Hi again all,

My son is using my 2002 Sebring and has been having issues on and off for 2 days. He said when he started it the other day it started fine but when he put into drive it stalled. This happened tree consecutive times then it stopped and things seemed ok. About 10 minutes later when he was on the freeway he felt it surging and the RPM's were jumping back and forth. After several seconds it was ok and the surging went away. This morning it stalled once when put into drive then it was ok and no surging for the 20 minute drive.

I understand this could be a multitude of issues but I'm hoping someone has a had similar issues. The vehicle has 138K miles but had and engine rebuilt at 85K. Up until this issue it's been running fine. I will add that for a couple of years the RPM's race up when you first start the car but come back down to normal in a couple of seconds.

Edited to add: I am getting error codes P0340 and P1391.

Many thanks! Jim.

 

so looking at a cam or crank sensor issue

 

Agreed. My son's Pontiac was acting like that. We replaced the Crankshaft position sensor and all is good. Did you check for codes? Try the "key dance": Turn the key from off to on, off to on. off to on. Codes will show up in the odometer space.

 

Thanks guys. Yeah, I did some web checking and got the camshaft position sensor as likely being the issue. Bought one last night and will install today. Looks like a pretty simple replacement which is a minor miracle! I wasn't aware of there being a crankshaft position sensor so thanks again for that heads up. If the cam sensor doesn't do the trick I'll do the crankshaft sensor. If so, I hop that's just as easy.

Jim

PS: dcotter0579. The codes after key dance are P0340 & P1391........

 

Hi again guys,

So I replaced the cam position sensor which I purchased from my local dealer. It still ran the same. The only thing I did was to double check that I connected it correctly and noticed I hadn't snapped the red locking tab all the way back up which I doubt was an issue. I restarted and it seemed to run fine but this is not unusual behavior with what's been happening. This issue only happens intermittently. So I went to the dealer and bought and replaced the crankshaft position sensor. I started the car and once again the RPM's surged up and down. Even the speedometer was going up and down. Crazy. I rechecked the codes and now I'm getting code P0352 which shows a possible issue with #2 ignition coil. The previous codes were P0340 and P1391 so this latest code is new. So 50 bucks each for the two position sensors and if I replace the #2 coil that's another $50+ bucks.

Any more thoughts? I fear I'm going to keep tossing more money at parts that aren't solving the prob then end up taking it to the shop. Thanks for all your help guys.

Jim