'97 Stratus Won't Start

[guanyin]

My '97 Stratus won't start. It will turn over and battery is strong. I had it towed to a mechanic who checked the fuel pump and he said it was fine. He doesn't think it is getting fire and has related it to my keyless entry, which has recently been giving me problems. He says there is a "kill" switch associated with keyless entry that will not allow it to start. I don't know about electrical things, but I would think that it would shut down the power all together and not even let it turn over if that was the problem. Also, a few months ago, my car started stalling occaisionally, especially when turning a corner. I took it to the dealership who did a diagnosis and said it was the main wiring harness and would cost $1,500.00 for the harness, plus labor. Since it only happens now and then, I opted not to have the work done. Other than that, the car runs fine. HELP!

[tahawus84]

$1,500 for a harness?????????? are they nuts?????

[guanyin]

I looked up this harness on line just to see what they were talking about and this harness is a monster. I ran it by another shop and they told me it was very expensive to replace. They also told me that even with a replacement, I may still have problems because it seems to be bad engineering or design.

[Sanguinius]

It could also be something between one of the brain boxes of the car. There are 3 items that are required to recognize each other or the car will be locked out. The only ones that can replace these items is dealerships because the car copanies won't sell the software to rekey the ECU/Security system to independant shops. When you try to start the car and it doesn't start does the security light come on? The ECU the key and the security computer (Can't remember exact name of it) all have to be on the same code and communicating with each other if one doesn't talk to the others then it will lock the engine out.