1997 GC 3.3 engine infrequent engine shut-off

My 1997 GC 3.3 engine aprox. 157,000 miles has started to randomly shut off.
I only drive the car on weekends and the wife says it's happened 3-4 times to her over the last month. Seems to happen when stopped/idling at a light, doesn't really run rough or miss prior to shutting down...it's more BAM off it goes.

Otherwise the van runs well and it hasn't really happened while moving, and it always restarts fine and doesn't stall again for a week or more.

I'm not seeing any Codes on the OBD-II.

The other day when it shut off while I was driving it, I had been drivng for 10 minutes or so engine fairly well warmed up, stopped at a light, it seemed like it started to run a little rough the RPM's dropped from 900 to 700, so I shifted out of gear let it run free in Neutral, it seemed to recover..back to 900 RPM. I dropped it back into gear and semed okay for 2 seconds then it just shutdown...no misfire etc. seems like it was an electrical shut down.

Any ideas welcome. What would you check?

Spit

try the cps. they fail so fast they will not throw a code most of the time. mike

CPS = crankshaft position sensor or camshaft position sensor. Both will cause your problem. The good thing is they are easy to change and cheap at around $20 from Chrysler.

Camshaft sensor http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1a/40/96/0900823d801a4096/repairInfoPages.htm

See right column in above link for camshaft sensor.

Sounds like good advice. The way the engine just died so fast, made me think that it was something shutting it right down. I'll get both of the sensors and put them in this weekend.

From what I've read it sounds like they can get a lot worse, and fail more frequently possibly not allowing the van to start.
Thanks

Spit

Are you getting CEL?
How old is your battery. Get a load test on the battery and see if it will pass.

My 97 Caravan with 3.3 had stalling problems. Also had CEL for cam and map sensor. Oh, gas sensor comes and goes too. My neighbor owns a station and he ran a battery test for me and it just barely passed. My old battery was installed back in 2001 (yes, 2001). Per my neighbor, Chrysler's ECU requires certain amount of voltage to sensors. If not, vehicle will play funny things. Do go start replacing sensors.

Oh, my GC has 160,000 miles on it. :)