96 Cirrus No spark

[crashdummy51]

This car would not restart, after shut down. I have replaced Plugs, plug wires,cap,rotor,ASD relay,Crank sensor, and a reman dist. No codes, no spark. Have snap on scanner, show cam & crank referenace, and cam/crank synic. Also has rpm & injector pluse., no sparkfuntional test, and command Coil spark, have test lite connected to pin 11 ecm & dist pin, show PCM sending signal, volts to + coil, but no spark. What is the voltage of coil driver signal from PCM pin 11?
Have checked all wires, to & from Pcm and ASD,Dist,cam(in dist.) &crank sensor, all good.
So far, either PCM, or defective dist, again. How do i prove the PCM is at fault, with out PIN voltages, to check PMC?
Any Ideas?/ I am a working mechanic for 38 yrs, master tech, and i'm STUMPED this time. HELP

[crashdummy51]

Well, thanks for no help, but i found the problem. Broken ground, on front head rear. Funny, the ground checked OK, until power was applied to the circuit. With out pin outs, i had to unravel the harness, to find it. You all need to check grounds.
thanks again

[Cirrusly Now]

Holy crap! I have been dealing with this same "no spark" problem for six weeks now.

Yes, the shop first said it was the PCM. They said it had water damage and was shorted out (dead). I bought a remanufactured one that was programmed for my car and came with a guarantee. After installing it, they said it was giving them a "theft mode" code. After battling with them about the functionality of the replacement PCM, I ended up buying back my original PCM after finding out that it had been tested and it had no water damage or short in it.

The shop put the original back in and said they were still getting a "theft mode" code. After another week, they said that apparently someone had tried breaking into my car and had damaged some sensor in the driver side door lock, sending the PCM into the "theft mode". They said the dealer would have to fix it, so I paid yet another tow charge to get it over there.

The dealership service rep has told me that the lock cylinder has nothing to do with anything and that the PCM seems fine to him. What he is getting is the "no crank, no cam, no spark" readout you mention. All repairs "needed" to correct this problem totals to almost $2,000, which is way too much to put into a 10-yr-old car.

Before I get on the same boat you were on (replacing almost everything to no avail), how complicated and expensive is it to fix the "broken ground"?

If this turns out to be my problem, you will be a godsend to me!

[crashdummy51]

Maybe i can help. Did you have work done before this happened? I broke the wire, removeing the front valve cover( to replace gaskets), and the wire in question, is in front right corner, where the wire, curves around valve cover. What happens is, youcan Not see the wire, it comes out the bottom of the hareness. Look on rear of the fornt head, see if TWO ground wires are connected to a bolt. This was my problem. No Sprak, not crank signal, sounds like the crank sensor, or ASD Relay.The crank sensor turns on by relay, seends signal to PCM, so it will give spark. Now i had crank, and injector signals, but this wire, is the ground for spark. Yours sounds like a relay,crank sensor, or the dist it self(the cam signal is from the dist.).
If it is the security system, you should be able to remove the fuse, that feed the security system, as to shut it down. I've done this on fords, & gm's, but never had a chrysler do that, YET!! If you have a scanner, it can verify the ASD relay , in function test, along with make the dist fire spark. This checks the system. My wire stopped the check, provide no spark. They must do a votlage check at dist, and crank sensor, to see if the have power, if not, check ASD relay. If you have a shorted O2 sensor, it will shut down the asd, preventing starting. Let me know, i will guide you the best i can. Are you able to work yourself on this?
Jeff, the crash Dummy of PC's

[Cirrusly Now]

Thanks for your post. Now that you mention it, I had been putting off getting the oxygen sensors checked/fixed. Is it true that the Cirrus has 3 of them? I will definitely bring this possibility up to the guy in the service department at the dealership. My car is still sitting over there; I have been trying to avoid the $75 "refusal of service" fee on top of a $65 tow charge to get the car back home. I am supposed to hear something back from him tomorrow.. I'll post back later.

[Lvfirebird70]

Originally Posted by Cirrusly Now

Thanks for your post. Now that you mention it, I had been putting off getting the oxygen sensors checked/fixed. Is it true that the Cirrus has 3 of them? I will definitely bring this possibility up to the guy in the service department at the dealership. My car is still sitting over there; I have been trying to avoid the $75 "refusal of service" fee on top of a $65 tow charge to get the car back home. I am supposed to hear something back from him tomorrow.. I'll post back later.

I have a 97 that HAD the same issue, no spark. Well I did the same bit, changed the wires, plugs, cap, rotor button. Still not spark! Then I put my tester on it and I got a code PO340: Camshaft position sensor failure. Called for the part and all they had was a crankshaft sensor. No one sold the camshaft sensor So I thought it had to be the only position sensor I could find on the car or purchase. So I replaced it and still NO SPARK!!! So I did more research and found a wiring diagram and did a wire trace and everything had power and a signal going to the distributor. So i did a ohm test and it cam back at 11 ohms on the resistance and the book says you have to have 12 to 18. But i just wasn't sold on the coil being bad. So I did MORE RESEARCH Came up with the car does have a camshaft position sensor but it is IN THE DISTRIBUTOR!!!! And you can only fix it by purchasing a new distributor and when I went to AUTO ZONE they asked if it was a .526 or a .475 cam diameter. Well I found this site http://alison.hine.net/probe/ and it will tell you what size it is when you use the OEM number on the side of the distributor. ((Note))) Most cirrus distributors are .526
Caution!!!! Do not go to the Dodge dealer and purchase this part they will charge you over $900 for it!!!! Auto Zone and any other parts store will charge you $250. Both prices suck but the bad thing is the distributor is manufactured with the camshaft sensor and the coil in it and you can not replace either unless you use the site I have shown or you get the entire new distributor.
INSTALATION!!!! When you remove the old distributor and install the new one do not worry about timing. This is a square peg in the square hole kind of deal. The distributor will not seat all the way in unless you have the back of it aligned right with the end of the cam...it sits on the end of the cam and with the error code camshaft position failure it makes perfect sence now! But any way you will not have to worry about any timing at all. the nukle that locks into the slot on the end of the cam will only let you put it in one way only. and the rotor will only fit on one way and one way only. When doing this remove the Trans dipstick, EGR pipe, intake(it sucks) and make sure you remove the side bolts on the back of the intake also. It cost me $500 total for all I did to the car and I am only out $60 for the crank sensor(it wasn't bad) But the wires and cap and button were in bad shape with 130K on them!

PO340 error Camshaft Position circuit Failure was my error code and that Means NEW DITSRIBUTOR on V6 2.5L Mitsubishi motor.