ok, my girlfriend has a 05 stratus 4 door, 4 cylinder sxt package with roughly 53k miles. the car idles rough but once you get on the gas, the roughness goes away. the idle will bounce a little bit, just an overall rough feeling. i am trying to chase down this problem before i get to see it or at least get an idea of whats messed up on it. i dont know dodges very well, i am a honda guy(dont hold it against me, i am NOT a ricer). i had an avenger for like 5 months, but it was a temporary car.

i am thinking it might be one of these problems, please shed some light on it for me.

1. plugs/wires
-she said they were replaced by the dealer like ~500 miles ago(50k service), but i didnt go with her, and i havent looked since it was done. the rough idle went away after the trip to the dealer, but its back again. ill make sure they replaced them.

2. pcv
-ill look at this... easy enough to tell and a cheep fix.

3. gasket leak/vaccuum leak
-ill get out the starter fluid to spray the junk down to see if the idle changes, if nothing else, ill use a benzomatic torch unlit to see it is rises.

4. fuel filter
- i reeeeealy dont think this is it jusfor the fact it clears up once you get moving.

5. air in the coolant
ill bleed it and make sure all is good with it.


is there anything else i am missing? is one of these things more likely then the other? i am thinking plugs and they told her they changed them even though they didnt just cause they saw a girl. we shall see.

thanks in advance

 

my guess would be PVC or the wiring job. When did the problem start? Some time after the wiring job was done it will most likely be the wiring.

Another possibility would be is that the dealership loosened a part when they were replacing the wires.

 

it was going on a month or so before she went in for the scheduled stuff. i told her to make sure they replsced the plugs and wires. and they said they did. i am not 100% sure though. we shall see. i know how shady dealers can be

 

They might have thought they put them on and they might have just put the wrong part on or they were not installed properly.

 

I have an 05 sxt that was doing the same thing--have them check 0xygen sensors or flash the computer memory--they did both of these things to ours when it was idling rough---check engine light was also on at the time too.