I have a 03 Dodge Caravan 3.3 with lower miles (100k). Up until now, it's been great, doesn't burn oil, never an issue. Now it sputters at idle (like a miss, as if it wants to stall), and up to 2000rpm when it has a load on it. No smoke out the back, just the occasional weird plastic burning smell. I pulled the plug wires off, they look fine. I let the car run while pulling each wire off 1 by 1. No change in the sound, which is odd. I thought the fuel line was frozen (it's been cold), so I added some gasline antifreeze and about $20 in fuel. Still no change. EDIT: CEL finally came on

what am I missing??? thanks for any advice.

 

has it been tuned up? Does it sound like an exhaust leak? Could have a manifold coming loose.

 

it's a full on "shake the van" sputter.....like it's stalling, except it's not. The CEL came on

 

no ideas??? I thought the 3.3 was the most popular engine....like ever?? lol

 

My idea is you put a scanner on it and see what information you can retreive to help diagnose the problem. Or a complete tune-up might help. Check for melted wires on the back exhaust manifold too.

 

yes!>>>>>>>>

 

code checking it is then. Can you key dance these things??? just curious

 

Why would you ask if you can retreive codes with the 3x key cycle? Why wouldn't you just try it first?

 

Mister Mopar....you need the codes before you do anything. Let's start there. There are literally 100 or more things that can cause a running issue. This may sound dumb on my part but, I couldn't tell you which models display codes on dash. I always have a scan tool hooked to everything...lol. Codes can tell you things but DATA is the holy grail.

 

sorry, the car is 20mins away (at our cottage), and under about 3ft of snow. We've been getting 3ft+ of snow every week, so I just left it there. I should have tried though.....rookie mistakel. I'll dig it out and try, see what it says. I'd like to try to figure it out before I get it towed 45mins away to my dealer.