When I try to hold it steady at around 30-35mph it hesitates and has even killed on me a couple times

Tiny
THECHADLEE
  • MEMBER
  • 2008 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY
  • 60,000 MILES
Hey, I have a 2008 town and country with the 4.0 liter. When I try to hold it steady at around 30-35mph it hesitates and has even killed on me a couple times. I guess it does it at lower speeds also but never when I am over 40mph. Do you think it is a problem with the injectors? Should I get them cleaned out? What else could it be? I have added a fuel additive to try and clean any junky fuel out but no luck. Could it be something other than the fuel? It has 60,000 miles.
Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 1:52 AM

12 Replies

Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
  • MECHANIC
  • 52,797 POSTS
Could be a partially clogged cat.
Could be fuel pressure but doubt it since it is ok above that speed.
Could be something with the trans as well.
Get someone to road test it to confirm.

Roy
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:05 AM
Tiny
THECHADLEE
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Do you think it could be the throttle position sensor?
By "cat" do you mean the catalytic converter?
I recently drover to FL and back from MN and the check engine light came on. The code was for the EGR system. Didn't really say to replace the EGR valve and it gave a few possible EGR alerts. The light on the dash went off after a few days. Do you think it could be related to that.I don't think it is because this problem was happening for a few months before our trip. I dunno, maybe it's the cat?
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:12 AM
Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
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Could be but a code never idnetifies a bad part, just a failed system.
The egr could cause this if it is sticking but you need a shop with a scanner to monitor the egr while the problem exists.

Roy
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:16 AM
Tiny
THECHADLEE
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Thanks for your replies, Do you think it could be clogged injectors?
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:18 AM
Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
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I doubt it, there would be more problems at higher speeds.

Roy
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:20 AM
Tiny
THECHADLEE
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Can the cat be cleaned and can I check it myself to see if in fact it's clogged?
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:23 AM
Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
  • MECHANIC
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No, it cannot be cleaned and without the proper equipment, you cannot check it yourself.

Roy
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:25 AM
Tiny
THECHADLEE
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
OK Roy, I will take it to get the EGR scanned and Cat tested. Sounds like your export opinion is telling us the problem is exhaust related most likely. I would like to believe it's not transmission related and to tell ye the truth it feels like a congestion problem. Especially since I can keep it from killing if I step on the gas and kinda "clear the throat"!
Thanks for the help! Awesome!
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:29 AM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
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Hi guys. Excuse me for butting in but I just wanted to clear up some misconceptions. Chrysler has probably the least fuel injector problems of any manufacturer and you aren't going to solve anything by adding more chemicals to the fuel than what's already in there. Even if one injector became plugged, you'd have a single cylinder misfire, not a stalling problem. For any intermittent stalling problem, you have to be losing spark or fuel to all the cylinders, or a sensor is failing that RESULTS in a loss of fuel or spark to all cylinders. Compression is the third ingredient but losing that is not going to cause an intermittent problem.

The EGR system injects inert exhaust gas into the cylinders to take up space to replace some unneeded fresh fuel and air. You can't have that occurring at lower speeds or guess what happens? Stalling and hesitating. The EGR valve should only open at highway speeds where the loss of some fuel won't be noticed.

The EGR valve will not be commanded to open at lower speeds, but it can stick open when you slow down. That's typically due to carbon buildup or a worn valve assembly. That can be intermittent too. It sounds like the Check Engine light was telling you there was a problem. There's always a long list of conditions that must be met to set a fault code and turn on the light, but you can experience running problems before all of those conditions are met. With problems that are relatively less severe, the light will turn off while you're driving but the code will stay in memory.

I don't know how you got to thinking about the throttle position sensor for a stalling problem. ASEMaster6371 is right about getting a mechanic involved. You'll be bouncing around guessing at too many unrelated things, and if you start randomly replacing parts, besides introducing a whole bunch of new variables the Engine Computer has to learn, that is the most expensive and least effective way to diagnose this type of problem.

I'm in Wisconsin. Next time you go to Florida in the winter, please take me with you!
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:52 AM
Tiny
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Sorry, I clicked flag for review on accident on caradiodoc's reply. My bad.
Thanks for the help Doc! I think I am going to start with having a pro check on the EGR issues and see if that's the problem. I'll go from there.
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 AT 2:59 AM
Tiny
MELISSAEASTALLEN
  • MEMBER
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Thechadlee, did you ever get this resolved? I'm having the exact same problem as you on my 08 4.0. Did it turn out to be egr? I'm not getting any codes so don't know where to start.
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Friday, October 12th, 2012 AT 4:28 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
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You should start a new question for a couple of reasons. First of all, a lot of different things can cause the same symptoms. If you start randomly replacing parts that solved the problem for other people you will likely waste a lot of money and introduce new variables into the problem.

Second, only the three of us are going to get automated e-mails directing us back here to see your comment. That does you a disservice because none of the other experts will see your question or have a chance to respond.
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Friday, October 12th, 2012 AT 7:57 PM

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