4

2002 Chrysler Town&Country mini-van (Limited model) 145,000 miles

When coming to a stop, my van is stalling. As soon as I let up on the gas to begin to slow down in order to stop, the engine begins running very rough. However, it starts right back up after stalling and seems to run okay except when decelerating. It began doing this out-of-the-blue one day, and by the end of the same day the engine light had come on.

The Chrysler dealership has now had my vehicle for over a week with no results (mostly because they haven't even been working on it, but that's another issue). They say the code readout is inconclusive, and seem to be concentrating on the "sensor harness." But, we have lost all confidence in anything they say and are ready to just go get my van and find real mechanics.

Any help, ideas, suggestions would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Improve this question
1
  • What codes did they get from the computer? Did anything happen previous to when the issue first started? Did the battery go dead? How long has the check engine light been on? if it has been. You say it runs rough is it staying at low RPM before it stalls or does it just not keep an idle? If you hold the gas pedal at idle does the car stay running? Is it smooth?
    – Ben
    Jul 2, 2016 at 11:39

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

I suspect your Idle Air Control (IAC) Valve. It's job is to feed enough air to the engine when you take your foot of the throttle. This is a 15 year old engine we are talking about, the valve may be too dirty to operate or may have simply broken. You may want to try one from the junkyard just for diagnosis purposes, and you should be able to do this yourself.

This valve is less than $10 at the junkyard, and removing it is very easy. You will most likely need to only loosen the metal rings holding it in place, either with a flat-blade screw driver or a pair of pliers, depending what type of metal rings are there. Then disconnect the electrical connector and yank the plastic or rubber hoses off. Don't worry, you can't break anything except the electrical connector, and they are pretty tough.

If this fixes your issue, you may continue running the junkyard IAC valve (I would), or splurge for a new one at an auto parts store, now that you know how it comes off and goes back on.

Improve this answer
2
  • One thing to be cognizant of with most IAC's is the business end of it has a plunger on it. This plunger plugs the hole inside to meter the air as it's coming through. Inside the IAC, attached to the plunger, are small gears which are very fragile. If you push the plunger manually, you will destroy the gears inside. Be careful while changing out the IAC due to this.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Jul 2, 2016 at 11:20
  • It kind of seems too simple, the IAC would probably be the first place to look in a stalls when coming to a stop issue. Though without more info it is the most likely cause.
    – Ben
    Jul 2, 2016 at 11:36

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .