Problems, and i need some help

[mike257]

Hello,
I have a 03 GT cruiser with about 35,000 Miles. At about 33,000 i had the stage 1 kit installed, with 7.5mm Mopar performance wires and had the plugs gapped. Whenever now im at idle the car seems to run really rough, which it never used to and the dash lights kinda flow from light to less so, not totally dark but noticable changes back and forth. Also, sometimes, when i stop and restart the car, it goes away for a couple of mins but then returns. Ive never felt this car run so roughly at idle. Could this be the timing slightly off since the Stage 1 was installed? Also, there is a noticable ping at pretty much all acceleration of over 3000RPM, which is really become a bother. How could i go about getting rid of these. I only have 91 octane available, could it be that i had some bad batches of fuel which caused this permanent problem?

Any ideas and help would be much appreciated

Mike

[Mean Green]

What are your plugs gapped at? I ran stock plugs gapped at .040. I ran my modded 270+ hp '03 GT on 91 with no problem. Timing is not the problem as the pcm controls that and can't be changed. Easy way to check it out would be to put the stock pcm back in and see if the problem goes away. If it does then there is something wrong with the Stage 1 pcm. I've never heard of a bad one though, except when they first came out and there was an overheating problem in a few. If it doesn't solve the problem then it could be plugs or wires. It could also be the idle sensor (?)

[rszappa1]

With all do respect i must say that this gapping issue with the PT is crazy. I have been driving since 1972 and have drag raced for years from 1973 to 1980. I have never deen a car/engine with so many different spark plug gaps as this one....so many posts from 0.28 to the stock setting....crazy man just crazy....

[quicksilverdon]

Sure sounds like an ignition miss...
No Engine light? Problem arise right after Stage 1? [:I]
Pinging isn't good. Add an octane booster.

[bobs turbo pt]

like quicksilverdon said did it happen right after stage 1 install ??

[mike257]

hi,
yes it seems to have only begun with the addition of stage 1 into the car. I actually have no idea what the plugs were gapped to, as when i spoke to the mechanic at chrysler who installed it, he said "i know what to gap them to". There is no engine light on the car, everything looks normal for the most part for the exception of the lights glowing brighter and darker when this happens.

[TurboCruiser13]

If your dealership guy said he knew what to gap them to he was probably going by the books and they're most likely gapped at .052 which wouldn't last in a stage 1 PT at all. The first thing I would do is take a look at those plugs and make sure they're down to atleast .040

[bobs turbo pt]

have you brought it back to the dealership ??

[mike257]

Ive never really checked the plugs ever, how would i go about checking them, to see if they are gapped far enough. Also, an update in the pinging situation, it seems to be gone as i have been using the Chevron 94 Octane with techron, which isnt available in my city but im on vacation now. The jump from 91-94 seems to have stopped it.

Mike

[mike257]

sorry forgot to answer the question. I did take it back to the dealer, and he basically treated me like i didnt know what i was talking about. After sitting there for 2-3 hrs, he said it doesnt appear as if anything is wrong. Which is pretty annoying. So hopefully i can get to the bottom of it myself and worst come to worst get them to do it specifically to solve my problems.