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Haines, OR Car Consumer Discussions

Mystery of the rough idle on the Chrysler 3.5 V5 solved!

by tuscanskipper on Fri Sep 05 19:50:38 PDT 2008

I posted this on Bat auto technical, and a Sr member Danica gave me the first sensible and correct advice on this common problem with the Chrysler 3.5 V6. Here are the relevant parts of the thread. I posed the same question as above. Danica: - Since its an LHS I'll assume its got the 3.5 engine, which has a common problem with lower intake manifold gaskets. This engine has a large upper plenum, and a small intake manifold nestled between the heads. Close to where the upper rad hose fastens to the motor, there is a small area opening to the underside of the intake manifold. Spray carb cleaner in that opening with the engine idling. If it smooths out, you've found your leak. Tuscanskipper: - Thanks Danica! That is just the sort of information I'm looking for. The car is away from here currently. I will have it back next week. I will do exactly what you say, and post back. If that is it, I will get the gaskets. I bet access won't be brilliant. However when I get the plenum off I might be surprised. Hope Springs eternal! I have the service manual so I will look at the procedure for changing the gaskets. By the way it is the 3. 5. If you have solved this, your brilliant! I know this is a common problem, and it is all over the net, but no solutions. I have suspected an intake leak all along, but not been able to find it. So to me your reply makes sense. Tuscanskipper; _ I sprayed in the carb cleaner just as you instructed. The engine smoothed right out consistently with multiple sprays. I have a an intake manifold gasket replacement coming up! I will be off to the local parts store tomorrow. Danica, yours was the first correct answer to this problem I have seen on the net. Should I silicone the gasket, in a addition to the water channel, to prevent further problems? Once again, thanks for your help. Good job! Danica;- Only use silicone sealer on any surfaces that are pitted. Use caution with the fuel lines and coolant outlet at the rear of the engine. Tuscanskipper: - I finished the intake manifold gasket replacement first thing this morning. Since I have some physical limitations I did the repair over 3 days. I put in three hours two days ago, three hours yesterday, and an hour this morning. So that is seven hours, including radiator refill, warm up air bleeding and testing. I'm glad to report the engine started right away, with no leaks, check engine lights or fault codes. Best of all the engine idles so smoothly you have to check the rev counter to be certain the engine is running. There are no driving problems at all. Thanks once again Danica, that was the first sensible advice I received since this problem started. Since this problem seems prevalent, with no solutions generally offered, I hope this post will pop up in search engines. Since this seems a significant problem for this engine, I will go into aspects where I had to deviate from the Haines manual. The most significant difficulty was the fuel rails. The manual says to pinch the connectors to supply and return, but no way would they release. I figured if I removed the thermostat housing I could move them out of the way. I went to the parts store to get the housing gasket. They sold me a tool to uncouple the rails. However there was an older well seasoned mechanic in the store, and he cautioned me that theses tools often break the coupling, and advised if possible to do the repair without uncoupling the fuel rails. This proved easily possible, once the thermostat housing was removed. The other issue is the heater hoses on the back of the manifold. The Haines manual mentions only one heater hose. However there are two, and one goes straight down, and I could not get to the hose clamp, as the hose was short and would not pull up. I removed the metal hose connector from the manifold, by removing the two securing bolts. I was able to preserve the gasket, and used blue RTV sealant when I put it back. Otherwise the repair was as per Haines. Now as to cause. This gasket is brittle plastic. I never saw anything like it. It has finger cracks all over the place. It would soon have caused leak of coolant into the cylinders. It was dreadful to get the remnants off the head and manifold. It is impervious to gasket solvent. I got most off with a razor blade without scraping. For the rest I used the small scotch brite pad on a small air right angle grinder. This got all surfaces clean and shiny. I used form a gasket to hold the manifold gasket, fuel rail gaskets and plenum gaskets in place. A bead of blue RTV sealant was place round all water channel openings. The NAPA replacement gasket looked to be of excellent quality, by the way, and I doubt this problem will recur. One other issue, I found a mouse nest on the cylinder block, under the inlet manifold! I'm really glad to have tracked this problem down. These are great engines. I find it strange, that the cause of this common problem with these engines is not widely known. As far as I know this is the only correct answer on the net. Two dealers and multiple experienced mechanics gave me nonsensical answers. I'm glad I left the engine alone, until I was certain what the problem was.

Re: 2006 Liberty CRD Repair Manual [crash227]

by steve_ on Tue Aug 19 21:06:16 PDT 2008

You might find access to one at your local library - check the Online Repair Manuals guide for some links. You can buy a factory manual for your Jeep through Tech Authority On-Line. Some owners can probably recommend some others (Haines?).

Re: QX4 97 [lgillison]

by steve_ on Sat Feb 23 19:33:27 PST 2008

Maintenance manual? As in factory? Here's some links: Online Repair Manuals If you just need an Owner's Manual, try Where To Find Your Car Owner's Manual Online. Otherwise, eBay is probably your best best unless you want a Chiltons or Haines. How many miles on your "new" QX4 btw? (and congrats!).

won't start - key always stuck

by pastfrustrated on Fri Oct 19 07:45:25 PDT 2007

We have an '04 AWD, and starting a few months ago the ignition would only turn off half way, the key was stuck, and the battery would be draining. This went on all summer - sometimes the key would come out, sometimes not. Weellll, yesterday the key got stuck and is still stuck. We disconnected the battery last nite to save it; reconnected it this a.m. and now the car will not start at all. It turns over, but will not stay running. I've read about the BCM, and corrosion/wire problems and a Pontiac dealer told me the ignition issue was probably a solenoid in the shift panel. Please help - I am without a vehicle now and cannot afford 2-3 thousand in repairs. My husband is very good at vehicle repair if we could only find a Chiltons or Haines.

Re: Great Reliability + Great Performance = Bliss [dewey]

by cdnpinhead on Fri Aug 31 12:39:33 PDT 2007

Interesting. I was in Alaska & the Yukon a month ago (Skagway, Haines, Chicken, Dawson City) & loved it. Hope you enjoyed it as much. I was driving a fun car & had good weather. What more could be asked?

Re: 1998 neon- multiple problems [dmartinez]

by redpath on Mon Apr 09 11:37:29 PDT 2007

I too have bought this particular car too. It's worth the work to it as it is very good on gas and well sorta sporty yet great for a first family kind of car. I have found I have had little problems here and there. Nothing I would get rid of the car over. The power steering belt might just have been an over sight of a machanic. Most cars the belts are in sync with the charging of your battery through the alternator. If one belt is off or even rubs itself off you could have had you battery light come on. If you look for transmission fluid at your local automotive store they usually have some substances their that will greatly improve the slippage. of your transmission. Mine sounded awful one day and I was severely short on funds to pay for a rebuild of the transmission. Here I am and it's been just over a year and no notice of it as a problem. But if it even starts to seem like it's slipping I get this stuff for it. It only costs about $5.00 and I get it usally about every two months. I do drive my car alot to work and back too. Maybe you can check into it and save some major bucks. It seems to me it just has more to do with fluids in the transmission than actual wearing down of the parts. Hope this helps.P.S. I do all the minor work on my Neon and my hhusband doesn't touch it. Get yourself a Haines book for your car too it will help you learn better. I have to read it three times before I start the work to make double sure I know what I need to do before doing it. You will feel better about doing it yourself too. RedPath