02 sebring conv 2.7 -> engine shuts off briefly, tach goes to 0
 

* 2002 Sebring w/ 2.7 ... 84,000mi. (now 94,000) *

Last Nov was the begining of my woes! The engine momentarily shutoffs while driving or at idle. If the car is moving fast enough, the engine will instantly die and start back up because of driveline momentum. If my rpm's are too low, say at a light, the engine dies but I can instantly restart it. On a good day of light driving, it will happen only once or twice. On a bad day it happens in spurts of back to back stalls. It went away over the winter when the weather was below 80F and I have noticed the hotter it gets, the more likely the fault will happen.

Sometimes it kicks a CEL when the engine restarts but mostly it doesn't. In the split second it dies, the tach drops to 0. (like no power or signal) If the engine restarts on its own, the car runs fine except I get a really violent rev limit of 3,000 rpm (unlike a smooth rev limiter, this pulses the rpm's up and down about 200~300). God forbid if I hit the limit while in OD, bucks violently!! This "rev limiter" goes away if I shut the ignition off and restart (even if done while driving)

When it first happened the code was for a cam sensor (0340?) so I replaced it which lessened the occurance (I think) but the symptoms stayed the same. I barely used the car till last month so only recently have changed the TPS, Crank Sensor, fuel and ASD relays. No change.

Kinda before I had this problem I changed out the spark plugs but I can't imagine they caused this. And my 2 year old water pump is leaking again and I have noticible timing chain slap so I wonder if a loose chain has something to do with it if these symptoms are cam sensor related?

There is no noticible sludge in the engine (under the valve covers is immaculate)

I have very harsh, low speed down shifts from 2nd->1st. Not sure if it's related.

My PCM is also very hot to the touch after driving the car .. almost burning hot to the touch.

I'm stumped ... thanks in advance! Rich

I think you're on to something there. Electronics don't like to be "burning hot". It may be time to consider replacing that PCM. There are services that will swap your unit for about $200. Search eBay and the internet to find them.

soooooo after suffering a couple of years I think I may have an answer!

I let a friend use the car who was always broke and knew nothing about cars and after running it outta gas a couple times, he finally killed the battery.

when I picked up the car I put a new battery in it and it would only start with starting fluid -> fuel pump was all but dead.

I've since put in a new bosch fuel pump scored from ebay for 1/3 the price! the gas in the tank looked pretty good but I drained and cleaned the tank anyways, put the new fuel pump in and BAM! the car runs and drives better now than the day I bought it.

won't be completely certain until the much warmer summer months hit but I'll keep you posted.

btw, I still have to replace the waterpump and timing chain.