Car help/advice

[twobrewers]

I have a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan with 215,000 miles. The inside is immaculate. It's never leaked a bit of oil (or other fluid for that matter). The oil has been changed every 3,000 miles and all other required maintenance has been followed.

 

It runs perfectly. In the summer. (Hence the nickname - "Snowbird")

 

On VERY cold days, it doesn't idle properly. It will start right up without any problems, but the low idle struggles to hold consistently. When I start to drive, and increase the idle with gas, it runs fine. But as soon as I slow to stop or turn, I lose power and the engine shuts off. I can immediately start it back up, give it a little gas and go again. It starts back up every time. I can usually tell just before it is about to die as the lights dim as the van struggles for power. (It died about 7 times on the way home from work today)

 

I've taken it to two different mechanics with no luck. (Of course, it usually isn't cold enough for the van to act up). My father-in-law said he thinks it is just the internal computer needs to be replace. (Which is pretty expensive - and just his "guess") Plus, how can that be tested without just buying a new computer?

 

I'm willing to put some money into the Snowbird, but I am sick of paying mechanics to NOT fix the problem. Ideas?

[lodiness]

PM Sent

[Houlie24x]

Do you have a check engine light on? Does the idle rev up and down at all or is it just really low? What size engine?

 

It could be a throttle position sensor but it's hard to give you anything more than a guess.

[nate82]

It could also be a bad battery or a bad connection with the battery just a guess with the headlights going out part. Might want to get the battery checked to see if it is still good. Just my guess anyways I know when I had my older car I thought it was a problem with the engine when something similar to this would happen it turned out to be a faulty connection to the battery the power connector wasn't getting a full connection with the battery and had to replace the cable for that.

[dadofandrew]

You used to be able to increase the idle, but that was probably before the computer era.

[RockCoCougars]

Random stalls often tend to caused be a sensor of some sort. Not familiar with the Dodge model, but I was thinking this sounds like it could be a crankshaft sensor. Wouldn't hurt to check the fuel pump either, but if this is a fairly long term problem that occurs only in cold weather, probably less likely.

[twobrewers]

Thanks to all those who replied.

 

I'm not sure if the mechanics every hooked up a sensor to the computer or not. I assumed they had, because we've looked at the problem several times. (Two different mechanics)

 

The idle is just really low - until it idles off. There is no up and down revving.

 

I've thought of the battery problem, because the lights dimming as the idle goes low seems electrical. But this is at least the 2nd (maybe 3rd) winter I've dealt with this. So if it was a better or connection it would presumably happen during the summer as well.

 

I've thought about increasing the idle as well. Not sure if they can still do it - but since it is above 10 degrees 95% of the time, I don't want to mess with my idle just for those situations.