I have a 2002 dodge grand caravan with a 3.3 liter. It was running just fine then all of the sudden started a misfire and lack of power. Changed the plugs, it fired up and ran fine. Restarted it, and it was doing the same thing. Now it runs as if the engine is hitting on one cylinder. Did a scan tool check on it, it read multiple misfires, too rich fuel, and def. misses on 2, 3 and 4'th cylinders. Looked on your forum board here, and found someone with about the same thing going on, he replaced his fuel injectors with no avail, and found out his PCM was bad instead, so I'm think BINGO! thats got to be my prob too! well, oredered up one that was plug and play, did not solve prob. in the process, blew out the EGR valve. replaced that, and within about 10 mins of driving, it melted the connection between the valve and the solenoid. It was major HOT! what am I missing here? can the catalytic converter be plugged? would that cause so many other things to happen? if so why did'nt it trigger a code that would be read by my scanner? any help here? I'm about out of ideas except for a big bonfire that would start with me torching this!

 

Welcome to DF
I would start by pulling out the spark plugs and do a compression test and do a fuel pump pressure test with a fuel gauge.Also inspect the wire harness on the rear clinder head and see if the wires have melted because of the exhaust manifold gets hot.If you post the codes, Most likely P0300,P0302,P0303,and P0304.I can try to send some PDF files for testing for your problem.

 

I'll bet you have a bad lack of power and if you try running it, the exhaust/cat gets cherry red? Let me know if this is true and I'll give you the exact answer to solve this problem

 

usually a fuel problem wont effect just 3 of the cylinders. most likey be all.
my guess is bad ignition module or coils.
egr usually is poor performance when driving not idling.
and cats you should be able to tell by getting under the vehicle and hitting the cat with a rubber mallet and listen for loose particles.

 

fuel problems can affect 1 to all cylinders. EGR is not a drivablility problem at speed, if it's stuck open (even partially) it will cause rough idle and possible stalling.
bad ignition coils will generally effect even # of cylinders since one coil fires 2 plugs at the same time
plugged cat generally won't cause rough idle as much as a major lack of power under acceleration. a broken down cat would rattle but not necessarily a plugged cat.

 

I want to add that the EGR has completely failed right now and the exhaust gas has melted the solenoid port, the exhaust at this area, or vacuum is extremely HOT!. The engine will idle but will not pull the vehicle at all now over a few miles an hour.

 

sounds bad, did the exhaust/cat get cherry red?

 

The cat does not get red, although it is hot, the exhaust out the tailpipe is extremely hot as well, never seemed to have exhaust fumes out the rear so hot, ( 'cept after some bad chili) but i'm boggled by it all, when is another cash for clunkers program coming up?

 

cash for clunkers cost ME money in my taxes. the actual cost to us, the tax payers was $25,000 per car sold. Good thing the big O is making jobs....


where are you located. Id buy your van.

I got an idea what's wrong but without me doing a test I came up with, i'd only be guessing.

 

Seems the cat was to blame after all, at least thats the way its going now. Removed the sensor and it relieved the back pressure as to let it run, still not top notch, after all the EGR still needs to be replaced as well after new cat install, after removing sensor, felt inside, all the rust and metal fragments were everywhere, it seems to be about full of crap. Seems the next logical things, as it runs better without the sensor in , the exhaust can escape. I will put it back in of course after new cat.
Thanks everyone for all your help