2003 Pt falling apart

[captmeach7]

Ok so now ive got more issues.

After the timing belt broke, the first shop screwed us. (and apparently a signed affadavit from the chrysler dealership showing that they had to fix what the first shop did, doesnt hold up in court. They require a witness being there or will throw out your suit. )

Timing belt fixed, the dealership told us we had the wrong spark plugs and that a hose was leaking. (why not offer to fix it? They didnt) The car has started stuttering when it sits at say an intersection. When idling it feels like a cylinder is missing. So im planning to pull it apart and check the plugs this weekend. Either Advance did in fact give us bad spark plugs (thats what chrysler says) or someone took out the ones we put in. (brand new by the way)

Next, there is a grinding from the front right wheel. My guess is wheel bearings and im going to put it on jack stands to check this weekend also.



Then we come to brakes. The rear brakes started squealing so we went to advance to buy them. (they are pads) Get the wheel off and find that the guy sold us front pads. So we go back and buy rear ones. (kept the front ones, cause they'll probably need to be changed. Put the back ones on without opening the line and now the brakes dont seem to want to grab so i guess i should bleed them. Will do this weekend.

Riding home one night the dash lights went out. Apparently they are on the same fuse that the tail lights are because we got pulled. Luckily there was no ticket. Changed the fuse and it blew again. Checked the one under the hood and it was surely blown. Changed both and it has stayed on ever since. Dont know what caused it.

That leak the dealership talked about was apparently an AC line leak. Realized the AC wasnt working so went to recharge it and it showed 0 and when filling it made a hissing and sputtering noise and looked to be leaking from what looks to be a little silver rectangle thing. Dunno if i can fix this or if it requires dealership.

So where i need help:

A) Is there a specific order for bleeding brakes on PT cruiser? (ie Right rear, left front, etc.)

B) What is the correct gap for the plugs? I have found a few conflicting numbers about it.

C) Is there a recommendation for specific wheel bearing? Should i buy a new hub too? Havent seem if mine is warped.

D)Is there a way i can fix the ac line?

Thanks for any help!

[CREWZIN]

Originally Posted by captmeach7

A) Is there a specific order for bleeding brakes on PT cruiser? (ie Right rear, left front, etc.)

According to the manual Left Rear, Right Front, Right Rear, Left Front.

B) What is the correct gap for the plugs? I have found a few conflicting numbers about it.

The correct gap for non-turbo is .040in

C) Is there a recommendation for specific wheel bearing? Should i buy a new hub too? Haven't seem if mine is warped.

Haven't had to do mine so can't help

D)Is there a way i can fix the ac line?

Depends on what you mean by "leaking out of the triangle thing. If it's the the pressure cycling switch that sits on top of the accumulator, it just unscrews without loosing any coolant. If it's the high pressure cutout switch on top of the compressor, you will loose coolant when that's replaced. Thinking about it, you might mean the rectangle box that both A/C lines run through. Mine leaked out of there after it was filled and all it needed was tightening down. Clown at the dealer took the lines off when he replaced the power steering pump and forgot to tighten everything down. Very small leak and took about a week before enough coolant leaked out to lower the pressure where the compressor wouldn't turn on.

Thanks for any help!

Hope that helps.

[William_F]

In addition to plugs, did you do your wires too? They're both supposed be changed every 30K. That could be part of the reason you feel a rough idle.

[RonsCruiser]

Originally Posted by William_F

In addition to plugs, did you do your wires too? They're both supposed be changed every 30K. That could be part of the reason you feel a rough idle.

Wow I never heard that so far. I don't think mine were ever changed I better look into it.

Maybe fuel injectors dirty? Water in gas?

[quicksilverdon]

Did you break in the pads? I never bleed the brakes when I do pads and never had a problem. Air in the brake lines (when you'd need bleeding) gives a spongy pedal. To break in pads, you drive up to say 50, brake slowly down to 30 or 20, and repeat about 10 times. You may have glazed the pads if you did hard braking too soon.
Take the pads out, rough them up and break them in properly.

[William_F]

Originally Posted by RonsCruiser

Wow I never heard that so far. I don't think mine were ever changed I better look into it.

Maybe fuel injectors dirty? Water in gas?

I once used Just Ask when I had my first cruiser and had chrysler mechanic tell me platinum plugs and napa premium wires every 30K was the way to go if I was doing the work myself.

Both of my PTs ran better as soon as I changed the plugs and wires. The first PT had about 55K when I got it and the one I'm driving now had 43. The changes made a noticeable difference.

[RonsCruiser]

Originally Posted by William_F

I once used Just Ask when I had my first cruiser and had chrysler mechanic tell me platinum plugs and napa premium wires every 30K was the way to go if I was doing the work myself.

Both of my PTs ran better as soon as I changed the plugs and wires. The first PT had about 55K when I got it and the one I'm driving now had 43. The changes made a noticeable difference.

William,
I am going to check this out for sure as it just cannot be a bad thing to do. Probably can't get to anything to do the work but I will look.
I need to eek out some gas mileage I am getting average 24mpg I think.

The wheels are starting to really make me

Three are ok and one is downright dangerous at the center.

[William_F]

You do have to remove the upper intake manifold to get to all the plugs, but it's a pretty simple process. If you search the site, there are several guides on how to do this. I was nervous the first time I did this because I was used to working with old cars where the plugs were easy to get to.

I've managed to do the procedure twice. The only problem I had was on my last time. It was getting dark as I finished up and I left one of the vacuum hoses off by mistake. It made the engine run really rough. It was an easy enough fix though.

Good luck with it

[Dino]

Originally Posted by RonsCruiser

William,
I am going to check this out for sure as it just cannot be a bad thing to do. Probably can't get to anything to do the work but I will look.
I need to eek out some gas mileage I am getting average 24mpg I think.

The wheels are starting to really make me

Three are ok and one is downright dangerous at the center.

24 mpg is great for the PT. And like the guys were saying do wires and plugs and if you to a search you will see a never ending debate on plugs and wires.

[captmeach7]

Yeah i didnt change the wires. I changed the brakes and now im on to the AC and the stuttering. Its become hot most days so i am torn between which to do first. But i plan to get the plug wires tomorrow.

I think my AC has two leaks. I tried tightening the little hex nuts on the rectangular box but they are tight as can be and it still leaks.

Also after trying to recharge i got this big vapor cloud like in the pic.

Also the guage attached to the recharge line jumps from 25-60. Then something makes a loud clicking noise and it goes back to sub 20 then back up to ~60 and so on.