2004 Town and Country. Motor stops while driving

2004 Town and Country died while moving in traffic. I coasted to the
shoulder of the road and, and noticed that the gauges were not
registering motor function and all the other indicators on the dash
were out. I turned the key off ( as it was in the run position ) and
then restarted the engine. Everything operates as normal. What would
cause this, is this a common fault.

Thanks in advanced,


Everett

 

Sounds like a possible bad ignition switch, although that would be hard
to believe for a 2004 model. Is it still under warranty? It might be
best to take it to a dealer for complete diagnosis.

-KM

 

Here's a long-shot, but it happened to me (dealer had the car numerous
times & couldn't find the problem!)
http://groups.google.com/group/rec....d4536e0a909/4a63cc0b06cfff5c#4a63cc0b06cfff5c

Good luck,
Bill.

 

This was my thought also. I was thinking a possible ignition switch or
ground, since the whole system is shutting down. This is my wife's
van. Intermittent problems are the worse kind. Many thanks.

Everett

 

Many thanks Bill I will check it out and post the results when and if
I find the problem. Intermittent problems are the hardest to solve.

Everett

 

i'm hearing more and more about the ghost stalling on these vans
start by having fault codes checked and this include all mudules in the van

and check the battery cables just in case theey were loose

 

NORMAL dealer response duh we don't see a problem
you wouldn't there is there wasn't a problem

 

NORMAL response from any business that does repairs. They cannot fix what
isn't broke at the time they see it.
If they guess and are wrong they are accused of being thieves, this is
nothing new or special to car dealers.

Kevin

 

The way I read that thread, the dealer was asked SPECIFICALLY - "Did
you check the grounds?", then answer was "Yes.".

That answer was a lie in that case. Probably a junior mechanic was put
on the car - even though you are paying full shop rate - and he or she
checked the visible ground cable, not ALL the ground connections. The
difference is subtle, but of ever increasing importance with more an
more electronics in today's vehicles. Ground loops and flaoting
connections can wreak havoc on electronic systems, and when those
systems control real-world things like engines and anti-skid braking
systems, then there is a real danger that things wont work as they
were designed to, and that damage or injury could be the result.

You pay top dollar for work at a dealer. I don;t think you can even
wipe your nose in a dealership of less than $100 these days. As a
result, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I expect a higher
standard of service from a dealer! Simply put your dealer is SUPPOSED
to be an "expert" on your car. After all, they are the representative
of the manufacurer who made the car! For the money they charge, they
should be able to service it properly.

I realize intermittent problems are a pain in the neck. But I know
Ford has a "black box" that can be connected to the car. This device
records information about what is going on in the car with a 5 minute
window in time. When the problem happens, your push a button on the
box, and then drive back to the dealer. The information can then be
reviewed to try and see what happened.

And I agree, shot-gunning an intermittent problem is a no-no.

 

As for my problem with the dealer, I've been working on cars (mostly
sports/ high performance) for over 40 years. It's a fine line to
"advise" a dealership service advisor without coming off as a
know-it-all. I'm sure that 80% of the drive-ups had a "car friend"
write down what to tell the advisor, so they probably become a little
numb to this input. Nonetheless, I was raised in a Chry/Ply family
dealership and remember the service advisor was a former mechanic who
was literally a trained-by-experience expert on all models - new and
old. He even knew how to get the then-new Chry 300 C&D's running
right! Because of this, I somehow expect to drive into an "Authorized
Chrysler Dealer" and speak to someone who knows the products and has a
few gray hairs and scars on his hands from actual experience. What
seems to be the norm today,however, is being greeted by a slick
salesman-type who's probably under pressure to get the service
department profits higher & higher. I realize that this varies by
dealership, but there was certainly something to be said for the "old
way" where a service writer had a little grease under his fingernails
and lots of relevant knowledge upstairs.
JMO,
Bill.

 

No, I think they are under pressure to keep the service department
profitable at all. With the way the manufacturers are squeezing
allowable hours on warranty repairs these days, and the fact that
most of the work the dealership sees is warranty work, I can't
understand how these shops can possibly be profitable unless they
are pushing a lot of useless junk like fuel injector flushes and
suchlike along with the actual repair work.

Ted

 

dealers famous last words no problem found because they will not take the time to do so but have no problem raping people on maintence

 

remember this
`if you ever claim lemon law the dealer is not a direct representative
of Daimler chrysler and when you go to the lemon law hearings you will be dealing directly with dc lawyers and not the dealer they are
only the selling agent and warranty work station. and most states require a cert. tech to work on cars and under most state laws makes
the tech solely responsible for bad /poor repairs and not the dealer and this is backed up by the flat rate pay system ( removes
liaibilty from dealer owner)and holds up in court time and time again. some dealer's, the good ones do bac up the techs but most just
hang them out to dry! one dealer i worked at brought in lawyers to tell us techs this and other things about overtime
.. well at least in michigan thats the way it works
anyway the dealer's service manager's care about flat rate hours flagged and care less about u since they want a big commision check
at the end of the month.
thats based on customer pay work and not warranty work done
and five star dealer just get better breaks on cars sitting on the lot among other spiffs they get
watch what happens to the dealerships in the next 2-3 years as the adjustment to the alpha dealers takes shape a( alpha dealer is a
dodge chrysler jeep and possible merc dealer) the germans are planning on and removing the mom and pop stores from the network