I have an 89 Plymouth Acclaim, with the 4 cyl engine, and AC. Was out driving it last night with no problems whatsoever. Pulled it into my driveway, shut it off, everything is great. This morning, I go out to start it, and it pops off like a champ, but only for 2 seconds or so. Then it dies, as though I had just shut it off. It will stay running, though very rough, if I floor the gas pedal, but the moment I release it, it dies again. The funny thing is, I can restart it immediately (with the same result), so I may be led to believe it is electrical. I am in the process of checking spark, though I think I will find that there is no problem there. I checked the "Check Engine Light" blink codes and get 5-5, which I understand means nothing is wrong. I have seen another post with a similar problem (https://www.chryslerforum.com/m_12121/tm.htm) that turned out to be a kinked return fuel line, but I believe that would be unlikely. Any help would be great here. This is the 4th and final car that I drive on a regular basis that has failed me in the last 2 months. I am simply unlucky.

 

Update:
I have replaced plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and fuel filter. I have also inspected the fuel lines and fuel system in general for any issues.
Upon replacing the fuel filter, (and relieving the fuel pressure) I restarted the vehicle, and it ran beautifully for about 30 seconds, then died once again. Then, when restarting it, it went straight back to its previous behavior of dying after a second or two. I guess I am convinced it has to be fuel system related, so I have a new fuel pressure regulator on order from rockauto.com. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, I'll be happy to hear them.

Thanks

 

It was in fact the fuel pressure regulator. I ordered it from Rock Auto on Thursday and received it Saturday. Rock Auto is awesome. The car has been running perfectly for a week now.

 

Just found this post.
Congrats! I was going to suggest that it may be the Hall Effect sensor, but you seem to have nailed it! I've had many Mopar 2.2's in the past, but personally have never ran into this problem. I still have one and now I know what to watch for.

Thanks for the follow up!

 

i am not sure if you guys might get an email notification of this reply. I am desperate! Been like 6 months trying to figure out why my mint 93 acclaim idles and runs like a piece of #### one day, many days and pretty good another. I changed the idle air control on the coldest day last year when we went to start it and it would run for 1 second and die right out. Changed the part and it has never run the same since. It did go to a mechanic to have the codes checked adn the idle speed manually reset to a higher level which helped....... for a while. Daughter uses this for school and I just don't know..... If you think you could help I could email you guys a detailed decription of the idle issues. hope to hear from you!

In case the email thing doesn't work thru here i have a second one at dwd123@hotmail.com many thanks!

 

On the old 2.5 4 cyl engines a big problem area was the wiring that runs down the back of the valve cover (horizontal L to R) would get oil soaked and wires would touch each other. The vacuum lines would get very brittle and break too.

 

Yes I checked the vac lines that i can could reach there are some that run in the back down low and i can't get to them. All the other lines are really in great shape - no cracking and they are or feel like they are brand new.


WHAT I DO KNOW!!!
I have taken part of the air system off and I was really surprised to see how bad (oily and greasy black caked the air filter was - the pvc inlet is clean but the whole air filter housing has a film of oil. (from the poor running EGR I hope)I am a old time muscle car mechanic (my day was the 67 - 70 Mustangs, Camaros and 'Cuda's which i see these days go for 1/4 to 1/2 million.....ok ours were drivers not museum pieces....... cars are made to cruise!!!) Back to real time - this Acclaim was my mom's who passed away, the car went into storage for 7 years with 30,000kms - I drained the fuel, I oiled the cylinders twice during storage and startup went without a hitch - replaced the parking brake, new front brakes and replaced the tires - they passed safety but I wanted NO problems for my daughter. It has 59,000kms now.


So I know Edmundjc's post was a bad air control valve that is attached to the underside of the air throttle body (when the car starts fine but can't hold an idle) - that was replaced on mine along with soaking the airbody to clean it all up. What bothers me is there are the codes I for the first time managed to get off the car. I read that since this is more a city car with only short 10 - 15 minute highway runs there was never a time for the car to register anything - my daughter just came back from a 3 hour highway drive..... the first thing i did was check with the key of on and i got three codes:

12 Direct battery input to the PCM was disconnected with in the last 50 key on cycles (No clue why this code came up???)
32 EGR Valve failure (decision is to replace - not clean it up as posted..)
25 Air idle control motor circuits, target idle not reached(+/- 200), vacuum leak. (very little info on the net for this - aside from cars with 250 - 300,000 kms and the vac lines gone hard and brittle - mine like new)
55 End of error messages.


The number 25 is the one that has me stumped. I changed the idle air control valve which is located on the underside of the throttle body at the beginning of the year. It did solve the immediate problem of the car not being able to idle so i think this part is good - just can't find any clues to what or why 25 comes up..... I really did do a good job (twice now - including the two hoses I couldn't reach earlier) checking for a bad hose or connection. I am hoping that the EGR issue also impacted the 25 code because the idle did fall way more than 200rpm.


The only other thing that has gotten me so frustrated is the fact that this engine problem isn't constant. The car can run good for days, weeks even and then it hits which basically makes the car undrivable. I have had it in the garage twice to put the the snapon OBD tool - nothing each time.

I am in a real financial pinch these days - I am on disability (failed spine syndrome) for the last 8 years, going in for another surgery in three weeks, wife started the divorce because she is tired of dealing with my disability issues and is currently putting the squeeze on trying to "bankrupt" me...... I am just trying to do my best for my daughters who use this car to get to their school/work whiich lets them bring in income - where I can't. Sucks! Just need to figure this out without spending $1000 which I do not have anyways....


Any help/ideas are good at this point - I am so frustrated. thanks to all!

 

Yep, target idle not reached can be set by a vac leak which could definately be created by a flippy EGR. Make sure the tube is cleaned out too. We did a bunch of them back in the day. They were always sticking open and tubes getting clogged. I had a 3.0L Lebaron and I made a coke can gasket and capped off the port, stuck screws in the solenoid hoses...lol

 

i have tried everything i could - the egr looks good, carbon is near zero on an engine with 60k kms spoke to the dealer parts tech. Egrs screw up on new cars - he stocks a ton of them. The EGR is actually two parts, the plunger (that everyone talks about) and the transducer which is the plastic part above the EGR and it has an electrical connection - we suspect it is the electrical component that is faulty intermitently which sends the vacuum to the EGR in unpredictable ways..... which screws up the air mixture to which the computer then feels it is getting bad information and begins trying to compensate ---- SCREweD UP!!!!

ON order - new EGR kit $210, distributer cap and rotor $20 and a new air filter that was well super oil soaked and no wonder the car could even breathe let alone run!! (never saw one this bad and it was inspected - as new last year) Thought was maybe it was just the filter but rational thought says there has to be a cause for the backup of unburned gas/carbon and whatever..... Bonus - my daugthers x boyfriend has parts connections and he got me the EGR dealer quote $210 for $97 and the other parts half off too - so near $350 in parts for $146 - bumped up to $160 for his trouble....... hope this works - parts arrive next tuesday/wednesday