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Car Turns off While Driving
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ellegee7
New User
Feb 3, 2010, 12:24 PM
Post #1 of 5
(8531 views)
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Car Turns off While Driving
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1997 Chrysler Cirrus, Automatic, 6 Cylinder, Front wheel drive, about 80,000 miles
For the past few months I've been having issues with my car on and off. It began one night when I was out shopping and my car just would not turn on, it was not turning over, seemingly a dead battery. I was on the phone with my dad, insisting he come jump the car. About 10 minutes later, I decided to try and start the car again, and it started as if nothing had ever happened. A few days later, I was driving down the road, lost acceleration, then power steering, then the engine just turned off. I pulled over to the side, turned the car off, and started it up again no problem. This issue continues to persist, although sometimes the car won't start back up again for up to 30 minutes when it stops. Also, sometimes the hazards/other lights won't work when the car stops, making it slightly dangerous for me to be pulled over, especially at night. When I brought it into the garage, they said they could find nothing wrong with it. I'm at a loss, I don't feel safe driving my car anymore, but no one seems to be able to diagnose a problem. Any help is appreciated!
**Also, one time I nearly had to call AAA to get it towed, it was late and refused to start, the lights were not working at all. A cop ended up pulling over and insisted we jump the car.. after a few tries it ended up turning on. Had to stop and get gas on the way home, was terrified of shutting the car off but did anyways, and it turned on after like nothing happened at all. Don't know if that helps.
Thank you!
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nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Feb 3, 2010, 10:16 PM
Post #2 of 5
(8511 views)
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Re: Car Turns off While Driving
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The first thing I would look at is your battery connections, both at the battery and where they meet up with the relay box and starter. look for corrosion. Also follow the wire and see if it may have rubbed the insulation a bit and gotten corroded inside the insulation. You will have to look very closely to see this. Check the ground connections for corrosion as well, and I mean unbolt them to look at each piece. If this isn't your problem it will be very hard to diagnose. Honestly, whatever is causing it may have to fail entirely to be able to be diagnosed. The worst thing with your problem is that when a tech goes to check the system it works . I know this is frustrating not having a reliable car and nobody being able to fix it. But we can only fix what we see wrong, and when it works in front of us all systems check out fine. When you do get this gremlin fixed, let us know what it was that caused the problem. I'm interested in hearing this one. For now, you may want to get some road flares or reflective triangles and keep them in your trunk, as you mentioned the hazards not always working. This will give you some visibility at night.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Feb 4, 2010, 4:45 AM
Post #3 of 5
(8510 views)
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Re: Car Turns off While Driving
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Nick, poster and readers: This is about the 10th similar complaint with various vehicle lately and for some reason problems come like that. This smacks of poor connection somewhere probably a battery cable as Nick mentioned. Not just at the battery but the other ends too. It can only deliver power as good as the weakest link which can be intermittent and tested while down but it's so common this ought to be a routine that isn't mentioned in routine maintenance of the vehicles I've read service suggestions out of owner's manuals on!
With a poor connection - frequently at the starter as they catch a lot of corrosion from just driving in many. GM side posts are a trouble spot and Chrysler products are fussy about getting proper current while running for it's engine controls more than others and more subject to just up and quit on you. Most will just not click or start at all and if bad enough even reset radio and clocks as if battery was removed!
On emergency road calls when this happens I can (only on certain models) just give a twist or a tug on cable to starter and the fire up one more time to get to a place where it can be fixed. It's like resetting jumper cables when they don't work the first time kind of thing.
Common problem especially in areas where salts are used to treat roads for ice and snow.
Note: These connections can look good by eye and not be. It's not about how tight they are either - they must be known clean and I use silicone or dielectric grease to slow the corrosion down,
T
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khoutcast
New User
Feb 9, 2010, 3:12 PM
Post #4 of 5
(8470 views)
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Re: Car Turns off While Driving
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Not sure if this will help any but I have a 97 plymouth voyger that seem to be having a simular problem. My brother in law ran the test on it and code came back as P0121 - throtle pedal position sensor.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Feb 10, 2010, 1:56 PM
Post #5 of 5
(8456 views)
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Re: Car Turns off While Driving
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The lights and hazzards don't even work at times as stated! A TPS wouldn't have anything to do with that,
T
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