PROBLEM:

Car starts fine, runs at idle with no problems. Starting out (going down the road) in the
car everything still runs fine. About 1.5 miles down the road the car starts to spit and
sputter with a jerkiness. At around 2.5 miles I notice I no longer have any acceleration no
matter how much I pushed down on the throttle pedal. I can floor it and it still will not
accelerate. I pull over to the side of the road, but the car doesn't quit running. Although if I put it in gear and try to pull out it will then die on me. I usually have to sit and wait for around 15 minutes for the car to run like normal (acting as though it has to cool down or something but it doesn't read hot on the temp meter).
I failed to mention here that after I wait 15 minutes the car starts running normally butfor only a short period of time and then leaving me sit along side of the road a few miles down the road, then we repeat this process until I get it home.
It now has a rough idle and if I give it some gas it spits and sputters though the intake manifold I don't get any backfire from the exhaust (at least none I can hear). It almost seems as though something is clogged or its getting too much gas or something. I Have no idea what the problem could be!

I noticed today after it was doing what I described above, it would occasionally rev real high, but then if I try to put in gear to go it will bog down again.

CODES:

I ran the diagnostic codes (the one where you turn your car on and off three times then let
it on) and got these codes.

11 - a.) Intermittent loss of either camshaft or crankshaft position sensor.
b.) No crank reference signal detected during engine cranking. (which I believe is
also the same as)...
b.) No Distributer reference signal detected during engine cranking. check the circuit
between the distributer and the PCM.
and c.)Timing belt skipped 1 tooth or more from initial learned value.

12 - Direct battery input to PCM was disconnected within the last 50 key on cycles. (which
is from me disconnecting the battery.)

43 - Multiple / single cylinder misfire detected. Peak primary circuit current not achieved
with the maximum dwell time.


REPLACEMENTS:

What I have done to the car to fix this problem with no avail:

1.) I replaced the head gasket and manifold gasket, replaced the timing belt. which
eliminates the timing belt skipping a tooth problem.
2.) I replaced spark plugs, fuel filter after reading some other problems in this forum to
eliminate that.
3.) I replaced the camshaft/crankshaft position sensor, eliminating that.


POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:

So from what is left according to the diagnostic codes (if these codes are giving me an
accurate reading of what is wrong and nothing is causing the reading to be in error.)
I'm looking at

1.) No crank reference signal detected during engine cranking (No Distributer reference
signal detected during engine cranking. check the circuit between the distributer and the
PCM.)

and

2.) Multiple / single cylinder misfire detected. Peak primary circuit current not achieved
with the maximum dwell time.


From what I know of working on older cars Dwell timing I assume is the same as dwell angle,
which is in connection with the distributer, the code talking of no signal reference to the
PCM from the distributer.

So then am I to assume that it is a faulty coil pack? or something in the wiring from the
coil pack to the PCM?

If I have gotten way off base here and somewhere out in left field would someone please get
me back in the correct direction? and if I am on the right track someone reassure my
evaluation before I spend a large sum on buying a coil pack?

 

https://dodgeforum.com/m_1213412/tm.htm

same thing happened to me, except a week later after driving it with a rough idle it lost power and died. it wont come back on. did u check fuel pressure? should be 49psi to the rail. thats what the guys here told me. havent confirmed the fix yet, but sounds almost exactly like what happened to me

 

fuel pressure should be a static 49psi... meaning at idle it should be reading within 3psi of 49psi... as the rpms rasie so should the fuel pressure... as far as your problem goes...

have you checked all your grounds???

test the coil pack first with resistance...

dwell time is how long the injector stays open for everytime it gets a pulse, from the coil pack... your coil pack may be week...

now i know you did the timing but did you do it right... did you have the crank pully at 1/2 a tooth btdc and not 1/2 tooth atdc???

did you back the cam off so when you released the tentioner it pulled it into correct time???

make sure that the middle coil pack wire is reading 12v...

i know this is all over the place but you get the idea...

 

I'll reply here in order of question asked.

1.) I have not checked my fuel pressure.

2.) What grounds should I be checking?

