Hi everyone. I'm hoping somebody in here with a little more Lebaron experience than me can help with a solution to very nasty problem.
I have a 1988 Lebaron convertible, 2.5L with automatic transmission. On days when the temperature drops below about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the car will fire up and then immediately shut down again. Total running time never exceeds 10 seconds. It will continue to fire and shut down until the temperature gauge reaches the halfway point or above, which as you can imagine is a real pain when you can't run it for more than
10 seconds at a shot, and very often less than that.I've found a sort of temporary work around, in that there is a relay behind the battery on the driver's side of the car that I can disconnect that will usually allow me to run the car as normal. The only problem with this is that it shuts down my alternator, which means my battery is no longer charging. Granted, if I can run it long enough to get my operating temperature up, I can usually reconnect the relay and recharge the battery a little. I don't particularly want to be using a workaround for the rest of the car's existence though, and I'd love to hear any ideas you folks might have on ironing out this irritating little kink.
The only recent work done on the engine has been a new alternator belt about three weeks ago when my old one let go, but the problem predates that by at least a year or so. Thanks in advance.
-Steven