2002 Stratus sedan question
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2002 Stratus sedan question
To begin with, this car is a 2002 Stratus SE sedan, 2.4L, auto. Stock all the way, nothing modified.
So the back story is that 2 years ago, this car stopped running on the highway. It had all the symptoms of a head gasket, so I pulled the motor and freshened it up. I installed a new head while I was at it. When I got everything back together, it purred like a kitten for a few weeks. Then gradually developed a miss. Then it got harder to start. Then it wouldnt idle worth crap. Finally it started bucking and popping under acceleration. Then it wouldnt start at all.
I conformed that the fuel delivery is well within spec, the timing belt has not jumped, compression is within spec, no sensors have come loose, good battery, etc. I got a cheap code scanner and it shows no trouble codes. I made the (costly) mistake of going to a salvage yard and buying an ecu and when it was connected, the tach would read 5000 when the car was not even running and the ignition would not fire.
So the car sat for about a year. I decided to try again with it, so I re-confirmed my earlier findings. I got it to start with some starting fluid once (using the original ecu), but i can not get the injectors to fire. The ignition will fire intermittently. Yet no trouble codes still. And while sitting with the key on to pressurize the fuel system, the speedometer randomly smoothly swept up and pegged at 120. I have heard of looking like youre going fast sitting still, but thats ridiculous lol.
I am at a loss. I have some acquaintances who tell me that it has to be an ecu issue. I also know these people seem to always have something broken down, so I am hoping that I will get some good answers here with the people who know these cars. Any guesses?
So the back story is that 2 years ago, this car stopped running on the highway. It had all the symptoms of a head gasket, so I pulled the motor and freshened it up. I installed a new head while I was at it. When I got everything back together, it purred like a kitten for a few weeks. Then gradually developed a miss. Then it got harder to start. Then it wouldnt idle worth crap. Finally it started bucking and popping under acceleration. Then it wouldnt start at all.
I conformed that the fuel delivery is well within spec, the timing belt has not jumped, compression is within spec, no sensors have come loose, good battery, etc. I got a cheap code scanner and it shows no trouble codes. I made the (costly) mistake of going to a salvage yard and buying an ecu and when it was connected, the tach would read 5000 when the car was not even running and the ignition would not fire.
So the car sat for about a year. I decided to try again with it, so I re-confirmed my earlier findings. I got it to start with some starting fluid once (using the original ecu), but i can not get the injectors to fire. The ignition will fire intermittently. Yet no trouble codes still. And while sitting with the key on to pressurize the fuel system, the speedometer randomly smoothly swept up and pegged at 120. I have heard of looking like youre going fast sitting still, but thats ridiculous lol.
I am at a loss. I have some acquaintances who tell me that it has to be an ecu issue. I also know these people seem to always have something broken down, so I am hoping that I will get some good answers here with the people who know these cars. Any guesses?