Crank Case Sensor and rare stalling

1994 Voyager 3.0 liter Mitubishi
Getting near 200,000 miles.

As D. Stern responded a while ago, very sensitive
to the crankcase ventillation system. The entire
PCV system was supposedly checked and
Chrysler parts put in, even without asking me.
My independent mechanic decided to do a
tune-up that even the dealer would not have dared
and charged more than the dealer which made
me feel quite stupid. But okay. At least he did the
PCV valve although I had asked him to do the same
thing way before.

Car did run better though. Hoses were checked.
Don't know if the throttle body was cleaned,
doubt it.

Now I noticed it's still doing this rare but obvious
misbehavior. Sometimes at 600 miles. Sometimes
at 1000 miles.

Before, it was when the car was cold and had gone
a few miles. Now I went about 100 miles and the
engine was hot and then it just, while going at
slow speed, stalled out repeatedly.

I did not check for a code though. I was a little panicky
so pulled into a gas station to do my usual trick which is
pour about half a quart of oil into the engine. For some
reason, this always works. And I am going for another
600 miles or 1000 miles. It's so strange since I don't know
if it's a coincidence or there is some indirect connection.
It would help to accurately know the quantity of oil.

I find it hard to get a good reading on the oil.
I would not be surprised if it's all a coincidence and
I am actually not low on oil. Hard to read the dipstick,
even if I leave it out to try and get an accurate reading.
But I am not down much if at all. If I leave the dipstick
out for 10 minutes and then take a reading, it seems
to be a little more accurate, as someone suggested.

Any thoughts? Could the crankcase sensor be a little bad?
Does that make sense at all? And the little bit of oil
throws things into a different mode? Or some electronics
are marginal? The car or vehicle, a minivan, has almost
200,000 miles so things are, touch wood, that is quite
a few miles and would not be surprised if a sensor
or an electronic module are a tad marginal.

 

Then it still needs doing!

Then it still needs doing!

There is no such sensor.

DS

 

We had a problem on out last van, a 93 with the 3.0. It stalled a few
times in the course of a few months with no SES light and no symptoms.
Know what it turned out to be? Distributor cap. So who knows.

 

That's a good guess for another problem on the same van. The distributor
cap was replaced but it was really the wire going to the cap. But this
was a relatively serious problem so somewhat easier to diagnose.
The car would not start unless that wire was jiggled.

 

Good suggestion. I replaced my thermostat. Think I could do this,
just a little harder, without a manual and dropping anything into
the throttle? Could see the toothbrush or something falling inside.
Really need to get the shop manual to feel comfortable and
confidant. Waiting for the price to drop but they keep going up.

I did check, but too late, guess the code goes after so many
successful starts.

Now you tell me. I listen to the Click and Clack Brothers
that I know you just love Maybe I Click heard incorrectly,
or was it Clack? Heh, I got most of the puzzlers recently.
Now if I can translate that into cars...

Their last puzzler, what has no moving parts but does the
same thing as one with thousands of moving parts? That's
an old invention?

Air balloon and a plane? Too recent.
Pencil and the original printing presses with all those
thousands of letters of type needing to be set.
You read the answer here first in this newsgroup!

Anyway, it's a crankshaft sensor then, yes?
Has no "moveable" parts and does the same thing that a
distributor used to do? Since I have a distributor
not only do I not have a crank case sensor, but I also do not
have a crankshaft senor in the 3.0 liter Mitsubishi V-6 1994?

 

Sure. Obtain new throttle body gaskets and bottle of Berryman's B12
ChemTool and some bristle brushes and Q-tips. Remove throttle body. Remove
AIS motor from throttle body. Clean throttle body, AIS motor passages in
throttle body, and AIS motor pintle thoroughly. Reassemble and reinstall
w/new gaskets. Not hard.

Toothbrush = poor choice. Cleaner melts nylon bristles, and the resultant
gummy goo will make things worse.

Terrific source for incorrect information and stupid jokes.

Uh...it could be, but I wouldn't replace it without data (diagnosis)
indicating it's not working correctly.

No. Your 3.0 has a distributor. A crankshaft sensor just tells the engine
control computer where the engine is, rotationally speaking. It does not
do the same thing a distributor used to do.