HELP! 89 Lebaron Wont Start

Hello. I have a 1989 Chrysler Lebaron 2.4 ltr. It will not start. A few
months ago it started idling high at 2.5 rpm, going up to a maximum of 3
rpm at about 100 km/hr. I drove it like this anyway, since adding some
fuel injector cleaner seemed to bring the idle down a bit, (to 2 rpm), and
the car still worked, up until now.

I did check the trouble codes using the key sequence and got the following
error codes (in this order):
12, 44, 37, 25 ..............After looking up the codes I find they are
listed as the following:

12: battery recently disconnected (not important)
44: No FJ2 voltage present at logic board
OR 44 Logic module self-diagnostics indicate problem
OR 44 Battery temperature out of range
37 part throttle lock/unlock solenoid driver circuit (87-89)
25 Automatic Idle Speed (AIS) motor driver circuit shorted or target idle
not reached, vacuum leak found .
Now the car will not start. The only thing I noticed different is that a
day prior to this the idle was chugging a little bit, going below 1 rpm
and then fluctuating up and down to 2 rpm. It was making ticking noises
from somewhere in the front end just 1 hr prior to the not starting
problem. The cat converter is separated a bit from the manifold, but it
hasn't caused any problems before other than noise.
We boosted the car thinking it might be the alternator, it finally did
start after an hour of turning it over. It almost sounds like it wants to
go but isnt getting any fuel, though the fuel pump does kick in when I
attempt to start it. Check gauge light comes on when attempting to start.
After it started we took it for a spin and it chugged violently until
speed reached 100. Barely got it in the driveway as it kept stalling.
Antifreeze blew out all over the engine. (there is a small hole in the rad
near the top, but it never blew out before). Idiot lights state the car did
not overheat, but came close. Now it will not start up again...same
problem. All fluids are topped up.
Could this be caused by the fault codes I received, and if so why did it
run all summer and now wont start? How can this be fixed?
Update... Checked the oil, no sign of the chocolate milk it apparently
looks like when theres a head gasket gone, and the antifreeze wasn't
frothy either. I unplugged the battery to reset the computer, and am now
getting all the former fault codes, plus a new one....43: cylinder misfire
(according to Chrysler codes) SIGH......
Could all this mess be caused by dirty injectors, a faulty spark plug, or
distributor ? I'd just like to get the car started so I can get it to the
city to a shop....Thankyou very much.
cc

 

Wow, that's an amazing case of neglect there. The car was complaining to
you all summer "fix meee, fiixx, meeee ahhhhghghghg glug glug glug" and
now you won't even give the old lady a rest on a nice tow truck, your
determined
to squeeze the last drop of life out of her, making her drag herself into
the
city!

The problem here is you have had so much neglect on this car that you can't
even diagnose it anymore. With a hole in the rad, coolant is never going to
be
pressurized, thus your coolant is going to be boiling in the water jacket.
When
liquid boils it turns to gas, and gas does not conduct heat very efficiently
away from
a hot cylinder wall. You have been driving around with hot spots
throughout the
engine all summer, you probably shot your head gasket, and you have coolant
leaking into the cylinders. You need to run a compression check on the
cylinders, which is impossible now since you can't get the engine warmed up.
And you can't check for a coolant leak because the normal way for this is
to fill it with coolant, run it for a week, and see if the coolant level
keeps
going down. Head gasket leaks don't always contaminate the oil.

I wouldn't give much hope of getting it started unless you tear down the
engine, check and probably replace the timing chain or belt, and replace
the head and intake manifold gaskets, and fix the radiator. And check
for head/block warpage and cylinder dimensions while your doing that.
Flushing the cooling system would certainly be a good thing to do also.
Then after all that, check for spark and check ignition timing.

Any newbies reading this - take a lesson, this is exactly why you don't putz
around with a coolant leak, and this is what happens when
you let it go. Small hole in the rad, indeed! What were you thinking, man!

Ted
..

 

Hi Ted, thanx for your input. Hmmm...well what I was thinking was that as
long as I topped up the rad and the car never overheated that it would be
ok. This is my first "computerized" car. I've always had 70's Chevy's,
and the rad was never really an issue as long as the car didn't overheat,
so I didn't think it would matter...SIGH...wish they would bring the old
carb systems back. Thanx again.

 

It most likely has nothing to do with the carb system. As I said by running
the cooling system with a hole in it for so long you were not letting the
coolant pressurize, which means hot spots, and most likely a failed head
gasket. The exact same thing would happen with a carbureted car, even
a 70's Chevy, although a chevy small block has a larger head gasket, and
so would take longer to burn up.

You think it's a fuel system problem because the cylinders aren't firing,
so your concluding the mixture is wrong. But most likely the mixture
is fine and it's contaminated with water, plus you have no compression.

I own a 68 Torino with Ford small block 302 in it and years ago when
it overheated on me, and the asbestos-backed head gasket on it failed, it
"chugged violently" too.

I think you know what you did and you know what you have to do to
fix it but it's freezing cold winter out and you are grasping at straws
hoping
that it's some easy and quick fix. I hate to snow on your parade, but
as I said most likely when you tear everything down and fix the leak and
such, most of the check engine codes will go away.

Remember - the computer is solid-state and is way, way more reliable
than anything mechanical. Electric motors, and even sensors, those will
fail
long before the computer.

Ted