My wifes car is dead in a parking lot. All was well when she stopped at lunch time. Now the car turns over fine, fires then immediately dies.

Of course she had a scanner with her thats not throwing any codes.

A couple weeks ago I replaced the cam pos sensor because 3 days in a row the car engine would just die on her morning commute. Once I swapped the sensor it was fine until now.

I'm thinking the Crank pos sensor might be faulty??

The fact that it fires up but wont stay running is puzzling.

Should be throwing a P0016

Hmm....

Positive on fuel delivery?

No codes unless my Actron reader is not picking them up. Back when I had troubles before it didn't throw any codes even when the car wouldn't fire.

I would assume if the fuel pump was bad, repeated attempts to start would eventually result in no fire at all when rail pressure was nil.

The cam sensor was a B/W part from Advance Auto.

Whats the point of 2 sensors? The cams don't change phasing in relation to the crank at all do they??

I had a similar issue with my 3.2 intrepid.
It was the crank sensor. A mechanic buddy told me the late model crank sensor is chrysler's new ballast resistor.

Got to the car this evening and it fired right up. I'm going to swap the sensors snd hope it doesn't happen again.

Crank and cam sensors:
Cam is for TDC fire on #1.
Crank is for ignition timing.

Also, in my experience (my cars only). A fire/die (won't idle) has tended to be an idle speed motor/throttle body needing cleaned. A dirty throttle body won't set a code.

I swapped the crank sensor for insurance. The one I took out looked identical to the one I replaced.

We'll see what happens.


I would guess that a crapped up IAC pintle or TB would slowly deteriorate performance wise right? Do the IAC motors react to cleaning or do they need to be replaced??

Today my wife got stuck again. Same issue but its throwing code P1391 which is intermitant loss of cam or crank position.

AAA is bringing it home soon and I guess I am going to go on a witch hunt for bad wiring or connectors.

Of course when the AAA guy gets there, it starts right up with no issue.

So I let it idle in the driveway for a while and it eventually dies out.

So I scan for codes and now it showing 725?? But then I decide to check the codes using the car by cycling the ignition 3 times fast, I get a whole different set of codes....


I'm getting P0320 which is no crank ref signal at PCM. P1389 which has to do with the auto shutdown relay (the engine stopped but key was not turned off) and last but not least the same P1391 which is the intermittant cam/crank pos signal.

I pulled the sensor and checked the connector. Fooled with it and reinstalled and it started back up. Again, when I let it idle it died again. Same codes.

I guess something is breaking the connection when the car warms up and reconnects when it cools down..........

Sounds like both cam and a crank sensor replace.

Belt starting to breakdown?

I just put a new timing belt on it. The cam sensor was replaced about a month ago. Crank sensor 2 days ago.

I am also getting p1389 wich is an auto shutdown relay fault after the car dies. I was assuming it was because the engine stopped running while the key was on. But somebody elsewhere suggested that the relay may be failing when warm and killing the motor also causing the intermittant signal and loss of crank signal.

It definatley sounds plausable.

Another thing I noted is that my universal Actron scan tool doesn't pick up all the codes compared to cycling the ignition 3 times fast......

Actron = junk, but you probably already knew that.

Check all the grounds......

Just a thought, But make sure the replacement sensers are correct for a NGC controller equipped car. They are different from SBEC cars

NGC = Next Generation Controllers ( these have 4 plug connectors )
SBEC = Single board engine controllers ( this has 3 plug connectors )

Each ECM requires there own sensors. And just because the sensors are new doesn't mean the right for the car