I have a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country Minivan with a 3.3 L V6

Recently / sporadically it has started loosing power all at once.

I will be driving along at Hi-way speeds (80-85 MPH) and suddenly become aware that the van has no power. If I take my foot off the gas and kick it into Neutral and pull over it will continue to idle @ between 500 & 700 RPM. If you try to give it any gas it will try to die. I was able once to get it to rev by patting the gas several times really, really fast.

If you let the van sit for a couple of hours it will start and run fine, until the next time. It does not do it every time. It seems to do it quicker if the AC is on…(God that thing has COLD air)


During the “Down” time it does not throw an error Code at all, No Check engine light no nothing it just will not run / start.

I contacted the dealership here locally and they said they need to replace the ECM. They can not guarantee me that it will fix it but it is a good start, And should fix the problem. Trouble is they want 400.00 for the unit and a 2-3 hundred to put it in and put the VIN into the ECM.

Does it really sound like the ECM? And if so why could I not get one from a salvage yard. Surely the VIN is not actually in there and if it was would that really keep it from working if the VIN were close.. Same model car, engine and Trans…

At this point I am ready to sell the van but would not want to sell a broken van to another person. Call it Morality, honor, Karma It’s just the right thing to do…..

Any Suggestions.. I can not imagine that I am the first to see this silly issue

 

hey what happens when u change the ecu i think its 96 and newer have security option where the key has the chip inside and the ecu will picK up the wrong signal so now the security feature stays on and u will not be able to start the van unless maybe u pull the tumbler and get the original key from the van u are taking the ecu from i dont kno ..but i just had a truck and it would drive fine and at some time during drives it would lose power and sometimes cut off on me or pop alot i changed cam sensor crank sensor and still the same thing so i checked all the injectors while i was getting this problem and i had a few bad injectors i changed them and bang truck ran sweet i thought it was my ecu also i didnt wanna pay that same price u were speaking of price for ecu and then they have to install and put vin so i would maybe check injectors maybe when they get hot they are sticking u can take a long screw driver and put the tip of it on each injector and put ur ear to the back of the driver and listen for the ticks thats if dont have the tool that does it for u

 

Sounds like a fuel pump to me...

 

Well I read another post ( on another forum) that said their van did the same thing ONLY when it was at 1/2 a tank or less.
I thought back and sure enough that is when mine was doing it as well. Apairently when the tank gets that low and the seal in the fuel pump is bad it looses it's prime and dies.

I got out this morning and replaced the fuel pump, (Used a rubber jar opener wrench to remove the sending unit nut) > I put 2 gallons in it and carried 6 with me in a can. Drove 50 miles ( got 32 MPG) and no worries...

I can now list the van for sale....