I bought a 2000 Dodge Intrepid (2.7L)back at the end of February. It ran pretty good for amonth or so at which timeit had randomly stalled out on me. Ever since then it's been somewhat of a nightmare. Now when idlingit'll run pretty good for about 15-30 minutes at which time it'll startgradually andcalmlyrevving itselfup for a couple of minutes then going completely awol as ifI had applied the gas at full forceracing the Daytona 500, all without me giving the pedal the slightest touch. After about 5-8 minutes of it revving itself up at almost max rpm it'll stall out and and continue to stall out (sometimes not starting up at all) unless I leave it off for atleast a few hours or so. The worst part is when this happens while actually driving. The brakes become stiff, hard to use, and the car begins jerking fowards at times as if fighting itselfto keep going even though the brakes are applied. Then the car stalls out. (which of course is very dangerous on the freeway). What could be causing this and how hard or expensive could it be to fix ? Would it even be worth fixing ? or should I just junk the car seeing as I doubt anybody would buy a car that's not worth fixing ? I keep hearing about the dreaded 2.7L engine that Chrysler manufactured but when my car is working properly it's a pretty good car, very comfortable and a smooth ride. Although I've since stopped driving it for fear of further damage, but I need my car very much because getting around without it is nearly impossible and most times tedious and agonizing !

Any help or information is much appreciated, so thank you in advanced !

It sounds vacuum related. That's probably why your brakes get hard...you are loosing your brake boost. This would also reek havoc on the RPM's, as the fuel pressure is regulated by the vacuum, also the idel air motor, map sensor,etc. If it only does it when hot, I'd say a leaky seal on the air intake.

Try spraying (careful where you spray and how much as it’s extremely flammable!!) starter fluid around the intake manifold and see if the engine RPM’s flux. If so you found the leak. You could also get a cheap hand held vacuum pump (like a Mighty Vac) and monitor the vacuum from cold to hot…just to see. Also the pump can help isolate components for leaks it the leak is from elsewhere.

Let me know what happens, and we’ll go from there.

PS While I think everyone prefers the other engines, the car is still good and not a throw away.

Kurt

I agree with the first person's reply; however, I would also check your throttle and its operation. I have the complete Dodge Manual (not Haynes or Chilton), which I can send as an attachment. You will need Adobe file to download it...

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Darryl Waddy