Afternoon ladies and gents. I have a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan that I am needing some help with. It's an AWD with the 3.8L engine in it.

It is randomly stalling on me and I have no idea why. Most of the time the stalling happens at a stop light or stop sign. I would just throw it into neutral, click the starter and it would start it right back up. Sometimes however, it will take 5 or more seconds of cranking to start back up. Usually I can feel the RPMs dropping to a stall and I would just gas it to 1.5k rpms with my foot firmly on the brakes to keep her alive until the green light.

Rarely it will stall out while rolling down the road and it will start itself back up due to engine momentum. Sometime it won't restart itself and again I will throw it into neutral and crank for 5 or more seconds rolling down the freeway to start it up. It's a dangerous habit which I'm beginning to master.

Occasionally after a stall the engine will throw a P0106 code for the MAP sensor which will disappear after a while. This stalling happens randomly. Doesn't matter if engine is hot or cold, morning or night, snow or shine. Sometimes it will be days before it stalls. Sometime it stalls stop light after stop light. Good thing is it hasn't failed to start back up and left me stranded yet.

Things I've done so far:

Check for vacuum leaks
Clean the throttle body
Replace MAP sensor
Replace crank and cam sensors
Replace idle are control valve

I'm sick of throwing parts at it and I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions?

 

Check the wiring to the throttle body and map sensor. It has happened to me in the past that the wiring is broken in the loom, causing sporadic issues like you have.

It is also possible that you got a bad MAP sensor from the parts store (or dealer). I've never had any luck with aftermarket MAP sensors and always end up replacing them with a good used one from a salvage yard.

 

I chased this particular problem on my 97 3.8 Grand Caravan for quite a while. In my case the wires going into the MAP sensor plug had broken inside the insulation causing intermittent open circuit conditions. MAP was changed along with a lot of other things before I found this. No codes other than an occasional Baro out of range code. Checked the Sensor with a VOM yesterday and then tested the plug for continuity back into the harness a few inches. All good til I moved it. Then open. Plugged it back in and cranked it. Could kill the engine just by putting the weight of my finger on the main harness. So I could duplicate it. Changed pigtail and extended it so that the weight of the main harness didn't pull down on it. Put wire ties on the harnesses and secured it all. Finally fixed it for good. Hope this helps someone else