Accept no substitutes

PT Saga Continues

First let me say that I love my PT Cruiser. I’ve had it for over 5 years; it is a first year Cruiser. During that time I’ve only had a few minor repairs and not serious callbacks.
Then the stalling when the engine is hot started.
The occurance of the problem preceded my 60K mile maintenance by only 24 hours so I added a look at the stall to the scheduled maintenace. The 60K is a pretty big deal in which all the spark plugs, wires, hoses etc are replaced or at least checked. The guess of the service guys was that the PT had gunk built up in the throttle housing (?) and that in the heat the gunk became fluid enough to ooze down and cut off the flow. No trouble. Just clean it out.
I pick up the car and drive a bit. The stall is back — or more properly never left.
[inserting forgetten visit here]
I take it back to Chrysler. They have found a tech bulletin of some sort. They download new soft/firmware in to the car’s mind. That should fix it.
In the mean time, Sally’s car, an older Saturn, was stalling too. Her problem was related to the EGR valve.
The PT, even with it’s new brain download, stalls again and again. Some symptoms: fine until driven about 15 or 20 miles in the heat. Then beware on stoplights.
The Chrysler guys next speculated that the problem was the fuel pump. My choices: Drive around with a pressure recorder on the fuel line or Just go ahead and replace the pump.
We replaced the pump. Not cheap but effective or so it seems.
No more stalling — so far.
Thursday I drove the PT about 4 blocks and the Check Engine Light lit up. Finally some data for the poor mechanics. During all the stalling there was no Check Engine and no data or alerts generated.
Now we have something for them to look at.
More on Monday.
[insert Saturday stall outs]
So I take the first good medium length drive today. Over to Durham to hear Barry Varela read from his new novel, Palmer’s Gate at the Regulator. I get almost to 9th Street when I hit a stoplight. The car stalls.
I am cursed in several different languages as I try to restart the car even though I have the e-blinkers on and am in the rightmost lane.
Finally, as usual, the PT restarts. I get to the reading a little late, but I do get there.
After the reading and good talks with friends, I get in the PT. Starts fine. Drives fine. All the way to Chapel Hill. Until I try to turn off 51-501 onto Morgan Creek. Stall again. Yikes.

13 Comments

  1. Kim

    2007 PT Touring Edition 43,000 miles– Sunday (today is Fri) my check engine light came on and it kind of sputtered/jerked when going around a corner. My hubs looked it over, checked the oil, but couldn’t find anything wrong. The light went out. Tuesday as I was getting on the freeway the light came back on and my car wouldn’t go over 30mph – lots of jerking, bucking. I pulled over, sat for about 10 minutes and got of the highway. My Bro in law checked with a computer what the problem was saying – said the crankshaft. He and my hubs reset it and no problems Wed or Thur. I get in to drive today – 3 blocks from home the light comes on. The bucking/jerking starts again. Wouldn’t go above 35 mph.

    Not sure what to do – call the dealership? I have an extended warranty – but would it be better to just have my hubs replace the cam and crankshaft, as lots of people seem to have this issue…

  2. Anonymous

    cam and crank shaft sensor problem, cheep to fix.. do that first

  3. Arvis

    my daughters 2005 pt just stopped while comming on to a stop sign. won’t start, will sound like its going too. but will not turn over. have been told to replace crank and cam senors. unsure! any suggestions?

  4. Clutch

    This definitely sounds like something on the electrical side. Maybe try what michael mentioned with the plug wires.

  5. valk

    After a timming belt change at dealer, a no cold idle developed upon pick up. After two weeks of back and forth it turned out to be the IAC (idle air control) which sits on the top of the mainfold. The IAC can get squashed or pushed when they break loose the motor mount and jack up up engine when replacing the timming belt-I think. The connector of the firefall mounted CPU will be damaged also. Ran fine prior to take in….

  6. Chad

    I have a 2003 PT Cruiser I bought new and around a 100,000 miles it started the same thing, would not run over 2500 rpm (60-65mph). I replaced the coil, cam and crank sensor, plugs (twice), and plug wires. It does seem to be worse when its hot. I thought about cutting the catalitic convertor off and welding a piece of pipe in its place. I do know one thing……..I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER CHRYSTLER!!!

  7. Bronwen

    I am having the same problems as everyone else. Have replaced cam and crank shaft sensors. Still does it. During the winter it drives pretty good. Now that it is hot it is really bad. Bringing it to the fifth mechanic today. If he happens to remedy this I will post it in all caps to celebrate.

  8. Neil

    Hey Chad, sounds close to the problem that i had, my 01 crusier had been running like that at first then one day just shut right down could not get vechile to run past 50 km, so parked and started to troubleshoot, found out that i had 3 cracks in my exhaust manifold, so replaced thinking that this would fix that problem, alas it did not but now i have a good manifold lol. So started troubleshooting again, decided to remove my cat converter and see if that was the problem, so i took it off and found that all the honeycomb in front of the o2 sensor had broken and clogged the cat, so replaced and everything seems to work now. so ya it might be a good idea to check that.

  9. Maggie Reece

    I have a 2006 PT cruiser, first problem I had, everything quit on me, wind shield wipers, no head lights no turn signals, someone kinda pin pointed out what I can get and he will change it, than they started working again.

    Now, at 30 something miles, it stalls on me, twice while driving, another when it was parked.

    what can be done with these lemons? I am still paying on it, what do I do, I was soooo proud of my first new car…

    grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr makes me mad

  10. barbara Matu

    I have had my PT crusier for 8 years. it is a 2004. It only has 73,000 miles. I have had it in two different repair shops. I have had mutiple sensore changed. My problem began with the engine light would come on then it would stall and it would restart but when I put it in drive it would stall again. Now i can drive it about 15020 miles then the engine light comes on and it seems like it is not getting enough gas it sputteres and then it stalls and it wont start or about one hour. Nobody seems to know why this is happening. It seems like mine is not the only one. Some one at Chylser has to know what is causing this.

  11. steve

    girlfriends Turbo PT cruiser keeps stalling on free way we took it to mechanic’s they could not solve problem there was several codes that came up that I think is the result of one unknown problem the stalling is random never know when it might occur I took the car to two more mechanic’s who both stated it needed a new computer so I had a new computer installed the next day oil light comes on we had a oil change done at same time and the stalling has now returned it seems to stall on hot days and when air conditioning is on at random times and usually on the freeway I am thinking this is a electrical wiring problem ? can any one give me a suggestion on solving this issue thank you

  12. Warthog

    Just this afternoon helped a delivery person push her PT into a safe place when it stalled when going thru an uphill turn. Seemed to be about ana 5 or 6 yr old PT. Would not run even after about 20 minutes but cranked strongly.
    company she worked for was sending a tow truck.
    Another person who stopped to help push said he’d heard about PT stalling problem. Not a reliable auto in my opinion.
    After 30 min it stil would not run.

  13. Nundi Hooks

    Hi guys I had the same problem with my 06 pt with the stalling if I go over 2-25000rrpm. I couldn’t get on the free way and I didn’t like being at stop lights because it stalled after the light turned green and I tried to go. My exboyfried found the problem. I’m not sure of what the technical terms are but it was this piece that was in my valve cover connecting this tube. It has something to do the the air intake. He took the tube off and tried to replace to piece but it was so old and damaged it broke. So he ended up going to the junck yard and replacing the entire valve cover. I believe that’s what its called. I have a pick if you want u can email me at nundih91@gmail.com

Leave a Reply

© 2024 The Real Paul Jones

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