Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) fuel shut off solenoid/best way to stall

[JWareing]

ok- so all of a sudden my 96' runs after turning the ignition off.



initially i saw the spring that goes from attaching near the power steering fill to the linkage broken and thought! - ah hah! easy fix! but with the spring reattached and the linkage moving easily- still the same.



so then i started examining the solenoid. no motion when key turns from off to "pre start" or start..... when i move it manually it stays, and only some of the time kicks back to the off position when you turn the key in the ignition to the off position.



all the fuses i could find in the panel were fine, connections undone, redone and seem fine between relay and the unit... ...



likely to be mechanical stickyness? or shot electrically and $300



PS- in the meantime, whats the safest and best (fastest) way to "stall it" until i can figure it out?

 

[kenny61]

you should be able to move the solenoid by hand

 

[Dave M]

Check fuses in PDC also but I think your fuel solenoid is sticking. Remove it... clean it with brake cleaner... spray it with silicone lube. Make sure the spring inside is working enough to return the plunger. There is an adjustment nut on the fuel solenoid you can check adjustment. If that don't work it could be a bad solenoid or the relay (there are two on the firewall... its the larger one).



You can get a relay from Geno's or Larry B's. You could try swapping the 2 relays to see if it fixs it but don't leave it that way since the fuel solenoid relay is larger current one (75 amps) but a good test. Check out Larry B's for lots of troublshooting info and schematics of the start circuit. Both have the relays and fuel solenoid. It's $20 for relay and $200 for fuel solenoid. Also the rubber boot on the solenoid could be torn allowing dirt to get into it... Larry B's and Geno's have replacement boot. As was mentioned, pulling down on the solenoid should kill the engine.



Try lubing the plunger first then replace the relay. I had a intermittant "No-start" and cleaning the plunger/bore of the fuel solenoid fixed it.



Finally, there is an ASD relay (Automatic Shutdown Relay) in the PDC (on drivers side fender) that could be your problem.



LarryB's Dodge starting problems solved here.



Dave

 

[Missouri Mule]

The easiest way to kill the engine is to pull the fuel shut off solenoid's rod down.

The rod should stay down. I doubt if the fuel shut off solenoid relay is causing the rod to stay up. If it was the solenoid would burn up (to much juice).

(When the starter solenoid contacts stick causing back feed it usually causes the shut off solenoid to burn up. The pull up coil just cant take juice for a long time. )

I would clean rod and solenoid to see if that helps.

Is everything else shutting down when you turn the key to off position?

 

[JWareing]

thanks very much you guys - i hand-articulated the solenoid a bunch of times, and it hasnt repeated the "not shutting off" problem yet... os im guessing i need to figure how to get it off, take it a part and clean it out - ( and wonder if i could do this and get it back on again without screwing anything up) im not terribly wrench-inclined!

also- what is the spring i mentioned called? i would like to order a replacement since its old and rusted and my fix should prob be temporary at best