1996 Grand Caravan SE dies unexpectedly - won't start for 3 minutes

[llgas]

Our Grand Caravan SE will die (not all the time - you never know when it will) when you take your foot off the gas. It will turn over, but not start for approximately 3 minutes every time. We had it in the shop on the diagnostic machine and they ran it all day trying to make it happen and it wouldn't. As soon as we got on the road to drive it home, it happened and continues. Has anyone else ever experience this problem? It was suggested to be either a fuel filter or air filter, but both have been replaced and it's still happening.

[climbice2001]

I had a similar problem. The wiring from the distributor pickup coil was bad. The bad wiring would trip the Auto Shutdown relay (ASD relay). Try starting your van and from the engine compartment, start moving around the wiring and see if it shuts down. Give as hard a yank as you think you can without damaging the wiring and connectors. pull on every bit of wiring you can see also. About any electrical problem will trip the ASD relay. On my 1990 Caravan this relay is black and is on the drivers side of the engine compartment. If the engnition was on, without the engine running, I can hear the relay actuating.

I think the ASD relay is shutting down your van. You need to figure out why.

[Moparzzz]

I can say with a fair degree of accurcy that yours is being shutdown by the auto-shutdown realy. that reason i can say for sure is I now have 2 mopars that do that exact same thing.

a 94 dodge GCaravan and a 94 Jeep Cherokee. Both afflicted by an identical problem. here is what i can tall you, they have different engines and different coils, same computer.. that being said, i am still tring to find out because a combind total of 500 bux spend for diag that produces a non-failure sucks. If anyone has anyother input, greatly appriciated! It is a intermittent drivabilty issue and the most diffcult to diagnose of all issues with vehicles.

[timd]

Had the same problem on my 97 Grand Voyager, 3.0L. The transaxle was repaired and the shop installed the crankshaft position sensor all the way in. The timing sprocket was hitting the sensor and broke out a piece of it on the end. Gave intermittent stalls. If the signal from the crankshaft position sensor is interupted, the computer thinks that the engine isn't running and de-energizes the ASD & fuel pump relays (for crash safety, I think) and this is what caused my stalling problem.

[ucurl]

Our 1996 Caravan is currently shutting down as well. It has happened a number of time over the past two weeks.

Symptoms: All high way driving. (Not sure if winter season has anything to do with it.) Press gas pedal to floor and get no response. (Electrics working) and am able to pull over. I'm able to get it started after a period of time, we drive on and it dies again and again.

Action: Taken to garage(2 times) and they have not been able to find anything or duplicate situation. They did lots of tests. (Suspected fuel related at first, fuel pump but they are not convinced).
The suggested I check for spark. I haven't been able to check for spark from distributor on restart yet as I haven't been to one in the car when it happens. (Will try and keep you posted)

Other Detail: We have very low compression in one cylinder which give a code but can't get pass this code to see what else is wrong.
I suspected fuel issue initally, fuel filter, fuel pump but am now leaning towards the ASD being triggerd somehow. (will suggest looking at the crankshaft position sensor).

[ucurl]

Check this link out regarding Shell Gas additive and Chrysler vehicles between 1996 and 2002
http://www.shell.ca/code/library/new...an07_fuel.html

[van96]

Originally Posted by ucurl

Check this link out regarding Shell Gas additive and Chrysler vehicles between 1996 and 2002
http://www.shell.ca/code/library/new...an07_fuel.html

My 96 Grand Caravan es 3.8 litre has this similar problem a number of times. All happened in highway driving over 65 miles/hr, all the sudden it stalled to a halt even you step on the gas pedal. It appeared one time it was low on gas, but after a few minute and few trials, it good to go again. That really perplex me! Some post said it was the gas pump, any other findings?????

[dodge9696]

It's the pump. My guy didn't think it was the pump until it died in his garage.

It was going on since December......pump went 2 weeks ago.

Originally Posted by van96

My 96 Grand Caravan es 3.8 litre has this similar problem a number of times. All happened in highway driving over 65 miles/hr, all the sudden it stalled to a halt even you step on the gas pedal. It appeared one time it was low on gas, but after a few minute and few trials, it good to go again. That really perplex me! Some post said it was the gas pump, any other findings?????

[shl10]

My 96 caravan had very similar problem. It stalled more than 8 times in these two years. The engine becomes normal the next day in most cases, and sometimes check engine alarm was not working. If any, check engine code 43 (multiple misfire) is on when the engine stalls for several seconds. Dodge dealer could not find out this reason. However, it always happens when the fuel is low. When the engine stalls, sometimes I could drive it very slowly (less than 10 mph) to the near gas station and fill gas to full tank. Then it always become normal immediately. The engine dies more often in cold weather.
Pepboys found that my fuel tank is warped (fuel tank is plastic, not metal). The bottom of the gas tank was concave shape, and sometimes gas can not be supplies if the gas tank warpage increases due to thermal expansion and shrink. Anyway if the gas is full, this never happened to me. I have no idea whether I have to replace my gas tank. If anybody had similar problem, could you let me know how much gas was left when the engine died?
I am quite sure that my fuel pump is normal.

Originally Posted by van96

My 96 Grand Caravan es 3.8 litre has this similar problem a number of times. All happened in highway driving over 65 miles/hr, all the sudden it stalled to a halt even you step on the gas pedal. It appeared one time it was low on gas, but after a few minute and few trials, it good to go again. That really perplex me! Some post said it was the gas pump, any other findings?????

[mellome]

I can confirm that its the fule pump ! On my '96 caravan with 92k on it, I dropped the tank and got one from NAPPAs for $176. Installed it, and the symptoms described (above) no longer exist. After 90k expect the fule pump to go out on caravans. Especially if you are getting P0171 = low fuel pressure - bank 1, when you do a code reading.