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Very frustrating issue occurring with my 99 dodge caravan, 3.3L automatic: as soon as the outside temp dropped down to about -10C in November, the van refused to start. It turns over and over and over, but will not start. Gas supply is good, spark is good (replaced coil pack). When the weather was warmer, it started and ran fine. I’ve noodled around on Dodge forums, and found it to be a common problem (not necessarily during cold weather) but no one seems to have come up with a solution. Any members had and solved this issue? Any suggestions, anyone? Please!!!
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How is the general condition of the motor?
If most things seem good, just will not start cause of temperature. I would like to see what the coolant temp is showing with a scanner.Motor is good. High kms (198,000) but quiet and does not burn oil, or leak. Where are you going with the coolant temp inquiry? ….hard to get a reading other than COLD when it won’t start. I was thinking something electronic or electrical: temp goes down, circuit board shrinks, continuity lost …etc.
is it possible that you have water in the tank
and its freezing? try putting in two bottles of heet.
see if the problem goes away.Fuel tank is about half full …and I have already added about half-litre of methyl hydrate (Canadian Heet !!) ..and it has made no difference. Temperature was up to -1C (+30F) today (gotta love this global warming stuff …BRING IT ON!!) and in anticipation of that, I put the battery charger on last night so I’d have a good strong charge this afternoon. Got a couple of attempts at firing up but it would not catch. Code reader says P0300 “random / multiple misfire”. Read some real horror stories on the Dodge Forums …guys have spent literally thousands replacing the ECU, the coil pack, plugs and wiring, etc. without any luck.
could be fuel or crank position sensor. when you crank the engine
does the tach needle move or stay at zero? Has fuel pressure been
checked?Okay …I’m willing to work on this …but have lots of blind alleys lately, so please pardon my skepticism: when you say “could be the fuel” …what do you mean? Does cold weather normally effect how the crank position sensor functions? How do I check the fuel pressure with the vehicle in my driveway ….pull a fuel line and see if its pumping fuel when I crank it over? Not near the van right now, so not sure about checking the tach needle. Will get back on that ….
could be fuel as in fuel pump could be getting weak.
p0300 is random misfire which means the computer is
detecting all cylinders are misfiring.the things to
look at is fuel or spark.If the crank sensor is going
bad thats your spark.the best way to test fuel is with
a fuel pressure gauge. Unless you can pull the line when
the van won’t start.we need to catch it when happening.Do you have winter blend gasoline where you’re located in Canada? I thought P0300 for Chrysler is multiple misfire (more than 1 cylinder misfiring during the same cycle) code? Check the compression of all the cylinders (dry and wet tests).
You said you changed the coil, but made no mention of the plugs. The rear ones aren’t much fun to do on this van, and I’ve seen more than a few of them where someone changed only the front three. I used to maintain an entire fleet of 96-00 Caravans for a taxi service and it was pretty common when winter came by that even when it was driven the day prior, once you hit that magic temp it simply wouldn’t start. I would push it into the heated shop, change the spark plugs and wires, and it fired up. Easiest way to get at the rear cylinders is to pull the alternator out. Go through the hole where that was to get the center and passenger plugs. Hope you have a strong wrist, those plugs like to really hold on tight to the wire after they’ve been left in too long. The driver’s side plug you can go from underneath next to the exhaust and reach up to it. If you can’t get the leverage to break them loose and get them out that way, you’ll need to pull the upper intake manifold.
Again …appreciate the response, but now we’re just throwing parts at the problem. (no tach by the way, so can’t check crank sensor that way). Not sure why a possibly weak fuel pump would be weaker in colder weather? Fuel pump should supply fuel to the injectors while cranking ..right? …could it be checked that way??
nickwarner: so, that’s very interesting …but not that helpful. Do understand you to be saying that every time it gets cold and my van won’t start, I gotta go in and change the spark plugs? Or is this fix a little more permanent than that??
[quote=”johnbkobb” post=43824]Do you have winter blend gasoline where you’re located in Canada? I thought P0300 for Chrysler is multiple misfire (more than 1 cylinder misfiring during the same cycle) code? Check the compression of all the cylinders (dry and wet tests).[/quote]
Apparently all gas sold in Canada after a certain date in the fall is “winter blend”. Again …not sure why winter compression would be much different than summer compression. Can you explain that?? Will do a compression test once I can get it running and into a shop.
[quote=”college man” post=43821]see if this helps
Very much appreciate the info in the video …but, again, not pointing in the right direction: I now know that I have spark, I have fuel flow, and (to make a sensible assumption) I likely have decent compression because the engine was starting easily, and running smoothly until it got cold outside. I put that in bold print because no one yet has taken that point seriously: the engine started and ran fine until it got cold out a month or so back. That is the only variable that has changed in the equation: warm outside – starts fine; cold outside – no start. I know its possible, but it would be a HUGE coincidence if any of these other possible things occurred (no spark, no fuel, no compression, bad crank sensor, etc.) on the exact same day the weather turned cold. Do I sound frustrated? ….you bet!!
[quote=”Digger89L” post=43837][quote=”college man” post=43821]see if this helps
Very much appreciate the info in the video …but, again, not pointing in the right direction: I now know that I have spark, I have fuel flow, and (to make a sensible assumption) I likely have decent compression because the engine was starting easily, and running smoothly until it got cold outside. I put that in bold print because no one yet has taken that point seriously: the engine started and ran fine until it got cold out a month or so back. That is the only variable that has changed in the equation: warm outside – starts fine; cold outside – no start. I know its possible, but it would be a HUGE coincidence if any of these other possible things occurred (no spark, no fuel, no compression, bad crank sensor, etc.) on the exact same day the weather turned cold. Do I sound frustrated? ….you bet!![/quote]
The first things to do when it does not start is to check your fuel pressure. you said you have fuel but it may not be enough.. if you do not have a pressure gauge, you can try and see if it will start with propane or carb clean. if it does then you know you have a fuel delivery issue. another potential problem would be a skewed coolant temperature sensor. do you have access to a scan tool that will allow you to read the coolant temperature? if the coolant temperature sensor is reading a higher than normal temperature this could cause a no start during very cold temperatures
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