Please help!!?
I have a 2001 3.8l dodge caravan and i bought it just to mess with it basically but now i need it for transportation!
The woman who owned it ran it out of oil and it wouldnt even start when i got it.. Now i have it running. It starts ok and rpms are minimaly sluggish uppon acceleration.. The vans exhaust has a put put put sound??
And using alot of gas. Ticking/tapping/rattle noise in engine and vibration,its a v6.. It shouldnt have this much vibration..
It has a gas smell sometimes..
And the cel codes are
p 1684
p 0108
p 1297
p 1193

 

Running an engine out of oil will cause all kinds of internal issues. Engines probably ruined.

 

Can you please tell me a few things to try and make it run a little better?

 

Your going to have to perform a full diagnosis. Compression check for starters. I assume you actually changed/added new oil and filter. Full tune up. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter, etc. Pull the plugs, rotate the engine by hand, listen/feel for any weird noises. Should spin freely. Look up those codes here to find out what they mean/possible diagnosis.

http://www.obd-codes.com/

Looks like a couple of those are map sensor related, another for egr. It's a good bet if the engine was run out of oil the rest of the engine suffers from a severe lack of routine maintenance. Maybe just replace a couple of the sensors causing the codes, checking the wires, etc. Could make a difference. Clean the throttle body, run a couple cans of lucas fuel injector cleaner through it, seafoam. some cheaper things to try before digging into the engine.

 

Jkeaton
I was reading up on "the hall effect"for the o2 sensors and it seems this is what my van has symptoms of.. Can you tell me about the hall efect on o2 sensors so I can better understand the problem?thank you!

 

Hall effect and O2 sensors do not go together. There is nothing magnetic about an o2 sensor.

 

Jkeaton
ok,my bad I must have been mistaken. What does the hall effect have to do with?and if a o2 sensor is clogged/bad wont the engine have loss of power,shaking and exhaust smell of gas?

 

Yes it could, but it would also throw a code for O2 sensor if it were bad. Fix the problems causing your codes first. If you want to replace the O2 sensor for piece of mind, then go ahead. It wont hurt anything.

 

Jkeaton also there is a light sqealing/squeak upon acceleration..and van runs moderately ok when engine is cool/warm.. But when engine gets up to normal operating temp it usually dies in reverse or drive (usualy reverse) and oil light will be on..it will start with hesitation but after severs times of it during and restarting it will eventually just crank and crank and crank with no startuntill

 

I allow the engine to cool off