2001 PT Engine Light

My PT Cruiser is 3 1/2 years old with just over 18,000 miles. During the time I have owned it the engine light has come on 3-4 times. It was not blinking, just steady on. I have attributed this to bad gas or condensation in the line since the dealer said "don`t worry if it is not blinking" and within two days it goes out. Today at a stoplight it just stopped running. On the 5th try to start it, it took off however the engine light is on. It acted like it was not getting gas because by the

4th attempt it was trying to start. The dealer has no clue to what is wrong unless he runs a diagnostic on it for $65. I stopped to get gas although I had 1/4 tank and ... low and behold ...when I start it the engine light is off. A friend at work says Auto Zone sells a key that fits in under the steering column and by counting the flashes of the blinking icon they can tell you the code and what the problem is...for free. Obviously, when your engine stops running you have a problem but which way would you go with this? I bought the extended warranty but it only covers drivetrain and engine...no sensors or anything external. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Reply to
~Rosemary~
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you can read the code from your odometer panel, with the car off, turn the key to on-off-on-off-on, you will see the code in the odometer window..

with the new gas, you probably re-tightened the gas cap, which fixed the evap leak.

Reply to
Punch

Thanks Punch! It showed P0340. I`ll call tomorrow and see what that means. I must add that I purchased a Mopar locking gas cap from the dealership which replaced the eom one.

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Reply to
~Rosemary~
040830 2354 - Punch posted:

Yes, and have a paper and pencil ready and write the code number, or numbers down. They will appear one right after another until all of the codes have been read out, then it will say "done". Maybe only one code will appear.

I had a similar problem awhile back. I would drive the Cruiser a couple of miles and when it was about warmed up to operating temp the power would drop out for an instant -- like turning off the ignition -- and then resume operating. The engine fault would light up. The Cruiser would continue on like nothing happened, but the engine fault light would continue on for a few startups while I had the car out doing errands, then, eventually it would go out. I read the codes and read P0340 and P1684: No cam signal, and battery disconnect. When I got the Cruiser back home I examined under the hood for the battery connections and found them corroded with that "green stuff". I took the connections off the battery and used a roto tool with a small wire wheel to clean the "green stuff" off the connections and the battery terminals and reconnected. I haven't had the problem since.

If you want to, come back here with the code numbers and we can tell you what they indicate, if you don't have the service manuals with the codes in them.

Reply to
indago
040831 0140 - ~Rosemary~ posted:

P0340 was one of the indicators that I had. Maybe you should check your battery connections to see if they are corroded like mine were. The P0340 indicator shows: No cam signal at PCM. The PCM is the Powertrain Control Module. If a cam signal was lost for even an instant, the computer will send a signal to the engine light. In my case, the signal loss was for only an instant, and then the engine would run OK, but the engine light stayed on for a few more startups and then go out. After I cleaned the battery connections, I had no more problems with that. Of course, there could be some other loose connection instead of the battery, but I would check this first.

Reply to
indago

Reply to
mic canic

Tonight on the way home I had the exact same thing happen as Indago! Decrease in power then engine light. Checked codes again and along with P0340 I now have 1684. I will check the battery connections tomorrow. I will still have the dealer clean them or make further recommendations but at least I feel like an informed consumer. All of you have been an enormous help! Thanks everyone!

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Reply to
~Rosemary~

yeah or like most crooks they will see a woman coming and scam her blind, atleast she now knows the code so if they come back telling her some other BS she has something on her side.

Reply to
Punch

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