1998 Chrysler Sebring Chrysler Sebring Intermittent misfire

Ken,

I have had the mechanic run injector cleaner with no improvement. The mechanic and I discussed injectors as being a possible cause before I posted the original problem, and ruled it out. The engine acts like 2 or 3 cylinders are getting weak spark, all cylinders don't misfire.

After reading your response, we discussed the TPS, camshaft and crankshaft sensors and wires connecting them as well as being possible sources of the problem. I am not going to replace all six injectors just to see if that solves the problem, the expense is cost prohibitive. Are there any wire joint connection points to the TPS, crankshaft and camshaft sensors that could cause a bad signal being received from these sensors, because without the TPS, crank, and camshaft sensors working properly, the ECU on the fuel injection cannot work properly?

Are there any tests we can perform shorting a wire, etc, to try to recreate the condition of the intermittent misfire to the TPS, crank, or camshaft sensors?

Ken,

Yes we have tried that, the car has been off the street going on 6 weeks now,

I can't PM you until I have ten posts under my belt.

I was hoping to PM you with my mechanic's name/phone so we could get to the bottom of this in a timely fashion over the phone with you without me serving as intermediary.

I can't afford to wait another week or two, with question, answer, question, answer, etc. I want to get my car running again if possible without putting more money than is worth in it in a reasonable amount of time.

Is it possible for you to PM me with a contact number so I may pass it to my mechanic and have him call you?

I promise if we solve this I will document the diagnosis on the forum for other poor souls who have the same problem, and give you credit where it is due. Does that sound like a reasonable proposition?

FYI.
My mechanic has mulled this over with a few other competent mechanics, even with all the tests he has tried is still stumped. I believe he is honest and has told me every once in awhile he runs into a car with a problem or problems that are difficult to diagnose/fix.

Sincerely,

Rhody99

Ken,

Yes, you should be hearing from my mechanic, Floyd, early next week.

Thanks.

Rhody

Ken,

I know it has been a couple of weeks since my mechanic, Floyd was supposed to contact you, about the intermittent weak engine misfire on my 98 Sebring. He is pretty sure it is from a weak spark, and that the cause lies in the distributor, which costs over 1000 dollars new. We are trying to find a used one at a junkyard and on the web. The problem is that everyone has been scarfing them up, because they must be failing after about a decade of use and most folks like myself are willing to spend 1000 dollars on the part alone. My question to you is that since the mechanic is convinced that weak intermittent spark is the source of the problem, are there any other parts we may have overlooked, besides the distributor?

Floyd spoke to a Chrysler factory regional rep who is an expert on the Sebring and concurs that it possibly may be the distributor that is the source of the problem.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

The final solution turned out to be a used distributor, I was able to find one for 250 $ a new one costs over 1000$ and I was unwilling to spend that in case it wasn't the solution. Luckily it was. The car has been running fine for almost two weeks now.

For future reference, if you have a 10 year old Sebring and it has intermittent performance off idle while accelerating from a stop, don't count out the distributor. There must be a lot of cars with this problem because used distributor's are very hard to find, because many people put in used ones. Thanks for your help.

Rhody99