1996 Chrysler Town and Country 02 Sensor Wiring

Tiny
DALEFICKEN
  • MEMBER
  • 1996 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 115,000 MILES
I hope you folks can help me. I was getting a P0171 code on my van. Lean bank one, then all of a sudden it shut off and would not start. Someone suggested an upstream 02 sensor. I did that (what a pain). Come to find out it looks as though someone had replaced it before and left the plug connector sitting on the exhaust. It was melted beyond recognition with wires going in to it blackened. I bought a universal for the year and make of my T&C and wired it directly into the wiring harness. I cut back the wiring harness wires until I found color and I tried to keep track where the new wires should go. I thought I had it right, but after putting it back together it still did not fire. I reset the PCM by disconnecting the battery but was not getting anything to the coil. After much reading I found how to put the relay that controls it to ground and it started right up. Took the ground off and now it starts and runs without any problem, well it starts without any problem. The van now gives an immediate P0351 code and a 43 on the key on and off trick. It runs very rough, I tried new coil, plugs, cam sensor with no luck. I am wondering if I have the 02 sensor wired wrong or if this is another issue.

The new 02 is 4 wire 2 white(heater)gray(ground)black(signal) but with no plug as a reference I don't know where these wires should cut into the harness. I think getting this right would be a good place to start, but I dont think this is my P0351/43 problem.

Any help would be most appreciated!
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 AT 6:24 PM

6 Replies

Tiny
2CARPRO JACK
  • MECHANIC
  • 11,533 POSTS
The vehicles wiring is as follows for a 3.3 liter.
Black- ground
Dk green/orange is 12 volts
Blk/ dk green is the data wire to the PCM
Blk/ lt blue is shared ground with the other sensors. Your best fix would be to get a pigtail for the factory sensor then install the correct sensor instead of a universal. It may be causing the code if the common ground wire isnt right, possibly backfeeding/lossof ground
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 1:04 PM
Tiny
DALEFICKEN
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
I am hoping this is the same for the 3.8. So the 12 volts should go to one of the white heater wires, the black should go to gray for ground, the blk/drk green goes to the black wire for signal to PCM. And I guess the other wire would go to the other white heater wire. I am not sure where I would get the factory pigtail to cut into the wiring harness. If this 02 sensor is not correct this will cause the misfiring? I was told I could disconnect it completely and it would run lean but would not cause it to not fire in several cylinders?

Thank you for all your help!

Dale
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 1:55 PM
Tiny
DALEFICKEN
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Ok. I tried this and it made no difference. I disconnected it completely so for now it looks like I have two problems. The biggest is the 43 code and P0351 I am getting. I have tried plugs, coil, wires are fairly new, cam sensor. I am thinking maybe it is the PCM but hate to put that expense out until I am positive.
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 2:11 PM
Tiny
2CARPRO JACK
  • MECHANIC
  • 11,533 POSTS
Yes, the wires are the same. If it is primary ckt it may be an issue with the wire from the ASD relay to the ignition coil. Do you have a scanner or just a code reader?
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 4:49 PM
Tiny
DALEFICKEN
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
I had Auto Zone do a code read and did the key dance as they call it. Code reader said P0351 and key sequence is 43. I have replaced all the sensors Crank, Cam and 02. New coil and plugs. I am wondering if the O2 sensor melting the wires on the manifold shorted the PCM? I have disconnected the battery to reset but I imagine there is a sure fire way of rebooting the computer completely?

Does a scanner check the PCM to make sure the programming is working correctly and all connections in order?

Thank you Jack for your time.
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 8:15 PM
Tiny
2CARPRO JACK
  • MECHANIC
  • 11,533 POSTS
You can actually watch the sensor working with a scan tool. Have them scan it again and see exactly what the reader says, apparently it can say "primary fault 1, 2, or 3" there are different diagnostic procedures for all of them. It still may be an issue with the o2 wiring, the code has to do with the ASD (auto-shutdown relay) which pretty much fires up all of the injectors/fuel pump/ignition. So if something is shorting that circuit it wont hit the relay which will keep it from running. You can subscribe to Mitchell for a short term sub, which will have all of the diagnostic trouble charts for what is going on, and it is all printable. Something like this it may be the best bet, its inexpensive and you can read alll of it to see what exactly pertains to your vehicle.
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Saturday, June 5th, 2010 AT 9:10 AM

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