dodge 1997

[minerours]

My dodge caravan 97 some times shutts off when i slow down and oil light comes on but i check both engine and transmission oil ,levels or ok
when it shuts off staring wheel get hard ,so i turn off the key and start again and work ok.can some one tell whts the problem
(I HOPE ITS NOT TRANSMISSION PROBLEM ,OR MAY BE I NEED TO CHANGE TRANSM OIL)
THKS

[zulman]

[quote=minerours]My dodge caravan 97 some times shutts off when i slow down and oil light comes on but i check both engine and transmission oil ,levels or ok
when it shuts off staring wheel get hard ,so i turn off the key and start again and work ok.can some one tell whts the problem
(I HOPE ITS NOT TRANSMISSION PROBLEM ,OR MAY BE I NEED TO CHANGE TRANSM OIL)
THKS[/QUOT


This is quite common on 3 L engines.Is that what you have??If yes you need to remove that big hose that goes to the throttle body from the air cleaner and squirt some carburettor cleaner insidee the throttle body so that the throttle plate closes to the right position. What you may have is a sticky throttle plate.Do this when the engine is cool and donot inhale any fumes.Its pretty simple and you should be able to do that.
zul

[minerours]

my caravan has 3.3 lt engine,so still u think its the same prob or it is just with 3 .0.

[zulman]

Worth giving it a shot. Its not hard!!

[zechirian]

Please let me know if this fix worked for ya.. My 97 3.0 just started doing exactly what you said. Its just been the last few weeks too.. since the temperature has lowered into the 20's and mid 30's it does it quite a bit more.. so if this is the fix i'll give it a shot!

[zulman]

Originally Posted by zechirian

Please let me know if this fix worked for ya.. My 97 3.0 just started doing exactly what you said. Its just been the last few weeks too.. since the temperature has lowered into the 20's and mid 30's it does it quite a bit more.. so if this is the fix i'll give it a shot!

It worked for me once and it worked for me again. I think f you clean your throttle plate every year you should have no problems. all the best
zul

[minerours]

I ll do tht on wednesday 19/jan and i ll post here if it work

[zechirian]

Well just to fill you in on my troubles.. it seems that this carb cleaner thing worked.... when i took off the hose to the throttlebody i noticed a ton of gryme in there.. after sprayin the cleaner in there and cleaning and in doing it over and over again for about 30 min I managed to turn a white cloth darn near black. I didn't know if I should spray more into the throttle body itself or just focus on the plate thingy.. I did notice when i put everything back and started it up it sounded like it was gunna die initially but i think that was just the heads clearin out.. not too sure...

But its been a day and a half of nothin but city drivin and it hasn't died once... if anything it seems to be runnin much better now.. Thanks Z!

[zechirian]

Ok the problem came back tonight.. Although right now i'm seriously leaning towards a belt thats causing the problem.... throughout all this one of the belts on the left side of the engine has been squeeling. Will this cause the car to shut down and the oil light to come on?

I was sitting at a drive through and noticed the belt was squeaking really loud.. so i rev'd the engine.. upon coming down from the higher RPM's the belt made a wierd noice and the car just shut off.. starting the car back up i noticed the belt make a kinda slipping squeak... i rev'd the engine a few more times and the belt stopped squeaking all together. Until i got home where it started again and the engine died... I just don't know which belt it is thats causing this... someone please give me some insight.

[evictor]

Try taking the V belt off. It is connected to the Air Condition pulley. If that is seizing it will cause both the squek as well as the drag on the engine.

Good Luck

[zechirian]

but won't that kill the a/c? I'm not sure exactly how easy it is to do that. I'm a noobie when it comes to cars.

[HiRez_L]

If your A/C Compressor is seizing, the A/C won't work anyway.