88 caravan 3.0 engine wont start

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- evad5150
  
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posted
18 years ago

Wed, Jul 6, 2005 11:37 PM

hi everyone, thought i?d give this forum a try to solve my dilemma. My 88 mini ram/caravan just quit running while I was driving. No sputtering or hesitation first, it just quit. The last time something similar to this happened to this vehicle, the fuel pump needed replacement. that was only four years ago and i?ve only put about

14,000 miles on since then so i?m looking elsewhere for the problem first. Can anyone tell me the ignition key sequence to access the failure codes? I knew at one time but forgot. The instructions in my chiltons manual did not work. I also tried a new ignition coil with no luck. The engine will start briefly if I spray starting fluid into the air intake so i?m pretty sure the problem is fuel related. I?m thinking the problem may be with the engine computer or a relay but i?m not sure how to properly diagnose a failure code. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Dave

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- flobert
  
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posted
18 years ago

Thu, Jul 7, 2005 5:51 PM

Failure code access is to turn the key to position 2, and back to 0, three times.

The sudden death thing seems t be catching too - my 87 3.0 suddenly died comming home from a party july4th, Driving along, 45mph, all of a sudden oil light comes on, and the steering goes impossibly heavy. For some reason the battery went flat. 10 minutes sitting at the roadside with the battery disconnected and it fired up again.

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- James Goforth
  
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posted
18 years ago

Sat, Jul 9, 2005 5:12 AM

My '89 Caravan 3.0 just sputtered out and died while I was idling in the driveway. I cranked it but it wouldn't start back up, and after about 15 seconds of normal-sounding cranking, the battery suddenly ran down to dead over the course of about 5 more seconds, to where there was no point in continuing to crank it. Had it towed to a shop where we put a new battery in it--end of problem. But I can't figure out why after it died the battery would crank the engine over strongly for a short while before suddenly petering out. If it had enough voltage to roll the engine over like that, why wouldn't it run? I don't think the tech (shop owner) was really sure that was going to solve the problem, but I gave him the OK to replace it, and it worked, and I know he had no definite explanation for it.