Help with the wife's 275k mile Dynasty.

[moparguy]

Well the old DieNasty (1988 Dodge Dynasty, 3. 0, auto with app 275,000 miles) saga continues. In the last few weeks I've replaced the master cylinder (2 times), and the fuel pump. Thought I had this baby ready to give another few months of trouble free commuting.



BUUUTTT, I should know better. Now it dies after a few minutes of normal driving, after a bit of cranking (I can hear the fuel pump running a few seconds when cranking) it'll restart run for a minute or two, then die.



In the shop it'll run forever if I rev it up to 3000 rpm or so, but let it drop down to 1500/2000 rpm and it starts acting like it's running out of fuel and dies.



I replaced the tps, no help. It has a new fuel filter along with the new pump.



I'm thinking something electronic is causing the fuel to shut down. If the pump or fuel pressure regulator were bad, I would not expect it to run at 3k rpm.



Any suggestion's are welcome at this point.



Thanks,



RJR

 

[midwestdually]

i would say that it is time to pitch that sucker!!

 

[moparguy]

I'll admit, it's tempting. However it's kind of a challenge to see how long I can keep it on the road. It still drives and rides great and when running, runs fine. Does everything a commuter car should. 25 mpg, a quart of oil every 2000 miles. No payments and the insurance is cheap.



Early on I started buying replacement parts at AutoZone with the lifetime warranty . So every coupla of years it's new free brakes and struts, and rear shocks as needed. I do love those lifetime guarantees on parts.



RJR

 

[DavidGardner]

My grandpa used to say "you can only prop a dead horse up so long. "sooner or later its gona rot and fall down anyway"



Maybe its time to put it out to pasture. You obviously got your moneys worth.

 

[TboneMan]

I was chating with a service writer friend of mine after I socked $1000 into my wifes '96 Intrepid with 140k on the clock.



He said that was strike one. Pay again to fix it on strike two. On strike three get it running, and dump it.

 

[MN Cummins Lvr]

Moparguy,



My dad has a 89 Dynasty for a second car with a 3. 0L and 140K on the clock. Two months ago, his had the same symptoms as yours. He ended up bringing it a local dealership and they were unable to detect the problem. I know this doesn't help you but may make you feel better Maybe it's time to retire the "old girl. "



Paul

 

[MMeier]

Definitely time for a replacement in my book, it ain't no CTD!!!

 

[moparguy]

You guys and my wife been talking?

 

[MFalkinham]

Maybe try disconnecting the exhaust pipe at the manifold, and see if it idles better. I had a Chrysler once with similar symptoms. Turns out the guts of the catalytic converter had crumbled loose and blown back into the muffler. This clogged the exhaust system, and excessive backpressure caused it to keep dying.



Best wishes to you with fixing this. You're to be congratulated on getting 275k out of that car already!





- Mike

 

[Paul Herioux]

I don't think it is the exhaust do to the fact that it runs at hig rpm. If the exhaust was plugged enough to keep the engine from idling it definetely wouldn't flow the volume of air pumped through the engine at high rpm.



The most likely cause is the optical pickup in the distributer. If you pull the cap, rotor and the plate below the rotor you will see a flat disc on the shaft that has two rows of holes in it. One row is used for low rpm operation and the other for high rpm. The little black box that is around this disc has two LED's mounted below the disc and two optical recepters mounted above the disc. This is the optical pick-up. It can be obtained seperately, but with the mileage of your vehicle I would suggest a reman distributer assembly. Don't fall down when they give you the price.



Good luck,

Paul

 

[Forrest Nearing]

definately sounds ignition related, not fuel related... distributor? maybe the ignition module?



Forrest

 

[moparguy]

Thanks for the help guys. Retire this low mileage baby, man you guys have no sense of adventure. Or perhaps it's common sense you do have.



Paul, I did visually inspect the disk and related parts of the optical system, everything looked intact. Guess it 's time to do more than look.



Thanks, RJR

 

[moparguy]

Well, I can now report that the problem isn't the distributor, tps, or map sensor.



The only thing I've purchased this go-round is the distributor, the other items I had in the shop from previous adventures.



Any other suggestions?



Thanks, RJR

 

[B.G. Smith]

The fuel pump is activated when the ign is turned to the start position, after the engine starts, the oil pressure switch is usually used to keep the pump running, It's a safety type thing in case of accident, the fuel pump stops when the engine stops even if the ign. is on, anyway that is probably your problem. bg