2006 T&C "slipping" "misfiring" "stuttering"
 

While driving my 2006 T&C Touring, I cannot tell, but it is like the transmission slips, or traction control slips or the engine misfires. It is like a loss of power and a rumble goes through the vehicle for a second and then we are good to go. My son describes it as "stuttering."

Normally, it occurs after the engine has been running >45 minutes. Usually, it is at a stable RPM (1500-1700) around 45-55 MPH. About 90% of the time, this occurs while cruising...not accelerating or decelerating, however today I did experience this problem during a slow acceleration. I have never experienced it during a fast acceleration.

There are 160K miles on the vehicle. I replaced plugs and wires 30K miles ago. I replaced the ignition solenoid a week ago and this seemed to help for a few days. I also had a TRAC OFF and ABS light requiring the replacement of the front left wheel speed sensor. What really intrigues me is that there does not appear to be a loss of RPM during this problem. It occurs on wet or dry surfaces, however today was the first day I drove it while raining.

Areas I am thinking about...transmission? I thought a transmission problem, but there doesn't seem to be any impact on the RPM. No downshifting or anything like that. We have a lot of miles on the vehicle and it has been properly serviced. The feeling is almost like when a clutch is slipping on a manual transmission? Do dealerships have a way to run diagnostics on the transmission to see if it is related or must they experience the problem to determine the cause? Traction control system? I did have to replace the front left wheel speed sensor. Can the other sensors be going bad, but not triggering the warning lights and still impacting the traction control computer? Plugs and wires: I know its only been 30K on them, but should I replace them already?

Thanks.

Look again at ABS, your new sensor is in a fixed position but the ABS ring is usually full of crap .. .. and its the valley full of rust in the ABS ring that causes the mis-read.

Too true -- rust is just as magnetic as plain iron or steel and that means the two rusts, FE2O3 and FE3O2. So if the actuating cog is full of rust there will be hardly any signal.

Leedsman.

Thanks
 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will look at this again this weekend. Do you recommend cleaning with just a rag, or would a brush and solvent be better?

Rag, or a brush and solvent would be a waste of time. Hand held chisel end of a big hard screwdriver and very aggressive wire brush would be a starting point !

A warding file* can be useful when cleaning out small crevices when the dirt/rust is very hard.

Leedsman.
*A warding file is simply a very small file and they usually come in little sets, flat, triangular etc.

Fixed
 

Thought I would bring you guys up to date on this issue. Turns out, before I could get it on a lift to look at the ABS ring, things started to deteriorate. I finally got a CHECK ENGINE LIGHT and downloaded the code. It was a Cylinder 5 misfire. Since, I had replaced the ignition solenoid a week earlier, I decided to pick up some new wires and plugs, even with only 30K on the current set.

In the meantime, I had ordered a spark tester from Amazon and it arrived before I got to work. Soooo, I figured, let me check the #5 ignition from the solenoid. I couldn't believe it, but the Ignition Solenoid, less than a month old (now) was bad. I verified with all the other connections (1-4, 6 good spark), so I pulled the "new" ignition solenoid and returned for an exchange. Since, I had the plugs and wires from a morning purchase, I decided to swap everything (and I have the bloody knuckles to prove it...those back plugs are tough). I decided on a fresh start for all the equipment.

New ignition solenoid, new wires, and new plugs and she is purring like a kitten. My biggest lesson learned is to not rule something out, just because it is new (my ignition solenoid).