Hello to all you forum members from a fellow Mopar aficionado!

A neighbor of a friend of mine just bought a very rough-condition 1996 Sebring convertible (2.5 V6, auto trans) from THEIR nextdoor neighbor. (Please follow along here, folks... This will be convoluted haha)
Long story short, I'm the Mopar guy in our small town, so I've been tasked with deciphering what's up with this poor, neglected 'mobile!

Apparently the gauge cluster was inoperative for some time before the car stopped actually running. It was supposedly MORE temperamental when it was wet out or raining, but was supposedly mechanically running fine until it finally quit and was towed home, sat for a year and then now I'm trying to decipher what went wrong. (methinks +1 point for fault in PDU)

Symptoms evident to new owner are lack of any signs of life from gauge cluster (obviously) and no-start, even with fresh fuel and new battery. Cranks over just fine, but basic diagnosis shows no spark using spark tester on cylinder #1 spark plug. My Snap-ON MODIS diagnostic tool converses just fine with the ECU,shows GOOD crankshaft AND camshaft signals while cranking and no codes are stored,even after extended cranking >10 seconds.

Having had previous experience with similar Sebring models with symptoms of pulsating dash lights and intermittent electrical issues due to the bad grounding of the main ground lugs at the shock-tower ground points, my first action was to remove the ring terminals, scrape through the primer and whatnot to make GOOD connection to all elements of those ground points instead of relying on the nut and stud and other bold to ground things. No change.

I thought there might be lack of ignition power to the distributor since it ALSO has a complete loss of instrument cluster power, so checked the various ignition relays, ASD, etc. but of course it strangely still has ECU communications, no problem, and all fuses seem good, power IS on both sides of any fuse I believe is required for the distributor and whatnot. OK, so pulled the connectors from the distributor. The sensor connector has ground, 5V on the signal line and 9v on sensor supply. Seems normal. The two-pin plug seemed to have no power when the ignition was in RUN, so I spliced in a takeoff wire and plugged it back into the distributor. That line (green with red? tracer) DOES show 12v when trying to crank, even though it seems to be off when you first turn it to RUN, perhaps this is normal? The ASD relay DOES pull in and put power to it, and jumpering power into it manually to bypass the relay makes no difference...

I'm now suspecting the coil and/or igniter or whatever is in that distributor has become faulty and perished. Does this make sense? The troubleshooter in the Snap-ON says the coils are prone to failure, and this IS a 30 year old car... haha Apparently there are two different "cam diameters" in the distributor? If we order a replacement distributor, will it function correctly as long as it has the correct rotor included, or is there some other sort of difference, I have been unable to discern what exactly that difference is between the .475" and .526" apparatus would be. Please advise, if anyone here has any insight... it would be greatly appreciated.

As a secondary aside, while the Snap-ON tool seems to communicate just fine, I have BEEN UNABLE to communicate with ANY module in the car using my MicroPod. It seems to know there are systems there but just times out when trying to communicate using the DRB-III emulator. I know my system is sound in general as I just used it to diagnose an inlet-air over-temperature on a Crossfire a few weeks ago, was a failure of the Bosch 12v auxiliary water pump that circulates coolant through the intercooler. Failed impeller / magnet assembly on the original, factory unit. Replaced it with the updated model pump and it's now been working perfectly, friend is now happy as a clam with his convertible Chrysler... haha

Thanks, guys, for any insight!!

 

Suggest posting on 'allpar.com', everything Mopar. There are a number of chrysler techs that should be able to assist with diagnosing.

The gauge cluster not working may be cracked solder joint on the cluster.

Any evident of rodents (e.g. mice. squirrels) in the engine compartment possibly chewing wires during the one-year of storage?

Is the fuel pump working? Any evidence of fuel getting to the injectors? With known spark, spray some starting fluid or throttle body cleaner into the intake to see if engine fires to confirm spark.

Distributor cam size - no way to determine the diameter unless pulled, that I am aware of. When I replace the cap rotor on my '97 I was able to pick up both rotors and return the one that did not fit (auto parts store understood the issue). New/rebuilt distributor should come with rotor. Same cap for either rotor., only difference is the shaft diameter. For a replacement distributor, cardone is the preferred choice.

 

I may well do that. Thanks for the suggestion.

I posted here since you never know what knowledgeable people you will find on any of the various forums and I was reading several other threads on here about lack of spark, etc. so I figured I would put it out there and see if anyone had any bright ideas I hadn't considered yet.

Indeed, I am quite certain the gauge cluster not working is a separate issue from the no-start condition, I only noted it as they (cluster and ignition) are both fed from similar power sources, although I think the cluster power might come from the BCM. A BCM fault should have nothing to do with lack of spark, though.

No, all the wiring looks intact and everything I have directly, individually tested so far seems fine.

Fuel pump runs fine when I force it on using the diagnostic tool, relay and pump are good. Squirting fuel into the throttle body does nothing (tried this before checking for spark) and I've CONFIRMED there is no spark by pulling plug wires and testing with spark tester. It is definitely no-spark, not a fuel issue. I was hoping to figure out a way to check for faults in the coil and/or igniter module without having to pull the distributor (wow, that looks like a pain in the butt!) I've since seen a tear-down of that distributor and realize that you can't test anything from outside, so the distributor must come out regardless. Nothing testable is exposed to the outside since the module and coil are directly connected inside, so there is no way to even check resistances without disassembly.

My diagnostic tool has an "ignition could test" function that supposedly fires the coil continuously to check for spark. This seems to do nothing, so I guess all I could do to verify the last external things would be to stick an oscilloscope on the signal-to-fire line from the ECU at the distributor to verify it is being TOLD to spark, meaning the fault would be the module or coil inside the distributor. Lack of signal there could then be an ECU or wiring fault instead.

I basically already discovered most of the answers I was seeking after I posted this. Now that I saw that teardown I've realized that the difference is simply the rotor mount, so you just need the correct rotor (2 available rotors) for your distributor shaft. Not an issue since the replacement distributor will come with the rotor. RockAuto has one in the clearance bin for CAD$100 (Cardone remanufactured, no core charge) which seems like a steal to me. This gentleman has been here visiting his brother for a few weeks but is heading home on Sunday, he won't be back here again until sometime in the summer, but the car is staying here at his brother's. Hopefully he can get the money together soon and order at least the basic parts to get it running properly again.

The body looks to actually be in pretty good shape, but the convertible top needs attention and the interior is pretty worn and needs a thorough cleaning, but I think overall, the car is worth saving. It should still be a fun little car.

I should have titled this thread something like "Sebring convertible 2.5L V6 crank but no spark" or somesuch more descriptive title. My error, of course...

Thanks for your input. Greatly appreciated!

 

the printed circuit boards in the cluster are a know issue with the solder point breaking apart like in teh same year vans.
2.5 knows for the distributor assembly going bad

 

Additional note on the convertible top, the same top mechanism was used from '96 to '06 so the parts will interchange. For example, the tops and hydraulics will interchange for all years so if you find a good one in a bone yard grab it.