1995 Chrysler Cirrus startup problems

Whenever you see something directly heat related (as in, it goes away when it cools), think "electronics". When you say it wouldn't start, did it crank over but not catch? Or did it do absolutely nothing when you turned the key? With all the electronics in modern cars, it could be anything from an almost-dead sensor up to the engine computer...

you may get more replies if you post the egine size

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Please describe in detail the SYMPTOMS of "failing to start" since we have no idea of whether the engine turns over or not. Do you hear a click and nothing more? No click of the starter solenoid?

Bob

Thank you guys for your response!

Sorry for not including the specifics earlier:

-Engine size 2.5L

Symptoms:In answer to Ron and Bob

-when it fails, it cranks "normally" but doesn't catch. Also, at times, when it does restart, the engine speed is much slower than the normal idle speed and the noise seems to be coming from a diesel engine (I'm trying my best to describe this). Usually when the car fails to restart, the car seems to be really hot (compared to my other cars) when I open the hood. At the same time, if the car, say after a short while, like 5 minutes, is lucky enough to restart, the radiator fans (dual fans) never turn on unless the A/C is turned on subsequently.

To reiterate, here is more info about my car:

-I bought it used in 2005 with 110k miles

-battery was replaced

-new computer board (PCM)installed last summer

1. If the fans don't come on regardless of heat, it could be the temperature sensor, the relay, or the fans themselves. Test the fans by connecting a jumper wire and see if they run (unlikely they'd both go at once ... unless one was already dead and then the other finally gave up). You *could* get out your VOM (electrical testing meter -- cheap but "good enough" ones available from Radio Shuck) and test the sensor (cold and then after soaking in boiling eater) or just pull one from a car like yours in a junkyard. You could also test the relay. My (and friends') experience has been that the sensors (generally screwed into the radiator) tend to go -- we got pretty good at pulling them from junkers whenever we could find them (as others had also been grabbing them...). ('Course, there was the used car I got whose electric fan wouldn't come on. Turned out the connector on the fan wire had unplugged itself. 2 second free fix.)
2. The "new" computer board could have gotten totally fried from the heat or might work okay once you get the heat back under control. (Consider that it might have been replaced because the original one got heat killed...)
3. For the long run, consider a modification a friend did for his car that suffered from short-lived fan temp sensors: We wired in both a pilot light that would show when the fans came on and a toggle switch to manually turn on the fans. If he saw the temp going up without the pilot light coming on, he'd just hit the switch to keep the fans running until he could replace the sensor (again!). (For this modification, you could try tapping the switch into the circuit the A/C uses to turn on the fans...)

Two simple rules of thumb: If something fails or acts weird when it warms up, think electronics (even something as simple as the condensor on an older points-based engine). And, if there's more than one element to solving a problem, start with the simplest, cheapest fixes first. (Wouldn't you feel silly for spending time and money only to find out it was the easy thing all along...)

Thank you so much.