This issue has been going on for about a year and a half but happened so infrequently it was livable. But over the last month it has been more frequent. The car will lose power, the idiot lights all come on and the gauges go to zero. If I turn off the car and restart it it goes away, I have put my scanner on it and no codes or pending code appear. I went to my local dealer with it last Thursday as it was having an episode and it recovered and they kept until yesterday and could not duplicate the issue. they put a recorder on it and gave back to us, this morning my wife was driving it and it did it and she activated the recorder,. From the data they think its the fuel pump that is failing as the data shows a lean condition followed by a rich condition. I talked to local Chrysler guy and he thinks it could be the "skim" module. Any ideas?
2009 PT Cruiser intermintant power loss
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1966 Crown Coupe, 2016 200 S AWD, 1962 Lark Daytona V8.
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I take that you are out of the 3/36 basic warranty.
Your scanner probably only would show engine (PCM/TCM) codes, but are there any SKIM (WIN) or TIPM fault codes? The dealer scan tool would be able to read the other modules.
A failing fuel pump wouldn't really explain the cluster gauges all dropping out at stall-time. The warning lights would come on and the tach would drop out at stall. That sounds like an ignition (+) power or communications bus problem to me.
If you play with the ignition switch by moving the key slightly towards 'off' and 'start' and tilt the column up/down slightly, does it bring the electricals back to life? Some PTs had ign switch and column-to-dash wiring harness 'rub-through' issues. I don't know if this changed by 2009.
A fuel pressure gauge attached to the fuel rail with a 4' hose could reach and be pinned under a wiper blade (if it isn't raining) to watch for fuel pump pressure drop out before the stall. Again that doesn't explain the cluster behavior. I think that there is an ignition (+) electrical feed failing somewhere. There may or may not be fault codes for this. The Co-pilot data recorder is a useful tool for this kind of diagnosis.
Your scanner probably only would show engine (PCM/TCM) codes, but are there any SKIM (WIN) or TIPM fault codes? The dealer scan tool would be able to read the other modules.
A failing fuel pump wouldn't really explain the cluster gauges all dropping out at stall-time. The warning lights would come on and the tach would drop out at stall. That sounds like an ignition (+) power or communications bus problem to me.
If you play with the ignition switch by moving the key slightly towards 'off' and 'start' and tilt the column up/down slightly, does it bring the electricals back to life? Some PTs had ign switch and column-to-dash wiring harness 'rub-through' issues. I don't know if this changed by 2009.
A fuel pressure gauge attached to the fuel rail with a 4' hose could reach and be pinned under a wiper blade (if it isn't raining) to watch for fuel pump pressure drop out before the stall. Again that doesn't explain the cluster behavior. I think that there is an ignition (+) electrical feed failing somewhere. There may or may not be fault codes for this. The Co-pilot data recorder is a useful tool for this kind of diagnosis.
Thanks Imperial Crown, luckily I was able to report this to the dealer before the warranty ran out. The dealer has been trying to reproduce the condition but has been unable. They do not see any codes and the fuel pressure has been within spec. They are keeping it for another day, I asked them to review the Tech cases available from Chrysler to see if they can find a similar case. I'll keep updating the topic
Got the car back from the dealer last night, it was the ignition key cylinder. They diagnosed it by pulling on the key and it would start to stumble and the idiot lights would come on. They said they seen this on Grand Cherokees and the same cylinder is used on them, this was first for them on a PT Cruiser. Used the car today for a couple long trip and it's working fine.
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