3.) I tested the coil pack with resistance:
Primary resistance was around 0.50 ohms
Secondary resistance was around 11,000 ohms

Is there a possibility that the when the coil pack heats up from the engine heat that the resistance goes out of range, causing problems? and if so how do I check it hot and what should the resistance be while hot?

although spark plug wire ohms were around 500 on 1 and 4 plug wires and 400 on 2 and 3 plug wires the book calls for

no.1 and 4 - 3050 to 4250 ohms
no.2 and 3 - 2300 to 3300 ohms

But on the wires themselves say kw-500 1 and 4 (around that) and kw-409 for 2 and 3 ...somewhere around that. Did someone put the wrong plugs on here or is that typical for Bosch Platinums 7mm?

4.) I replaced the timing belt exactly how it said to in the book.
a. Initially align the TDC mark on the sprocket with the arrow on the oil pump housing.
b. Back it off counterclockwise 3 notches BTDC
c. Rotate the crankshaft timing sprocket clockwise to 1/2 notch BTDC.


5. I'll check the middle coil pack wire tomorrow when its light out, you are referring to the plugcoming from the PCM to the coil pack, correct?

 

What I checked today:

Checked all relays under hood by battery. Everything checked OK.
Checked to see if it was getting 12v to middle wiring harness going to coil pack. That checked OK (but only when turning the car over, there was no voltage to this with the switch off or with the switch in the on position.)

Checked to ground from the negative battery terminal and the ground from the engine block to the chassis. No problems there.

Also in reference to your question about the timing belt. The car was doing the same thing before I changed the timing belt and head gasket etc. I don't think that was the problem then and I am confident that it is not the problem now.

I was almost positive it would be the coil pack. I am completely stumped now.
What else would bring up the error code 11 that I haven't been over already?

It only says 3 things.
I've replaced the timing belt.
I've changed the camshaft position sensor
I've checked the primary and secondary ohms on the coil pack and everything seems to be fine. also checking the voltage to the coil pack from the wiring harness.

Whatever the problem is out of code 11 I believe to be contributing to the code 43. Or perhaps I'm wrong and code 43 has nothing to do with the code 11 problem.

I'm stumped

 

tps sensor

 

Nope, not the tps sensor. Checked the volts and ohms at closed, half and wide open throttle. Everything checked out OK.

Drove it down to the nearest autozone this morning. Had himcheckthe obd-II which brought up 1. primary and secondary problems with the coil and 2. multiple / single cylinder misfire detection.
So i bought another coil pack, I thought everything was going OK but it still had a miss in it and thatthis bad miss was from something else, but 10 miles into it 'bang' same damn problem as before.

I don't know what the hell the problem could be. The only thing I haven't tested and or replaced were the oxygen sensors and the crankshaft position sensor, oh and maybe the pcm. The car only does this when its hot after its been run for a couple miles ...The temperature gauge doesn't show any overheating though, Its about midway or less within the given allowance where the temperature should be.

when I crank the car up from a cold start it runs so smooth you can barely even hear it running. Maybe its the cat converter. I have no idea.

 

I think this is a heat related issue. What else would cause the car to do this after being run for a period of time and with the diagnostic codes pointing to the coil pack, what else could be the problem than the coil pack itself? That is to say if it were a grounded wire, (relating to the coil pack or not)then shouldn't it run bad even when first started up? the heat has to be effecting something under the hood that is related to the problem. If it were something like carbon buildup or something to do with the emission system (like the catalytic converter) then why would it be throwing out a code 11? (specifically the primary and secondary circuits on the coil pack, when I took it to autozone) And why wouldn't the O2 sensor or any other sensor come up on the OBD-II?

 

Well today I put another PCM on the car, replaced the coil pack wiring harness and still no change. I even checked the continuity from the coil pack harness to the PCM harness to make sure there wasn't a short in any of the wires and everything was fine.

I'm going to check the camshaft sensor (even though I just replaced that and there was no change) andthe crankshaft sensor. I already checked the fuel pump relay like I stated earlier and I can hear the fuel pump running even when its acting up and running terrible. Besides itstartsburning gas fast when it starts running rough.

I'm starting to think its either one of these things or the catalytic converter, because I'm noticing a strong odor coming from the exhaust when it starts running rough.

 

and have you checked your fuel pressure yet?