Stalling, rough idle, running "hard", hesitation

[mjb457]

I also had that AC problem(idle etc) last year,,42K out of the basic 3/36 I called Chrysler customer service with car at dealer,,they paid for part,,I paid $100.00..seems like they have a fan unit that is the culprit! alot of issues there,,, Give it a try!

[03TurboGT]

It's good to see a lot of cruisers getting the quick fix with the plugs and wires, cause my car is doing the same bastardly thing and I really hope it'll fix once the wires arrive!!

[Abendicum]

Crewzin, mjb457, BennyCanDoo and others w/this problem:

I had a long answer written out and it disappeared... Here's the new version

Chrysler knows they have a problem, I have a good relationship with my dealership, as I opened up a dealer discount with my own company, at my local Chrysler Parts Counter, right after I bought my non turbo, Touring, auto trans, 2004 PT, in 2003...

She (her name is Tommy) and she knows her stuff, told me there was a Service Bulletin on Plugs and Wires for the PT...

She also said " We sure sell a lot of them !!! "

I thought to myself, Well Duh, I guess so, with all the reports of problems, with them !!!

Does anyone have the contacts to find out how many plug wires Chrysler has sold at Dealerships in the US... in the Whole World ???

I'll bet it's many, many thousands...

If someone could find out how many wire sets have been sold, I'll bet a class action law suit, could be made to stick, against the factory, for a retroactive recall...

Don't get me wrong, I love my PT !!! I just have ZERO TOLERANCE for poor engineering of ANY kind, especially when they have a dealership infrastructure, to correct an issue...

Anyway back to the solution I found and some more history of my car, a non-turbo, 2004 bought in 2003, Touring PT Cruiser:

I think the first month I had my PT, I put in the K&N Air Cleaner Element and removed the white, trumpet gizzmo, inside the factory, air cleaner box...

At the first scheduled oil change, I put in Redline Synthetic Oil and K&N Oil Filter. I also was concerned about the plugs and put in Champion, Double Platinums, part number 7570.

I also removed the air sensor harness and put in the $5 resistor, in the harness...

B I G Improvement !!!

The car accelerated MUCH better, with the resistor, I even took it out for a few weeks, (when I went in for some warranty) and also to see if I was imagining the effects... WRONG, I put it back in, cuz it really makes a difference, in the way the car accelerates...

(The only down side is the engine light comes on about half the time and ignoring that could mask another issue, with the engine)

At about 10,000 miles (I just turned 34,000 miles) I took my PT into the dealer, because of a Rough Idle (imagine that...)

Dealer reprogrammed the PCM at no charge... The car ran better, and had a deeper grown, under full acceleration, (I think he said the computer was reprogrammed for a slightly richer mixture, but I could be wrong on that...)

Well, as you all know, the rough Idle came back, I have been living with it for over 10,000 miles !!!

Recently it got so bad, I had to do something !!! My mileage has been really bad, for the past few weeks !!!

So I researched PT Cruiser Plug Wires and found Crane Wires, (Same Co. that makes, Crane Cams) at Howell Automotive in Keyser, WV.

They offered the Crane, 8.5mm Silicone Wires for $49.95 The also had a pkg price for the Screamin Demon Coil AND Crane Wires (for $39.95 instead of the wires alone price of $49.95)

I have no affiliation with Howell, Crane or Champion for that matter)

Here is a link to the Howell Page with this deal:

Ignition Coil by Screamin Demon(Late flat pin style connector) - 31732

(For some reason you have to select the DOHC, Crane Wires, for PT's, even though this is a dedicated page to PT Cruisers ???)

The Screamin Demon Coil was $74.95 and the wires were $39.95, with shipping, all came to $128.48.

Here is a little blurb, that speaks about the pkg., from Howell Automotive:

"This is a true performance coil pack. The stock coil puts out 36,000 volts under heavy load, but the Screamin Demon puts out a shocking 40,000 volts under heavy load. The voltage increase is enough that plug gaps need to be opened up to
.065 inch. This hotter spark will now travel through more fuel and air making a better burn in the combustion chamber."

(I opened up the Champion Gap to the recommended .065)

Howell Auto continues: "Be sure not to mix up the plug wires when installing your coil. Because of the increase spark we recommend you install a good quality plug wire at the same time you install the coil. Flat pin style began use mid year 96 to present. This coil carries a full 1 year warranty. This uses the late model flat pin style connector."

I put in the plug wires and coil, TODAY and the change is like night and day !!!

MY PT RUNS BETTER THAN EVER !!!

Plant your foot, and NO Hesitation, off we go, all the way to the Redline at 6K on the Tach. Then bang, nice big shift into second and off to 6 grand again, where I back off cuz the next shift, would put me up near 90 mph !!!

The above test run was done on a stretch of road I have traveled for many, many years, with a heavy right foot !!!
I always noticed a lag at the shift points, in the past, which was NEVER, NEVER, at the redline, before !!!

Now the shift is at 6,000, RPM's, right on the money each time, the lag is gone, right after the shift, as the speed increases, in the higher gear !!!

Ab

[CREWZIN]

Ab,

Sounds like you found the right combination for you. I'm happy with the stock coil and the crane wires with gap at .040in. No hesitation and a smooth run all the way to redline.

As far as "how many wire sets sold", I would believe many more were bought aftermarket and not from Chrysler so it would be impossible to tell.

The same goes for fan motors that burnt out prematurely. Ebay and aftermarket vendors are selling them like hotcakes so it's hard to say how many were replaced.

[Stonebreeze73]

2004 Touring PT Cruiser 80,000 miles. I have always had engine roughness and was told by the dealer that it was normal with Cruisers. I finally got fed up and found another dealer. Well I had to replace the fan, the battery, 3 tunes up and the last one replaced the wires, and fuel injection cleaning. NONE of these things fixed the problem, so I got online and found out that Chrysler had a code update (yep just like your home computer) that resolved the issue. Once they flashed the firmware on the PCM my car runs like NEW!!

[quicksilverdon]

Welcome, Stonebreeze.
Be sure and express your gratitude to dealer for replacing fan (you probably did need a battery) and generally groping around...