347 Service Bulletin Number: 195966* Report Date: May 21, 1999Summary: Conditions with vehicle start and stall or vehicle no-start. *ttMaybe it's time to bite the bullet and buy him another car, but with two kids in college I'd like to avoid that if possible. The car is essentially worthless at this point.Thanks for any help you can give!Steve
Country: United StatesMake: DodgeModel: IntrepidYear: 2000Engine: 2.7 L Already Tried: I have a stalling problem with my son's 2000 Dodge Intrepid 2.7L that's driving my mechanic friend and me crazy. Just after my son got home (fortunately) from college for Christmas break, his car started stalling and dying without warning. It happened twice while he was driving it but restarted immediately. It then happened twice while I was driving it on Christmas Eve and wouldn't restart. We went back to get it after church a few hours later and it restarted so I drove it to my mechanic f
Hello and welcome to just answer. Let me see if I can help you with this. Did you replace the camshaft position sensor with a Mopar one from the dealer or an after market one from your auto parts store?
It came from AutoZone, which is right across the street from where my friend is working on it.
My chat window says that you are typing but I haven't received a reply. Just sending this to be sure I don't have a problem with my internet connection.
Ok, well I have run into some "junk" after market cam and crank sensors several times in the past, so keep that in mind. The fact that tapping on the new sensor causing it to stumble and die makes me think that this new sensor may be defective.
We don't know for sure if the old one was defective. The engine eventually dies with either sensor.
I assume you're saying that a good guess would be that the problem is with the cam sensor, but we'd be better off trying a Mopar sensor.
Ok, well the original one and the new one may be defective. The other thing it may be is a failing crankshaft position sensor or the PCM. I have seen where either one of the sensors can short out internally and take down the reference voltage that both sensors use. Basically there are 3 things that can cause this. 1 a bad crank sensor, 2 a bad cam sensor, and 3 the PCM. I recommend first seeing if you can return the cam sensor and purchase another one from the dealer. Then if you still have the problem replace the crank sensor (dealer only please). If the problem still exists, go with the PCM. Also tell your friend to be sure that there are no spread terminals at the cam and crank sensor's 3 way connectors.
I wondered if the connectors might be the problem and suggested that he "squeeze them together to ensure a tight fit" but he says they're encased in plastic and he can't do that. I haven't looked at the part so I don't know if that's possible, but he was a dealer mechanic before he started working with me so I assume he knows what he's talking about. Thanks for the input. We'll see if it helps.
Yeah it is hard to simply squeeze them while they are in the connector, but what he can do is to remove the locking wedge from the connector and remove each terminal, tighten it up a bit and then re insert it back into the connector.
Thanks, I'll pass that on.
Sounds good! Good luck!
I have not accepted the answer yet because I want to see if any of the suggestions actually work. They are basically the same suggestions my mechanic friend made. The Mopar cam sensor (which cost twice as much as the Duralast sensor we originally tried) made no difference. It looked EXACTLY like the Duralast sensor. Oddly enough, the Mopar sensor was made in Mexico and the Duralast sensor was marked Made in USA. We'll try the Mopar crank sensor next but I'm not sure I want to spend the money on the engine computer with no guarantee that will work.
Let me know how it goes.
I will accept your answer and add a little bonus if I can figure out how to do it. Replacing the crank sensor seemed to do the trick. It's very weird that we never got a code about this, because we did get a crank sensor code on another Intrepid that didn't have the stalling problem. I'm so happy we didn't have to replace the engine computer because I didn't want to put that much money into a ten year old car with no guarantee that it would work. Thanks for your help!
Experience: ASE and Chrysler Master tech certified
Glad that you got it fixed! You are welcome and thank you for the accept!
Chris