Starts when I give it gas then idles out

Tiny
ALTERREL0
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 DODGE DAKOTA
  • 4.7L
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 20,000 MILES
I had a P0206 code. I found the clogged injector replaced it along with AIC and TPS including coils and plugs. Now my truck will only start if I give it gas while turning the key then it starts. When I let off the gas the rpm's drop to about 500 and the truck shuts off. I then ran injector cleaner through my tank and I continue to have the same problem.
Saturday, February 8th, 2020 AT 12:16 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,761 POSTS
Go out and drive it at highway speed with the engine warmed up, then coast for at least seven seconds without touching the pedals. When you tell me the problem is solved, I'll explain why.
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Saturday, February 8th, 2020 AT 2:24 PM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
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When you say you replaced the AIC, do you mean the IAC? Idle Air Control?

When you press the accelerator you are only opening the throttle plate to allow more air in. Fuel is only controlled by the PCM opening the injectors for a longer time.

Can you clarify the code that you had? Was it a P0206? If you had one clogged injector then you may have other injectors damaged. If this is the case then you could be getting to much fuel so when you open the throttle it is balancing the air fuel ratio.

Let's start with pulling the plugs and see if they are wet or smell like fuel after you start it a couple times. Also, let's check the short term fuel trims with a scan tool if you have one that can look at raw data.
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Saturday, February 8th, 2020 AT 2:30 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
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The first problem is how do you know an injector was clogged? In 30 years, including ten at the dealership, I have never come across a defective injector in a Chrysler product. High-mileage GM engines have an extremely high number of elusive misfire codes codes caused by injectors that were never flow-matched, but Chrysler buys their injectors from Bosch in flow-matched sets.

What does occur in 100 percent of Chrysler products, at least up through the mid 2000s, is a failure to run unless the accelerator pedal is held down 1/4". If the engine does run, it will not give you the nice "idle flare-up to 1500 rpm at start-up, and it will tend to stall at stop signs. This is caused by the Engine Computer losing its memory, either because it was disconnected, or the battery was disconnected. Fuel trim data and sensor personalities will be relearned as soon as you start driving, without you even noticing. The one notable exception is "minimum throttle". Until that is relearned, the computer won't know when it has to be in control of idle speed.

The computer needs to know your foot is off the accelerator pedal, then it takes a reading from the throttle position sensor and puts that in memory. From then on, any time it sees that same voltage, it knows it has to be in control of idle speed. The first condition that triggers that relearn is unusually high intake manifold vacuum, but simply snapping the throttle briefly isn't enough. It has to see high vacuum and a steady TPS reading for at least seven seconds. That can only be done by coasting down from highway speed.

We always took customers' cars on short test-drives to do this relearn if the battery had been disconnected in the shop. For good customers who understood the need to do this, we would just send them on their way with instructions to do that themselves.

The second problem is code 206 doesn't refer to a defective injector.

P0206 - Injector Circuit Malfunction - Cylinder 6

It refers to the circuit. The most common suspect is one of the terminals in the connector is spread and making poor contact with its mate. That will be disturbed when it is unplugged, then reconnected. This is the type of problem where we read too often the problem came back weeks or months later and we incorrectly assume the new part is defective.

Some Engine Computers can detect some problems caused by injectors by monitoring the current wave forms. This graph shows the voltage and current for one injector. 12 volts is applied to all the injectors, then the control side is pulled to ground by the driver in the computer. That's the red "voltage" graph on top. Current, in the blue graph, ramps up relatively slowly as the electromagnetic field builds around the coil of wire in the injector. When that field gets strong enough, the pintle valve is pulled off its seat to open and let fuel spray in. The point at which that happens is shown by the transition in the "rise time" part of the wave form. That is what the computer looks for. If it doesn't see that transition, it sets a fault code for "injector circuit performance". As far as what I've been taught, Chrysler doesn't monitor that. They just apply the 12 volts and ground to the injector, then the computer assumes the injector responds properly, and it verifies that by watching the oxygen sensor signals.

I know it's a lot more work, but since injectors are way down at the bottom of the list of suspects, I would entertain a notion to switch the suspect injector with one of the others, erase the fault code, then drive it and see if a code sets for the same cylinder or the cylinder the suspect injector was moved to. I'd be very surprised if the fault code followed the injector, but there's always a first time.
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Saturday, February 8th, 2020 AT 3:56 PM

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