So this started happening a few days ago. I have a 2008 Dodge Charger 3.5l V6 with about 159k miles on. A few days ago, it stalled out while sitting idle (in gear) at a light. Turned the car fully off, and turned it back on. It seemed fine. Well, it happened again the other day when it was parked idle. Turned it off, turned it back on. Again, fine.

Well today it happened while I was actually driving, or well, at least the ETC light and traction control lights came on. It didn't stall as I pressed on the gas and pushed it through. I has yet to stall cold yet. Only when the engine was at temp. Something else to add, when it tried to stall when I was driving it seemed like the gears were dropping hard when the transmission was shifting. Like, really hard. After I turned it off and turned it back on again, that disappeared.

I am stumped here. It's not pulling any codes whatsoever, and I really don't want to dive into different sensors just yet without getting some bearings on where I'm going.

Any help?

 

IIRC, ETC and traction control issues can't be read with a standard OBD code reader. There is, from what I know, only a dealer type reader that can retrieve those codes. Like ABS. Might be wrong.

 

Took it to a mechanic, and what they told me was the EGR gasket is leaking. Would a leaking egr gasket cause this type of issues?

 

I don't think it would. Get a second opinion. Sounds like that mechanic just wants to take your money.

 

So I had a friend of mine help, but we did the EGR gasket just in case. Didn't do **** except make me hate how Dodge didn't realize that making an EGR gasket that short and that obtuse is counter intuitive.

So, codes aren't pulling anything now but it still stalls. I noticed that it would only stall if it was in Drive, not in park or in idle. I let the engine get to operating temperature and had it sit in park for a few minutes. Didn't stall. Had it sit in neutral for a few minutes. Didn't do anything.

Immediately after I switch to drive, it stalls within 3 seconds.

I did some research as well. I tried resetting the ECU by putting the key to on, and pressing in the gas peddle slowly then letting off as slow. Didn't work.

Next thing I'm going to try is resetting the PCM. Had to FIND the battery cuz this is the first vehicle Ive had with the battery in the back.

After that I'll try replacing the Throttle Body Assembly.

People have had luck after doing the last two. Maybe I will too.

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

Hows the battery and all the connections? Weak battery, bad connections cause all kinds of weird issues.

 

Battery connections are tight and seem fine. Resetting the PCM right now to see if it'll do anything.

 

After resetting the PCM, it seems to be worse now. Car shakes while in idle.

 

Alright, so a bit of an update.

So, I may have been exaggerating when I said it stalled. What it does is stutter for a second and begin to die, then the rpms will pick back up and it'll act almost normal. Shifting feels harder and the ETC Light and Traction Control Light come on. If you shut it off and turn it back on, the light will go away and it'll act like normal till it starts to stutter again.

It'll only begin to stutter if it's at a low RPM such as you would when you're stopped at a stop light.

No codes come up at all. The check engine light doesn't even come on when it begins to stutter.

I reset the PCM + ECU (as stated earlier) and the problem went away for a few days before it came right back.

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

The circuit board below Connector C-2 on those vertically mounted PCMs tends to be the culprit for this problem. Over time the harness pulls tension on them because of how it's mounted. If you can take your PCM out of it's holder and while the engine is running, grab the second connector (orange coded) and rock it back and forth. See if you get symptoms. You will likely need a new PCM. But be warned, some rebuilt ones can exhibit the same issue, as most reman facilities miss this issue. I've had to replace 3 Mopar reman PCMs before for this on a few occasions. This means DO NOT order your PCM online if you need one. I would personally get one from a parts chain and not Mopar. I have less than stellar confidence in any rebuilt module I get from them.