Well, I picked up a cheap TPS off Amazon. The reviews told the story. Everyone claimed problems with installation and I had them as well. Finally got the replacement on and the car drove worse than before. It showed almost 30% throttle at idle. I switched back to the old TPS and turned the throttle screw down as far as it would go. I also probed the signal wire and am getting 0.813V with the throttle closed. My target is around 0.70V with the throttle closed. I'm not sure yet how I am going to go about getting it there. It's just a hair away from the blade sticking in the bore so I can't go any farther with the idle screw.

 

Well, before I drop the oil pan in the spring I've done some reading and decided to roll the dice and run a half quart of 50/50 ATF/kerosene in the oil. Run that for a few miles do a filter change, run for a couple hundred more and do a complete oil and filter change. I'll make sure to open the filters and see if anything broke free. Last resort is dropping the pan. I don't believe it is a bearing clearance issue because it has acted the same even with 10-40 oil.
Wish me luck and I'll report back with an update.

 

Well I dumped in a a small Kerosene/Naphtha mix into the oil. I also set the TPS to 11% with the throttle closed and filed down the throttle blade so it would not stick in the throttle body. Pulled the fuses to the PCM to clear it. Started it up and found out I had one of the rocker arm retainers 90* off which resulted in a huge oil leak. So now I'll see what oil pressure does after fixing that. If that takes care of it I'll assume the original problem was the lash adjusters and then my screw up after that. Here's to crossed fingers after I change the oil in a couple days.

 

Not much change in oil pressure to be reported. Either I still have another leak from the rocker shafts(still can't believe I made that misteak) or the damage has been done to all the bearings and they need replaced. If that's the case I don't know what is going to happen to this car. I'm very close to throwing in the towel though.
What is the normal idle speed for these cars? I see anywhere from 500-700 on the tach if it's even correct. Sometimes jabbing the throttle will bump it up to 700 but as it sits in gear it will slowly drop back down to 500. At idle in park it reads 700rpm.

 

Well, not much to report. The problem with the oil pressure and misfire seems to be getting worse though. This spring I am going to try and inspect the main bearings with the engine in the car. I really wish they had not used a 1 piece main cap because that is going to make things a little more difficult. I printed out a small service manual and I think with luck I can hope the crank will stay suspended by the oil pump and torque converter well enough to change the main bearings. After it's back together I can attempt the rod bearings. There was also a procedure for checking oil pump clearance which I can do while I have the bottom end apart. I've decided it is a very stout engine if it can handle this sort of abuse for this many years. I only wish the body was not rusting out. It'll make a great car for the daughter as soon as I get this engine problem figured out. As cheap as these are I could always just find another and scrap this one but at least I know what is good on this thing vs buying another just to find out it has some other problem.

I know I'm not getting much help on here but as long as that car is in my driveway I will fight to the death with it.

 

Since this thread is turning into more of a Work Log on this car I might as well throw in some progress. I'm trying to get a car finished up so there will be something to drive while I have the bottom end torn apart on the Stratus.
I did make some cosmetic progress on it this weekend trying to pull the dent in the side out. It's still rusting out everywhere but at least it isn't going to look as bad.

Also had a rear brake hose collapse and cause a stuck caliper which burned a brake pad and the emergency shoes. Somehow it didn't warp the rotor but they are getting pretty close to the end anyway.
At this point I'm just trying to keep the car on the road with as little money invested in it as possible. It's definately an overcomplicated vehicle but I would trust it as much as my GM cars... which don't use $34 brake hoses or $200 oil pumps.

Here's some after shots. Still going to take some finishing and more filler than should be used.

 

I ran a bottle of fuel system/injector cleaner through a near empty tank. That helped a lot with the off-idle hesitation it would sometimes get.
So the next step before dropping the pan is to pull the injectors and clean them. I'm going to pick up a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner and run them a while in a Kerosene bath. After that I'd like to go with something a little stronger but I don't want to end up trashing the injectors so I'm not sure just yet.
I'll report back in a couple weeks what the outcome was from cleaning the injectors. As long as I can get rid of the Check Engine light that is always on and sometimes flashes while driving I'd be a lot happier.

 

Pulled the injectors yesterday and cleaned them in Kerosene for about 20 minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner. I can't really tell if there is any difference as far as how it runs. I'm going to clear the code and see what happens. Took it for a drive and the oil light still comes on at idle which is disappointing but expected.
I still have an oil pan gasket so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to drop that some day and plastiguage the bearings just to rule them out. So far I'm down to 50/50 chance between oil pump and the main/rod bearings.
I finally broke down and picked up a Chiltons but 2000 was the limbo year and is not really covered. It seems close enough to the previous generation which is the same body style though.

If nothing else I'll be happy if the car picks up a little mileage after the cleaning. The kerosene turned an amber color and there was quite a bit of small particulate after teh cleaning. I wish I would have known how much was from inside the injectors vs. the outside. Next time I'll have to clean them up a bit first.

 

The engine must have adjusted the A/F ratio and now I have not seen the oil pressure light on since the first time it was drove after cleaning the injectors. I have not been able to clear the Check Engine Light but that's still on the list to do. Throttle response is a lot better and it no longer bogs when first giving it throttle.

There is a constant lifter/adjuster tick now so I suppose I can either leave it or pull the valve covers again to find the bad one(s). IMO the valve covers on the 2.5 are the biggest pieces of junk and are very hard to line up.

I'll post an update after I find out if I can get the CEL off or if there is still a misfire condition.

 

CEL is cleared so it needs a good long highway drive before it would start throwing the misfire codes.
So now that the oil pressure issue might be taken care of I'll probably end up pulling the valve covers again to fix the lash adjusters and still need to drop the oil pan and check bearing clearances. It's not in the clear just yet but at least there's been an improvement. I doubt it's an oil pump problem but I do want to make sure no damage has been done since it's ran with low oil pressure for so long.