It cranks but will not start

Tiny
MEHRANM
  • MEMBER
  • 1996 DODGE CARAVAN
  • 3.0L
  • 6 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 240,000 MILES
I owned the van for a while. It started with turning off while driving since a year ago. The frequency of shutting off increased to almost twenty times in a day while it would turn on again by starting it. All of a sudden now it cranks but will not start.
What could it be? Is there a fuel pump filter that could be plugged?
Do you
have the same problem?
Yes
No
Tuesday, September 26th, 2017 AT 8:38 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,699 POSTS
This is a real common problem on any brand of vehicle, and should have been solved a long time ago. The crankshaft position sensor and the camshaft position sensor commonly fail by becoming heat-sensitive, then they work again after cooling down for about an hour. The first step in diagnosing this is to read the diagnostic fault codes. Chrysler makes doing that yourself very easy. Cycle the ignition switch from "off" to "run" three times within five seconds without cranking the engine, leave it in "run", then watch the code numbers appear in the odometer display. I can interpret the numbers for you, or you can go here:

https://www.2carpros.com/trouble_codes/obd2

The camshaft position sensor on your engine is in the distributor and has a pretty low failure rate. The crankshaft position sensor needs to have a critical air gap set with a thick paper spacer, or a plastic rib on the end of some aftermarket sensors.

Your description of at first being able to restart the engine right away points to a different common problem. If the battery was disconnected during some other service, the Engine Computer needs to relearn "minimum throttle" before it will know when it must be in control of idle speed. Until that occurs, the engine may not start unless you hold the accelerator pedal down 1/4", you won't get the nice idle flare-up to 1500 rpm at start up, and it will tend to stall at stop signs.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Tuesday, September 26th, 2017 AT 3:24 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links