1996 G.Caravan

engine:3.3L
miles:250 K
purchased:USED

OTHER than the stereo, EVERYTHING WORKS flawlessly (except issue below)


goodmornning all (yaaaawn )

Quick basic info..

I have owned the van for 5 months, and keep everything in good shape. If I notice something that may need attention, I do what I can to repair/replace the parts.

oilfilter
airfilter
oil
belts
fuel filter
have all been recently replaced, within the past 2-3 weeks

last week an issue cropped up, wanted to run it by y'all.


ISSUE: van wil stall/die during...

.TURNING LEFT
.TURNING RIGHT
.APPLYING BRAKES
.GOING OVER ROUGH ROAD

The van stumbles for a second or two when...

..turning left or right, using brakes IF it it did not die (above)
.Applying gas from a stop (light, intersection/light/stopsign)

....ONLY after the van has been DRIVEN for 15-30 minutes.."hot" (I do not mean it is overheating, all temps are fine, but the vehicle needs to be driven/ MOVING, where all moving parts are at operating temps)

the van will NOT replicate these issues if

.just started
.sits with engine, on and idles, for any length of time, and drivien for less than 10-15 minutes/10 15 miles


Shop/owner findings

the mechanics didnt understand when i said the van needs to be at "operating temp" with everything MOVING... they would let it idle, drive it for a mile or two, and thought they fixed it....I told them "take it to the nearest town, for lunch, THEN come back with your findings ")

Sure enough, the mechanics came back with my original findings...the only thing that came back (under diagnostic/fault code )
.cam sensor fault...(not a cam issues, the actual sensor was faulty, and replaced)
..several start up faults were noticed

when the diagnostic tool is hooked up now, and driven...NO FAULT CODES come up when the car dies...but the ISSUE is still at hand.

dying, when turning left right, and using the brakes, or going over bumpy roads..

what do y'all think the issue could be?

 

Welcome to DF
Ck the wiring going to the crank sensor, But i would try a ignition switch.

 

Thx

a few people were thinking it was a power steering issue, but another C.G. owner had said the same thing a little while ago, as you..thinking it may be the key contact/ignition.

will look around and see what I find.

 

I have the same problem with an Astro. I have had more than ten "mechanics" look at it and no one can figure it out. Sometimes it also fails to start and sounds like an electrical problem. Then I may go out in a couple of days and it fires right up. Very aggravating.

 

(note:from my cellphone post..tinykeypad,big fiingers, make for horrible spelling have been wasrned)so far everything looks good, and purchased a manual.

I had huge bucking problems last night pulling out of the subdivision., and thought the transmission was failing, immediately went homme, and lifted the hood.

plug wire 2 was arcing against wire 4.. as soon as i removed a stand of wire on the cap, touching wire 4, it ran very smooth. yet if i touched the wire i still got a good shock. so i replaced the plug wires with new ones. (the old set was rusty, cracked/split and such anyways)...

removing one plug wire at a time ( and confirming with the manual) all wires have pproperly been placed, and set.

now when i hit the brakes, the van dies and does not start until after the vehicle has sooled for at least 5 minutes.

when it does start, and i shift into drive...it dies, or stumbles, and backfires for 5 seconds or so.

I did find out that using the brakes hard, and driving in reverse, does not kill the engine.

grrr. all i did was change plug wires..is there a way to reset thhe car without tools or something? maybe it is too "new" and the van doesnt like it :/ ???

sorry for horrible post. fat fingers and tiny kepyapd, on phone make for bad messeages..

 

did you clean the throttle body? With that high of mileage if noone has cleaned it, that could cause bigtime dying issues.

 

try disconnecting the battery for awhile, I did this for 3hours for my problem below
I had a strange electrical issue in my van in which it would cause a single chime and the abs/brake light would flash very quickly and all the gages would dip and the radio light would dim and you would no longer play
all for just a quick second, then would run fine rest of the day, only happened after sitting over night, would not do it with multiple trips in one day other then the first one, this would happen in the first 5mins of driving, weather I let the van warm up for 15mins or no warm up at all, would only do it once

some others have said about pulling the IOD fuse? not sure if that is what it is called

 

(back at computer now..)

there have been several key basic issue performed, to alleviate any simple issues.

new spark plugs and plug wires
new air filter
throttle body has been cleaned out
new gas filter (and overflow line)
gas tank removed and inspected for leaks
any and all terminals, have been cleaned ( well at least any terminals that i recognize, such as battery, wiring harness, posts, connections..etc. etc)

the ROOT ISSUE on stalling seems to be this (considering all the small criteria that comes up)

...it appears that anytime i have additional engine strain, (steering/braking) at low RPM , (under 2000 rpm) this is what will kill it, while moving forward.

(EDIT: I firmly believe that turning is not the actual issue, maybe braking? currently conducting test around curves/turn
.with brake in turn.
.without brake in turn
.noting rpms in turn.
will come back with my findings in a bit)

moving backwards, using brakes and turning has no issues that I can tell. (within reason, I am trying my best not to look like a madman in my subdivision to prove this )

sitting in park, or neutral, and turning the wheels/ using brakes does nothing.


another friend noted that it is more than likely a simple vaccum/air leak issue, that is behind the mass air flow sensor. basically additional air getting in, or secaping, that the MAF sensor is not detecting..
thoughts?

 

gaaaaarrgh now it wont start. nothing. no lights, sounds.

just jumped it, and as soon as I removed the jumper cable from the positive, all the lights started to flicker a little bit.

checked online to see how to check for a dead battery without diagnostic tools

half the sites say remove the positive wire, while running the engine, the other half say remove the negative..(and if it immediately dies, it is the altenator, keeps running, then the battery is bad)

so which cable is the correct one to remove? positive or negative??

 

I would replace the battery. That was back in the old days,before PCM and other modules on cars. If you have battery that won't take a charge, the lites will flicker.